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.
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