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NASCAR Update: ARCA Series Season Opener Moved Up to 10:30 PM Eastern Time

Published 02/16/2024, 1:27 PM EST

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The ARCA Menards Series Opener at Daytona International Speedway had been moved ahead of the schedule. The ARCA 200 race will be run at approximately 10:30 PM ET after the Craftsman Truck Series race. As a result of the weather forecast and weather situation, the change has been deemed necessary.

The ARCA races will be broadcast live on FS2 and then move to FS1 after the conclusion of the college basketball telecast. Contingency plans were very much in the works and by the looks of it, they will be put to use for the ARCA races. The rescheduling of the event is the second instance where a major race event had to be rescheduled following the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum.

ARCA 200 rescheduled for Friday

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The Hard Rock Bet 200 ARCA opener is shifted to Friday due to the weather forecast. The season opener race for ARCA was originally scheduled to take place on Saturday, but acting on contingency plans, the race is now been moved ahead. The Craftsman Truck Series has its qualifiers and race day scheduled for Friday, and after its conclusion, the ARCA event will run its course.

However, before they go into racing for the main events, the drivers will have to gear up for the dramatic qualifying sessions. 50 drivers are attempting to make the ARCA 200 Daytona race, and with just 40 spots available on the grid, it will be an action-packed qualifying session before the drivers get into the main event.

At Daytona International Speedway, the qualifying sessions are done in groups. Each group is made up of as many as nine race cars and is determined by a random draw. Four minutes is the time window allotted to each group when they are released from pit road, and the fastest lap by the drivers will decide their fate for the main race. The fastest 34 drivers will lock in their spots, while the final six spots are reserved for provisional starts.

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Learning from the mistakes of the Busch Light Clash, the officials had already set up a contingency plan, and with the announcement, they have put it in motion.

ARCA officials were ready to deal with a possible shift in schedule

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The ARCA officials were informed about a potential weather pattern that could hamper the race that was scheduled for Saturday. Therefore, they were steadfast in their approach to having a plan in place to shift the event if deemed necessary. The rains seemed to have tormented NASCAR since the start of the season, and the trend is now continuing at Daytona International Speedway.

The updates regarding ARCA bracing themselves for a rescheduling of its race were reported by Chris Knight via his X account, he wrote, “ARCA announces that in the event of inclement weather on Saturday and their race is postponed, their event although a “moving target” is slated for 9:00 am Monday.”

With Plan B now active, the teams, drivers, and even broadcasters will now have to tweak their schedules in order to make this race a success.

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Written by:

Chintan Devgania

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Chintan Mahesh Devgania is a NASCAR Writer at EssentiallySports. As someone who likes to dive deep into the sport, he often takes up less explored topics to eventually see them make their way into top stories. His report on Toyota’s young recruit, Jade Avedisian, sharing her thoughts on Late Model Racing, was an example of that.
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Edited by:

Rohan Karnad