For the first time in 12 years, 39-year-old Andrew Ranger took the green flag in an ARCA Menards Series race in the 2026 General Tire 100 at Watkins Glen International.
Ranger, a three-time NASCAR Canada Series champion and the all-time wins leader, announced on Wednesday that he would reunite with the NDS Motorsports No. 53 team to take on Watkins Glen. In five ARCA Menards Series starts on road courses from 2011 and 2014, Ranger and NDS Motorsports won four times, all at the New Jersey Motorsports Park.
“This is amazing, [it’s been] a crazy long time ago,” Ranger said to arcaracing.com about the opportunity. “I’m so happy just to be back in the ARCA Menards Series. It’s a fun series, and every time we raced ARCA, we did pretty well, finished in the top five, a lot of wins. It’s very exciting to be back with the No. 53 car.”
From the green flag, the Roxton Pond native vaulted up the running order. He crossed the line for the Reese’s Halfway Break in 13th place, up 19 spots in 22 laps. In the second half of the race he avoided trouble to climb a further six spots and cross the line in seventh place.
“I hope [this race leads to more ARCA opportunities],” Ranger said post-race, “we did really good, we ran the car last minute with Rob Torriere and ran really well. We started 32nd, finished 7th, so a really good job.”
Ranger’s 2026 NASCAR Canada Series campaign will start on May 17 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. He is scheduled to run ten of 13 races (including every road course race) in the Innovation Auto Sport No. 27 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which he ran full-time in 2024 and 2025.
