NASCAR Roots Power Rankings: A new champion and a new No. 1

Teams and drivers who compete in the ARCA Menards Series, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series make up the backbone of NASCAR. Here are the top-10 NASCAR Roots level competitors as chosen by the NASCAR.com Roots Editorial team.

Two-time NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I national champion Peyton Sellers enjoyed another of his traditionally strong seasons in 2023. He scored 17 victories at a variety of tracks and secured the track championship at Virginia’s Dominion Raceway.

Sometimes the underdog wins. That’s what happened during the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 when Trevor Ward came out on top of a tremendous battle with Landon Huffman to win the biggest NASCAR Late Model Stock Car event of the season at Martinsville Speedway. The victory also allowed him to capture the Virginia Late Model Triple Crown for the first time.

It’s not officially official, but with Landen Lewis not competing in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series West event at All American Speedway, you can basically write Sean Hingorani’s name on the West Series championship trophy. He has four wins this year and came up one spot short of another victory on Saturday night.

Despite missing a month of competition after suffering a broken arm in a crash at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park, Matt Hirschman hasn’t missed a beat. The driver from Northampton, Pennsylvania started second, led the most laps and won Saturday’s inaugural NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at North Wilkesboro Speedway. It was his third Whelen Modified Tour victory of the season.

With only two races remaining in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season, Ron Silk trails championship rival Justin Bonsignore by two points for the series championship. He gained a single point on Bonsignore during Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour event at North Wilkesboro Speedway thanks to a runner-up finish. 

The pursuit of a fourth NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championship for Justin Bonsignore continued with a third-place finish at North Wilkesboro Speedway Saturday night. In 16 starts this season he’s scored four victories and has a narrow two-point advantage on title rival Ron Silk as the series heads to Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park this Sunday.

Sixteen-year-old William Sawalich put a bow on his first ARCA Menards Series East championship with a victory in the Bristol 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The victory was his fourth of the East Series season and fifth ARCA platform victory of the season overall.

So close, yet so far. When the final NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I national standings were released last week, Matt Sheppard was only a few points behind Connor Hall in the battle for the national championship. Still, Sheppard’s season included 13 wins in 21 starts as well as the track title at Utica-Rome Speedway and the Division I Northeast Region championship.

While things didn’t go as planned for Connor Hall during the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, he still has reason to celebrate after clinching his first NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Division I national championship. His 18 victories in 27 starts was more than any other Division I competitor in 2023. He also claimed the Southeast Region Division I title.

Needing only to start Saturday’s Atlas 200 at Salem Speedway to clinch his first ARCA Menards Series championship, Jesse Love did far better by leading all 200 laps on his way to his 10th ARCA Menards Series victory of the season. At worst, Love will end the season with a 50 percent winning percentage in the ARCA Menards Series should he not win the season finale this Saturday at Toledo Speedway.