Sioux Chief Showdown Preview: Menards.com 200 & Menards 200 at Toledo Speedway 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 Menards East and ARCA Menards West series too, 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. At Iowa Speedway, Ty Gibbs broke Chandler Smith’s stranglehold on Sioux Chief Showdown races, becoming the second winner of a Showdown race this year following Smith’s victories in the first two Showdown events at Phoenix and Lucas Oil Raceway. While it may have been a new result in the Sioux Chief Showdown, it was very much business as usual for Gibbs as he cruised to his third AMS win of the season. Smith ended the race at Iowa in fourth place and extended his lead in the Showdown standings, but a red‐hot Gibbs is quickly closing in on him. Michael Self remains in second with 116 points, ten markers behind Smith’s 126 points, and Gibbs has leapt into third with 113 points – still trying to climb out of the hole he was left in when his team suffered terminal engine issues at Lucas Oil Raceway. Sam Mayer had a late charge from second place come up short yet again and is fourth in the standings with 108 points, also trying to overcome an earlier DNF that knocked the No. 21 team out at Phoenix. In a season that has been full of various unexpected twists and turns for the ARCA Menards Series, the latest development will be a Friday‐Saturday doubleheader at Toledo Speedway. Originally scheduled for one date in 2020 on the ARCA Menards Series East calendar, Toledo will now host two AMS races for the first time since 2011. Friday night’s race will be the Menards.com 200 presented by SPxE and Saturday night’s race will be the Menards 200 presented by Crosley Brands. Unsurprisingly, the AMS East race at Toledo in June was won by Ty Gibbs. While it may look like it was a walkover for Gibbs on paper since he led 183 of 204 laps, the race was anything but easy pickings for Gibbs. Sam Mayer led the other 21 laps in a second‐place run, frequently running right on Gibbs’ back bumper throughout the race. It was at this race where Bret Holmes arguably had his breakout performance, finishing third and keeping up with the favorites of Gibbs and Mayer throughout the afternoon. Coming off his long‐anticipated first career win at Kansas Speedway, Holmes is looking to make the wait for win number two much, much quicker this time around. Current Sioux Chief Showdown points leader Chandler Smith is the defending AMS winner at Toledo, leading 140 of 152 laps in last year’s race that was derailed by heavy rains short of the scheduled distance. Hailie Deegan is sixth in the Showdown standings after breaking a trackbar at Iowa and will be looking to bounce back in more ways than one this time around at Toledo. Last year, Deegan made her series debut here but finished last after a multi‐car accident left her stuffed in the Styrofoam blocks in turns 3 and 4 just 30 laps into the show. 2020 Sioux Chief Showdown Schedule & Current Top 25 Standings DRIVER TEAM CAR OWNER PHX LOR IOW TOTAL Chandler Smith #20 JBL Audio Toyota Billy Venturini 43 43 40 126 Michael Self #25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota Cathy Venturini 42 36 38 116 Ty Gibbs #18 Monster Energy Toyota Coy Gibbs 41 29 43 113 Sam Mayer #21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet Maury Gallagher 24 42 42 108 Bret Holmes #23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet Stacy Holmes 29 37 41 107 Hailie Deegan #4 Monster Energy Ford David Gilliland 37 41 26 104 Thad Moffitt #46 Richard Petty Signature Series Ford Bo LeMastus 26 39 34 99 Drew Dollar #15 Lynx Capital/Dollar Concrete Toyota Bill Venturini 30 30 27 87 Howie DiSavino III #32 Kees Travel Chevrolet Kevin Cywinski 23 35 28 86 Taylor Gray #17 Ford Performance Ford David Gilliland 40 39 79 Max McLaughlin #1 Mohawk Northeast Toyota Shigeaki Hattori 38 37 75 Gio Scelzi #16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Mike Curb 34 33 67 Jesse Love #19 NAPA Premium Plus Toyota Alex McAnally 28 32 60 Gracie Trotter #99 ENEOS Toyota Bill McAnally 22 35 57 Tim Richmond #06 Great Railing Toyota Wayne Peterson 21 3 31 55 Brad Smith #48 Copraya.com Chevrolet Brad Smith 27 25 52 Dick Doheny #11 Fast Track Chevrolet Andy Hillenburg 26 23 49 Mike Basham #10 Basham Trucking Toyota Andy Hillenburg 25 24 49 Ryan Huff #10 Land & Coates Ford Andy Hillenburg 20 28 48 Tanner Gray #17 Ford Performance Ford David Gilliland 40 40 Zane Smith #17W MMI Services Chevrolet Steve McGowan 39 39 Nick Sanchez #6 Max Siegel Inc. Toyota Max Siegel 38 38 Chase Cabre #4E Eibach Springs Toyota Max Siegel 36 36 Kody Swanson #22 FatHeadz Ford Chad Bryant 36 36 Lawless Alan #12W AutoParkit Toyota Alex McAnally 35 35 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 .500 Mile Oval August 1 Toledo Speedway – Toledo, OH .500 Mile Oval August 14 Daytona International Speedway Road Course – Daytona Beach, FL 3.56 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 .