AVONDALE, Ariz. — The ARCA Menards Series West heads to Phoenix Raceway for round 12 of its 13-race season.
It is the second time the series has raced at Phoenix this year, and the 57th time in history the series has raced at the one-mile oval.
Trevor Huddleston (No. 50 High Point Racing / Racecar Factory Ford) enters the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 with a 40-point lead over Robbie Kennealy (No. 1 Jan’s Towing / Jan’s Racing Ford) with just two races remaining in the 2026 ARCA Menards West season.
Huddleston finished fourth at Phoenix in March, while Kennealy has three straight Phoenix top-10 finishes including a sixth-place result in this race last fall.
-Carson Brown won the ARCA Menards Series / ARCA Menards West combination race at Phoenix Raceway in March, holding off a hard charge from his Pinnacle Racing Group teammate Tristan McKee.
PRG has entered two cars in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, but neither Brown nor McKee will be behind the wheel. Helio Meza (No. 28 Alessandros / Heraldo Media Chevrolet) will make his second ARCA Menards West start for the team this week; he started from the Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole in his debut at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week before being derailed by a cut tire.
He will be joined by Taylor Reimer (No. 82 Fre Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet), who finished 12th in this race last year driving for Nitro Motorsports.
-Max Reaves (No. 18 Cook Out Toyota) will be looking to close Joe Gibbs Racing’s chapter in the ARCA Menards Series platform with its 11th win of the 2026 season.
Reaves has scored four ARCA Menards Series wins and two in the ARCA Menards East, while teammate Gio Ruggiero has four ARCA Menards Series wins as well.
The team has announced it will cease ARCA Menards Series operations to focus on its NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams in 2027. Reaves finished ninth in his only previous start at Phoenix in March.
-The Bill McAnally Racing duo of Hailie Deegan (No. 16 Monster Chevrolet) and Mason Massey (No. 19 Mongoose Power Solutions Chevrolet) looks to rebound from a disappointing end to their collective night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Deegan suffered from a cut tire that sent her into the outside wall as the leader was coming to take the white flag that sent the race into overtime, resulting in a 16th-place finish. Massey looked to capitalize on the overtime attempt and was battling for the win off the final corner when he and Kennealy came together, sending him up the track and into Huddleston, with both drivers spinning out of contention.
Massey recovered to finish sixth but fell to third in the ARCA Menards West standings. Deegan has a best finish of fourth at Phoenix in 2019, while Massey finished fifth at Phoenix in March, his only previous West start at the track.
-Nitro Motorsports has entered six drivers in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100: Landon Brown (No. 10 University of Kentucky Toyota), Mia Lovell (No. 15 Pine Health Toyota), Kasey Kleyn (No. 20 Thaemert Farms Toyota), Gavan Boschele (No. 25 Toyota Racing Toyota), Jade Avedisian (No. 70 Mobil 1 Toyota) and Wesley Slimp (No. 90 Road Ready Foundation Toyota).
Brown and Kleyn will be making their West series debut.
-Dystany Spurlock (No. 66 Charles Schwab Bank Ford) will make her ARCA Menards West debut in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100. She finished seventh in her ARCA Menards East debut at Hickory Speedway and tenth in her ARCA Menards Series debut at Kansas Speedway earlier this season.
There are an ARCA Menards West record six female drivers entered: Isabella Robusto (No. 2 Random Racing Club / PHOOZY / Roto-Rooter Toyota), Mia Lovell, Hailie Deegan, Dystany Spurlock, Jade Avedisian, and Taylor Reimer. The previous record, set at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2021, was five (Jolynn Wilkinson, Mariah Boudrieau, Bridget Burgess, Amber Slagle, and Amber Balcaen).
-Previous ARCA Menards West winners at Phoenix Raceway include Cale Yarborough (1977), Richard Petty (1978, 1980, 1981), Neil Bonnett (1979), Bobby Allison (1982), Ron Eaton (1983), Bill Schmitt (1984), Rich Woodland (1998), Mike Wallace (1999), Kevin Richards (2000), Ken Schrader (2001, 203, 2004, 2006), Austin Cameron (2002), Scott Lynch (2003, 2004), David Gilliland (2005, 2020), Burney Lamar (2005), Andrew Myers (2006), Joey Logano (2007), Mike David (2008), Jason Bowles (2009), Eric Holmes (2010), Greg Pursley (2010, 2011, 2013), Ryan Blaney (2012), David Mayhew (2012), Michael Self (2012), gray Gaulding (2013), Cole Custer (2014), Nick Drake (2014), Todd Gilliland (2015), Ty Gibbs (2019, 2021 – 2), Taylor Gray (2022), Sammy Smith (2022), Tyler Reif (2023), William Sawalich (2023, 2024), Connor Zilisch (2024), Brent Crews (2025 -2), and Carson Brown (2026).
