- The Southern Illinois 100 is the 16th race of the 20-race 2024 ARCA Menards Series schedule. It will be the 43rd ARCA Menards Series race at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds and the series’ 1569th race all-time.
- William Sawalich (No. 18 Starkey/SoundGear Toyota) enters the Southern Illinois 100 on a personal four-race win streak. He has won in each of his last four ARCA Menards Series starts at Salem Speedway, Elko Speedway, the Illinois State Fairgrounds, and The Milwaukee Mile.
- Sawalich has been dominant in each of those four wins: he led all 200 laps at Salem, led 104 of 105 laps at Springfield, and 148 of 150 at Milwaukee. He led 150 of the 250 laps at Elko but had to come from the tail of the field after contact with a lapped car resulted in a mid-race spin.
- Sawalich is eligible to win the Performance Seed Dirt Double $20,000 bonus for winning both ARCA Menards Series races on one-mile dirt tracks. The last driver to sweep both races at Springfield and DuQuoin was NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and NASCAR on NBC analyst Parker Kligerman in 2009.
- Should Sawalich not win the Southern Illinois 100, the Performance Seed Dirt Double bonus will be split among the three drivers with the best average finish at Springfield and DuQuoin; the driver with the best average finish will receive $7,500, second will receive $5,000, and third will receive $2,500.
- Andres Perez (No. 2 Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet) continues to lead the ARCA Menards Series championship standings by 46 points over his Rev Racing teammate Lavar Scott (No. 6 Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet). Perez finished second at Springfield and fourth at DuQuoin in 2023; Scott made his first ARCA Menards Series dirt track start at Springfield two weeks ago and finished fourth.
- Kris Wright (No. 15 FNB Corporation Toyota) heads to DuQuoin on his own summer hot streak; he has seven consecutive top-ten finishes including a seventh-place finish at Springfield in his first career stock car start on dirt.
- Christian Rose (No. 32 West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford) looks to rebound from a last-lap crash at Springfield, where he finished twelfth in 2023 after suffering from overheating issues. The last lap crash two weeks ago relegated him to ninth at the finish. Rose started and finished seventh at DuQuoin in 2023.
- Toni Breidinger (No. 25 Sunoco Toyota) assumed fifth place in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings after her eleventh-place finish at The Milwaukee Mile. Breidinger has nine top-ten finishes so far in 2024 but is still on the hunt for her first among the top five. She has finished 12th and 13th in her two previous DuQuoin starts in 2021 and 2022.
- Dirt track specialist Tim Monroe (No. 10 Illinois Truck Association/Riverside Chevy Chevrolet) will make his second start of 2024. All five of Monroe’s career top-ten finishes have been on dirt, including his tenth-place finish in his most recent start at Springfield two weeks ago. Monroe’s best career finish, sixth, came at DuQuoin in 2021.
- Kelly Kovski (No. 16 Brandt/Schluckebier Farms Chevrolet) will also be making his second start of 2024 at DuQuoin. Kovski has made 16 previous starts at DuQuoin, more than any other driver in the field except Brad Smith (No. 48 Copraya.com Ford). Kovski has eight career top-five finishes, three at DuQuoin and five at Springfield. His best career finish, second, came at DuQuoin in 2017. He finished fourth two weeks ago at Springfield.
- The race will be run under the Break Pit Stop format; there will be a five-minute break at or near lap 50 for teams to change tires, add fuel, make adjustments, and if needed, make repairs. Teams may have eight tires in the pit box, four for use at the break and four for emergency use. Tire changes outside of the break must be approved by ARCA officials; any unapproved tire changes will result in a two-lap penalty.
- Should the race need to be extended into overtime, there will be unlimited attempts at a two-lap “green-white-checkered” finish. If the caution is displayed after the white flag is displayed, there will be unlimited attempts at a one-lap “green and white together” finish.
ARCA PR
