Brent Crews once again proved his ARCA Menards Series dirt track dominance, rolling to a commanding win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds as he held a multi-second lead for most of the race on Sunday, Aug. 17.
The victory marked his third career ARCA dirt-track win, with his lone blemish being a runner-up finish to Jesse Love in the 2023 Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
Crews picked up his second win at the Springfield Mile, his third win of 2025 and the fifth win of his ARCA career.
The win was especially meaningful after Watkins Glen International, where Crews led comfortably before a late mechanical issue cost him the victory.
Crews’ win came in his first start for Nitro Motorsports in its No. 70 Toyota. The first-year organization earned its third win of the year.
In victory lane, Crews told FOX Sports 1, “This is one of my favorite races on the schedule… I’ve had a lot of success on the dirt.”
With no practice or qualifying, Crews started sixth based on owner points but quickly worked his way through the field. He reached pole sitter Brenden “Butterbean” Queen’s bumper twice before a caution came out, and it was only a matter of time before Crews, clearly with the fastest car, made the pass on lap 18 and never looked back. Crews survived late cautions and restarts, including a single-file restart with only a few laps remaining, and no one threatened his lead. He took a well-deserved checkered flag.
Lavar Scott finished second, gaining ground on current points runner-up Lawless Alan, who damaged his car on lap 20 and ended up 20th. Rounding out the rest of the top five was dirt-track specialist Kelly Kovski in third, points leader Queen in fourth, and Sean Corr in fifth.
Max Reaves started on the front row but ultimately wound up sixth. Underdogs Brayton Laster, Alex Clubb and Brad Smith finished seventh through ninth, respectively, with Jason Kitzmiller completing the top 10 in 10th.
Along with Alan, it was a disappointing day for his Venturini Motorsports teammates Sam Corry and Isabella Robusto. After running inside the top 10, Corry was collected in the final caution, leaving him 13th on the leaderboard. As for Robusto, she had high hopes after finishing second in this race last year, but she crashed out of the race on lap 10, winding up dead last (21st).
Crews now has three wins, four top fives, four top 10s in his four-race ARCA dirt track career.
ARCA Results from The Springfield Mile
Next up for ARCA is the Badger 200 at Madison International Speedway on Friday, Aug. 22, with TV coverage beginning at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. The series then returns to the dirt on Sunday, Aug. 31, at 8:30 p.m. ET, also on FS1, at DuQuoin.
