KLAS Motorsports went to Daytona International Speedway (FL) this past weekend with quite a to-do list. They brought two cars and three drivers to the two-day pre-season ARCA Menards Series test. Multiple objectives ended up being met with Andy Jankowiak driving the #71 Chevrolet entry and Glen Reen and Jonah Cullen sharing the #07 Ford entry.
A total of 82 drivers took part in the test. Jankowiak was ranked 12th on the overall speed chart with a best lap of 49.234 seconds. Reen was 32nd with a best lap of 50.547 seconds and Cullen was 39th with a best lap of 50.873 seconds.
Having all three competitors in the top half of the field was impressive, but even those numbers do not tell the entire story though. None of the KLAS entries took part in large group drafting, which increases speeds. Instead, the team worked on the goals of bettering each car, drafting as teammates in two-car packs and getting seat team for Daytona rookies Reen and Cullen.
“We are really happy with everything,” said Managing Partner Andy Seuss. “We had two fast racecars. We made some gains, we learned some things and we also learned what not to do. Overall, we are just really happy with the speed of our cars.
“We never really got worried about drafting, except with each other. We wanted to make sure that both (new) drivers were comfortable.”
“Both cars are very similar,” said Jankowiak. “I got to drive both. I think that we will come back with two good racecars. They drafted very well together and we were comfortable. We worked well as a team. We came out of this test clean and that’s a big relief. This is going to help us a lot.”
The team will field two entries in the February ARCA Menards Series opener with Reen behind the wheel of the #07. The Massachusetts driver had raced on the road course at Daytona before, but this test was his first time on the oval.
“It was a good time,” said Reen. “The whole KLAS Motorsports team is a dream to work with. We learned a lot today. Now we will go back and do some homework to get even better.
“I didn’t know what questions to ask until I was here. Now that I’ve run here, I have 50 questions that I didn’t know to ask before. I will write them all down on the flight home and we can sit down and figure it out. I think that we are going to be in good shape for the race.”
Cullen is part of the team’s driver development program and has been honing his craft on short tracks and road courses. The Daytona test marked his first time on a superspeedway and he took right to it.
“Jonah did a great job trying a superspeedway out for the first time,” said Seuss.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Cullen. “I’m super thankful for everything that has been done to put me in this racecar. It’s definitely a dream come true as I’ve been watching NASCAR on television since I was a little boy. To be able to do this as a driver now is pretty special. Hopefully, we can make a couple of ARCA starts this year around racing the Late Model, so maybe I’ll see you again at an ARCA race this year.”
Three drivers with three different agendas were successful at the test, which made the weekend a good one for KLAS Motorsports.
“It’s incredibly peaceful leaving Daytona this time,” said Seuss. “Last year, we had two cars at the test. This year, we came with two teams. We had some new faces this time and everybody worked together like they’ve been doing this for 100 years. I joke around that my goal as a manager is to do nothing when we get to the track. If I provide the right people and parts, I don’t have to do anything. This weekend was close to that. Everything flowed very well and this is the best that I’ve felt leaving a test in a long time.”
The KLAS team didn’t let their leader get too comfortable though.
“They let me help to push the car and made me feel like I part of the team,” laughed Seuss.
Kidding aside, the successful test will pay dividends beyond the Daytona race.
“How everything went will actually help us for Phoenix too,” said Jankowiak. “We aren’t going to go back to the shop and thrash to get ready for Daytona. We have a little massaging to do on the Chevy and the Ford has made some great gain, but we will also have time to work on getting the Phoenix car ready too (for the March 5th event there).”
The ARCA Menards Series will visit Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, February 14th for the ARCA Daytona 200. The race will kick off the 2026 season and will be televised live on the Fox television network starting at Noon ET.