Pocono Raceway is changing the Friday race on its 2026 weekend, replacing the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series with the ARCA Menards Series and branding the event the Pocono ARCA 150. The move means a return to ARCA on a track that last hosted that series in 2023, when Jesse Love won.
That change is drawing attention now because Pocono has already started preparing for the 2026 weekend. Campgrounds opened Wednesday, fans had a chance to preregister for entry, and priority went to those with longer tenure, a sign the track is trying to smooth access before the crowds arrive.
Ben May said demand is already running hot. “It's beautiful. We're coming off three sellouts in our grandstands, five straight sellouts in our campgrounds. Our infield is close to selling out. We have about 100 camping spots left in our grandstand lot, and our ticket sales are really good,” he said. The numbers matter because they show Pocono is not waiting for July to gauge interest; it is already close to capacity in several areas.
Weather has complicated the weekend before. Lightning and thunderstorms turned 2024 into a traffic mess, and heavy rain again created problems on Sunday in 2025, even if the track said its messaging and handling were better than the year before. May said that if the weather holds and it is 70 degrees and sunny for the next week or so, the facility will be where it needs to be.
The Truck Series is not being moved because of anything Pocono wanted to change. May said Fox, which also broadcasts the series, could not fit the race into its production schedule because of the World Cup. The series will race in San Diego the week before Pocono and then be off, leaving the Friday slot to ARCA instead.
For Pocono, the immediate test is whether earlier campground access and a fresh Friday lineup help keep the weekend moving smoothly after two years of weather-related headaches. The broader answer will come next summer, when the grandstands fill again and the Pocono ARCA 150 becomes the first measure of how well the new schedule works.
