ARCA EAST: Defending champion Moeller opens season with engine issues

(Photo: David PeQueen/@CarSDS2078)

by Ben Schneider / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer

Nate Moeller finished last for the 4th time in his ARCA Menards Series East career in Saturday’s Pensacola 150 at Five Flags Speedway when his No. 0 Peterson Motorsports Ford fell out with engine issues after completing 2 of 150 laps.

The finish came in Moeller’s 7th career series start.

Saturday’s race in Pensacola was Moeller’s first ARCA-sanctioned start of the 2024 season. For the third year in a row, he has returned to the East Series to run an additional “start-and-park” entry for Wayne Peterson’s ARCA program. After running two races in ARCA East in 2022, Moeller’s number of season starts doubled to four in 2023, with “brakes” listed as his reason out in all four of them. Throughout his seven total starts in the East Series, he has only completed a total of 74 laps. In ARCA’s national tour, however, Moeller was able to go the distance in last year’s season finale at Toledo, finishing under power in 13th out of 18 cars after completing 177 of 200 laps.

As for Peterson Motorsports, the team’s other entry of Cody Dennison’s No. 06 Toyota completed 142 laps and picked up a top-ten finish as a result. It was a welcomed change of pace for Dennison, who was unable to qualify for the first two rounds of the ARCA season at Daytona and Phoenix but made the most of his East Series debut on Saturday night.

In total, 18 cars appeared on the entry list - due to the withdrawals of Brad Smith and Dale Shearer, only 16 started the race. Moeller did not set a qualifying time, placing him in the 16th and final spot on the grid. Of those that made it out on track, Presley Sorah, making his ARCA East debut, anchored the field with a time of 19.712. Rita Goulet, Michael Maples, and Dennison brought up the Bottom Five positions on the starting grid.

Following Moeller up the running order in the race results was Tyler Scofield, whose No. 07 Chevrolet suffered electrical issues after completing 29 laps. Sorah was only able to go 13 laps further than Scofield before his No. 12 Toyota developed terminal electrical problems of its own. This allowed Goulet and Maples to each improve one spot on their qualifying results, placing 13th and 12th respectively to round out the Bottom Five.

At the front of the field, Gio Ruggiero beat polesitter William Sawalich to take his first ARCA-sanctioned victory in just his second East Series start and third in ARCA overall. Bubba Pollard, who will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut for JR Motorsports this weekend at Richmond, came home third, the first car one lap down. Connor Zilisch, who finished fourth in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut at Circuit of the Americas earlier the same day, also took fourth at Five Flags and likely would have finished higher had his car not suffered an electrical issue shortly before the halfway break.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

16) #0-Nate Moeller / 2 laps / engine

15) #07-Tyler Scofield / 29 laps / electrical

14) #12-Presley Sorah / 42 laps / electrical

13) #31-Rita Goulet / 120 laps / running

12) #99-Michael Maples / 131 laps / running

2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Peterson Motorsports (1)

2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (1)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Click HERE throughout the 2024 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.

2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES EAST DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP