After kicking off the ARCA Menards Series East season last month at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway, East Series competitors will head back to the Sunshine State for Round 2 this Saturday night at Five Flags Speedway.

The Pensacola 200 at the half-mile paved oval in Pensacola, Florida, is scheduled for Saturday evening at 7 p.m. CT / 8 p.m. ET.

Saturday’s race is the third time Five Flags has hosted the East Series. The track has also hosted the ARCA Menards Series six times, including most recently in 2019 when Michael Self visited Victory Lane.

Tickets to Saturday’s Pensacola 200 are available. The race will be live streamed on FloRacing and broadcast via delay on USA Network on Monday, March 28, at 1 p.m. ET.

Pensacola 200 at Five Flags Speedway

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

The entry list for Saturday’s race, which will be released later this week, features the defending race winner as well as the driver who won the most recent ARCA Menards Series race last weekend at Phoenix Raceway.

Sammy Smith, the defending East Series champion, returns to Five Flags to defend his victory from one season ago. Last year he dominated the 200-lap event, leading 145 laps on his way to his first victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Smith this year is driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, which acquired the ARCA program previously owned by JGR. He opened the season on a strong note by winning the East Series opener Feb. 15 at New Smyrna and finished third last Friday at Phoenix.

His chief competition in Saturday’s race is expected to come from Taylor Gray, who turned tragedy into triumph Friday with a victory in the General Tire 150 at Phoenix. Gray, who will once again pilot the No. 17 David Gilliland Racing Ford, led 53 laps at Five Flags last year and was the only driver besides Smith to take a turn at the front of the field in that event.

Another notable entry is the debuting 16-year-old Jake Finch, the son of former NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series team owner James Finch. The younger Finch has been making a name for himself in the Southeast racing late models, and he captured the Outlaw division track championship at Five Flags last year.

“I’m excited and can’t wait for it to get here,” Finch said about making his East Series debut. “Obviously, I want to go out there and win every race. Some people have perceived my attitude about that a little wrong. If I’m not going out there to win, what’s the point in going out there at all?

“A good expectation, though, is to finish the race and learn as much as I can. You can’t learn much when you wreck early.”

Also making his East Series debut will be Ashton Higgins, who previously raced a late model for GMS Racing.

Other familiar names that will be in action Saturday include Willie Mullins, Donald Theetge, Leland Honeyman and Christian Rose, among others.

RACING REFERENCE:

• Previous ARCA races at Five Flags
• East Series drivers at Five Flags

RACE FACTS

CREW CHIEF HANDOUT: The starting field for the Pensacola is limited to 22 plus provisional positions. This event will be run under the 2022 ARCA Menards Series East rules, procedures, regulations and specifications.

QUALIFYING: Starting lineup set by each car’s fastest lap recorded during two-lap qualifying session.

RACE PIT STOP: Break pitting procedure. Breaks at or near the conclusion of Laps 75 and 125. No adding or moving tires to or from pit box after race has started. All cars will be required to make at least one pit stop prior to last 10 laps of race.

The maximum tire allotment available for this event is as follows: The maximum tire use at track for the event is 14. Per ARCA Rulebook, maximum number of tires allowed in pit box for use in race is six (6).