The 2024 Shore Lunch 250 presented by Dutch Boy Paints was the 12th stock car race of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season, and the 9th iteration of the event. The race was held on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at Elko Speedway in Elko New Market, Minnesota, a 0.375 miles (0.604 km) permanent oval shaped racetrack. The race took the scheduled 250 laps to complete. In a wild finish, William Sawalich, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would rebound from several amounts of adversity following a late-race spin, including an ill-handling car, and held off Lavar Scott and Kris Wright in a three-wide photo finish to earn his ninth career ARCA Menards Series win, and his fifth of the season. Sawalich won the race by 0.011 seconds over Scott, one of the closest finishes in ARCA history.[5] Sawalich dominated the majority of the race, leading 147 laps before getting spun by the lap car of Michael Maples on lap 150. He eventually rebounded and battled Lavar Scott in the final closing laps, winning the race in a remarkable three-wide photo finish as the leaders went sideways across the line.[6] Scott was officially credited with a 2nd place finish, with Kris Wright finishing 3rd.
The ARCA racing series held the Akona 200, their first ever race in Minnesota, at Elko Speedway on June 2, 2012.[7] The series returned in 2013 and 2014 for the Akona 250, adding 50 laps to the event. Elko is the shortest track ARCA currently races on.
The first and only practice session was held on Saturday, August 3, at 3:40 PM CST, and would last for 55 minutes.[8]William Sawalich, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would set the fastest time in the session, with a lap of 14.558, and a speed of 92.733 mph (149.239 km/h).[9]
Qualifying was held on Saturday, August 3, at 5:20 PM CST.[8] The qualifying system used is a single-car, two-lap system with only one round. Drivers will be on track by themselves and will have two laps to post a qualifying time, and whoever sets the fastest time in that round will win the pole.[11]
William Sawalich, driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, would score the pole for the race, with a lap of 14.393, and a speed of 93.796 mph (150.950 km/h).[12]