The 2020 ARCA Menards Series East was the 34th season of the

ARCA Menards Series East The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly Busch East Series, Busch North Series, Camping World East Series, and NASCAR K&N Pro Series East) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and ...

, a regional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

series sanctioned by

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

. It began on February 10 at

New Smyrna Speedway New Smyrna Speedway is a 1/2-mile asphalt oval racetrack located near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, that races the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series every Saturday night. It also has a smaller track, known as "Little New Smyrna Speedway" in t ...

with the

Skip's Western Outfitters 175 The Race to Stop Suicide 200 presented by Place of Hope was an ARCA Menards Series East stock car race held annually at New Smyrna Speedway in New Smyrna Beach, Florida from 2014 to 2022. The race was always the season opener and took place in Feb ...

, and concluded on October 11 at

Five Flags Speedway Five Flags Speedway is a half-mile (0.8 km) paved oval track racing, oval racetrack in Pensacola, Florida, United States. It opened in 1953 and is located on Pine Forest Road. It is christened after the nickname of Pensacola—"City of Fiv ...

with the Pensacola 200. 2020 marked the first season the series was known as the ARCA Menards Series East, after it was known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for the previous ten years.

Sam Mayer Sam A. Mayer (born June 26, 2003) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 1 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports, a team in which he is also a development driver for ...

entered the season as the defending champion, and won all but one race to score his second consecutive championship in the series. When the season was put on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, drivers from all NASCAR series, including a few ARCA drivers, participated in the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inaugur ...

eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series The eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series was a series of '' iRacing'' sim racing events originally organized for NASCAR drivers to compete in after its 2020 seasons were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drivers from all of NASCAR's ...

during that time.

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Notes

Changes

Teams

* Perennial

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...

team

Venturini Motorsports Venturini Motorsports is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, and ARCA Menards Series West. Founded in 1982 by Bill Venturini Sr., Venturini Motorsports is t ...

entered the series in advance of the 2020 season. *

Cook-Finley Racing Cook Racing Technologies (formerly Cook-Finley Racing, and Chad Finley Racing) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, fielding the No. 84 Toyota Tundra part-time for Clay ...

announced an entry with Parker Retzlaff as the driver of the No. 42.

Drivers

* On November 20, 2019, it was announced that

Nick Sanchez Nicholas A. Sanchez (born June 10, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 2 Chevrolet Silverado for Rev Racing. He is the 2022 ARCA Menards Series cham ...

would be driving full-time and for rookie of the year in the East Series for

Rev Racing Rev or Rév may refer to: Abbreviations Rev. * Rev., an abbreviation for revolution, as in Revolutions per minute * Rev., an abbreviation for the religious style The Reverend * Rev., the abbreviation for Runtime Revolution, a development environ ...

in 2020. * On December 11, 2019, it was announced that Giovanni Bromante would drive full-time for Visconti Motorsports, running for rookie of the year in the No. 74 car. * On December 14, 2019, it was announced that

Mason Diaz Mason A. Diaz (born May 16, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes for Ferrier-McClure Racing, driving their No. 44 Toyota part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series. Racing ...

would drive the Venturini Motorsports car for the full season as part of the team's expansion into the East Series. * On December 16, 2019, it was announced that

Tanner Gray Tanner Shane Gray (born April 15, 1999) is an American professional racing driver who has competed in drag racing and stock car racing. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 15 Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage. ...

would be moving up to the Truck Series full-time with

DGR-Crosley TRICON Garage, formally known as David Gilliland Racing and Team DGR, is an American professional stock car racing team that competes in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East, the ARCA Menards S ...

