The ARCA Menard’s Series West moves into the second half of its 2024 schedule this weekend at the 3/8-mile Shasta Speedway. The Shasta 150 begins on Saturday, July 27 at 8:30 p.m. PT and is available for streaming on FloRacing.
With two road course races and an opener at Phoenix, the first half of the ARCA West schedule is fairly diverse. However, the early July double-header at Irwindale Speedway kicked off a long stretch of regional short-track races that will provide a lot of tight door-to-door action.
Defending West Series champion Sean Hingorani earned his first wins of the 2024 campaign by sweeping the Irwindale double. He now attempts to make it three in a row, returning to a track he won at last season in Shasta. A win now would go a long way in strengthening his newly acquired points lead.
Hingorani has driven for four teams this season and has finished all but one race in the top 5. Although, all of his career wins have come in Venturini Motorsports cars. This week, he’s listed in the Jerry Pitts Racing No. 5 which he drove at Portland International and Sonoma Raceway this season placing 16th and 3rd respectively.
JPR earned its first win earlier this season at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway with Kole Raz driving the No. 5. Aside from the win the team has just one additional top 5 finish.
Hingorani will look to be consistent in the ride as he holds just a two-point advantage in the standings. Tyler Reif is currently 2nd in points and has five straight top 5 finishes. Jack Wood had his best finish of the season last race placing runner-up. He is currently 29 back from Reif sitting 3rd in the standings.
The Shasta 150 entry list features 13 competitors including 10 full-time drivers.
Nick Joanides and Trevor Huddleston both have two top 5 finishes on short tracks this year and will look to keep their teams in the mix throughout the back half of the schedule. Joanides tied his career-best finish last race placing 4th at Irwindale and Huddleston ran 4th in the first Irwindale race. Huddleston also had a runner-up finish at Kern earlier this season.
Anderson, California local Derek Copeland is making his ARCA West debut with Brian Kaminsky serving as crew chief. Copeland recently raced in the NorCal Legend Series at Ukiah Speedway, and he has past Late Model racing experience. His team entered the Sonoma race with Kaminsky driving and ran well before a broken transmission ended their day.
Jaron Giannini made his ARCA debut at Irwindale earning 6th and 5th place finishes in the two events. He has won a couple of Pro Late Model races at the Las Vegas Bullring this year. He also ran two Cars Tour West races at the track, coincidentally placing 6th and 5th in those events.
The 19-year-old will continue to build his experience running with Sigma Performance Services who has had veteran talent in the seat throughout the early season. NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver Grant Enfinger placed 3rd with the team at Phoenix, and Xfinity driver Sam Mayer earned a win at Sonoma. With that positive driver feedback, the team looks like it is in a strong spot to develop talent.
“I’m super excited to be back in the 23 car,” Jaron shared in an SPS press release. “This will be my first time racing at Shasta it looks like a fun track to race at. The team is ready and hopefully, we can continue to improve on what we were able to do at Irwindale.”
ARCA West Shasta 150 weekend schedule
Photo Credit: Lachlan Cunningham/ARCA Racing
