ARCA Menards Series at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds: Audubon Park 100 Pre-race Note

  • The ARCA Menards Series returns to the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for the second and final dirt race of the season in Sunday’s Audubon Park 100. The race will also serve as the second round of the Audubon Park Dirt Double; if Springfield winner Max Reaves (No. 18 Cook Out Toyota) wins the race, he will earn a $20,000 bonus for sweeping both races.
  • The battle for the ARCA Menards Series championship remains tight with four races remaining, as Jake Bollman (No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) added one point to his lead over Thomas Annunziata (No. 70 JBL Audio Toyota) at Madison International Speedway, where Bollman finished fourth and Annunziata finished fifth. Annunziata had the upper hand the last time the two raced on dirt; he finished third at Springfield and Bollman was sixth.
  • Reaves will be hunting for his fourth win of the season. His Joe Gibbs Racing team has won seven times so far in 2026, four with Gio Ruggiero – Daytona International Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Michigan International Speedway, and Pocono Raceway – and three with Reaves – Berlin Raceway, Elko Speedway, and the last dirt race at Springfield. The JGR team has opened a 27-point lead over the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28 team in the ARCA Menards Series owner points standings.
  • The Pinnacle Racing Group organization heads into DuQuoin fresh off a 1-2 finish in the most recent series race at Madison International Speedway. Tristan McKee, who is not entered at DuQuoin, scored his third win of the season; this weekend dirt track specialist Taylor Reimer (No. 77 Buzzballs Chevrolet) takes the wheel alongside Carson Brown (No. 28 Klean Freak Chevrolet), who won earlier this season at Phoenix Raceway. Reimer finished fourth at Springfield after racing from the back of the field due to a mid-race restart violation, while Brown finished 13th after an unscheduled pit stop late in the race; he finished second behind McKee at Madison.
  • Gavan Boschele (No. 25 Toyota Racing Toyota) returns for the first time since his fifth-place finish at Springfield; Boschele was battling for the victory with Reaves when he spun entering turn one on lap 98, just two laps shy of the finish. Boschele has six top-five finishes in eight starts in 2026, including a career-best second at Pocono Raceway in June.
  • Previous ARCA Menards Series winners at Madison International Speedway include Ramo Stott (1970), Tom Bowsher (1971), Bruce Gould (1973), Alex Bowman (2011), Chris Buescher (2012), Kyle Benjamin (2013), Justin Boston (2014), Josh Williams (2016), Austin Theriault (2017), Chandler Smith (2018, 2019), and Max Reaves (2025).
  • Isaac Kitzmiller (No. 79 A.L.L. Construction / Carter CAT Chevrolet) had only raced on dirt a handful of times before his second-place finish in the series’ last dirt race at Springfield. Despite the lack of experience, Kitzmiller was able to set a career-best with his runner-up finish, and combined with a sixth-place finish at Madison last Friday continues a streak of top-ten finishes to five straight starts.
  • Tim Monroe (No. 10 Mark Rumbold Farms Ford) finished fifth last season at DuQuoin, his best career finish in 43 series starts. Monroe is coming in to DuQuoin off his eighth career top-ten finish, a ninth-place effort in his most recent start at Springfield.
  • Chase Howard (No. 80 Two Fellas Moving Chevrolet) and Michael Maples (No. 99 Maples Motorsports Chevrolet) are both looking for their second career top-ten finishes and first since last year at DuQuoin. Howard finished seventh and Maples was ninth in last year’s race.
  • The Audubon Park 100 also serves as the final round of the 2026 CGS Imaging Four Crown championship, encompassing races on each of the four types of tracks the ARCA Menards Series races on: superspeedways, short tracks, road courses, and dirt tracks. This season’s CGS Imaging Four Crown races were at Talladega Superspeedway, won by Gio Ruggiero, Toledo Speedway, won by Tristan McKee, and Watkins Glen International, won by Kaden Honeycutt. Ryan Vargas (No. 91 Castle Pack Power Products Chevrolet) leads Takuma Koga (No. 12 Ikedo/Fast Track Racing Toyota) by 19 points heading into Sunday’s final round at DuQuoin.
