The 2021 ARCA Menards Series West was the sixty-eighth season of the ARCA Menards Series West, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Phoenix Raceway with the General Tire 150 and ended with another race at Phoenix Raceway, the Arizona Lottery 100, on November 6.
Teams and drivers Complete schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Chevrolet BMI Racing 88 Bridget Burgess Sarah Burgess Ford Naake-Klauer Motorsports 54 Joey Iest Mike Naake Sunrise Ford Racing 6 Trevor Huddleston Bill Sedgwick 9 Jake Drew (R) Jeff Schrader Toyota Bill McAnally Racing 16 Jesse Love Travis Sharpe John Camilleri 99 Cole Moore (R) Mario Isola Jerry Pitts Racing 7 Takuma Koga Jerry Pitts Performance P-1 Motorsports 77 Tony Toste Dave McKenzie Dave Smith Nick Joanides Mariah Boudrieau Caleb Costner Ryan Roulette Ford Toyota Central Coast Racing 13 Todd Souza Michael Muñoz Chevrolet Toyota Hillis Racing Bobby Hillis Jr. Ed Ash Toyota Chevrolet Pedroncelli Racing 33 P. J. Pedroncelli Ty Joiner
Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Rounds Chevrolet Brad Smith Motorsports 48 Brad Smith Kevin Schwarze Fast Track Racing 01 Bryce Haugeberg Kevin Cram 12 D. L. Wilson Dick Doheny GMS Racing 21 Jack Wood Chad Bryant 22 Daniel Dye Kart Idaho Racing 11 Andrew Tuttle Tony Jackson Pedroncelli Racing 31 Paul Pedroncelli Mike Regelman Rodd Kneeland Philpott Race Cars 52 Ryan Philpott Chuck Dozhier Rev Racing 2 Nick Sanchez Steve Plattenberger 66 Rajah Caruth Glenn Parker Richmond Clubb Motorsports 27 Tim Richmond Alex Clubb Rodd Racing 68 Rodd Kneeland Chris Drysdale RSS Racing 28 Kyle Sieg Jeff Green Spurgeon Motorsports 86 Tim Spurgeon Mike David Steve McGowan Motorsports Zane Smith Bruce Cook Sean Samuels Amber Slagle Conner Jones Young's Motorsports 02 Toni Breidinger Ryan London Ford Borneman Motorsports 8 Johnny Borneman III Tony Caputo David Gilliland Racing Taylor Gray Chad Johnston 45 Jake Garcia Mike Hillman Jr. 46 Thad Moffitt Derek Smith J. P. Bergeron 71 Taylor Gray Chad Johnston Fast Track Racing 10 Mark Lowrey Jeff McClure High Point Racing 51 Dean Thompson (R) Travis Thirkettle Ryan Partridge Jerry Pitts Racing 5 Kyle Keller Charlie Wilson Rette Jones Racing 30 Max Gutiérrez Mark Rette Stewart-Haas Racing 14 Chase Briscoe Johnny Klausmeier Toyota Bill McAnally Racing 1 Jolynn Wilkinson Mario Isola John Camilleri 4 Dylan Lupton J. R. Norris 5 Sebastian Arias Gary Collins 19 Derek Kraus John Camilleri Mike Nascimento Eric Nascimento Amber Balcaen Jolynn Wilkinson Sebastian Arias Cook-Finley Racing 42 Tony Toste Amber Slagle Christian Rose Evan Bertone Fast Track Racing 11 Richard Garvie Steven Barton Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Ty Gibbs Mark McFarland 81 Sammy Smith Nascimento Motorsports 4 Eric Nascimento Mike Nascimento Venturini Motorsports 15 Drew Dollar Billy Venturini 20 Corey Heim Shannon Rursch Gracie Trotter Dave Leiner Jr. 25 Gracie Trotter Kevin Reed Parker Chase 55 Toni Breidinger Shannon Rursch Velocity Racing 78 Travis Milburn Roger Bracken Chevrolet Ford Toyota Kart Idaho Racing 08 Josh Fanopoulos Joe Daley John Wood Jeremiah Clever Stafford Smith Mike Holleran Caleb Costner Unknown Chevrolet Toyota 21 Josh Fanopoulos Joe Daley John Wood Dennis Wurtz Unknown Ford Toyota 38 Hiroyuki Ueno Mike Holleran Dave Smith Unknown Stafford Smith Mike Holleran Chevrolet Toyota Legal Limit Motorsports 80 Brian Kamisky Derrick Copeland
Notes
