The 2026 ARCA Menards Series East season will kickoff Saturday Night, Mar. 28 at historic Hickory Motor Speedway. In what promises to be a historic night of racing, the driver lineup for this race is one of the most diverse entry lists that we have seen in any of NASCAR’s national touring series.
Making a historic first start will be Dystany Spurlock, as she will become the first black female driver to compete in a NASCAR sanctioned event. Spurlock comes from the world of Pro Stock Motorcycle drag racing, where she became the second black female driver to compete in an NHRA event at the 2025 Virginia Nationals. Spurlock hopes to add more races to her 2026 schedule.
Cleetus McFarland YouTube collaborator George Siciliano, aka “Squirrel McNutt”, will be making his ARCA debut Saturday night as well. This is the first of hopefully several starts in 2026 for Siciliano, as he starts to dip his feet into big-time stock car racing. Another driver making their series debut is Derek Kneeland, current spotter for Kyle Busch, Austin Hill, and Brandon “Butterbean” Queen. Unlike Spurlock and Siciliano, this could be Kneeland’s only start this season due to the strenuous and busy NASCAR schedule.
Reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion Isaac Kitzmiller looks to defend his title this season, but is also keen on capturing his first career victory. A reigning champion with no wins to his name is very impressive to begin with, but this season will be very different with direct competition from rising star Max Reeves. In his three East series starts in 2025, Reeves was undefeated. He also won three of his seven ARCA Menards Series National starts and looks to continue his dominance into 2026.
Saturday night’s race will kick off a back-to-back week of racing for the ARCA Menards Series East division as they will go to Rockingham Speedway for their second event of the season, followed by a month-long break before the third of eight scheduled races for 2026. The event will be broadcast on FloRacing and also streaming free on the NASCAR Channel at 7:30pm.
