Sioux Chief Showdown Preview: General Tire 100 at the Daytona Road Course
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Sioux Chief Showdown Preview: General Tire 100 at the Daytona Road Course An ARCA Menards Series doubleheader at the series’ home base of Toledo Speedway will make up rounds four and five of the 2020 Sioux Chief Showdown schedule. The Showdown, a revamped and reloaded version of the “Short Track Challenge” of years past, is open to teams from the ARCA Menards Series East & West as well and now featuring an increased overall payout with nearly $1 million in race purses, point fund money, and bonus programs available over the ten‐race series‐within‐a‐series. The Sioux Chief Showdown will bring together the best of the best from the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West (formerly known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series). These ten events offer drivers who may not be able or eligible to run the full 20‐race ARCA Menards Series schedule the opportunity to run for a title. Combined with the overall ARCA Menards Series crown as well as the ARCA Menards East and ARCA Menards West championships, drivers will have four unique titles to compete for in 2020. Formerly known as the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge, an expanded partnership with Sioux Chief will increase the event purse and point fund significantly, as well as add prestige and a variety of venues to the in‐season championship. New guidelines and common rule packages are aimed at drawing in teams and drivers from both the ARCA East and ARCA West series as well, which were previously run as distinct separate entities from the ARCA Menards Series. Christian Eckes, now a challenger for rookie of the year honors in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series, won both the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge and the ARCA Menards Series overall championship in 2019, clinching both titles in the final race of each championship. The Sioux Chief Showdown hit its halfway point following the twin races at Toledo Speedway, with Sam Mayer taking both victories on the half‐mile short track. They were the first two wins of Mayer’s ARCA Menards Series career, and they came at a very opportune time. A rare DNF from Showdown point leader Chandler Smith in the first race allowed the field to close ever so slightly on his lead, narrowing his cushion from ten points to six over second place Michael Self, with Mayer now sitting seven points out of Smith’s lead in third. Ty Gibbs, winner of the Showdown race at Iowa, finished second to Mayer in the first of the two Toledo races but was scored tenth in the second race. With rain circling the track once again, Mayer made a pass on Gibbs for the lead from the outside line, but the drivers remained side‐by‐side as they dove into turns 3 and 4. Pushing hard from the bottom line, Gibbs spun out without contact and Mayer scooted away as the caution flag waved, which turned into the checkered flag moments later when the rain returned and washed away the final 70+ laps of the race. Originally scheduled for New York’s Watkins Glen International, the road course round of the Sioux Chief Showdown has instead made the historic move to the road course layout of stock car racing’s most famous track: Daytona International Speedway. The ARCA Menards Series will be the first of the four NASCAR series to hit the track as part of a busy weekend at the “World Center of Racing.” No major stock car series has run on the road course layout best known for being used for the famous Rolex 24‐hour race since the demise of the IROC series in 2006, giving the experience edge only to the select few racers in the field that have lapped the course in a sports car. Among those drivers is Hailie Deegan, who ran in the Michelin Challenge race on the undercard of this year’s Rolex 24, driving a Ford shared with none other than 2016 ARCA Menards Series champion Chase Briscoe. The situation also favors drivers who come from a road course background, and the poster child for that group already has a win at Daytona this season – Michael Self. Self has won on the Daytona oval twice, winning the ARCA season opener in 2018 and 2020, and has served as a coach to aspiring road racers for years while still competing as a driver himself. Self’s only ARCA Menards Series start at a road course lasted just three laps at New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2014, but he has two wins at the Brainerd road course in Minnesota in what is now the ARCA Menards Series West. He also has an 11th‐place finish to his credit in a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Road America, all factors that seem to point to Self being the clear‐cut favorite among the Showdown regulars at Daytona. 2020 Sioux Chief Showdown Schedule & Current Top 25 Standings DRIVER CAR CAR OWNER PHX LOR IOW TOL I TOL II TOTAL Chandler Smith #20 Toyota Billy Venturini 43 43 40 33 42 201 Michael Self #25 Toyota Cathy Venturini 42 36 38 39 40 195 Sam Mayer #21 Chevrolet Maury Gallagher 24 42 42 43 43 194 Ty Gibbs #18 Toyota Coy Gibbs 41 29 43 42 34 189 Bret Holmes #23 Chevrolet Stacy Holmes 29 37 41 40 41 188 Hailie Deegan #4 Ford David Gilliland 37 41 26 36 38 178 Thad Moffitt #46 Ford Bo LeMastus 26 39 34 32 36 167 Drew Dollar #15 Toyota Bill Venturini 30 30 27 38 35 160 Taylor Gray #17 Ford David Gilliland 40 39 41 33 153 Tim Richmond #06 Toyota Wayne Peterson 21 3 31 35 32 122 Brad Smith #48 Chevrolet Brad Smith 27 25 31 30 113 Mike Basham #10 Toyota Andy Hillenburg 25 24 30 29 108 Derek Griffith #22 Ford Chad Bryant 32 37 39 108 Rick Clifton #12 Toyota Andy Hillenburg 30 34 31 95 Howie DiSavino III #32 Chevrolet Kevin Cywinski 23 35 28 86 Max McLaughlin #1 Toyota Shigeaki Hattori 38 37 75 Gio Scelzi #16 Toyota Mike Curb 34 33 67 Jesse Love #19 Toyota Alex McAnally 28 32 60 Gracie Trotter #99 Toyota Bill McAnally 22 35 57 Owen Smith #11 Chevrolet Andy Hillenburg 28 28 56 Dick Doheny #11 Chevrolet Andy Hillenburg 26 23 49 Ryan Huff #10 Ford Andy Hillenburg 20 28 48 Tanner Gray #17 Ford David Gilliland 40 40 Zane Smith #17W Chevrolet Steve McGowan 39 39 Nick Sanchez #6 Toyota Max Siegel 38 38 March 6 Phoenix Raceway – Avondale, AZ Chandler Smith July 3 Lucas Oil Raceway – Brownsburg, IN Chandler Smith July 18 Iowa Speedway – Newton, IA Ty Gibbs July 31 Toledo Speedway – Toledo, OH Sam Mayer August 1 Toledo Speedway – Toledo, OH Sam Mayer August 14 Daytona International Speedway Road Course – Daytona Beach, FL 3.61 Mile Road Course August 29 World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway – Madison, IL 1.25 Mile Oval September 17 Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, TN .533 Mile Oval September 26 Memphis International Raceway – Memphis, TN .750 Mile Oval TBA Salem Speedway – Salem, IN .555 Mile Oval .