ARCA Preview: Southern Illinois 100

The ARCA Menards Series heads to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds this week for the second and final dirt track race on the 2024 schedule.

Last year, 18 teams entered the dirt race under the lights, with Jesse Love leading 80 of the 100 laps en route to victory. This year, 24 cars are entered for the race, up six from last year’s entry total.

ARCA has been racing at DuQuoin since 1983 and has had a plethora of different winners in its history. Series legend Frank Kimmel was victorious five times at the track in his career, and NASCAR Hall of Famer Tony Stewart found victory lane in 2003. Ken Schrader also won at the track on three different occasions. Other winners include Chris Buescher, Parker Kligerman, Grant Enfinger and Christian Eckes. 

Defending dirt winner William Sawalich will look to go back-to-back this weekend at DuQuoin, after winning two races ago at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Sawalich’s win at Springfield marked his first ARCA win on dirt, but he did have an average finish of fifth on that style of track last season, finishing in that same position in his only other race at DuQuoin. Sawalich enters the race on a number of different streaks as well, including six straight poles and four straight wins. 

Venturini Motorsports will again bring five cars to the race track for DuQuoin, as they have for much of the 2024 season. Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen and Kris Wright all finished inside the top 10 the last time the series raced on dirt at Springfield. However, none of the trio contested last year’s running of the DuQuoin race, and only Balcaen and Breidinger have prior starts at the track. Balcaen has one previous start in 2022, where she finished 14th, and Breidinger has a pair of starts in 2021 and 2022, with an average finish of 12.5 at the track. 

The other two Venturini Motorsports entries will be piloted by Taylor Reimer and Brent Crews, two dirt racing ringers. Reimer is fresh off of a podium finish at Springfield, finishing third in just her second career ARCA start. She will bring the same BuzzBall paint scheme to DuQuoin to build on that momentum.

As for Crews, he was slated to run Springfield until a delayed CARS Tour event forced the team to put Isabella Robusto in the car last-minute, but he will look to win his second career ARCA dirt race this weekend behind the wheel of the No. 20. In two starts on the dirt, Crews has never finished worse than second. 

Rev Racing’s pair of drivers sit atop the ARCA standings but look to find a bit more luck as of late heading into DuQuoin. Both Andres Perez and Lavar Scott have had mechanical issues out of their control in the last handful of races, with Scott at Michigan and Perez at Springfield. Scott was able to nab a podium finish at Milwaukee, but Perez finished sixth, marking the second consecutive race he finished outside of the top five.

Before Springfield, Perez had clicked off five straight top-five finishes. In 2023, Scott did not run DuQuoin, and Springfield two weeks ago marked his only ARCA dirt experience, where he crossed the line in fifth. Perez ran the DuQuoin race in 2023, however, finishing fourth. 

A pair of drivers will be making their ARCA debut this weekend, and both just happen to hail from the state of Mississippi. Daylan Hairston, who works as a crew member for Fast Track Racing, will make a start behind the wheel for the team this weekend in the No. 10. The 33-year-old has run dirt races on a local level, and he was a part of the January preseason testing session at Daytona International Speedway. Joining Hairston will be Austin Vaughn, who will be driving for Wayne Peterson Racing. Vaughn, who just turned 16 years old, has dirt experience in the south, much like Hairston.

Per usual, Kelly Kovski makes his return to the entry list for DuQuoin, as the dirt racing ringer has run both races for the last handful of years. Kovski ran very competitively at Springfield two weeks ago, finishing fourth after spending much of the race inside of the top three. In 2023, Kovski finished sixth at DuQuoin but has a best career finish of fourth at the track back in 2011. 

Christian Rose finished ninth in the first ARCA dirt event of the season, after being involved in a wreck on the final lap. After a similar eighth-place finish at Milwaukee, Rose enters the DuQuoin race fourth in points, slightly ahead of fifth-place Breidinger and 95 points behind the leader Perez. At DuQuoin in 2023, Rose finished seventh, his best dirt finish in ARCA to date. 

Dale Quarterley makes his first appearance in the ARCA national series since race eight at Mid-Ohio, where he finished 23rd. Quarterley had entered Springfield but withdrew last minute, but he now plans to tackle DuQuoin for the first time in his career. The drafting track and road course ace has one previous ARCA start on dirt, coming last year at Springfield, where he finished 11th. 

The green flag for the Southern Illinois 100 is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 1. FOX Sports 1 will carry the live broadcast of the event.