2023 ARCA Menards Series West
The 2023 ARCA Menards Series West was the 70th season of the ARCA Menards Series West, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 10 at Phoenix Raceway with the General Tire 150 and ended with the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, also at Phoenix Raceway, on November 3.
Jake Drew entered the season as the defending champion. He did not return to the West Series full-time in 2023 and defend his title after Sunrise Ford Racing, the team that he drove for in 2022, closed down after the end of the season and he was unable to find a full-time ride with another team at the start of the 2023 season. At the conclusion of the season, Sean Hingorani of Venturini Motorsports clinched the ARCA Menards Series West championship.
Teams and drivers
Changes
Teams
- On November 4, 2022, Sunrise Ford Racing team owner Bob Bruncati revealed during Jake Drew's championship celebration at Phoenix that he would be closing down his team in the West Series and would focus on competing in local short track racing. In addition to Drew's 2022 championship, SFR won the 2009 championship with Jason Bowles and the 2013 and 2018 championships with Derek Thorn.
- 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.
Drivers
- On April 14, 2022, Todd Souza stated in an interview for the ARCA website that he might only run part-time in the West Series in 2023 in a new second car for his own team with someone else replacing him in his No. 13 car full-time. Although Souza did return for another full season in 2023, he and his team did debut a second part-time car, the No. 3, at Shasta with him driving that car and Tyler Reif driving his No. 13 car in that race.
- On March 29, 2023, it was announced that Jake Bollman would make his West Series debut in the race at Irwindale in April in the No. 55 car for High Point Racing and run multiple other races in the car in 2023.
- On September 29, 2023, Young's Motorsports announced that Mamba Smith would drive their No. 02 car in the West Series season-finale at Phoenix. Smith drove the same car in the main ARCA Series race at IRP in 2022. This will be his West Series debut.
Schedule
The full schedule was announced on November 22. Some race dates were announced before then. There are twelve races on the 2023 schedule, up from eleven in 2022.Note: The race at Phoenix in March was a combination race with the ARCA Menards Series.
Schedule changes
- Portland International Raceway only had one West Series race in 2023 after having two in 2022. The race at Portland on Labor Day weekend was removed.
- Shasta Speedway and Madera Speedway were both added to the schedule.
Broadcasting
Fox again broadcast the combination race at Phoenix in March. FloRacing broadcast the rest of the races.Results and standings
Drivers' championship
Notes:- The pole winner also receives one bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR.
- Additionally, after groups of five races of the season, drivers that compete in all five races receive fifty additional points. These points bonuses will be given after the races at Sonoma and the Las Vegas Bullring.
- * Sean Hingorani, Landen Lewis, Bradley Erickson, Tyler Reif, Trevor Huddleston, Tanner Reif, Kyle Keller, Todd Souza, David Smith, Takuma Koga, Ethan Nascimento, and Eric Nascimento received this points bonus for having competed in the first five races of the season. Hingorani, Huddleston, Tyler Reif, Souza, Erickson, Tanner Reif, Eric Nascimento, Keller, Koga, and Smith received the fifty bonus points for having competed in the next five races of the season. Hingorani, Tyler Reif, Huddleston, Erickson, Tanner Reif, Souza, Eric Nascimento, Keller, Koga, Smith, Ethan Nascimento, Nick Joanides, Kaden Honeycutt, Robbie Kennealy and Joey Iest all received this points bonus after competing in the final two races of the year.