Under the lights: Five drivers to watch in Friday’s ARCA Kansas 150 at Kansas Speedway

Five drivers to watch in the ARCA Kansas 150, Friday night’s race at Kansas Speedway and the prelude to this weekend’s NASCAR events:

Sheldon Creed, No. 28 Toyota

Friday’s season finale will be a victory lap for Creed, 21, because he’s already clinched the ARCA series championship. Creed, of Alpine, Cal., has three wins this season and 15 Top 10 finishes in 19 starts, including a second at Chicago, a similar layout to Kansas Speedway’s 1.5 mile tri-oval. Creed started second but finished 19th last year at Kansas.

Zane Smith, No. 41 Toyota

Smith, 19, has a series-most four wins. He won at Nashville, Talladega and Toledo in the first five races but didn’t win again until Pocono on July 27. Smith, of Huntington Beach, Calif., won the pole and finished third at Kansas last season. He finished ninth in the 2017 standings.

Riley Herbst, No. 18 Toyota

Herbst, 19, is the latest rising star in the Joe Gibbs Racing stable. Herbst, from Kyle Busch’s hometown of Las Vegas, finished ninth at Kansas last year en route to ARCA Rookie of the Year honors when he was fifth in the standings. He made one NASCAR trucks start for Kyle Busch Motorsports last month, finishing 29th at Las Vegas.

Natalie Decker, No. 25 Toyota

Decker, 21, could become motor sport’s next big female hope. Decker, of Eagle River, Wis., won the pole at Daytona, becoming the third female ARCA driver to do so, joining Erin Crocker and Patty Moise. She has eight Top 10s, including a fifth at Daytona this year and finished 12th at Kansas in 2017.

Christian Eckes, No. 15 Toyota

Eckes, 17, has won three races in 13 starts this season, including the last event at Indianapolis, where won the pole and led 171 of 200 laps. Eckes, of Middletown, N.Y., has made two starts in the trucks series for Kyle Busch Motorsports with an eighth-place finish at Iowa.