With the dog days of summer coming to an end the ARCA Menards Series visits the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for the annual running of the Labor Day Southern 100. Excited to get back to the track Christian Eckes returns for another dirt bid behind the wheel of his No.15 JBL Audio Toyota.
Known for his excellence on pavement Eckes has emerged as one the series’ favorites racing on dirt. Despite a small sample size, the 18-year old driver carries impressive stats through three career starts racing on dirt.
Winning at Springfield in his first career start the Middletown, NY native has an average dirt race finish of second. Two weeks ago in defense of his Springfield title he came up one spot short finishing behind race winner Michael Self. Ironically, Eckes finds himself trailing Self by 105-points as the two teammates battle for a series championship with four races remaining.
“I had a lot of fun at DuQuoin last year,” says Eckes. “We fought track positon for most of the day but felt like we had a pretty solid car. We’re excited to get back to business! We’ve got four races to go – we’re down but not out by any means. Ready to give it our all.”
In sixteen season starts Eckes has led 262 laps while earning two trip to victory lane (Nashville and Pocono) along with nine top-5’s and 13 top-10 finishes.
The Southern Illinois 100 on the Magic Mile at the DuQuoin State Fair is set for Saturday night August 31. Practice starts at 2:30 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying is slated for 5:30 pm CT, and the race is set for 8 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV.
Venturini Motorsports PR