, who he had driven for full-time in 2019 in the East Series in their No. 15 car. However, he ran a part-time schedule of races in ARCA East in 2020. * On December 18, 2019, it was announced that Taylor Gray would run full-time and for rookie of the year in the No. 17 for DGR-Crosley in all races after he turned 15 on March 25, 2020. * On January 16, 2020, it was announced that

Corey Heim Corey D. Heim (born July 5, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Tundra for TRICON Garage. He has previously competed ARCA Menards Serie ...

would be driving in three races for Venturini Motorsports. * On January 30, 2020, it was announced that Parker Retzlaff would be driving the No. 42 for Cook-Finley Racing part-time with the possibility of a full season. He drove the No. 74 Visconti Motorsports entry part-time in 2019. * On February 6, 2020, Rette Jones Racing announced that Tristan Van Wieringen would drive the No. 30 full-time and for rookie of the year with the team. However, due to the financial impact after COVID-19, the team ran select races instead of full-time. * On February 7, 2020, it was announced that Daniel Dye would be making his series debut in the East Series at

, driving for Ben Kennedy in his No. 43. Dye was also scheduled to run select races in 2020. * On March 10, 2020, it was announced that

Derek Griffith Derek P. Griffith (born February 9, 1997) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 26 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Griffith has also competed in the ARCA ...

would be running the full season and for rookie of the year with Chad Bryant Racing in the team's No. 2 car. However, due to the financial impact after COVID-19, the team ran select races instead of full-time, even though Griffith would run a second car, the 22.

Manufacturers

* On December 11, 2019, DGR-Crosley announced a switch from

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

beginning in 2020.

Schedule

On November 6, 2019, NASCAR released the schedule for the 2020 season. As part of the unification of the former K&N East and West series with the ARCA Menards Series, the schedule decreased from fourteen races in 2019 to eight races in 2020. The number of races was originally seven, however, an additional race at

Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is a motorsport racetrack located at the Nashville Fairgrounds near downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The track is the second-oldest continually operating track in the United States. The track held NASCAR Grand Natio ...

was announced on December 14, 2019. The races at

Memphis International Raceway Memphis International Raceway (formerly known as Memphis Motorsports Park) was an auto racing park located near the Loosahatchie River in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, just approximately ten miles south of Millington, and a few miles ...

Iowa Speedway Iowa Speedway is a 7/8-mile (1.4 km) paved oval motor racing track in Newton, Iowa, United States, approximately east of Des Moines. It has over 25,000 permanent seats as well as a unique multi-tiered RV viewing area along the backstretch ...

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in the town of Dix just southwest of the village of Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. It was long known around the world as the hom ...

as well as

Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway, formerly known as Bristol International Raceway and Bristol Raceway, is a NASCAR short track venue located in Bristol, Tennessee. Constructed in 1960, it held its first NASCAR race on July 30, 1961. Bristol is among the m ...

's second race were taken and moved from the East Series schedule to the ARCA Menards Series schedule.

New Hampshire Motor Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway is a Oval track racing, oval speedway located in Loudon, New Hampshire, which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1990, as well as the longest-running motorcycle race in North America, the Loudon Classic. Nickna ...

, which had two East Series races in 2019, retained only one race in 2020.

and

Toledo Speedway Toledo Speedway is a half-mile paved oval racetrack located in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is owned jointly by Roy Mott and ARCA President Ron Drager. It is operated by ARCA and run as the sister track to Flat Rock Speedway in Flat Rock, M ...

were added to the East Series schedule, moving over from the ARCA schedule.

Berlin Raceway Berlin Raceway is a 7/16 mile long paved oval race track in Marne, Michigan, United States, near Grand Rapids. The track races weekly as part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. It has also held touring series events on the ARCA Menard ...

, which hosted an East Series race in 2017, was added back. The races at

South Boston Speedway South Boston Speedway, or "SoBo", is a short track located just outside South Boston, Virginia. SoBo is located approximately east of another area familiar to most NASCAR fans, Martinsville. It is owned by Mattco, Inc., the Mattioli family tr ...

and

World Wide Technology Raceway World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park) is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a ...

were completely dropped from the schedule.

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...

carried television coverage of all races on a tape-delay basis. * Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the

Schedule changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The event at Five Flags Speedway, originally scheduled for March 14, was postponed to October 10 due to the

. On August 25, 2020, series officials announced the cancellation of races at

and

and replaced them with a date at

, which served as a combination race with the

. The race at

was also cancelled.

Results and standings

Races

Drivers' championship

Note: The pole-winner also receives 1 bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR. (

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. ''Italics'' – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.

References

{{2020 ARCA Menards East ARCA Menards Series 2020 in American motorsport ARCA Menards East