Sammy Smith, the 2022 ARCA Menards Series East champion.Taylor Gray finished second behind Smith in the championship by 40 points.Leland Honeyman finished third in the championship.
Sammy Smith entered the season as the defending champion. He moved up to the main ARCA Series to replaceTy Gibbs in the No. 18 car forKyle Busch Motorsports (previously aJoe Gibbs Racing car in 2021) in most of the races after turning 18 (the minimum age to race at all tracks) on June 4, 2022. However, Smith continued to drive full-time in the East Series in the KBM No. 18.[1][2]
^abcdBenny Chastain, the driver of the No. 10 Toyota forFast Track Racing, crashed in practice for the race at Five Flags (race #2) and did not have a backup car. The team made a deal withWayne Peterson Racing to renumberNate Moeller's No. 06 Ford to the No. 10 and use their owner points in the race.
^Entry was fielded in a collaboration withCCM Racing.[7]
^Entries were fielded in a collaboration withMullins Racing.
On August 30, 2021,Rev Racing confirmed that they will not field any full-time East Series cars in 2022 as they will now field 2 cars full-time in the main ARCA Series.[27]
On November 5, 2021, Alex Clubb announced that he would be starting his own ARCA team after having previously been a driver/co-owner ofTim Richmond's ARCA team until late in the 2021 season. His part-time schedule in his No. 03 car includes the combination races at Iowa and Milwaukee.[13]
On March 15, 2022, it was announced thatPhoenix Racing would be returning to a NASCAR-sanctioned series for the first time since 2013 andJake Finch, the son of team ownerJames Finch, would make his East Series debut atFive Flags Speedway in the team's No. 1 car. Finch and the team would also run the race at Nashville.[28]
On May 8, 2022, it was announced thatSteve Austin, who previously drove forCCM Racing, would drive for a new team, T.C. Enterprises, full-time in 2023 with the possibility of partnering with another team to jointly field a car in some races in 2022.[29]
On July 26, 2021,Taylor Gray stated to Mark Kristl fromFrontstretch that he will return to the David Gilliland Racing No. 17 car full-time in 2022. Although he had plans to drive the car full-time in 2021, he only ran part-time after suffering an injury during the season.[5]
On August 30, 2021, it was announced thatRajah Caruth would drive full-time for Rev Racing in the main ARCA Series after driving full-time in the East Series in 2021.[11]
On October 29, 2021,GMS Racing announced thatDaniel Dye would drive full-time in the main ARCA Series for the team after driving full-time in the East Series in 2021 for both them andBen Kennedy Racing.[10] On April 27, 2022, ARCA indefinitely suspended Dye due to his arrest on a felony battery charge inVolusia County, Florida.[30] On May 13, ARCA announced that Dye would be reinstated after his charges were reduced by the Florida state attorney's office.[31]
On December 6, 2021, Steve Austin tweeted that he would be driving in the East Series forCCM Racing in the No. 22 car. He did not specify whether it would be full-time or part-time,[9] although he has indicated that he and the team are trying to find sponsorship for him to run full-time and for Rookie of the Year.[32][33] CCM team ownerEric Caudell was entered in the No. 22 car at Dover instead of Austin before withdrawing[34] andMatt Wilson replaced Austin in the No. 22 at Nashville (until CCM withdrew the No. 22 and partnered with Fast Track Racing to jointly field the No. 10 car for Wilson in that race).[7] On May 8, it was announced that Austin had left for, T.C. Enterprises, a new team that will run full-time in 2023 with the possibility of partnering with another team to jointly field a car in some races in 2022.[29] On May 22,The Pit Lane revealed that Austin had been arrested on April 27 after a parole violation and has a history of legal issues (including identity theft as his real/legal name is Edward Hudson) and is a habitual felon.[35] Despite this discovery, the sanctioning body has yet to officially announce that Austin will be suspended.
On December 22, 2021, it was announced thatStephanie Moyer would run the full season in the No. 01 forFast Track Racing after driving the majority of the 2021 season for the team.[6]
On the New Smyrna entry list, it was revealed thatAshton Higgins would make his debut in a No. 49 car owned by himself, but he withdrew. Instead, he and his team debuted at Five Flags. Higgins and the No. 49 car also withdrew from the race at Nashville. Higgins' 49 car would attempt the race at Bristol.
Daniel Escoto was going to drive the No. 60 car forJosh Williams Motorsports in the season-opener at New Smyrna, but due to illness, he was replaced byLogan Misuraca. On March 15, 2022, it was announced that Escoto would run the remainder of the season in the car.[26] However,Michael Lira would replace Escoto at Nashville. Lira would also attempt the season-finale at Bristol.
