- The Dutch Boy 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds is the 14th round of the 2023 ARCA Menards Series season. It will be the 41st time the ARCA Menards Series has raced at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
- The ARCA Menards Series will head to the Illinois state capital in Springfield straight from the road course round at Watkins Glen International on Friday evening. Driving the speed limit, the two tracks are 12 hours and 19 minutes apart, a distance of 813 miles.
- Jesse Love is the defending winner of the Dutch Boy 100, winning last year’s shortened race after a spirited battle with Michael “Buddy” Kofoid over the final laps. Kofoid crashed into the car of Bryce Haugeburg, who himself had bounced off the wall due to a suspension failure, as the field completed lap 73. The race, which started late due to inclement weather, was not able to be restarted due to time constraints.
- Dale Quarterley will race at both Watkins Glen International and the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Quarterley has seven career ARCA Menards Series starts, four of them coming on road courses. His best career finish, fifth, came earlier this season at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Quarterley also has six career ARCA Menards Series East wins, two of them on the road course at Lime Rock Park. His start at Springfield will be his first with the series on dirt.
- Ken Schrader, who has 18 career ARCA Menards Series wins, will make his return to the series driving for Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track High Performance Racing Team. Schrader raced in both ARCA Menards Series dirt track races in 2022, finishing ninth at Springfield and 16th at DuQuoin. Schrader’s most recent top-five finish came in 2021 when he finished third at DuQuoin. Schrader won the ARCA Menards Series race at Springfield in 1998. He also has wins on dirt at Hagerstown Speedway, the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and four wins at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
- Former winners at Springfield include Dean Roper (1983, 1985, 1986), Bobby Jacks (1984), Bib Keselowski (1987, 1988, 1989, 1993), Bob Brevak (1990), Bobby Bowsher (1991, 1992), Bob Hill (1994), Billy Thomas (1995), Tim Steele (1996, 1997), Ken Schrader (1998), Bill Baird (1999, 2004), Frank Kimmel (2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2012), Justin Allgaier (2006), Parker Kligerman (2009), Patrick Sheltra (2010), Chad McCumbee (2011), Brennan Poole (2013), Kevin Swindell (2014), A.J. Fike (2015), Justin Haley (2016), Grant Enfinger (2017), Christian Eckes (2018), Michael Self (2019), Ryan Unzicker (2020), Corey Heim (2021), and Jesse Love (2022).
- Mason Mitchell holds the track qualifying record at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, set in 2014, at 32.407 seconds/111.084 miles per hour.
- Frank Kimmel holds the track race record at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, set in 2013, at 1 hour, 2 minutes, 58 seconds/95.265 miles per hour.
- The record for the most lead changes in an ARCA Menards Series race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds is nine, set in 1985 and 1995. The only time one driver led the entire distance was in 2022 when Jesse Love led every lap in a race shortened to 73 laps by time constraints.
- The record for the most cautions in an ARCA Menards Series race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds is 12 for a record 52 laps, set in 2000, while the record for the fewest is three, set in 2012 and 2022. The fewest laps run under caution was 11 in 1991.
- Should the race need to be extended into overtime, there will be unlimited attempts at a two-lap “green-white-checkered” finish. Should the caution flag be displayed after the white flag is displayed, there will be unlimited attempts at a one-lap “green and white together” finish.
ARCA PR
