Sammy Smith, the defending series champion in 2021 and 2022, moved up to the
NASCAR Xfinity Series to run full-time for
Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023 and therefore did not return to run full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and defend his title.
William Sawalich replaced him in the No. 18 car in 2023, which went back to being owned by JGR after being owned by
Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.[1] At the conclusion of the season, Sawalich clinched the ARCA Menards Series East championship.[2]
Teams and drivers
Note: If a driver is listed as their own crew chief for a particular race, that means that their entry in that race was a
start and park.
^
abBrad Smith ran the full season split between the No. 48 car for his own team and the No. 69 Kimmel Racing car which he used the owner points of at Milwaukee.
^
abcMonroe ran the full season split between the Nos. 12, 01 and 10 cars for
Fast Track Racing.
^Entry was fielded in a collaboration with
Vanco Racing.
On December 9, 2022, it was announced that the No. 18 car would go back to being owned by
Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023. It was owned by
Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.[1]
On January 8, 2023, it was announced that Tim Goulet Enterprises would rename to
Rise Motorsports in 2023 and continue to field the No. 31 car in the main ARCA Series and the East Series for
Rita Goulet (nee Thomason) and
Stephen Leicht.[28] On February 13, it was announced that they would run the full East Series season with Rita in 2023.[6] Goulet and Leicht are both scheduled to run the main ARCA/East Series combination race at Bristol so the team will likely field two cars in that race.[28][6]
On January 13, 2023,
Rev Racing announced that they would field a full-time car in the East Series again in 2023: the No. 6 driven by
Lavar Scott. The team last fielded a full-time East Series car in 2021 and only fielded part-time cars in the East Series in 2022.[5]
On January 18, 2023, it was announced that longtime main ARCA Series team
Venturini Motorsports would field a full-time car in the East Series for the first time since 2020 in 2023: the No. 15 driven by
Sean Hingorani.[9]
On February 3, 2023, it was announced that
Shane Huffman, who was previously the crew chief for
Bret Holmes Racing in the Truck and ARCA Series, would form a new ARCA and
late model racing team, Pinnacle Racing Group, with spotter Lorin Ranier and former driver
Josh Wise and would run full-time in the East Series in 2023, fielding the No. 28 Chevrolet.[3]
On February 24, 2023, it was revealed that Lowden Jackson Motorsports would debut in the East Series in 2023 after purchasing Fords from
David Gilliland Racing which switched to
Toyota and renamed to TRICON Garage. The team will field the No. 41 Ford driven by
Tyler Reif for the full season.[21]
Drivers
On December 6, 2022, it was announced that
Zachary Tinkle, who ran the full season in the main ARCA Series aside from the race at Mid-Ohio, would run full-time in the East Series in the No. 11 car for
Fast Track Racing in 2023. Fast Track was one of the teams he drove part-time for in 2022.[7]
On January 13, 2023,
Rev Racing announced that
Lavar Scott, who has been a driver for the team in
late model racing, would drive full-time for the team in the East Series in 2023 in their No. 6 car.
Andrés Pérez de Lara will also drive for Rev full-time in the main ARCA Series in the No. 2 car and will therefore be in the four main combination races the East Series has with the main ARCA Series.[5]
On January 18, 2023, it was announced that
Sean Hingorani, who drove part-time in the West Series for Nascimento Motorsports and
Bill McAnally Racing in 2022, would drive full-time in the East Series for
Venturini Motorsports in 2023 in their No. 15 car.[9] Hingorani will also drive the same car full-time in the West Series in 2023, attempting to win both championships in the same year.[29]
On February 13, 2023,
Rise Motorsports announced that
Rita Goulet (nee Thomason) would run full-time in the East Series in their No. 31 car in 2023.[6]
On February 24, 2023,
Tyler Reif revealed to Frontstretch that he would run the full season in the East Series in 2023 in the Lowden Jackson Motorsports No. 41 car in addition to running full-time in the West Series for the team. He will attempt to win both championships in the same year.[21]
Schedule
The full schedule was announced on November 22.[30] Some race dates were announced before then.[31][32] There are eight races on the 2023 schedule, up from seven in 2022.
Note: Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the
ARCA Menards Series.
On August 9, 2022, Mark Kristl from Frontstretch reported that
Flat Rock Speedway could be added to the East Series schedule in 2023.[33] This was officially announced by ARCA on November 18.[34] The race at Flat Rock, which will be on May 20, replaces
the race at
New Smyrna Speedway, which had been the season-opener for the East Series from
2014 to 2022.
On November 11, 2022, it was announced that the main ARCA Series race at
Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park would be a combination race with the East Series in 2023, giving the series a fourth combination race on top of the three returning ones from 2022 (Iowa, Milwaukee and Bristol).[32]
Broadcasting
After previously only broadcasting about half of the main ARCA Series races for several years, usually only the races that were on the same weekend at the same track as a NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and/or Truck race, Fox will broadcast all 20 main ARCA Series races in 2023 and this includes all four combination races with the East Series (Iowa, IRP, Milwaukee and Bristol). Previously, Bristol was the only East Series race televised on Fox as they were also broadcasting the Truck Series race there on that weekend.[35]
The pole winner also receives 1 bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR.[36]
Additionally, after groups of 5 races of the season, drivers that compete in all 5 races receive 50 additional points.[36] This points bonus will be given after the race at Iowa.
^"(Twitter post)". Twitter.
Landen Lewis. September 14, 2023. Retrieved November 3, 2023. I am so thankful to Jason, Cody and the entire @cr7motorsports team for the opportunity & bringing me a fast car.
^"(Twitter post)". Twitter.
Brad Smith. December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022. The #26 will ride again in ARCA possibly as soon as Daytona. We have been working on a second car for a while and it is almost ready to roll. We are also working on a back-up car ourselves for 2023. We fully expect to be a two-car team for all of the upcoming season. From Brad