The 2026 ARCA Menards Series championship battle has gotten a little messy.
Jake Bollman, driver of the No. 20 SynerFuse Toyota Camry, entered the night with a 16-point advantage over his Nitro Motorsports teammate Thomas Annunziata in the championship standings, but after three separate incidents, the title picture has been flipped on its head.
The first instance of contact came at Lap 16, when Bollman and Annunziata were racing side-by-side for a position inside the top 10, maneuvering around a lapped car of Ed Pompa, when Bollman washed up the racetrack and made contact the No. 70 with both drivers spinning.
“I didn’t really mean to get into him, I was just into the corner way too flat, the lapped car gave me no room, and I had nowhere to go, tried to keep it out of him the best I can,” Bollman said. “But contact was made and it is what it is, and we move on.”
Both Bollman and Annunziata were virtually undamaged and continued… but the controversy didn’t stop there because just a couple of laps later, under the green flag, the duo got together again, when Annunziata seemingly intentionally got into the left rear of the No. 20 spinning him around, which, although there was no damage, sent him to the rear of the pack.
With new tires on the No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota, Bollman quickly sliced through the pack after being kicked to the back, but trouble found him again after he had moved ahead of Annunziata and back into control of the championship, when top-10 runner-up Will Kimmel spun in front of him, leaving the most consistent driver on the ARCA Menards Series circuit with nowhere to go.
Bollman sustained intense damage on the front end of his No. 20 and got another shot to the passenger-side door when Austin Vaughn failed to slow for the wreck and slammed into the rear-end of the vehicle, totaling the car beyond a possible repair on pit road.
So, to the garage the No. 20 went, and several Nitro Motorsports crew members went to work and try and get Bollman on track, because it’s never over until its over.
“We’re just going to get the car back out there and just finish what we can. Like I said, there’s still a chance, you never know,” Bollman added. “Like I said, something could happen with the No. 70 and it’s ours, so we can’t give up, so it’s hard. We’ve got 20 guys working on this thing and we’re going to get back out there just – we never gave up this year and it just goes to show, what I’ve taught them this year, it’s like, myself never giving up and always having speed, so they’re always going to fight for me whenever they can, right?”
“So, let’s go out there and get this championship back.”
Bollman did have some words about the actions of Annunziata, though.
“If I was in his position I don’t know if I would have retaliated the way he did, you know, so I think that’s going to hurt his carer a little bit and shows the type of person he is,” he exclaimed. “So, he’ll get it back one day, I’m not saying I’m going to do it tonight because I don’t know how he’d like that, but if it comes down to it… I ain’t afraid either.”
As of 30 laps to go in the race, Bollman has not gotten back on-track and currently sits 23rd, meaning a finish of seventh would tie Annunziata (and get him the championship courtesy of his victory at Lime Rock), but an eighth-place result would allow Bollman to win the title – UNLESS he returns to the track.
PHOTO: ARCA Racing
