The ARCA Menards Series returns to the state of Illinois, and the dirt track on Sunday (Aug. 31), as the series heads to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
Twenty drivers are entered in the race, the smallest field the series has seen in 2025. However, DuQuoin is no stranger to smaller car counts, as the track has only had over 20 entries once since 2019.
The race has seen its fair share of winners since it first ran in 1983. Frank Kimmel found victory lane at the track multiple times, and current NASCAR regulars Grant Enfinger, Jesse Love, Chris Buescher and Christian Eckes have also won at the track. Last year, Brent Crews found victory lane under the lights in southern Illinois, leading all 102 laps en route to a flag-to-flag victory.
Crews once again returns to the field at DuQuoin, driving the No. 70 Toyota for Nitro Motorsports. Crews is heavily considered the favorite for the event, as he has a 1.25 average finish on the dirt in ARCA in four starts. Crews won on the dirt two weeks ago at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, leading 83 of the 100 laps in the process. Crews has only been defeated on the dirt once in the series, finishing a still-impressive second place at DuQuoin in 2023.
If Crews wins DuQuoin, thereby sweeping the two dirt track races, he will win the $20,000 Hungry Hen’s Dirt Double bonus. If Crews doesn’t win DuQuoin, the Dirt Double will pay $7,500 to the driver with the highest average finish at the two dirt races, $5,000 to the driver with the second-highest average finish, and the third-best will earn $2,500.
Crews’ normal Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota will be piloted by the series’ most recent winner Max Reaves. Reaves finished sixth at the Springfield Mile after late-race contact with Sam Corry, marking his first and only finish outside the top two in ARCA competition to date. Reaves is still relatively new to dirt competition, giving an added challenge to the DuQuoin race for the 15-year-old.
After a few down races due to mechanical issues, Lavar Scott has returned to his impressive level of consistency, finishing runner up in back-to-back races. Scott has four runner-up finishes in his ARCA career, but has yet to break through to victory lane. After a pair of poor finishes from Lawless Alan, Scott has solidified himself in second place in the standings, 34 points behind leader Brenden Queen, and 23 points ahead of Alan, who sits third. In three previous ARCA starts on dirt, Scott has never finished worse than sixth; however, that sixth-place finish came in his only start at DuQuoin in 2024.
Venturini Motorsports has three cars lined up at DuQuoin. Familiar faces Alan and Isabella Robusto continue in their full-time seasons, while Jade Avedisian is making her series debut in the No. 25. Alan has seemingly felt the dog days of the schedule the last few weeks, though at no fault of his own. Early accidents at Springfield and Madison International Speedway gave Alan back-to-back finishes outside the top 15, with Watkins Glen International not providing much better, finishing 12th. Alan’s dirt prowess in the series is still relatively unknown, with the early wreck at Springfield preventing him from showing what strengths he has.
As for Robusto, outside of a last-place finish in Springfield due to early mechanical failure, the latter half of her season has been quite good. The Springfield finish was her first finish outside the top 10 in over 10 races, and she quickly rebounded with a fourth-place finish at Madison. The quick end to the previous dirt race is certainly one that came with added disappointment, as Robusto earned her series-best finish at Springfield a year earlier, finishing runner up to William Sawalich. All things considered, Robusto is likely very eager to return to dirt at DuQuoin and attempt to close the points gap to fourth-place Jason Kitzmiller, who she sits 10 notches back from.
As for Avedisian, her much-anticipated series debut comes at somewhat familiar terrain, on the dirt. The 18-year-old cut her teeth in dirt midgets, until recently running more late model asphalt events the last few years, so DuQuoin will certainly bring added comfort for her debut.
Butterbean Queen enters DuQuoin with a 34-point advantage over second place in the standings, but does so on a bit of a lull. His three consecutive races without finding victory lane tie for the longest he’s gone this season. However, he’s recorded two top-four finishes over that stretch, despite not hoisting any trophies at the end of the last few races. Queen’s only upper-level stock car experience on dirt came at Springfield two weeks ago, where he led 17 laps and finished fourth. Queen will likely be a threat at DuQuoin as he looks to build toward a championship with just five races left.
Kelly Kovski returns to the series this weekend for the second and final time in 2025. Kovski finished third at Springfield after starting at the rear of the field due to practice and qualifying being rained out. The result was the 44-year-old’s best series finish since 2016, and he will look to build on that momentum in DuQuoin. Historically, Springfield has treated Kovski slightly better than DuQuoin, but he has a runner-up finish at DuQuoin back in 2016.
Lastly, Brayton Laster and Wayne Peterson Motorsports enter DuQuoin high on optimism. The pair finished seventh at Springfield, marking a lot of firsts for both. It was Laster’s first top 10 and first lead-lap finish of 2025, and for Peterson, it was his 10th lead-lap finish as an owner since 1984 and first since 2018. It was also the team’s best finish since 1984. Laster has competed at DuQuoin twice in his career, driving for Rise Motorsports in 2023 and 2024, recording a 10th-place finish in ’23.
The 100-lap race at the 1-mile dirt track in DuQuoin is a one-day show on Sunday, the 31st. Teams will have a 30-minute practice session beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET with qualifying at 7 p.m. The green flag is scheduled to fly at 8:30 p.m. ET, with TV coverage airing on FOX Sports 1.
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University