SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The ARCA Menards Series returns to the one-mile dirt oval at the Illinois State Fairgrounds for the first of two dirt races in three weeks in Sunday’s Calypso 100.
It will mark the 44th time the series has raced on the famed Springfield Mile since 1983.
Former ARCA Menards Series winners at Springfield include Dean Roper (1983, 1985, 1986), Bobby Jacks (1984), Bob 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), Jesse Love (2022), Brent Crews (2023, 2025), and William Sawalich (2024).
• The Audubon Park Dirt Double $20,000 bonus is up for grabs again if one driver can sweep both races at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. If no driver is able to win both, the driver with the best average finish in the two races will earn $7,500, the second-best $5,000, and third-best $2,500. The last driver to win both ARCA Menards Series races on dirt in the same season was Parker Kligerman in 2009.
• ARCA Menards Series championship points leaders Jake Bollman (No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) leads the way over his teammate Thomas Annunziata (No. 70 JBL Toyota) by just seven points with six races remaining in the 2026 season.
Bollman is still on the hunt for his first career series victory, while Annunziata is a two-time winner but has yet to score a win on an oval track; both of his previous victories were on the road course at Lime Rock Park.
• Sherman, Illinois, resident Kelly Kovski (No. 16 Brandt Professional Ag / Schluckebeir Farms / Allgaier Performance Chevrolet) returns to his home track for the 20th time looking to better last year’s third-place finish.
Kovski has six career top-five finishes at Springfield, including each of the last three years. Kovski’s best career finish, second, also came on the dirt at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in 2016.
-Max Reaves (No. 18 Cook Out Toyota) started second and finished sixth at Springfield in 2025, his first ARCA Menards Series appearance on dirt. His Matt Ross-led Joe Gibbs Racing team has only visited victory lane once before at Springfield, in 2024 with William Sawalich at the wheel.
• Carson Brown (No. 28 Klean Freak Chevrolet) will make his first ARCA Menards Series start on dirt in the Calypso 100, but he is no stranger to racing on dirt. Brown races on dirt whenever his schedule allows and scored a win in a dirt late model at Moler Speedway in just his sixth race in that type of race car.
Brown leads the ASA STARS National Tour championship standings with four wins and added a CARS Tour West super late model victory at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, last weekend.
• Brown will be joined in the Pinnacle Racing Group stable by Taylor Reimer (No. 77 Buzzballs Chevrolet). The No. 77 has had success throughout the season with both 16-year-old Tristan McKee, who has scored a pair of ARCA Menards Series victories, and Lanie Buice, who has four top-five finishes including a career best second earlier this season at Chicagoland.
Reimer is a true threat to become the first female driver to win an ARCA Menards Series race in series history; she started her career racing open wheel cars on dirt in Oklahoma and finished a career-best third at Springfield in 2024.
Reimer finished fourth in each of her two most recent starts in 2026, at Berlin Raceway and Elko Speedway.
• If Reimer is unable pull off the feat of becoming the series’ first female winner by winning at Springfield, perhaps Isabella Robusto (No. 55 Mobil 1 Toyota) may be able. Robusto finished one position ahead of Reimer, second, in the 2024 race at Springfield despite not having any previous experience racing on dirt.
Robusto’s runner-up finish that day completed a unique trifecta, giving her a second-place finish in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East (Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway), and ARCA Menards Series West (Irwindale Speedway) all in the same season.
• Gavan Boschele (No. 25 Toyota Racing Toyota) has considerable open wheel experience on dirt, but will be making his first stock car start on dirt at Springfield.
Boschele will look to join Bob Hill, Justin Allgaier, A.J. Fike, Justin Haley, Ryan Unzicker, and Brent Crews as drivers who have earned their first career ARCA Menards Series win at Springfield.
• The ARCA Menards Series track qualifying record at the Illinois State Fairgrounds was set by Mason Mitchell in 2013 at 32.407 seconds / 111.084 miles per hour.
• The ARCA Menards Series track race record at the Illinois State Fairgrounds was set by Frank Kimmel in 2012 at 1 hour, 2 minutes, 58 seconds / 95.265 miles per hour.
There were a record 12 cautions in the 2000 race, won by Frank Kimmel, for a record 52 laps.
The record for the fewest cautions is two, set in the 2023 race won by Brent Crews, while the fewest laps under caution, 11, was in the 1991 race won by Bobby Bowsher.
• The record for the most lead changes is nine, set in the 1985 race won by Dean Roper and matched in the 1995 race won by Billy Thomas. The race has only gone green-to-checkered without a lead chance once, in the accident-shortened 2023 race won by Jesse Love
-The 25 entries are the most for an ARCA Menards Series race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds since 26 were entered in 2017.
