Joe Gibbs Racing ARCA Menards Series team had the kind of season that should have guaranteed them another year at the front. Instead, after winning eight races and delivering JGR its fourth Owner’s Championship across the ARCA platform, the No. 18’s reward is one final run at Phoenix.
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The news was confirmed in a series of tweets made by Joe Srigley on X. Remarkably, the decision had nothing to do with how the team has performed on track.
Steve DeSouza, the Executive Vice President of O’Reilly Series and Development at JGR, laid out clearly that their organizational priorities have changed. But, he did admit that reaching this decision was no walk in the park.
“At the end of the day, we made a really difficult decision to close the [ARCA Menards Series] program at the end of the season,” DeSouza told JosephSrigley.com. “As we went through the evaluation of this year, and as we start to plan for 2027, we just determined it was important to place our focus, and the resources we have available, on making significant improvements across our O’Reilly Series program.”
Even then, the irony is simply difficult to miss. JGR is stepping away from the series; they are known to be juggernauts, to pour more resources into an O’Reilly Series operation that managed just three victories! But after a season in which only two of its four full-time entries qualified for the Chase, they feel their attention is well-deserved there.
“It’s pretty obvious we’ve been struggling there a little bit, and we need to really ramp that back up,” DeSouza added.
Truly though this couldn’t have been an easy decision, given they are leaving behind plenty. Gio Ruggiero and Max Reaves combined for eight wins in 2026, helping JGR secure its fourth ARCA Owner’s Championship by eight points over Pinnacle Racing Group. Moreover, since returning to ARCA competition in 2017, JGR has collected more than 50 wins in the national division while producing a long alumni list of drivers who eventually moved up the NASCAR ladder.
The No. 18 has produced four Driver’s Championships across the ARCA platform, including Ty Gibbs’ 2021 national title and William Sawalich’s back-to-back ARCA East championships in 2023 and 2024. Now, that development pipeline is taking a different route.
JGR will field four full-time O’Reilly Auto Parts Series entries again in 2027, with William Sawalich in the No. 18, Brent Crews in the No. 19, Brandon Jones in the No. 20, and Taylor Gray in the No. 54. Therefore, JGR’s decision to prioritize that series comes as it prepares to put greater resources behind a deeper national-series operation.
One particular name stands out in this transition: Brent Crews.
The 18-year-old has already made an impression in the O’Reilly Series. Driving the No. 19 car, he has stacked up ten top-5 finishes, coming close to his first win in the Series. His performance has also led Denny Hamlin to identify him as the likely successor to the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Cup Series seat when he eventually hangs up his boots by the end of 2027.
Crews’ rapid rise highlights precisely what JGR’s development system has been designed to accomplish. He previously competed successfully in ARCA before moving into the O’Reilly Series, where he has continued challenging for strong finishes. The organization now appears intent on concentrating more of its development infrastructure at that level, which it now needs more than ever.
For Max Reaves, though, the picture is less clear. The 16-year-old has won seven ARCA races and was under a JGR development deal. However, following JGR’s decision to close the program, DeSouza said that the relationship is now “on pause”.
Even so, it does not necessarily mean the end of Reaves’ relationship with Gibbs. DeSouza stressed that JGR remains committed to helping the Reaves family determine what comes next.
DeSouza added that the organization is still exploring different options for Reaves, saying that there are already “a lot of different options” emerging as teams and interested parties react to the news. It is important to note that the future of JGR’s ARCA equipment is yet to be finalized.
While many may feel differently about this departure, ARCA driver Zachary Tinkle expressed that he is actually saddened by this exit. And he even took the time to express how JGR would actually help the smaller teams out there.
“I know there’s plenty that will not feel the same way I do, but I’ll be sad to see JGR go,” Tinkle said. “For many years, Joe Gibbs Racing would help out many of the smaller teams in ARCA like Wayne Peterson and Brad Smith by giving them their used tires to race on. When I started in 2021–22 with Wayne Peterson, we got used tires from JGR or Venturini on a vast majority of races we ran. I will always appreciate the Gibbs family for their help when I was first starting out.”
Now, there is only one race left. On October 17, the No. 18 will roll onto the Phoenix Raceway grid one final time.