Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty Images
The ARCA Series presented by Menards heads to the Michigan International Speedway this weekend for their annual visit. It is also the second straight week the series will run on a superspeedway.
Last week, Sprint Cup Series rookie Kyle Larson stole the show by dominating at Pocono. It could be Mason Mitchell’s week at Michigan.
Mitchell made Larson earn the win at Pocono, by passing the Cup rookie after a restart with ten to go, until Larson reeled him back in and made the last pass for the lead with three laps to go.
The 98 team will bring the Pocono car to Michigan and look to go one spot better this week.
“We have a pretty good stretch coming up here with only one off-week,” Mitchell said. “I’m looking forward to every single race. We’ve been proving we have speed everywhere.”
Austin Theriault will make his ARCA début for Venturini Motorsports in the No. 66 Toyota. Theriault ran the Nationwide Series race at Iowa Speedway in May with JR Motorsports. He also had to gain approval to run Michigan by running the ARCA test at Pocono last week.
His teammate Justin Boston nearly won this race last year, before getting loose and spinning out while leading late. Boston’s spotter Brennan Poole went on to win in his 2013 ARCA début by holding off Ryan Blaney.
Speaking of Cunningham Motorsports, the 22 team has finished runner-up the last two years in this race. The team does have a win at Michigan with Parker Kligerman in 2009, but it was in the No. 77 car.
Austin Wayne Self is in the 22 car this season and Michigan could be the place where the 18-year-old gets his first ARCA triumph.
Will Kimmel made his ARCA return last week at Pocono by grabbing a fourth-place finish for Kimmel Racing. He’ll be back in the 69 car this weekend and could once again be a dark horse.
59-year-old Ken Schrader will step back behind the wheel of the No. 52 car this weekend. Matt Tifft isn’t old enough to race at Michigan since 17-year-olds are only allowed to run at Pocono and Kentucky.
The Corrigan Oil 200 at Michigan is live at 5 p.m. on Friday on FOX Sports 1.