2023 ARCA Menards Series East
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The 2023 ARCA Menards Series East was the 37th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 25 with the Pensacola 200 at Five Flags Speedway and ended on September 14 with the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Sammy Smith, the defending series champion in 2021 and 2022, moved up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series to run full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023 and therefore did not return to run full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and defend his title. William Sawalich replaced him in the No. 18 car in 2023, which went back to being owned by JGR after being owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.[1] At the conclusion of the season, Sawalich clinched the ARCA Menards Series East championship.[2]
Complete schedule
Schedule
The full schedule was announced on November 22.[30] Some race dates were announced before then.[31][32] There were eight races on the 2023 schedule, up from seven in 2022.
Note: Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the ARCA Menards Series.
| No | Race title | Track | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pensacola 200 | Five Flags Speedway | Pensacola, Florida | March 25 |
| 2 | General Tire 125 | Dover Motor Speedway | Dover, Delaware | April 28 |
| 3 | Music City 200 | Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway | Nashville, Tennessee | May 13 |
| 4 | Dutch Boy 150 | Flat Rock Speedway | Ash Township, Michigan | May 20 |
| 5 | Calypso Lemonade 150 | Iowa Speedway | Newton, Iowa | July 15 |
| 6 | Reese's 200 | Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park | Brownsburg, Indiana | August 11 |
| 7 | Sprecher 150 | Milwaukee Mile | West Allis, Wisconsin | August 27 |
| 8 | Bush's Beans 200 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, Tennessee | September 14 |
Schedule changes
- On August 9, 2022, Mark Kristl from Frontstretch reported that Flat Rock Speedway could be added to the East Series schedule in 2023.[33] This was officially announced by ARCA on November 18.[34] The race at Flat Rock, which was held on May 20, replaced the race at New Smyrna Speedway, which had been the season-opener for the East Series from 2014 to 2022.
- On November 11, 2022, it was announced that the main ARCA Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park would be a combination race with the East Series in 2023, giving the series a fourth combination race on top of the three returning ones from 2022 (Iowa, Milwaukee and Bristol).[32]
Broadcasting
After previously only broadcasting about half of the main ARCA Series races for several years, usually only the races that were on the same weekend at the same track as a NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and/or Truck race, Fox will broadcast all 20 main ARCA Series races in 2023 and this includes all four combination races with the East Series (Iowa, IRP, Milwaukee and Bristol). Previously, Bristol was the only East Series race televised on Fox as they were also broadcasting the Truck Series race there on that weekend.[35]