Luke Fenhaus finished second in the championship by 58 points. Lavar Scott finished third in the championship by 69 points. The 2023 ARCA Menards Series East was the 37th 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 in the United States. The season began on March 25 with the

Pensacola 200 The Pensacola 200 presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions is a annual ARCA Menards Series East race held at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The event has been part of the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East The ARCA ...

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 The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

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 William Sawalich (born October 3, 2006) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West, driving the No. 18 Toyota ...

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. At the conclusion of the season, Sawalich clinched the ARCA Menards Series East championship.

Teams and drivers

Note: If a driver is listed as their own crew chief for a particular race, that means that their entry in that race was a start and park.

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Notes

Changes

Teams

* On December 9, 2022, it was announced that the No. 18 car would go back to being owned by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023. It was owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022. * On January 8, 2023, it was announced that Tim Goulet Enterprises would rename to Rise Motorsports in 2023 and continue to field the No. 31 car in the main ARCA Series and the East Series for

Rita Goulet Ritamarie Goulet (nee Thomason; born August 25, 1983) is an American amateur auto racing driver and police sergeant. She competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 31 Toyota Camry for Rise Motorsports, and currently serves ...

(nee Thomason) and Stephen Leicht. On February 13, it was announced that they would run the full East Series season with Rita in 2023. Goulet and Leicht are both scheduled to run the main ARCA/East Series combination race at Bristol so the team will likely field two cars in that race. * On January 13, 2023, Rev Racing announced that they would field a full-time car in the East Series again in 2023: the No. 6 driven by

Lavar Scott Lavar Scott (born September 6, 2003) is an American professional stock car racing driver who competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 6 Chevrolet SS for Rev Racing. He is also a current member of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversi ...

. The team last fielded a full-time East Series car in 2021 and only fielded part-time cars in the East Series in 2022. * On January 18, 2023, it was announced that longtime main ARCA Series team Venturini Motorsports would field a full-time car in the East Series for the first time since 2020 in 2023: the No. 15 driven by

Sean Hingorani Sean Hingorani (born October 13, 2006) is an American professional stock car racing driver of Indian descent. He competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and West, part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 15 Toyota Camry f ...

. * On February 3, 2023, it was announced that Shane Huffman, who was previously the crew chief for Bret Holmes Racing in the Truck and ARCA Series, would form a new ARCA and late model racing team, Pinnacle Racing Group, with spotter Lorin Ranier and former driver Josh Wise and would run full-time in the East Series in 2023, fielding the No. 28 Chevrolet. * On February 24, 2023, it was revealed that Lowden Jackson Motorsports would debut in the East Series in 2023 after purchasing Fords from David Gilliland Racing which switched to Toyota and renamed to TRICON Garage. The team will field the No. 41 Ford driven by Tyler Reif for the full season.

Drivers

* On December 6, 2022, it was announced that

Zachary Tinkle Zachary Tinkle (born July 3, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 11 Toyota Camry for Fast Track Racing. Ra ...

, who ran the full season in the main ARCA Series aside from the race at Mid-Ohio, would run full-time in the East Series in the No. 11 car for

Fast Track Racing Notes Fast Track Racing (also known as Fast Track High Performance Racing or Fast Track Racing Enterprises) is an American professional stock car racing team that currently competes full time in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series ...

in 2023. Fast Track was one of the teams he drove part-time for in 2022. * On December 9, 2022, it was announced that

would drive the No. 18 car part-time in 2023 and the car would go back to being owned by Joe Gibbs Racing. It was owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022. * On January 13, 2023, Rev Racing announced that

, who has been a driver for the team in late model racing, would drive full-time for the team in the East Series in 2023 in their No. 6 car. Andrés Pérez de Lara will also drive for Rev full-time in the main ARCA Series in the No. 2 car and will therefore be in the four main combination races the East Series has with the main ARCA Series. * On January 18, 2023, it was announced that

, who drove part-time in the West Series for Nascimento Motorsports and Bill McAnally Racing in 2022, would drive full-time in the East Series for Venturini Motorsports in 2023 in their No. 15 car. Hingorani will also drive the same car full-time in the West Series in 2023, attempting to win both championships in the same year. * On February 13, 2023, Rise Motorsports announced that

(nee Thomason) would run full-time in the East Series in their No. 31 car in 2023. * On February 24, 2023, Tyler Reif revealed to ''Frontstretch'' that he would run the full season in the East Series in 2023 in the Lowden Jackson Motorsports No. 41 car in addition to running full-time in the West Series for the team. He will attempt to win both championships in the same year.

Schedule

The full schedule was announced on November 22. Some race dates were announced before then. There are eight races on the 2023 schedule, up from seven in 2022. Note: Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the ARCA Menards Series.

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. This was officially announced by ARCA on November 18. The race at Flat Rock, which will be on May 20, replaces the race at New Smyrna Speedway, which had been the season-opener for the East Series from

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

to 2022. * On November 11, 2022, it was announced that the main ARCA Series race at

Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about northwest of Downtown Indianapolis, do ...

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).

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 Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

'' 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.

Results and standings

Race results

Drivers' championship

Notes:
* The pole winner also receives 1 bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR. * Additionally, after groups of 5 races of the season, drivers that compete in all 5 races receive 50 additional points. This points bonus will be given after the race at Iowa. **

Luke Fenhaus Luke Fenhaus (born April 8, 2004) is an American professional racing driver who currently competes full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 28 Chevrolet SS for Pinnacle Racing Group. He ...

Tim Monroe Tim Monroe (born February 3, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 10 Ford Fusion for Fast Track Racing. Racing career ARCA Menards Series Monroe made ...

and Dale Shearer received this points bonus for having competed in the first 5 races of the season (Five Flags, Dover, Nashville Fairgrounds, Flat Rock, and Iowa). ( key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. ''Italics'' – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.

References

{{ARCA Menards Series East ARCA Menards Series East