Jesse Love conquers DuQuoin dirt mile in ARCA
DuQuoin, IL — It doesn’t matter the style of race track, Jesse Love keeps finding ways to win ARCA Menards Series races.
After winning races on superspeedways, intermediate ovals, short tracks and road courses this year, Love added a victory on a dirt track to his 2023 list of accomplishments with a victory in Sunday’s Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
The triumph, his ninth of the ARCA Menards Series season and 11th of his career, came in dominant fashion.
After qualifying fourth, Love quickly moved past Brent Crews and Will Kimmel before chasing down and passing polesitter William Sawalich for the race lead on Lap 21.
Love maintained the race lead for the rest of the race, but he did have to survive a pair of restarts late in the 100-lap event. The first came with nine laps left after Tim Monroe stalled on the frontstretch and the second came with four laps left when Monroe spun in Turn 2.
In both instances, Love held off advances from his Venturini Motorsports teammate Crews, who was attempting to win the $20,000 Performance Seed Dirt Double bonus for sweeping the dirt track events at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois, and DuQuoin.
Despite falling short of earning that $20,000 bonus, Crews’ finishes of first and second, respectively, were enough to garner him a $7,500 bonus from Performance Seed. Love banked an extra $5,000 based on his average finish between the events at Springfield and DuQuoin.
Kimmel finished third in his first ARCA Menards Series race of the 2023 campaign, with Andres Perez de Lara coming home fourth to earn $2,500 from Performance Seed as the driver with the third best average finish in the events at Springfield and DuQuoin.
Polesitter Sawalich finished fifth, followed by Kelly Kovski, Christian Rose, Monroe, Alex Clubb and Brayton Laster.
The ARCA Menards Series season resumes with the 17th race of 2023 next Friday, September 8 with the running of the Sioux Chief Fast Track 150 at Kansas Speedway. The event will be broadcast live on FS1.
RESULTS
Pos Car No. Name Sponsor, OEM Laps Diff
1 20 Jesse Love* GEARWRENCH Toyota 100 —
2 25 Brent Crews* Yahoo/Mobil 1 Toyota 100 0.55
3 69 Will Kimmel Kimmel Racing Ford 100 1.028
4 2 Andres Perez de Lara* Max Siegal Inc Chevrolet 100 1.486
5 18 William Sawalich* Starkey/Sound Gear Toyota 100 2.163
6 16 Kelly Kovski Brandt/Schluckebier Farms/Schnapp Service Chevrolet 100 2.548
7 32 Christian Rose* West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford 100 4.805
8 12 Tim Monroe Rumbold Farms/HOI Vending Chevrolet 99 1 Lap
9 03 Alex Clubb Drill Brush Power Scrubber Ford 96 4 Laps
10 31 Brayton Laster* Preferred Paint & Drywall/@Cyber_Fox on Twitter Chevrolet 92 8 Laps
11 48 Brad Smith Copraya.com Chevrolet 92 8 Laps
12 30 Frankie Muniz* Ford Performance Ford 59 41 Laps
13 8 Sean Corr Miller Welders Ford 57 43 Laps
14 15 Sean Hingorani* Venturini Motorsports Toyota 55 45 Laps
15 66 Jon Garrett* Venture Food Stores Chevrolet 39 61 Laps
16 10 Clayton Weatherman* Freedom Welding/JMCS Toyota 29 71 Laps
17 11 Dallas Frueh* Universal Technical Institute Ford 12 88 Laps
18 06 A.J. Moyer BUCKED UP Toyota 0 100 Laps
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