Ever since NASCAR bought the ARCA Menards Racing Series a couple of years ago, it’s been long wondered what the organization would decide to do with it’s three competing series.
The pre-owned NASCAR K&N East and West series were already in conjunction with the same types of talent and, depending on what your view was, ARCA was not too far ahead/behind.
Now that the essential merger between the three series has been announced, ARCA has been cleared to release the 2020 campaign with some different nicks and challenges for their drivers.
The 2020 schedule includes the road course at Mid-Ohio, which is a first in over 50 years for the series.
Though with addition to a 20-race schedule, comes subtraction. Both Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola and Toledo Speedway in Ohio will lose their ARCA races.
Toledo has hosted the series a lot longer than Pensacola, but seeing both depart from the schedule isn’t much fun for an ARCA fan. The silver lining is that the series that covers basically every type of track stock cars can race on is finally heading to a road course next year.
The full schedule for the 2020 season can be found below:
2020 ARCA Menards Series Schedule
| DATE | TRACK | CITY |
| Saturday, Feb. 8 | Daytona International Speedway | Daytona, Fla. |
| Friday, March 6 | ISM Raceway | Avondale, Ariz. |
| Sunday, April 19 | Salem Speedway | Salem, Ind. |
| Friday, April 24 | Talladega Superspeedway | Talladega, Ala. |
| Thursday, May 21 | Charlotte Motor Speedway | Concord, N.C. |
| Friday, May 29 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Lexington, Ohio |
| Friday, June 5 | Michigan International Speedway | Brooklyn, Mich. |
| Thursday, June 18 | Chicagoland Speedway | Joliet, Ill. |
| Thursday, June 25 | Pocono Raceway | Long Pond, Pa. |
| Friday, July 3 | Lucas Oil Raceway | Brownsburg, Ind. |
| Saturday, July 11 | Elko Speedway | Elko, Minn. |
| Friday, July 17 | Iowa Speedway | Newton, Iowa |
| Saturday, Aug. 1 | WWT Raceway at Gateway | Madison, Ill. |
| Friday, Aug. 7 | Madison International Speedway | Madison, Wisc. |
| Friday, Aug. 14 | Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen, N.Y. |
| Sunday, Aug. 23 | Springfield Mile at Illinois State Fairgrounds | Springfield, Ill. |
| Saturday, Sept. 5 | Magic Mile at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds | DuQuoin, Ill. |
| Thursday, Sept. 17 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, Tenn. |
| Saturday, Sept. 26 | Memphis International Raceway | Millington, Tenn. |
| Friday, Oct. 16 | Kansas Speedway | Kansas City, Kan. |
Part of the merger between the series included the ARCA Showdown – which is a series of 10 races that are mostly Midwest based that will serve as combination races between the three previously existing series.
Below you can find the entire schedule for the 10 combination series – all of which are official 2020 ARCA Menards Series events.
2020 ARCA Showdown Schedule
| DATE | TRACK | CITY |
| Friday, March 6 | ISM Raceway | Avondale, Ariz. |
| Sunday, April 19 | Salem Speedway | Salem, Ind. |
| Friday, May 29 | Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course | Lexington, Ohio |
| Friday, July 3 | Lucas Oil Raceway | Brownsburg, Ind. |
| Saturday, July 11 | Elko Speedway | Elko, Minn. |
| Friday, July 17 | Iowa Speedway | Newton, Iowa |
| Saturday, Aug. 1 | WWT Raceway at Gateway | Madison, Ill. |
| Friday, Aug. 14 | Watkins Glen International | Watkins Glen, N.Y. |
| Thursday, Sept. 17 | Bristol Motor Speedway | Bristol, Tenn. |
| Saturday, Sept. 26 | Memphis International Raceway | Millington, Tenn. |
The ARCA Menards Series will conclude their 2019 season with the finale race at Kansas Speedway next Friday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. CT. The race will be televised by FS2.
Christian Eckes will enter with a 15-point lead in the points standings over Michael Self – essentially three positions on the track.
The ‘ARCA West’ and ‘ARCA East’ schedules have yet to be unveiled.