  • Should Reaves not earn the $20,000 Audubon Park Dirt Double bonus by winning, the driver with the best average finish in both dirt races will take home $7,500, the driver with the second-best average finish will take home $5,000, and the driver with the third-best average finish will score $2,500. Reigning series champion Brenden Queen took home the 2025 bonus with a 2.5 average finish; he was fourth at Springfield and won at DuQuoin. Kelly Kovski and Lavar Scott also scored bonus money in 2025. The last driver to win both dirt races in the same season was Parker Kligerman in 2009.
  • Sheldon Creed holds the ARCA Menards Series track qualifying record at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, set in 2018, at 31.804 seconds/113.190 miles per hour.
  • Christian Eckes holds the ARCA Menards Series track race record at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, set in 2019, at 92.119 miles per hour.
  • Previous ARCA Menards Series winners at DuQuoin include Jerry Unser (1957), Jimmy Bryan (1957), Fred Lorenzen (1958, 1959), Den Roper (1983, 1986, 1987, 1994), David Goldsberry (1984), Lee Raymond (1985), Bob Keselowski (1988, 1989), Bob Brevak (1990), Bob Schacht (1992), Billy Thomas (1993, 1997, 1998, 2000), Bob Hill (1995, 1996), Jeff Finley (1999), Frank Kimmel (2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008), Tony Stewart (2004), Ken Schrader (2006, 2007, 2013), Parker Kligerman (2009), Steve Arpin (2010), Chris Buescher (2011), Grant Enfinger (2014, 2015), Tom Hessert III (2016), Austin Theriault (2017), Logan Seavey (2018), Christian Eckes (2019), Landen Lewis (2021), Ryan Unzicker (2022), Jesse Love (2023), Brent Crews (2024), and Brenden Queen (2025).
  • Races at DuQuoin from 1984 through 1990 were scheduled for 200 laps / 200 miles. The 1984 race, won by David Goldsberry, took 3 hours, 22 minutes, and 38 second to complete, the second-longest race in the series’ modern era; the only race that took longer to complete was the 1986 race at St. Louis International Raceway at 3 hours and 29 minutes
  • Any restarts within the final 10 laps or overtime will be single file.
  • ARCA Menards Series races at DuQuoin have been extended into overtime on 14 previous occasions, including each of the last two years. Should the race be extended into overtime, there will be unlimited attempts at a two-lap “green-white-checkered” finish. Should the caution be displayed after the white flag has been shown, there will be unlimited attempts at a one-lap “green and white together” finish.
  • The Audubon Park 100 is set for 8:30 pm ET / 7:30 pm CT on Sunday, September 6. The race will be televised live on FS1. Live timing & scoring data and live race audio will be available on ARCARacing.com; for up-to-the-minute updates please follow @ARCA_Racing on X (formerly known as Twitter).

About ARCA 
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum in Toledo, Ohio, and acquired by NASCAR in April 2018, is the leading grassroots stock car sanctioning body in the United States. Bridging the gap between NASCAR’s top three national touring series and weekly and regional tour racing all across the country, the organization sanctions over 100 races per year in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, ASA STARS National Tour, ASA CRA Super Series, ASA Midwest Tour, ASA Southern Super Series plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways. For more information about ARCA visit www.arcaracing.com, or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing). 

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A family-owned and run company started in 1958, Menards is recognized as the retail home center leader of the Midwest with 236 stores in 15 states.  Menards is truly a one-stop shop for all of your home improvement needs featuring a full-service lumberyard and everything you need to plan a renovation or build a home, garage, cabin, shed, deck, fence or post frame building.  You’ll find a large selection of lumber, roofing, siding, construction blocks, trusses, doors and windows, plus cabinets, appliances, countertops, flooring, lighting, paint, plumbing supplies and more.  To complete the job, Menards has quality hand tools, power tools, fasteners, electrical tools plus storage options and supplies for everyone from the weekend warrior to the pro!

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