2024 Pensacola 150


The 2024 Pensacola 150 was the first stock car race of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East season, and the 5th running of the event. The race was held on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida, a 0.5 mile permanent asphalt oval shaped short track. The race took the scheduled 150 laps to complete. In a thrilling race that featured an intense battle between Gio Ruggiero and William Sawalich, Ruggiero, driving for Venturini Motorsports, would take the lead from Sawalich on the final restart following the race break, and held him off for the final 70 laps to earn his first career ARCA Menards Series East win. Sawalich, who started on the pole, dominated the first half of the race, leading a race-high 80 laps before losing the lead on the final restart and ultimately finished 2nd. To fill out the podium, Bubba Pollard, driving for Phoenix Racing, would finish 3rd, respectively.

Report

Background

Five Flags Speedway is a half-mile paved oval racetrack in Pensacola, Florida. It opened in 1953 and is located on Pine Forest Road. It is christened after the nickname of Pensacola—"City of Five Flags."
It runs several local classes during the regular racing season. These classes include Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Pro Trucks, Outlaw Stocks, Sportsman, and Pure Stocks. The races are usual held on Friday nights bi-weekly. The track has also hosted many regional touring series.
In 2019, the ARCA Menards Series returned to the track, but for one year only. After the merge between ARCA and NASCAR after the 2019 season, the former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, began racing at Five Flags in 2020.

Entry list

denotes rookie driver.

Practice

The first and only practice session was held on Saturday, March 23, at 2:30 PM EST, and would last for 60 minutes. Jake Finch, driving for Venturini Motorsports, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 17.479, and a speed of.

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, March 23, at 5:00 PM EST. The qualifying system used is a single-car, two-lap based system. All drivers will be on track by themselves and will have two laps to post a qualifying time. The driver who sets the fastest time in qualifying will win the pole.
William Sawalich, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 17.126, and a speed of.
Three drivers withdrew from the race: Ed Pompa, Brad Smith, and Dale Shearer.

Standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings
PosDriverPoints
1Gio Ruggiero47
2William Sawalich45
3Bubba Pollard41
4Connor Zilisch40
5Hunter Wright39
6Mike Basham38
7Jake Finch37
8Zachary Tinkle36
9D. L. Wilson35
10Cody Dennison34

  • Note: Only the first 10 positions are included for the driver standings.