By: Ashley McCubbin

Ty Gibbs. Taylor Gray. Tyler Ankrum.

Aside from their names starting the letter T, these trio are the winners of each of the past three ARCA Menards Series races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. They each have turned that success into opportunities in NASCAR all the way through. So it’s safe to say all eyes will be on this weekend’s Zinsser SmartCoat 150 to see who may be the next driver to follow suit,

Connor Zilisch picked up his second victory of the season in the most recent event at Iowa Speedway, but will not be behind the wheel of the No. 28 Toyota this weekend. Instead, Connor Mosack takes back the reigns, looking for his second checkered flag of 2024 after winning at Kansas Speedway. Mosack has not ran an event at Mid-Ohio, placing 16th in his lone ARCA road course appearance coming at Watkins Glen International.

It was William Sawalich that brought the battle to Zilisch last weekend, pacing 48 laps en route to the runner-up finish. He knows what it takes to win, doing so earlier this year at Phoenix Raceway. The late model standout has yet to run a road course event in ARCA to date, though.

Giovanni Ruggiero was third in the Atlas 150 for his third top-five in three appearances this season, boasting a series second-best average finish of 2.3, so you have to pencil him in for the podium this weekend.

Christian Rose is one of the drivers in the field that has experience at Mid-Ohio, scoring an 11th-place finish last season. While he started off the year with a pair of top-five’s in the first three races, he has only scored a best result of 11th in the four events since.

Andres Perez enters this weekend with the points lead, sitting 33 points ahead of Greg Van Alst for the top spot following a pair of top-five’s and six top-10’s in the seven races. The Mexican has yet to run a road course event in ARCA, though.

Greg Van Alst has experience at Mid-Ohio, though, posting a 12th-place finish last season. He has scored two top-10 finishes this season, but has failed to repeat the feat in the most recent trio of events.

A couple guys who know Mid-Ohio from behind the wheel of an IndyCar will be in the field, with Conor Daly joining Marco Andretti as one of those entered this weekend. Daly has two top-10’s in eight appearances, while Andretti scored three top-10’s in 15 starts.

Lavar Scott comes into the weekend following back-to-back top-10 finishes, placing him third in the standings with four top-10’s in seven races. He has yet to run an ARCA road course, though.

Toni Breidinger may be getting ready for a strong summer stretch after picking up an eighth-place finish in Iowa, marking her fourth top-10 of the season. The California native placed 13th at Mid-Ohio in her first trip there last season alongside a 14th at Watkins Glen International.

Her Venturini Motorsports teammate Amber Balcaen was not far behind her last season at Mid-Ohio, placing 15th in the final results. She then backed it up with a 19th-place finish at the Glen. She could use a good run, though, as she has failed to score a top-10 in the most recent pair of events.