Kitzmiller Leads Three Contenders Into ARCA East Title Tilt

Isaac Kitzmiller (left) leads rivals Tyler Reif (right) and Zachary Tinkle (not pictured) into the ARCA Menards Series East championship race at Bristol Motor Speedway Thursday. (Tanner Pearson/ARCA Racing photo)

BRISTOL, Tenn. – The ARCA Menards Series East is in an enviable position entering Thursday’s title-deciding combination race with the national series at Bristol Motor Speedway’s concrete high banks.

Three drivers – all with short-track backgrounds – have a mathematical shot at the championship, with only one able to hoist the season trophy at the end of the Bush’s Beans 200.

Leading the way is West Virginia teenager Isaac Kitzmiller, who comes into the final round of the eight-race ARCA East season 19 points ahead of main rival Tyler Reif, a fellow teen hailing from Nevada.

For the 16-year-old Kitzmiller, the math is simple. If he finishes 13th or better after 200 laps around the .533-mile Bristol oval, he’ll lock up the championship no matter what Reif does.

Kitzmiller can move that threshold to 14th or better with one lap led or the pole position; 15th or better with either the most laps led or one lap led and the pole position; or 16th or better if he earns all three bonus points available by leading the most laps and qualifying on the pole.

Things get interesting if Kitzmiller fades back below those scenarios.

Reif comes into Bristol with the tiebreaker over Kitzmiller, four top fives to three, but if he were to win the race the victory would immediately break the tie anyways because neither has won yet this season.

If neither he nor Kitzmiller wins or gets any bonus points during the race, Reif must finish 19 positions ahead of Kitzmiller for the crown.

Sounds simple, right? It hasn’t been recently, however, because the past two ARCA East point leaders entering the final race at Bristol have ultimately lost the championship.

That’s a trend that Kitzmiller wants to snap, and considering his league-best average finish this season among full-timers is a stout 5.6, he feels relaxed going in that he can control his own destiny.

“It’s easy to think about points and pressure, but for me, the focus is the same as it’s been all year,” said Kitzmiller. “If I do my job, keep the car clean, and put us in position at the end, the rest will take care of itself.”

Kitzmiller might not be feeling the weight on his shoulders, but he also doesn’t want to overlook the fact that trouble can easily bite a driver at The Last Great Colosseum if they aren’t cognizant.

“I know what’s happened the last couple of years, and it just shows how quickly things can change in this sport,” said Kitzmiller. “That’s why I can’t take anything for granted.

“We have to be on our game every lap, every pit stop, and every restart. If we do that, I believe we’ll put ourselves in the right spot to finish this off.”

Should Kitzmiller take the crown Thursday evening, he’ll become the first champion in East Series history – dating back to the regional stock car tour’s earliest days as the NASCAR Busch North (and then Busch East) Series – to be crowned champion.

He’d also be the first Mountain State native to earn a series title under ARCA sanction as well.

Reif, 18, aims to join Las Vegas product Dylan Kwasniewski as just the second Nevadan to hoist an East Series championship trophy during a wild week of racing.

Reif will drive a dirt micro sprint at North Carolina’s Millbridge Speedway Wednesday night, run the Bristol ARCA race Thursday, and cap things off with CARS Tour late model action at South Boston (Va.) Speedway on Friday and Saturday.

The ARCA title tilt is the most impactful of those moments, but Reif’s focus is on trophy hunting. If he does that, the points will either fall his way, or they won’t.

“We’re overdue for a win and ready to go get it,” said Reif after the penultimate East Series race at Iowa Speedway on Aug. 1. “A lot of things haven’t necessarily gone in our favor at times, but all we can do is come to the racetrack with speed ourselves because the math doesn’t let us control our fate. If we have the fastest car we’re capable of, I won’t lose too much sleep over how the championship turns out.”

Zachary Tinkle (John Harrelson/Nigel Kinrade Photography)

Lost in the tussle between Kitzmiller and Reif is Indiana’s Zachary Tinkle, who sits 30 points adrift of the lead in third place and does have a path to the East Series title, with 34 cars entered for Bristol.

It’ll take a lot of help for the 23-year-old to complete that dream, however. To even have a shot, Tinkle needs Kitzmiller to finish 25th or worse and Reif to be sixth or worse, and that’s if he goes out and gets max points himself.

But anything’s possible on race day, and just for Tinkle to be in contention for the crown at all is a huge accomplishment for the Fast Track Racing team owned by 1995 ARCA Menards Series national champion Andy Hillenburg.

“This year didn’t start out the way we wanted, with my being in a backup car the first several races, but we have persevered as a team and to be sitting third in points with a mathematical shot at the championship is unreal given all we’ve fought through,” Tinkle said Sept. 4. “It may be a long shot, but we’re all in on doing our best.

“I want to thank everyone on my team, as well as my fans, sponsors and supporters, the UNOH Motorsports students, and the [ARCA] officials for everything this past year and all my years with ARCA. It’s been a wild ride.”

Thursday’s stop at Bristol marks the 15th East Series race there dating back to 2012 and the sixth under ARCA sanction. William Sawalich, the two-time defending ARCA winner at Bristol who was the ARCA East champion in both 2023 and ’24, is not entered this year due to his full-time commitments in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

Broadcast coverage of Thursday’s Bush’s Beans 200 from Bristol is slated for 5:30 p.m. ET, live on FS1 and the FOX Sports App.