The 2021 ARCA Menards Series season was the 69th season of the ARCA Menards Series, a stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began at Daytona International Speedway with the Lucas Oil 200 on February 13 and ended with the Reese's 150 at Kansas Speedway on October 23. Ty Gibbs was crowned the series champion, having won ten times and finished in the top four in 19 of 20 races.
This season also featured a historic first, as Fox pit reporter Jamie Little became the first woman to serve as a TV play-by-play announcer in motorsports history, as she took over that role for the network's ARCA races.
Teams and drivers
Note: If a driver is listed as their own crew chief for a particular race, that means that their entry in that race was a start and park.
Complete schedule
Limited schedule
Notes
Changes
Teams
On November 13, 2020, it was announced that Lira Motorsports would be returning to the series for the first time since 2017, fielding a part-time entry for late model and NASCAR Roots driver Logan Misuraca. She and the team also announced that they would run part-time in the Truck Series in 2021. They started the season at ARCA's preseason test session at Daytona in January where Misuraca was initially on the entry list in a No. 33 car for Lira, which was later withdrawn. Misuraca revealed in an interview in April that her deal with Lira had fallen through. On December 8, 2020, Ken Schrader confirmed that he would be closing down his longtime ARCA team, Ken Schrader Racing, which would only keep its dirt racing operations in 2021. This will be the first season since 1990 where KSR has not competed in the series. Schrader's iconic No. 52 car only competed part-time from 2018 to 2020 due to lack of sponsorship. NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver Andy Jankowiak bought some of the assets of Schrader's team to form his own team, Jankowiak Motorsports, and make his debut in the series. They entered the No. 73 car for Jankowiak at Daytona, Talladega, Charlotte, Pocono, Watkins Glen and Bristol. On December 22, 2020, it was announced that Mullins Racing would be entering a second car in the season-opener at Daytona. However, due to a lack of sponsorship, this did not end up happening. It would have been the first time they fielded a second car by themselves, as Mullins partnered with other teams to lease their owner points in 2017 and 2018 for Robert Bruce to drive a second Mullins car in the race at Elko both years. On December 23, 2020, it was announced that Greg Van Alst, who last competed in the series in 2002, would be starting his own team, the No. 35 Chevy, and running a part-time schedule after buying a car from the closed Chad Bryant Racing. On January 8, 2021, ThePitLane revealed that Nick Sanchez would be competing full-time for Rev Racing in the main ARCA Menards Series in 2021, making it the team's first time fielding a full-time car in the series. Sanchez previously competed full-time for Rev Racing in the East Series in 2020 and part-time in 2019. The official announcement of this came on January 15, where it was also revealed that Sanchez would be using the No. 6. However, Sanchez instead ended up using the No. 2. On January 14, 2021, it was announced that Win-Tron Racing would merge into AM Racing, a Truck Series team that they have had an alliance with for multiple years and that they have shared a race shop with beginning in 2020. Howie DiSavino III will continue to drive part-time in the team's No. 32 car. On January 14, 2021, Truck Series team Young's Motorsports announced that they would expand into the ARCA Menards Series, fielding the No. 02 car on a part-time basis beginning at Daytona. The team participated in the series' Daytona testing in January with Kris Wright (one of their full-time Truck Series drivers) and Toni Breidinger driving. Their first race came at Daytona with Breidinger, who will run a part-time schedule with the team, with it being her first time in the series since 2018.