Hailie Deegan, driver of the #4 Monster Energy Ford during the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Memphis International Raceway on Saturday, September 26, 2020. (Barry Cantrell/ARCA Racing)
Hailie Deegan, driver of the #4 Monster Energy Ford during the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Memphis International Raceway on Saturday, September 26, 2020. (Barry Cantrell/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Springfield A Challenge Even For Experienced Dirt Racers

www.arcaracing.com October 2, 2020

Not long ago, ARCA Menards Series drivers who were looking forward to competing in a dirt race this season could have reasonably assumed they would not get such an opportunity.

They are fortunate the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 at the Springfield Mile in Springfield, Illinois, was salvaged on the 2020 schedule despite being pushed from August to October.

The annual ARCA Menards Series race on the one-mile dirt track at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds was canceled amid COVID-19, leaving Sunday’s race at the similarly configured one-mile track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds as the series’ only dirt race in 2020.

Yet the Springfield Mile is unique for a dirt (technically clay) track with its relative lack of banking, which makes the circuit a challenge for drivers.

“I’m not sure how much of my dirt experience will apply on Sunday,” said ARCA Menards Series rookie Hailie Deegan, whose second of three wins in the West Series, under the NASCAR banner, came at the Dirt Track at Las Vegas last season. “Because the track is so flat you won’t be able to run the cushion, you won’t be looking for grip, they don’t prep the track by watering it, or tearing it up.

“It’s going to turn into a really slick pavement track, most likely based on what I’ve seen. I think it will be a lot of fun, but it will definitely be different from my dirt background.”

Deegan’s DGR-Crosley teammate Taylor Gray expressed a similar sentiment: “I got my start running go-karts on a dirt track at China Grove. There’s a big difference between go-karts on a small track and a big, heavy ARCA car on a one-mile track.”

Sunday’s Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe Memorial 100 will be the 358th dirt track race in the 68-year history of the ARCA Menards Series and the 38th ARCA Menards Series race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

The 2020 season marks the 39th consecutive year the ARCA Menards Series has raced on a dirt track.

Championship battle

There are as many races remaining in the 2020 ARCA Menards Series season as there are points separating the top two drivers in the championship standings.

Michael Self is two points down to Bret Holmes, but the driver of the No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota has reason to like his chances in Springfield considering he won this race last season.

Holmes finished third in last year’s Springfield race and has not yet won at this track in three starts. Including those races, he is winless in five dirt events overall in his ARCA Menards Series career despite his strong dirt racing background.

Yet the points leader can feel good about his odds Sunday as they relate to those of his championship rival thanks to one peculiar stat.

There have been 11 consecutive different winners at Springfield in the ARCA Menards Series, a streak Self is looking to break.

“We’ve raced against each other for the past several years,” said Holmes on Self. “It’s been respectful. We’ve raced hard and never really got into it. We have finished ahead of them more this year, but the races they did it was by a bigger margin. Michael is a good driver, and they have a good team, so we aren’t getting comfortable.”

Going Four The Crown

Holmes may have an ever-so-slight edge over Self in the ARCA Menards Series championship points standings going into Sunday’s race, but Self has a similarly slim advantage over Holmes entering the final race of the the CGS Imaging Four Crown.

Self has a three-point lead over Holmes thanks largely to his General Tire 100 victory at the Daytona International Speedway road course in August. Holmes’ third-place finish at Memphis last week has him just six points ahead of the third-place Deegan.

The CGS Imaging Four Crown rules are simple: The driver with the most cumulative race points over the four designated races at diverse tracks — an intermediate speedway/superspeedway (Michigan), a short track (Memphis), a dirt track (Springfield) and a road course (Daytona) — wins the Four Crown.

If Holmes wins Sunday and Self finishes fourth, it will create a tie in points and a tie in all of the relevant tie breakers (enter and compete, wins, top 5s, top 10s and poles) — unless one of them also wins the pole at Springfield.

Keeping It 100

When Ty Gibbs won last week’s ARCA Menards Series race at Memphis International Speedway, he clinched the fifth manufacturer’s championship in the series for Toyota, including four consecutive.

Another milestone for Toyota is in reach Sunday in Springfield.

If a driver from a Toyota-supported team wins, it will mark the manufacturer’s 100th win in the ARCA Menards Series dating back to 2007. Gibbs’ victory was the 99th.

The four teams that have chances to deliver Toyota its 100th ARCA wins are Venturini Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing, Hattori Racing Enterprises and Bill McAnally Racing.

And more:

– Fans will be permitted to attend Sunday’s race at the Springfield Mile at 20% of the track’s grandstand capacity in order to allow for physical distancing. This year’s race will not be held during the Illinois State Fair.

Grandstands will open at 9 a.m. CT with practice beginning at 9:30 a.m. CT, ARCA qualifying at 11:30 a.m. CT, the Sportsman feature at noon CT and the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 at 2 p.m. CT.

– The Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 will be the 38th ARCA Menards Series race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds dating back to Dean Roper’s win in 1983.

– Drivers that earned their first career ARCA Menards Series victory at Springfield include Bob Hill, Justin Allgaier, A.J. Fike, and Justin Haley.

– Ryan Unzicker will drive the No. 24 RJR Transportation/Hummingbird Winery Chevy on Sunday for Bill Hendren. Which means Hendren, whose tenure at Springfield goes back to the 1970s, still has longest active streak of any participant in the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100.