BRISTOL, Tenn. — Carson Brown (No. 28 Distributor Wire & Cable Chevrolet) started from the Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole and led every lap to win the ARCA Menards Series / ARCA Menards Series East Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
It was Brown’s third win of the season, following his wins at Phoenix Raceway and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, and his second win in his last three starts.
This victory ranks pretty high up there, to be honest. Just a big thank you to everyone at Distributor Wire & Cable, RCR, Wise Optimization, Chevrolet and Pinnacle Racing Group, and Derek Nealon, my spotter up there on the tower,” Brown said. “He was working his butt off to help me out and be my other set of eyes. Lapped traffic kind of forced me to the top line, and it was rolling really fast there at the end. I was just doing everything I could to move around, chase that top line, and make it as easy as possible to get by some of those lapped cars and not cut anything too close.
“It was a tough one, and I’m glad I was able to bring it to victory lane for all these guys. We’ve been really strong all year, had a lot of speed. Just been missing this factor, right? Knew that this was one everyone here wanted, and we worked really hard for it.”
The victory unofficially closes the gap in the ARCA Menards Series Owner Point Standings to 11 points between the leading Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team and the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28 team with just next week’s finale at Kansas Speedway remaining.
Tristan McKee (No. 77 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet) locked up the 2026 ARCA Menards East championship with his runner-up finish. McKee scored wins at Hickory Motor Speedway, Rockingham Speedway, Toledo Speedway, and Iowa Speedway and had a runner-up finish at Flat Rock Speedway and a third-place finish at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. McKee’s only finish outside the top three was a 32nd-place finish at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
McKee is the 27th different driver to earn at least one ARCA Menards Series champion since the series’ inception in 1987.
Kaden Honeycutt (No. 17 MMI / Jailbreaks Potato Chips Toyota) finished third, his first non-victory in three ARCA Menards Series starts in 2026. Honeycutt won in his other two starts at Watkins Glen International and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Three drivers entered the Bush’s Beans 200 with a mathematical chance to win the ARCA Menards East championship. Max Reaves (No. 18 Cook Out Toyota) came in just one points behind McKee in the standings but fell short by five points after finishing in the fourth position. Defending series champion Isaac Kitzmiller (No. 79 A.L.L. Construction / Carter CAT Chevrolet) came in 18 points out of the lead and finished fifth, locking himself into third in the final series standings.
The Bush’s Beans 200 marked just the second ARCA Menards East race of the season that neither McKee nor Reaves led at least one lap. The only other time that happened in 2026 was at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park where Carson Brown and Kaden Honeycutt led all of the laps.
ARCA Menards Series championship points leader Jake Bollman (No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) finished sixth and added three points to his lead over Thomas Annunziata (No. 70 JBL Audio Toyota) who finished ninth. Annunziata started on the front row but was penalized for beating Brown to the start/finish line and had to battle back from a pass-thru penalty that put him a lap down.
Jade Avedisian (No. 15 Yahoo! Toyota) finished seventh, her fourth ARCA Menards Series top-ten finish in five 2026 starts.
Andy Jankowiak (No. 71 DAK’s Markets/DK Chevrolet) finished eighth, his fifth top-ten finish in 11 starts this season.
Taylor Mayhew (No. 42 MMI Chevrolet) rounded out the top ten, giving team owner Bruce Cook’s Cook Racing Technologies team two top-ten finishers; teammate Kaden Honeycutt finished third.
There were five cautions for 55 laps. Early accidents eliminated Hunter Wright (No. 95 Tennessee 811 / Visit Wilco Toyota) and Bobby Dale Earnhardt (No. 89 Tim Goulet For Hire Chevrolet) at lap 45; Zachary Tinkle (No. 53 Tinkle Family Foundation / Racing for Rescues Toyota) at lap 90, and Con Nicolopoulos (No. 06 Wayne Peterson Racing Toyota). All drivers were evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center with the exception of Nicolopoulos, who was transported to a nearby hospital for further evaluation.
Brown’s winning average speed was 73.800 miles per hour; his margin of victory was 2.056 seconds.
The finish:
Carson Brown, Tristan McKee, Kaden Honeycutt, Max Reaves, Isaac Kitzmiller, Jake Bollman, Jade Avedisian, Andy Jankowiak, Thomas Annunziata, Taylor Mayhew, Jason Kitzmiller, Andrew Patterson, Gavan Boschele, Ty Fredrickson, Gabriel Casagrande, Jackson McLerran, Craig Pellegrini Jr., Austin Vaughn, Brian Weber, Isabella Robusta, Alex Clubb, Chase Buscaglia, Jeff Maconi, Takuma Koga, Quinn Davis, Michael Maples, Ivis Earley, Jake Finich, Con Nicolopoulos, Zachary Tinkle, Brad Smith, Hunter Wright, Bobby Earnhardt, Brad Perez, Nate Moeller.
