Where: Madison International Speedway, Oregon, Wisconsin
When: Friday, June 14, 2019, 9 pm ET
Television: MAVTV, Live
Track Length: 0.500 miles
Banking: Turns: 18 degrees; straightaways: 8 degrees
Most Recent Winner: Chandler Smith, June 15, 2018, 79.570 miles per hour
Most Recent Pole Winner: Chandler Smith, June 15, 2018, 98.917 miles per hour
Track Qualifying Record: Alex Bowman, August 26, 2012, 99.486 miles per hour
• The ARCA Menards Series heads to Madison International Speedway for the eleventh time in series history in Friday’s Shore Lunch 200. There were three races in the 1970s, one each in 1970, 1971, and 1973, and then after a 38-year absence the series returned in 2011 and has raced there annually every year since with the exception of 2015.
• Ramo Stott won the first ARCA Menards Series race at Madison in 1970 driving a Plymouth. Tom Bowsher won in 1971 in a Ford and Bruce Gould, also in a Ford, won in 1973. Other winners include Alex Bowman in a Toyota in 2011, Chris Buescher in a Ford in 2012, Kyle Benjamin in a Toyota in 2013, Justin Boston in a Toyota in 2014, Josh Williams in a Chevrolet in 2016, Austin Theriault in a Toyota in 2017, and Chandler Smith in a Toyota in 2018. There has not been a repeat winner at Madison.
• Madison is literally the home of “fake news”; The Onion, a satirical newspaper, was founded in 1988 by college students Tim Keck and Christopher Johnson. The city is also home to “Brat Fest”, and in 2010 served 209,376 brats over a four-day period, a world record. There is no festival in the city, however, for unruly children, just sausages.
• Three drivers have earned their first ARCA Menards Series victory at Madison: Alex Bowman in 2011, Kyle Benjamin in 2013, and Chandler Smith in 2019. Benjamin’s win made him the youngest winner in series history at the time.
• Two drivers have earned their last, or most recent, ARCA Menards Series victory at Madison: Justin Boston in 2014 and Josh Williams in 2016.
• Four current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers finished in the top ten of the 2012 race: winner Chris Buescher drives for JTG Daughterty Racing, second-place Alex Bowman drives for Hendrick Motorsports, fourth-place Erik Jones drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, and eighth-place Chase Elliott also drives for Hendrick Motorsports. Buescher is a former ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series champion, and a former Cup Series winner. Jones is a former Gander Outdoors Truck Series champion, and Elliott is a former NASCAR XFINITY Series champion.
• The races at Madison in the 1970s were all scheduled for 100 laps/50 miles. Since the series returned in 2011, all of the races have been scheduled for 200 laps/100 miles. Only one race has gone into overtime, the 2012 race won by Chris Buescher, which was extended to 208 laps/104 miles.
• Chandler Smith in the only driver to win from the pole in the ten previous ARCA Menards Series races at Madison.
• The record for most caution flags in an ARCA Menards Series race at Madison, 13 for 73 laps, was set in 2011 when Alex Bowman won. The record for fewest caution flags in an ARCA Menards Series race at Madison is 3 for 24 laps set in 2014 in a race won by Justin Boston.