The 2026 ARCA Menards Series schedule got started with its biggest race of the year last month at Daytona International Speedway (FL), but now the true grind of the season starts for KLAS Motorsports and Andy Jankowiak – the driver of the team’s #71 entry. This Thursday, the team will compete on the one-mile tri-oval at Phoenix International Raceway (AZ) in the General Tire 150.
The KLAS Motorsports team had a milestone race at Daytona by fielding two entries and collecting top ten finishes with both. Glen Reen placed fifth in the #07 car and Jankowiak placed tenth in the #71. Still, Jankowiak was not satisfied. Instead of celebrating the Daytona success, he immediately put his mind on the Phoenix race.
“I’m excited to go home, get on the sim and prep for Phoenix,” said Jankowiak before even leaving the pits after the Daytona race. “We will get after that one.”
Jankowiak stayed true to his promise. For the past three weeks, he has been laser-focused on the Phoenix race. He has worked with the team in the North Carolina shop of KLAS Motorsports to get ready for Phoenix while honing his craft online with simulated racing as often as he gets the chance to.
“I’ve won about 12 iRacing (ARCA) events at Phoenix in the past week,” reported Jankowiak on Monday afternoon. “The car that we are bringing to Phoenix is a new one for us and as I was in the shop, I noticed that it is set up a lot like the iRacing car. Everything, even the brake bias (knob), is in the identical spot.”
The car that KLAS Motorsports is bringing to Phoenix is one that they acquired from the former Rev Racing team, who won the 2022 and 2024 ARCA Menards Series championships. Once they got it to their own shop, the KLAS team adapted it to their specifications and now they have it well prepared for Phoenix.
“The team has worked hard for Phoenix,” said Jankowiak. “I got to work on the car as much as they would let me. (Crew Chief) Mike (Dayton) even told me that I did a good job a few times!
“This car has some history to it. It’s an older car, but I love keeping older cars racing and making them work. I’m a big believer in cars that have a little magic to them.”
Harassing that magic will take some focus.
“Immediately in practice at Phoenix, we are going to have to start building a new notebook with this car,” said Jankowiak. “But the weather looks good and we should be able to have all of our scheduled practice, so we will see how we stack up. There is a stacked field of ARCA and ARCA West cars for this race so there will be nowhere to hide with all of the good cars. It is going to be a lot of fun.”
Whelen Engineering and Phillips 66 Lubricants will be primary sponsors for the #71 at Phoenix.
Additional partners for the #71 at Phoenix include Dak’s Markets, Acacia Energy, Automotive Consultants of Ithaca, Florida Safety Systems, Yukon Creek, Military Basketball League and Schultz Engineered Products.
The ARCA Menards Series will visit Phoenix International Raceway (AZ) on Thursday, March 5th for the General Tire 150. That event will be televised live on the Fox Sports 1 television network starting at 6pm ET.