ARCA EAST: Brayton Laster gets late call-up to Wayne Peterson Racing at Nashville Fairgrounds
by Ben Schneider / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
Brayton Laster finished last for the second time in his ARCA Menards Series East career in Saturday’s Cook Out Music City 150 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway when his No. 0 Jake’s Lettering Toyota fell out with mechanical issues after 2 of 150 laps.
The finish came in Laster’s ninth career ARCA East start.
Laster’s first appearance on this site came in 2023 at the ARCA / ARCA East combination race at Iowa Speedway, when he was driving the No. 01 for Fast Track Racing. Since then, he has made several ARCA starts for multiple different teams, including running the full national ARCA schedule in 2025 for Wayne Peterson Racing, where he scored a career-best finish of seventh at Springfield.
This season, Laster announced plans to emphasize quality over quantity, scaling back to part-time with both Peterson and Clubb Racing, Inc. Leading up to last week’s race, the No. 0 originally had Marty McClendon entered, but Laster confirmed on May 2 that he had received a late call-up to drive Peterson’s entry. This marked his second start for Peterson this season after finishing 23rd in the national ARCA race at Kansas. In an apparent planned “start-and-park” effort, Laster completed just two laps before pulling behind the wall. His night was not over, however, as he joined the pit crew of his teammate, Nate Moeller, refueling the No. 06 Toyota while Moeller drove to a 12th-place finish.
In total, 22 cars appeared on the entry list, though due to an engine failure on Clubb’s No. 86 entry, only 21 started the race. While the entry list initially had Brian Clubb driving the No. 03 with Jeff Maconi in the No. 86, Alex Clubb eventually took over the entry as Brian moved to the spotter stand for the 86 team. The two swapped entries after the engine failure. With the team already planning ahead for Watkins Glen, they rushed to convert Maconi’s new car from a road course setup back to an oval one, an effort Maconi described as “Herculean.” Clubb, meanwhile, was credited with a “did not start” and received 22nd-place points. Unfortunately, Maconi was involved in a multi-car crash, forcing another mad thrash to get ready for the next round in Watkins Glen.
Following Laster up the running order were Dustin Hillenburg, Maconi, and Michael Maples, all of whom sustained damage in a wreck after the Lap 42 restart. Rounding out the Bottom Five was Landon Brown, whose car did not refire after the scheduled halfway break.
At the front of the field, Max Reaves took yet another flag-to-flag victory for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 team, leading all 150 laps in his Cook Out Toyota to win the Cook Out-sponsored race. Landon S. Huffman finished second, while Tristan McKee maintained the series points lead with a third-place result.
DID NOT START
22) #86-Alex Clubb
THE BOTTOM FIVE
21) #0-Brayton Laster / 2 laps / quit/mechanical
20) #12-Dustin Hillenburg / 40 laps / accident
19) #03-Jeff Maconi / 41 laps / accident/mechanical
18) #99-Michael Maples / 41 laps / accident/mechanical
17) #69-Landon Brown / 78 laps / mechanical
2026 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST OWNERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 3 of 8)
1st) Tim Monroe Racing, Fast Track Racing, Wayne Peterson Racing (1)
2026 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 3 of 8)
1st) Ford (2)
2nd) Toyota (1)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Click HERE throughout the 2026 ARCA season to view the full drivers’ standings for both the ARCA Menards Series and its East and West divisions. You can also find the manufacturers’ and owners’ standings for all three series HERE.
2026 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST DRIVERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 3 of 8)
