By Michael Heilman

The ARCA Menards East Series, formerly known as the NASCAR K&N Pro East Series, released its 2020 schedule that features seven races and the ten race ARCA Series Showdown.

The 2020 season kicks off at New Smyrna Speedway on Monday, February 10th, and concludes on September 12th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

2019 champion Sam Meyer is looking forward to defending his title next year, saying, “I am looking forward to returning to the East series to defend my title in 2020.”

Meyer, the youngest NASCAR champion in history, added that the competition would only get tougher “I had so much fun racing in that series this year and learned so much at every race. The competition was tough, and I’m sure it will be even better next year. With the series combining, it will give me the opportunity to race against some new drivers and become more competitive. Hopefully we can go out and win a bunch of races and take home another East series championship.”

Venturini Motorsports co-owner Billy Venturini on how the new schedule will allow his team to compete in both ARCA and the ARCA Menards East Series saying “Our team will continue to compete in the ARCA Menards Series, as we have since 1982, but this schedule gives us the flexibility to run these seven races as well. It’s great to be able to offer this to the young drivers we are working within 2020 and beyond.”

The ARCA Menards East Series races will air on NBCSN. Broadcast dates and times will be released at a later date.