All About NASCAR (Part 2)
In this article I will talk about the four lower series of NASCAR. The four lower series are ARCA Menards series which has three divisions, Smart Modified Tour, Whalen Modified Tour and NASCAR Youth series which is Midgets. They are all stepping stones to the main three NASCAR series. The youth series is the smallest series in NASCAR.
I will start off with the ARCA Menards series (main). ARCA stands for Automobile Racing Club of America. The main series races all over the US with the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. ARCA mains last race ends at Kansas Speedway. They race in asphalt and dirt, and also on road courses which are long tracks that turn left and right. The ARCA East series only races eight times on the East side of the US, with the opener at Hickory Motor Speedway and ending at Bristol Motor Speedway. The West series schedule consists of 13 races starting and ending at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway, and only races on the West side of the US. ARCA’s rules for ages are 15–17-year-olds can only race on tracks 1.25 miles and under, while to race on tracks 1.5 miles and larger you must be 18 years old. You can race for all three championships in ARCA.
The next series is the Smart Modified Tour. They started racing in 1988 and only race on the South side of the US. They use a modified stock car that is lightweight but also has high horsepower, reaching around 600 horsepower, which is a lot for a modified stock car, and all types of drivers are welcome in the SMART Modified tour series. The season opener is at Florence Motor Speedway in South Carolina, and their regular season has 11 races starting in February and ending in September, concluding at Caraway Speedway in North Carolina. Their biggest race is in March at South Boston Speedway in Virginia. They have three playoff races starting in September at Orange County Speedway in North Carolina, with the final race in October at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Carolina. They have had some big-name drivers like Bobby Labonte, Ryan Preece Ryan Newman race with them.
The 3rd series is the Whalen Modified tour. They race 16 times this season with the opener in February at New Smyrna Speedway and the season closing at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park in October. The series was formed in 1948 and has switched names three times, making it NASCARS oldest series. They race open wheel modified stock cars in the Northeast of the US, mostly on oval tracks, and this is NASCARS only open wheeled series, producing over 600 horsepower. Their biggest race will be in August at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and the series is moving over to the Midwest a little bit more.
The last and lowest NASCAR series is the NASCAR Youth Series. The drivers are ages 5–16 that race Quarter Midgets. This series began in 2008 to help younger drivers get a start in NASCAR, and they get to race at big tracks like Daytona International Speedway, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway. They race almost every week with 14 different classes each week. A lot of the big names like Jeff Gordon, Joey Logano, Ryan Preece and Ryan Blaney started their career in Quarter Midgets, and drivers like William Byron, Alex Bowman and Carson Hocevar started in the NASCAR Youth Series. Each race has around 300 entries, and they race 14 times throughout the year starting at Valley of the Sun in Arizona in February and ending at Huntsville Speedway in Alabama in October.
That is all I have for this article for All About NASCAR (part 2). I hope you learned a lot about the lower series of NASCAR! There is more info that I did not write about so I will post some other articles below to give you more in-depth information.
Written by Mary Badgley
Credits
SMART Modified Tour – About
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour – Overview
NASCAR Youth Series – Richmond Raceway