Ryan Unzicker, driver of the #24 RJR Transportation-Hummingbird Winery Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 for the ARCA Menards Series at the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois on October 4, 2020. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)
Ryan Unzicker, driver of the #24 RJR Transportation-Hummingbird Winery Chevrolet, celebrates after winning the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 for the ARCA Menards Series at the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois on October 4, 2020. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)

Ryan Unzicker Stacks Awards On Top Of Win At Springfield

www.arcaracing.com October 5, 2020

The crowd on hand for the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 from the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds always gives a loud cheer for the local drivers in the starting lineup, but an Illinois driver had not won the ARCA Menards Series race at Springfield since 2015 – until Sunday.

El Paso’s Ryan Unzicker (No. 24 RJR Transportation Chevrolet) capped a remarkably strong day by becoming the first Illinois native to win at the state fairgrounds since Galesburg’s A.J. Fike five years prior. The veteran dirt ringer broke through for his first AMS victory in his 11th try at Springfield, looking nearly untouchable as he added many of ARCA’s special awards to go along with his winner’s trophy.

PHOTOS: The best images from Springfield

Unzicker, one of three dirt ringers on the entry list alongside Springfield’s own Kelly Kovski (No. 16 Schluckebier Farms Chevrolet) and former series regular Will Kimmel (No. 69 Valvoline Ford), hit the ground running as all three ringers were in the top five in the morning practice prior to Unzicker running away with the General Tire Pole Award.

Turning a lap of 34.047 seconds/105.736 mph, Unzicker was over half a second quicker than qualifying runner-up Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota). The pole was the first of Unzicker’s career as he became the eighth different driver to start from the top spot this season. Second-place starter Gibbs had already clinched the yearlong award for the most General Tire Poles in 2020 with five; Gibbs will start from the pole for the sixth time at Kansas Speedway in two weeks, per rulebook procedures.

The action behind Unzicker was intense from the very first lap, when the first of nine cautions flew, so Unzicker made sure to stay out of potential trouble by refusing to give up the top spot. He led 102 of the 103 laps on the afternoon, the only blemish coming when Hailie Deegan (No. 4 Monster Energy Ford) nipped him at the line on the final restart on Lap 101.

Unzicker easily collected the Valvoline Lap Leader and Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader honors for the event. Unzicker is the seventh different halfway leader of the season. Gibbs, a victim of the Lap 1 accident, has already clinched the year-long lap leader title with 969 laps led to date. Gibbs has also led at halfway nine times, a number that handily paces the series.

Car owner/crew chief Bill Hendren was named the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race for leading Unzicker to the race win from the pole position. Despite being caught in the opening melee that left the team 10 laps down at the end of the race, Gibbs’ 10th-place finish was enough to clinch the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year award for Joe Gibbs Racing shot-caller Mark McFarland. Under the tutelage of McFarland, drivers Ty Gibbs and Riley Herbst have combined for seven wins, 15 top fives, 18 top tens, seven General Tire Poles and 1062 laps led in the 2020 season.

Drivers with dirt experience ruled the day at Springfield, with dirt regular Unzicker crossing the finish line just ahead of AMS rookie Hailie Deegan, a winner a year ago on dirt in ARCA Menards Series West competition.

Deegan’s runner-up performance was recognized with Bounty Rookie of the Race honors, putting her in very favorable position to lock up the Bounty Rookie of the Year award at Kansas in two weeks. Deegan leads fellow rookie Drew Dollar (No. 15 Sunbelt Rentals Toyota), seventh at Springfield, by 28 points in the rookie standings ahead of the final race of the season. Deegan would become the first woman to be named the AMS Rookie of the Year should she clinch the award at Kansas.

Hailie Deegan, driver of the #4 Monster Ford, walks to her car during practice for the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 for the ARCA Menards Series at the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois on October 4, 2020. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)
Hailie Deegan, driver of the #4 Monster Ford, walks to her car during practice for the Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 for the ARCA Menards Series at the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois on October 4, 2020. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)

Thanks to a late crash knocking Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) out of the race, Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet) is in a favorable position to score the S&S Volvo Laps Completed title at Kansas. Holmes has completed 2,608 of 2,613 laps in 2020, eight more than Self, who sits at a count of an even 2,600. Holmes has only one DNF this season and has not finished more than eight laps off the pace since 2018, when electrical issues sidelined him at Michigan 51 laps early.

Among the feel-good stories at Springfield was the career-best run for Mike Basham (No. 10 Fast Track High Performance Driving School Toyota), who came home in sixth while driving for 1995 AMS champion Andy Hillenburg’s operation. This marked the fourth top 10 of his career and his second top 10 at Springfield, having previously finished tenth in 2016 while racing for the Basham family’s familiar independent No. 34 team.

Running a smart race for the underfunded Fast Track team, Basham drove from his 12th-place qualifying effort to the doorstep of the top five, gaining six positions and being recognized as the K&N Filters Hard Charger of the race.

One of ARCA’s main in-season championships came to a close at Springfield when Holmes took the CGS Imaging Four Crown for the second year in a row. Contested over four races at four distinctly different venues, the Four Crown tests driver skill at each unique track type on the ARCA Menards Series schedule.

The 2020 edition consisted of a superspeedway race at Michigan, a road course race at Daytona, a short track race at Memphis and a dirt track race at Springfield. Counting race points only over the four events, Holmes finished with 160 points to clinch the title. Self and Deegan rounded out the Four Crown podium with 157 and 155 points, respectively.

The 2020 ARCA Menards Series season will conclude on Friday, Oct. 16 at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas, with the running of the Speediatrics 150 presented by the NASCAR Foundation. The Speediatrics 150 is scheduled to start at 8:30 Eastern on FS1, with live timing & scoring available on ARCARacing.com.

The championship will be decided at Kansas as current series points leader Holmes holds an advantage of eight points over Self with this lone race remaining on the calendar.