On March 1, 2022, it was revealed that Tanner Arms would make his home-track debut atNashville Fairgrounds Speedway. He would drive that car again at Bristol.
On March 18, 2022, just after practice,Nate Moeller renumbered his No. 06 car to the No. 10 car forFast Track Racing, since their normal driverBenny Chastain crashed his car in practice and had no backup.
On April 1, 2022, it was revealed thatChristian Rose would attempt 9 races in the main ARCA series, 5 races in the East Series, and 3 races in the West Series forCook Racing Technologies.[25]
On May 25, 2022, it was announced thatBrandon Jones would return to the East Series for the first time since 2019 as he would run two of the combination races with the main ARCA Series (Iowa and Bristol) in the No. 81 car forJoe Gibbs Racing. Although JGR sold their ARCA team to Kyle Busch Motorsports before the start of the 2022 season, this entry will be a JGR car and not a KBM car.[15]
On January 11, 2022, it was announced that Brad Parrott would be the crew chief forRajah Caruth's No. 6 car forRev Racing in 2022.[12] Glenn Parker was Caruth's crew chief in 2021 when he ran part-time in the main ARCA Series and full-time in the East Series. His Rev Racing teammate Nick Sanchez also got a new crew chief for 2022, as Matt Bucher replaced Steve Plattenberger.
On October 7, 2021, aFrontstretch article revealed that Rev Racing would receive manufacturer support from Chevrolet in 2022, which they did not have in 2021 despite being a Chevrolet team.[2]
The race atSouthern National Motorsports Park was taken off the schedule and not replaced with another race at a different track, so there are now 7 races on the schedule instead of 8.
The race atDover Motor Speedway moves two weeks earlier along with the weekend's Cup Series race, making it the third race of the season which makesthe race atNashville Fairgrounds Speedway (which is on the same weekend in 2022 that it was in 2021) the fourth race of the season.
The TV lineup is similar to what it looked like in 2021, withNBC airing all of the non-combination races on tape delay,MAVTV airing the combination races at Iowa and Milwaukee, andFox airing the season-finale at Bristol (which is also a combination race). However,USA Network will be the channel that the NBC races are aired on instead ofNBCSN, which was shut down at the end of 2021.[39]
NBC Sports TrackPass, which previously had the streaming rights to all of the NBC and MAVTV races, lost the rights toFloRacing. TheFox Sports App will stream the Bristol race.[40]
The pole winner also receives one bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR.[41]
Additionally, after groups of five races of the season, drivers that compete in all five races receive fifty additional points.[41] This points bonus was given after the race at Iowa.
† –Zachary Tinkle received the points of a 16th place finish for not starting the race at New Smyrna in March because he did turn a lap in qualifying for the race. The same rule would apply toNate Moeller, who turned a lap in qualifying at Nashville Fairgrounds in May but did not start the race. ‡ –Benny Chastain crashed in practice at Five Flags, meaning he was replaced byNate Moeller.
^ab"(Twitter post)".Twitter. Steve Austin. December 6, 2021. RetrievedDecember 16, 2021.A special thank you to one of the newest sponsors of the #22 CCM Racing chevrolet "Coble Enterprises" in the @ARCA_Racing East series. CCM Racing has opportunities available for primary & associate sponsorship, please contact @EricCaudell for details.
^"(Twitter post)".Twitter. Joseph Srigley. August 30, 2021. RetrievedNovember 27, 2021.NEWS: @RevRacin has confirmed to me that both @Nicksanchez080 and @rajahcaruth_ will run full-time in the @ARCA_Racing Series in 2022. The organization will not be fielding an entry in the ARCA Menards Series East in 2022.
^"(Twitter post)". Steve Austin. November 26, 2021. RetrievedDecember 24, 2021.Primary & associate sponsorship opportunities are available with CCM Racing. Full season, multiple & single race packages available for the @ARCA_Racing series. Contact myself or @EricCaudell
^"(Twitter post)". Steve Austin. December 11, 2021. RetrievedDecember 24, 2021.Talk about strange facts, it appears that I have the opportunity to become the oldest ROTY in the @ARCA_Racing east series in 2022 at 56
^"(Twitter post)".Twitter. Brett Winningham. April 29, 2022. RetrievedMay 5, 2022.@ARCA_Racing Series East entry list now features 15 entries for today's event @MonsterMile. 22 -- Eric Caudell & 30 -- Max Gutierrez have withdrawn.
^"(Twitter post)".Twitter. The Pit Lane. May 22, 2022.Steve Austin is no longer with CCM Racing after joining Tom Crosby Enterprises for 2023. However, arrest records have surfaced and "Steve Austin" is a habitual felon that is actively on parole. Austin may not be able to race under ARCA rules.
