ARCA announces return to Madison, Wisconsin in 2016

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(TOLEDO, Ohio – November 24, 2015) – For just the eighth-time ever, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will race at Madison International Speedway in Wisconsin in 2016. The race will be Sunday, June 19, 2016, series and track officials announced today.

“We feel honored to have ARCA back at Madison International Speedway.  The previous shows have treated our fans to some great battles amongst the up and comers of our sport,” said Madison International Speedway owner Gregg McKarns.

The ARCA Racing Series history stretches out over five decades at Madison Int’l Speedway, having first raced there in July of 1970 – two-time ARCA champion Ramo Stott earned the victory. Tom Bowsher won the ARCA race at Madison in May of 1971, and Bruce Gould is in the history books as the 1973 ARCA victor. However, nearly 40 years would elapse before the ARCA Racing Series would return to Madison in 2011.

Since the return, ARCA winners at Madison include Alex Bowman in 2011, Chris Buescher in 2012, Kyle Benjamin in 2013 and Justin Boston in 2014.

It’s an impressive list of winners. Bowman, an ARCA Rookie of the Year winner, just completed his second consecutive season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Buescher won his ARCA race at Madison during his championship season with Roulo Brothers and recently clinched his first NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. When Benjamin, a NASCAR Next participant, won at Madison in 2013, he became the youngest winner in series history. And, Boston ran most of this past season in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.

The ARCA Racing Series will race on Father’s Day Weekend at Madison in 2016, the week after the race on the two-mile Michigan International Speedway and the week before racing at historic Winchester Speedway.

“We expect another thriller on Father’s Day,” said McKarns, who along with his wife Angie purchased Wisconsin’s Fastest Half Mile last January.  “Our goal is to make this an annual event that Midwest Race Fans mark on the calendar each season, with live pit stops and the pageantry brought by the ARCA Series, this is a premier event at a premier facility.”

The half-mile paved oval features 11-degree banking in the turns and is located in the town of Rutland in rural Oregon, Wisconsin, near Madison. The track has undergone several renovations and name changes over the years but has long produced some outstanding racing.

“Madison is an interesting place,” said Benjamin, the 2013 ARCA winner. “You definitely have to save your tires for the end of the race, so it’s not just a hammer-down place; you’ve got to manage your way through the race, and I like that. You can easily burn your tires off there if you’re not careful.

“It’s the ultimate finesse track. You just can’t get the gas all the way down … you really have to half-throttle it. There are not a lot of places like that. The corners are really tight … that’s another cool thing about it.”

The June stop in Madison will be one of four races in June for the ARCA Racing Series.