For the eleventh time in sixteen ARCA Menards Series races in the 2019 season, Venturini Motorsports found themselves in victory lane, this time with Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield. It was an all-around banner day for the Venturini team, as they pulled off the sweep of the ARCA special awards between all three of their teams entered at Springfield.
Logan Seavey (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota), one of the dirt aces in the field and the defending winner at the DuQuoin mile, put up a blazing lap during General Tire Pole Qualifying and ran nearly half a second quicker than the second-place qualifier. Seavey became the eighth different driver to win a General Tire Pole Award in 2019. Michael Self leads the series with five poles, with Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman/828 Logistics Toyota) close behind with four poles. Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) is the only other driver to start from the top spot multiple times with two poles to his credit.
Once the green flag dropped, Seavey got the jump and led the first few laps before giving way to Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota) not long after an early restart. Gibbs led ten laps before giving up the lead to Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford) on another restart. Heim led for 11 laps before Seavey retook the top spot. Seavey led 34 laps in total and was the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader, becoming the tenth different driver to earn that distinction in 2019. Michael Self and Chandler Smith lead the series, having led at halfway four times each this year. Self would pass Seavey on lap 56 and never looked back the rest of the way, leading 47 laps on his way to victory. Self won the Valvoline Lap Leader award for the day and increased his yearly count to 480 laps led, second in the series. Smith paces all drivers with 659 laps led. Christian Eckes is third with 262 laps led while superspeedway specialist Ty Majeski (No. 22 Crestliner Boats Ford) is fourth with 112 laps led. Gibbs moved into fifth on the year with 88 laps led after his Springfield performance.
Though Michael Self held him off during the race’s green-white-checkered dash to the finish, defending Springfield winner Christian Eckes had a fine day of his own. Eckes was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race for placing second and extended his lead in the yearlong Bounty Rookie Challenge. Eckes’ 440 points gives him a healthy advantage over second-place Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Kleaner Ford), who was 19th at Springfield, and third-place Tim Richmond (No. 06 Great Railing Dodge), who was 13th at Springfield in his first-ever dirt start. Eckes’ performance also earned crew chief Kevin Reed the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race award. Billy Venturini, owner and crew chief of the No. 20 VMS Toyota, leads the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings by far with 112 points. Paul Andrews, crew chief for Chad Bryant’s No. 22 Ford, is the closest competition with 153 points. Andrews is followed closely by Reed with 155 points.
The Allen Crowe 100 was the eighth round of the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge and saw a major shakeup at the top of its standings. Previous point leader Chandler Smith never intended to run either of the dirt races and held true to his word despite sitting on top of the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge standings. With his win, Michael Self took over the top spot with 1690 points, leapfrogging second-place Ty Gibbs. Gibbs spent an extended amount of time on pit road at Springfield and finished 15th, 24 laps down. Gibbs’ 1630 points leave him 60 back of Self. Smith slipped to third place with 1575 points, putting him in a tie with Springfield podium finisher Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet). The Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge champion will be crowned at Lucas Oil Raceway in October.
Springfield also represented the third round of the CGS Imaging Four Crown championship – four races on four distinctly different types of tracks that make up the ARCA Menards Series schedule. The superspeedway and intermediate speedway races were completed earlier this season at Talladega and Michigan, respectively. Michael Self took over the lead with 625 points after winning the dirt race at Springfield. The fall Salem race will represent the short track event in the Four Crown championship. Self’s competition will be his fellow series regulars that are also chasing him for the overall series championship. Bret Holmes is second in the Four Crown standings with 590 points, Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare Ford) and Joe Graf Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) are tied for third with 570 points, and Christian Eckes rounds out the top five with 515 points.
Bret Holmes came home with another fantastic finish at Springfield – third – and maintained his lead in the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings. Holmes has now completed 2077 of the 2086 laps that have made up the 2019 season so far. Second-place Travis Braden finished five laps down at Springfield and has 1990 laps to his credit this year, while third-place Joe Graf Jr. finished two laps down and has 1936 laps completed on the season.
The ARCA Menards Series will stay on the dirt for its next race, the Southern Illinois 100 from the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on August 31. For just the second time in the history of ARCA at DuQuoin, the race will be held under the lights. This will be the first time, though, that the race has ever been held on a Saturday night. MAVTV will have live television coverage beginning at 9:00 Eastern on Saturday night, while all registered users on ARCAracing.com will have access to live timing & scoring as well as a live chat feature. With just four races left in the 2019 season, you won’t want to miss what happens at DuQuoin as the championship battle continues to heat up.
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