Gio Ruggiero, who won the Winchester 400 and finished third in the ASA STARS National Tour point standings in 2023, will compete in 16 ARCA events for Venturini Motorsports in 2024.
Ruggiero will compete in the ARCA Menards Series East full-time in the upcoming season and he will make select appearances in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West.
Shannon Rusch will serve as the crew chief for Ruggiero's ARCA efforts at Venturini.
“I’m really looking forward to next year with Shannon [Rusch] as my crew chief,” Ruggiero said in an interview with ARCARacing.com. “[Venturini Motorsports] is a great organization with a great group of people. They’ve won a ton of races in the ARCA Menards Series, so I’m definitely excited to be with them.”
Ruggiero is a native of Sekonk, Massachusetts.
Ruggiero, 17, made his ARCA Menards Series East debut in 2023 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
Piloting the No. 20 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports, Ruggiero started second in that event and recorded a solid fourth-place finish. The three drivers ahead of Ruggiero in the finishing order were impressive.
Luke Fenhaus won the event ahead of William Sawalich, and Sean Hingorani.
While Ruggiero has cut his teeth on short tracks across America, he'll have to learn to compete on some larger tracks in 2024 as Dover Motor Speedway and The Milwaukee Mile are part of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East schedule.
Photo Credit: Will Bellamy, Racing America