Changes Teams On December 16, 2020, it was revealed in an article on the ARCA website that Bridget Burgess would attempt to run the full season in the West Series in 2021. She ran most of the races in 2020 (all of them except the doubleheader at UMC). On January 4, 2021, Bill McAnally Racing announced their 2021 driver lineup, with defending series champion Jesse Love moving from the closed No. 19 car to the No. 16, replacing Gio Scelzi, and rookie Cole Moore driving the No. 20 (it would later be changed to the No. 99). The team cut back from 4 full-time cars to 2 in 2021, which left Scelzi and Holley Hollan (who drove the closed No. 50 car) without rides in 2021. They also had a 5th full-time car to start the 2020 season, the No. 12 of Lawless Alan, which was closed down mid-season. Gracie Trotter, who drove the No. 99 in 2020, left the team to move up to the main ARCA Series in 2021, driving for Venturini Motorsports. On February 2, 2021, it was announced that High Point Racing, a late model racing team in the Spears Southwest Tour, would expand to the West Series in 2021, fielding the No. 51 for rookie Dean Thompson, their driver in that series in 2020. They formed an alliance with Sunrise Ford Racing to help get their new team off the ground. Stewart-Haas Racing returned to the series for the race at Sonoma to field a car for Chase Briscoe, their Cup Series driver, in preparation for Briscoe's first Cup Series start at the track the next day. In the race, the team used a Ford that was owned by Chad Bryant, the former owner of Chad Bryant Racing who closed his team down and merged it into GMS Racing where he became a crew chief.
Drivers On November 2, 2020, it was announced that Jack Wood, who drove part-time in the West Series in 2019 and 2020 for his own team, the No. 78 Toyota for Velocity Racing, would join GMS Racing to replace two-time consecutive East Series champion Sam Mayer in the team's No. 21 car, running full-time in the East Series as well as the Showdown races in the big ARCA Menards Series in 2021. Mayer moved up to the Xfinity Series in June 2021, driving for JR Motorsports after turning 18 and therefore becoming eligible to race in the series. Despite this, Velocity Racing would continue as a part-time team, and the team entered the last two races of the season with Travis Milburn driving the No. 78 car in a collaboration with Kart Idaho Racing, the team he previously drove for. On January 18, 2021, it was announced that Blaine Perkins, who drove the No. 9 for Sunrise Ford Racing in 2020 and finished second in the standings, would move up to the Xfinity Series in 2021, driving part-time for Our Motorsports. Rookie driver Jake Drew replaced Perkins in the SFR No. 9. On January 20, 2021, it was announced that Takuma Koga, who drove the No. 77 for Performance P-1 Motorsports in 2019 and 2020, would be moving to Jerry Pitts Racing in 2021 to drive their No. 7 in 2021. On May 14, 2021, it was announced that former JR Motorsports late model racing driver Adam Lemke would make his stock car debut in 2021, competing in select main ARCA Series, East Series, and West Series races for Rette Jones Racing. (Lemke would end up only running 1 main ARCA Series race for the team and no West Series races,) even though ARCA East driver Max Gutiérrez would attempt the season finale at Phoenix for RJR. On March 2, 2021, it was announced that Tony Toste would return to the series full-time for the first time since 1998 and would drive for Performance P-1 Motorsports, replacing Koga in the team's No. 77. However, the deal fell apart after just 1 races, as Dave Smith, Nick Joanides, Mariah Boudrieau, Caleb Costner, and Ryan Roulette split the seat time for the rest of the season. Toste did run 1 more West Series race in 2021, which was at Sonoma where he drove the No. 42 for Cook-Finley Racing. On August 20, 2021, the day before the second race at Irwindale, Dean Thompson tested positive for COVID-19 and was replaced by Ryan Partridge for that race. Partridge, a former Sunrise Ford Racing driver, made his first start in the series since 2018. SFR has an alliance with Thompson's team, High Point Racing.
