Corey Heim
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, celebrates winning the Allen Crowe 100 for the ARCA Menards Series at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois, on Aug. 22, 2021. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)

Corey Heim nearly sweeps ARCA’s special awards at Springfield Mile

www.arcaracing.com August 25, 2021

A long weekend for ARCA Menards Series teams came to a close Sunday with the annual running of the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. The first of two races on dirt miles on the schedule came just two days after the series raced at the ultra-fast Michigan International Speedway, presenting drivers with two very different racetracks to conquer in a given weekend.

Corey Heim watched Ty Gibbs dominate at Michigan, but he flipped the script on the dirt, winning his sixth race of 2021 and claiming most of the series’ special awards in the process.

REWIND: What we learned at Springfield

It seemed like a repeat of 2020 might have been in order after Illinois dirt racer Ryan Unzicker topped the practice charts one year after his breakthrough win from the pole in a race that was pushed to October. But Unzicker admitted he made a mistake on his qualifying lap, placing him ninth while Heim took the General Tire Pole Award for the third time this season. Heim is second to Gibbs in terms of pole starts this season, a category Gibbs has dominated with 10 General Tire Poles.

Almost immediately after the green flag waved, Heim turned on the jets and opened up a sizable gap over the rest of the field to the tune of 10 seconds before the first scheduled race break for pit stops. Heim was well in control after 50 laps had been clicked off, making him the first multi-time Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader of 2021 not named Gibbs, who has been the leader at the halfway mark eight times.

Competition for Heim did arrive in the form of Taylor Gray, moving over to DGR’s No. 46 instead of his usual No. 17 at Springfield. Gray inherited the lead on Lap 62, when Heim got into the back of Canadian racer Mike Goudie coming out of Turn 4 and sent Goudie head-on into the outside wall to prompt the third yellow flag of the day.

Goudie’s day was over, but the Venturini Motorsports crew repaired the damage to Heim’s Toyota without missing a beat. After leading 11 laps, Gray was passed by Jesse Love and Heim on what turned out to be the final restart of the race. Love held the position for three laps until Heim reclaimed the lead on Lap 76, never again giving it up. Leading a grand total of 86 laps, Heim was the Valvoline Lap Leader at Springfield.

Heim ran his seasonlong total for laps led up to 405, the second highest number in the series. Gibbs at Springfield failed to lead a lap in a race for the first time since the season-opener at Daytona and remains static with 1,088 laps led in 2021.

Heim’s pass for the win was voted the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.

The Bounty Rookie Challenge continues to be controlled by Heim after he picked up the Bounty Rookie of the Race nomination at Springfield while growing his lead in the Bounty Rookie of the Year standings. Counting race points only, Heim leads Gibbs by 18 in the rookie standings with only five more events on the calendar.

For coaching his driver to the win, Shannon Rursch of the No. 20 Venturini Motorsports team was named the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race. Rursch now holds a one-point advantage over No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Mark McFarland in the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings.

Six drivers made their season debuts on the dirt at Springfield. One was Tim Monroe from Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track Racing stable. Monroe made three starts in 2020 with a best finish of 12th at Springfield, a result he was able to improve upon on Sunday when he established a career best by finishing eighth. For moving up five positions after qualifying 13th, Monroe was the K&N Filters Hard Charger for the afternoon.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series will be at the historic Milwaukee Mile for the running of the Sprecher 150 on Sunday, Aug. 29. A combination race with the ARCA Menards Series East, the Sprecher 150 will go green at 3 p.m. ET with live coverage on MAVTV and NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass.