Iowa native Mitchell kicks off NASCAR Cup Series weekend in ARCA race

West Des Moines native Mason Mitchell returns home this weekend when the ARCA Menards Series returns to Iowa Speedway.

Mitchell will race in his No. 25 Pro Seed Toyota for Venturini Motorsports and hopes to finish near the front for the second straight season. He will be competing at Iowa for the eighth time in his career for the Atlas Roofing 150.

“We’re capable of winning,” Mitchell said. “I feel like I’m always in contention at Iowa. There’s added pressure with family and friends being there. The track brings out good racing for the fans and I love the short-track atmosphere.”

Mitchell was the 2014 ARCA Menards Series champion, and he drove to Victory Lane at Iowa in 2015.

He sold all racing operations in 2018 but returned to racing a few years ago, placed third at Iowa last summer and hopes for a full-time ride in 2026.

Mitchell, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Wednesday’s Iowa Cubs game, finished third at Kansas on May 9, took seventh at Berlin Raceway on June 14 and placed 15th at Indianapolis in ARCA’s most recent race on July 25.

Things are much different for Mitchell in the ARCA Series these days. He’s now 31 years old and competing against teenagers in some instances.

“It doesn’t feel different,” Mitchell said. “It is what it is. I don’t really think about it. I like to think my maturity and experience help me.”

The ARCA Menards Series kicks off a tripleheader at Iowa Speedway this weekend. The Atlas Roofing 150 drops the green flag at 6 p.m.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns for its second summer in Newton and hits the track for the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series gets its turn for the Hy-Vee Perks 250 at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Kyle Larson, who is currently third in the points standings and second in the playoff rankings, was in town back in April to promote the race weekend.

He had one of the fastest cars last summer at Iowa but got caught up in a wreck and did not finish. He’s won three Cup Series races this summer and trails points leader Chase Elliott by 15 points in the standings.

Larson has led the most laps (854) in the Cup Series this season.

“The racing was good last year and the atmosphere was awesome,” said Larson, who competed at Iowa in ARCA in 2012 and in the Xfinity Series in 2013. “It felt like a new track because it had been so long since we were last here. I didn’t have a lot of expectations. The new pavement changed a lot. It was really old before. It was fun.”

Larson said he comes to Iowa once or twice every summer to compete at the Knoxville Nationals. He said a testing session at Gateway should help the series with its short-track package.

“I love Iowa. There are some great Midwest fans here,” Larson said. “The sold-out crowd last year was really good. I enjoyed that part of it.”

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race is once again sold out. And Corey Kent kicks off the day with a pre-race concert as part of the Busch Light Summer Music Series starting at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.

• Three Chevrolets lead the Cup Series point standings after 22 starts. Elliott has just one win but seven top-five finishes and 12 top 10s this season. He also has zero DNFs and leads William Byron by four points. Byron, who was the 2017 Xfinity Series winner at Iowa, has led 769 laps and has one victory. Larson’s season is highlighted by 13 top 10s. A trio of Toyotas are next as Denny Hamlin (706), Tyler Reddick (655) and Christopher Bell (664) are 4-5-6 in the standings. Hamlin has four wins this summer, while Bell and Shane Van Gisbergen each have three victories. Single wins have been captured by Ryan Blaney, Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Bubba Wallace, Austin Cindric and Josh Berry. Wallace claimed his third career win and his first since 2022 at Indianapolis this past weekend and Blaney was the Cup Series winner at Iowa last summer. Byron, Elliott, Bell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. completed the top five. Cup Series practice takes place at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and qualifying begins at 1:40.

• The point standings and the playoff rankings are two different things. Hamlin leads the playoff rankings, while Larson, Bell, Van Gisbergen, Elliott, Byron, Blaney, Briscoe, Wallace and Logano also are currently about the top-12 cutoff. Kyle Busch is currently 15th in the Cup Series standings and is 39 points off the final playoff spot. He won the Xfinity Series race at Iowa in 2010. “I think we learned what not to bring back here,” Busch said after a testing session at Iowa earlier this spring. “We’re still trying to figure things out. The bumps into turn one are a bit sketch. Everyone will have their hands full to get that where they want it.”