Crew chiefs On December 16, 2020, it was revealed in an article on the ARCA website that Sarah Burgess, the mother of Bridget Burgess who served as her crew chief in 2020, expressed an interest in stepping off the pit box if possible and potentially racing against her daughter in a West Series race in 2021. (This did not end up happening and Sarah Burgess crew chiefed Bridget in every race in 2021.) Both of the crew chiefs for Bill McAnally Racing's full-time cars were new in 2021, with Travis Sharpe crew chiefing Jesse Love's No. 16 and Mario Isola crew chiefing Cole Moore's No. 99. Also, Sharpe would miss the race at Sonoma and was replaced by John Camilleri, who crew chiefed the No. 19 in most races in 2021. After having 4 different crew chiefs in 2020, Performance P-1 Motorsports had another new crew chief in 2021, Dave McKenzie.
Manufacturers On December 16, 2020, it was revealed in an article on the ARCA website that Bridget Burgess would attempt to buy newer cars and equipment for her family team in 2021, which borrowed an old 2007 Toyota from Bill McAnally Racing for their starts in 2020. The team ran a Chevy in every race in 2021. On January 20, 2021, it was revealed in the announcement of Takuma Koga joining Jerry Pitts Racing that the team would be switching from Ford to Toyota in 2021. However, they would have a Ford entry for Kyle Keller at the LVMS Bullring. Todd Souza's No. 13 team ran both Fords and Toyotas after only running Toyotas in 2020.
Schedule Sonoma, Las Vegas, and Phoenix revealed their race dates ahead of the release of the entire schedule, which ARCA announced on December 18, 2020.
Note: The race at Phoenix in March was a combination race with the ARCA Menards Series (highlighted in gold).
No Race title Track Date 1 General Tire 150 Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Arizona March 12 2 General Tire 200 Sonoma Raceway, Sonoma, California June 5 3 NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, California July 3 4 NAPA Auto Parts Colorado 150 Colorado National Speedway, Dacono, Colorado July 31 5 NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford Irwindale Speedway, Irwindale, California August 21 6 Portland 112 Portland International Raceway, Portland, Oregon September 11 7 Star Nursery 150 Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Bullring), Las Vegas, Nevada September 23 8 NAPA Auto Care 150 All American Speedway, Roseville, California October 9 9 Arizona Lottery 100 Phoenix Raceway, Avondale, Arizona November 6
Results and standings Race results No. Race Pole position Most laps led Winning driver No. Winning team Report 1 General Tire 150 Toyota 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Report 2 General Tire 200 Ford 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Report 3 NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame Toyota 16 Bill McAnally Racing Report 4 NAPA Auto Parts Colorado 150 Ford 54 Naake-Klauer Motorsports Report 5 NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford Toyota 16 Bill McAnally Racing Report 6 Portland 112 Ford 17 David Gilliland Racing Report 7 Star Nursery 150 Ford 17E David Gilliland Racing Report 8 NAPA Auto Care 150 P. J. Pedroncelli Toyota 33 Pedroncelli Racing Report 9 Arizona Lottery 100 Toyota 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Report
Drivers' championship
Notes: The pole winner also receives one bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR. Additionally, after groups of five races of the season, drivers that compete in all five races receive fifty additional points. Jesse Love, Jake Drew, P. J. Pedroncelli, Cole Moore, Joey Iest, Todd Souza, Trevor Huddleston, Takuma Koga, Bridget Burgess, and Bobby Hillis Jr. received this points bonus for having competed in the first five races of the season (the first race at Phoenix, Sonoma, the first race at Irwindale, Colorado, and the second race at Irwindale). Those ten drivers along with Paul Pedroncelli and Taylor Gray received this points bonus for having competed in the last four races of the season (Portland, the Las Vegas Bullring, Roseville, and the second race at Phoenix).
(key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led. ** – All laps led.