In consecutive weekends at Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway, the ARCA Menards Series and their East division decided their champions. Tristian McKee beat Max Reaves for the East title, while Nitro Motorsports teammates Jake Bollman and Thomas Annunziata had a heated battle for the main series championship. These four drivers certainly did not fly under the radar in 2026. Annunziata, McKee, and Reaves combined to seven ARCA wins while Bollman led the points for a majority of the season.
Outside of him, all three entered as ARCA winners at relatively known quantities. Additionally, all four drove for top teams of Nitro, Pinnacle Racing Group (McKee), and Joe Gibbs Racing (Max Reaves). Five additional drivers for these top teams, only one of whom earned any wins, entered the season less known. In select opportunities, these five drivers showed the entire racing industry that they have potential.
Carson Brown
The most accomplished driver on this list is Carson Brown. His first ten races were respectable, with a victory and eight podiums in nine starts, but that is the standard when driving the No. 28 Chevrolet for Pinnacle Racing Group. The 18-year-old development driver for Richard Childress Racing put on a show in the final four races, claiming three victories. These results propelled him to eighth in points, ahead of full-time driver Brad Smith.
Brown cut his teeth in the ASA STARS National Tour, earning ten top-10s in twelve starts including a victory in 2025. He returned to the series this season, and has four victories and eight top-5s in eight starts so far. The North Carolina-born driver will move in-house for 2027, as he will take over the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro from defending champion Jesse Love.
The 18-year-old appears to be the complete package. His four wins in 2026 all came on different track types, highlighted by a victory during his first intermediate race at Kansas Speedway. His rookie O’Reilly season may be a struggle, but Brown has proven in 2026 that he has earned the promotion.
Gavan Boschele
Gavan Boschele ran twelve races in the 2026 ARCA Menards Series. His first start came as a one off for Venturini Motorsports in 2024. Now in 2026, the 18-year-old piloted the No. 25 for Nitro Motorsports. In twelve starts, Boschele earned eight top-5s and ten top-10s, highlighted by a runner up at Pocono Raceway. Like Brown, Boschele showed his talent at all track types with top-5 finishes coming on intermediates, road courses, and short tracks. These opportunities came after partial CARS Tour starts from 2022 to 2024 and a full-time ASA campaign in 2025.
Additionally, Boschele has made two Craftsman Truck Series starts for TRICON Garage. He earned a top-10 on debut at Indianapolis Raceway Park, and was on his way to a second before a race ending crash at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Boschele will return to Tricon at Martinsville Speedway to make another Truck Series run this season. The Mooresville native proved in 2026 that he would be a strong choice to succeed Annunziata, who will not return full-time to ARCA in 2027, and contend for the championship.
Taylor Reimer
Unlike Brown and Boschele, Reimer made her name on the dirt. She drove in USAC from 2021 through 2024 and became the first female driver to win a National Midget Feature race. 2025 saw a full move to pavement, but Reimer’s ARCA career started in 2023 with various one-off starts for Venturini from that season to 2025.
This year, she’s run six events in the No. 77 for PRG and one for Central Coast Racing, marking her busiest ARCA season to date. Unfortunately, her season got off to a difficult start, with a 30th-place at Daytona International Raceway and a 30th-place at Phoenix Raceway. The 26-year-old rebounded at Talladega Superspeedway, earning the first of her five top-10s.
Reimer is a bit older then the other prospects on this list, but that has not mattered as much in recent seasons. In 2025, (an at the time) 27-year-old Brenden Queen won eight ARCA races for PRG on his way to the series championship and currently races for Kaulig Racing in the Truck Series. If the team wants to have a full-time driver again in 2027, Reimer could be a strong choice.
Lanie Buice
Another strong prospect is Lanie Buice who piloted the same No. 77 as Reimer in five ARCA races and went five-for-five in top-5 finishes. A runner up at Chicagoland Speedway and a pole at Pocono were the highlights of an impressive season for the 19-year-old.
Buice moved to PRG after a partial schedule in 2025 for Rev Racing and a full schedule in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour for Lee Pullium Performance.
As the Georgia-born driver mentioned in media availability at Kansas, she hopes to be full-time in “some series” in 2027. The opportunity to chase an ARCA title for Pinnacle would make sense given her strong runs in 2026. If the ARCA Menards Series sees it’s first female winner in 2027, Buice currently looks like the favorite to achieve it.
Jade Avadisian
Before her move to asphalt, Jade Avadisian was a dirt racing super star. The 20-year-old’s dirt racing career was highlighted by the 2023 Xtreme Midget Outlaw Series and her achievement as the youngest woman to appear at the Chili Bowl A-Main. Despite these dirt accomplishments, the move to pavement has not clicked right away for Avadisian.
In six starts for Nitro, Avadisian earned five top-10s but was shut out of the top-5. Despite this, the Californian showed flashes of brilliance. For example, she earned a pole in ARCA West and finished a season best sixth place at Chicagoland. Avadisian is a Toyota Racing Development driver. This, as well has her incredible dirt racing success, could lead to a full-time opportunity with Nitro Motorsports in 2027.
Looking Forward
Several recent drivers have risen to the top as part-time ARCA drivers. Connor Zilisch, Sammy Smith, Harrison Burton, William Sawalich, Todd Gilliland, and several other drivers have won O’Reilly and Truck Series races in recent seasons from part-time ARCA schedules. These drivers have all shown potential, and are all capable of proving themselves if the opportunity arises.