• Ryan Preece won the Xfinity Series race at Iowa in 2017. He’s currently 42 points back of a playoff spot. Chris Buescher, who is only one of two Ford drivers in the top 10 of the point standings, won the Xfinity Series race in 2015, Briscoe won an ARCA Series race at Iowa in 2016 and Blaney also won an Xfinity Series race at Iowa in 2015. Bell is a two-time winner at Iowa, claiming victories in the Xfinity Series in 2018 and 2019. Blaney is the top Ford driver in the standings as he sits seventh with 616 points.

• Justin Allgaier leads the NASCAR Xfinity Series with 750 points and three wins, but Connor Zilisch has a series-most five victories. Zilisch, who won last year’s ARCA race at Iowa, has won three straight races in the Xfinity Series and gave JR Motorsports their 100th career win this past weekend. Sam Meyer, who won last year’s Xfinity Series race at Iowa, is third in the point standings and the only Ford driver in the top seven of the standings. Jesse Love (654) and Austin Hill (650) are fourth and fifth, respectively, in their Chevrolets and Brandon Jones (595) is the only Toyota driver in the top eight. Hill has three wins this season. Allgaier, who is coming off a 36th-place finish at Indianapolis this past weekend, won at Iowa in 2018. Sheldon Creed, the other Ford driver in the top 10 of the point standings, won an ARCA Series race at Iowa in 2018. There have been 21 Xfinity Series races at Iowa. NASCAR Xfinity Series practice starts at 10 a.m. on Saturday and qualifying kicks off at 11:05.

• King of the Hill, the critically acclaimed animated comedy series streaming on Hulu, is providing NASCAR veteran Joey Gase the opportunity to pull double-duty behind the wheel of King of the Hill-themed race cars at his home track, Iowa Speedway. Gase will drive in the NASCAR Cup Series Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on Sunday and in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Hy-Vee Perks 250 on Saturday, King of the Hill ran for 13 seasons from 1997 to 2009 and has been revived, starring Mike Judge, Kathy Najimy, Pamela Adlon, Johnny Hardwick, Stephen Root, Lauren Tom and Toby Huss. All seasons of the Emmy® Award-winning series are now streaming on Hulu with Season 14 set to premiere exclusively on Hulu on August 4 with a 10-episode run. The 32-year-old Gase is elated to represent this renowned show at the 0.875-mile track. “I’m excited to have King of the Hill not only on my Xfinity car, but also my Cup car, at my home track, Iowa Speedway,” Gase said. “It’s a show I have been watching since I was a teen, and it’s going to be really cool to help them set off their brand-new season on Hulu.” The Cedar Rapids native earned his best NASCAR Xfinity Series finish of 2024 at Iowa and brings a wealth of experience to the table. With more than 390 NASCAR national series starts, including 18 at Iowa, Gase is well-prepared for the challenges awaiting him while competing with his No. 53 Chevrolet Camaro in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and No. 66 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series.

• Rising star Carson Hocevar will drive the No. 11 NASCAR Xfinity Series entry for Kaulig Racing at Iowa in the HyVee Perks 250. Hocevar, a 22-year-old, drives full time in the NASCAR Cup Series for Spire Motorsports. Hocevar has just six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in his career but burst onto the scene as a championship contender in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with five career wins and a Championship Four appearance in 2023. “I love to race, anywhere, anytime, so when I was asked to drive the Kaulig Xfinity car at Iowa, I jumped at the opportunity,” Hocevar said. “I’m grateful to the team at Kaulig Racing for believing in me and to Jeff Dickerson and my Spire team for letting me have some fun with the 11 team this weekend. I promise to make the most of it.”

• The ARCA Series Atlas Roofing 150 can been on FS1. Brenden Queen leads the ARCA season standings with 554 points. He’s won four times in the 11 races this summer, while Brent Crews has two wins in his four races. Lawless Alan (528), Lavar Scott (517), Jason Kitzmiller (454) and Isabelle Robusto (437) complete the top five. The top eight in the current standings have completed all 11 races. Practice for the ARCA Series starts at 2:30 p.m. on Friday and qualifying begins at 3:30.