For a long time, NASCAR had always been a male-dominated sport. Fortunately, as the years have passed, more and more women are trying to break into the scene. The latest woman who is trying to establish a foothold is Mia Lovell. She is a 19-year-old Chinese-American racer currently competing in the ARCA Series. Her racing career has been relatively short, having first begun in 2023 in the Toyota Gazoo Racing GR Cup.

How has Mia Lovell performed in the 2026 ARCA Series?

Recently at Sonoma Raceway, Lovell recorded a career-best finish of 2nd place. Mia Lovell was one of three rookies in the series and was just shy of beating Sam Corry to the win. Nevertheless, she was happy with her performance and her 2026 form. The driver has every reason to be happy because this is her 5th Top 10 in a row. Owing to the string of excellent results, she has found herself 6th in the championship standings ahead of Hailie Deegan in 7th.

Talking about her day at Sonoma, Mia Lovell told Frontstretch, “Oh wow! It was a really fun day. Me and my Nitro Motorsports team, we just kind of took off. We were just trying to run a really smart race. There were a couple of times where I was almost – I could fight for the lead. Getting that taste just makes me want it more, but there’s definitely a lot to be proud of today. I’m really happy with 2nd.”

While Corry won the race, teammate Mia Lovell kept him honest and on his toes for much of it. It also helped her case that she started in second place, right on the front row. Corry had to fend off Lovell multiple times, and she eventually overtook him at Turn 11 at some point. However, she wasn’t able to savour the lead for too long, because Corry retook the lead and kept it until the checkered flag.

Mia Lovell confessed that she overdrove the entry at Turn 11, and that was what cost her. Despite that, the teenager insisted that she will learn from that and hopefully reach Victory Lane next time. She also admitted there were tense moments during the race, but she managed them well. Now that Lovell earned her fifth consecutive Top 10 and her best finish, she will continue to work her way up from there.

It was a great day in the office for Nitro Motorsports

As mentioned before, Corry and Lovell are teammates at Nitro Motorsports. The only difference is that the latter is running a full-time schedule, and the former is on a limited schedule. Speaking afterwards, Corry declared that “It was a testament of our patience for sure and I have no words right now. I’m so excited for this team.”

Mia Lovell truly gave him a run for his money in her quest for a maiden ARCA Series West win. If she ever manages to finally reach Victory Lane, she would be the third woman to achieve it in the series. In other words, she would join the ranks of Hailie Deegan and Gracie Trotter. Now Deegan is still racing, but Trotter hasn’t been behind the wheel since 2021. Fortunately, there are other female racing drivers along with Deegan and Lovell. Also joining them are Isabella Robusto, Taylor Reimer and Jade Avedisian.

Deegan has enjoyed a number of Top 10 finishes this season, which explains why she sits 7th in the ARCA Series West standings. However, Reimer, Robusto and Avedisian are running limited schedules. The former’s sole ARCA Series West appearance saw her finish 32nd at Phoenix, while Robusto was 21st in the same race. Jade Avedisian got a fair few shots behind the wheel, picking up a Top 10 finish in four starts this season; her best finish was 8th at the Kern Raceway.