ARCA Leader and Recent Dirt Winner Michael Self Looking for More Magic in DuQuoin
As the ARCA Menards Series sets to close out the month of August with its annual running of the series’ Labor Day weekend Southern Illinois 100 at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, driver Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Oil Toyota) looks to continue his winning ways.
Coming off a dramatic victory two weeks ago in Springfield to earn his fourth victory of the season, Self will make his first visit to DuQuoin’s Magic Mile looking to extend his series points lead which is now 105 points over teammate Christian Eckes.
Winning at Springfield in his first-ever start on dirt Self looks to complete the sweep before returning to familiar ground at Salem Speedway for the final stretch of the season.
“I had an absolute blast learning how to drive the ARCA can on dirt at Springfield, and I’m hoping some of the knowledge I gained there will help out for my first time at DuQuoin. I’ve got the same mindset going in to this race as Springfield, and that’s that I just have to be open-minded and that I don’t necessarily know what to expect, so learning is really what’s going to be key throughout the day. I’ve been told that while they’re both dirt, they’re completely different racetracks. I’ll be leaning on a lot of the people around me for insight again.”
Competing in his first full season Self has so far risen above the competition. Topping all series’ drivers with four wins, the Utah native has strung together 12 top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 15 starts. With four races remaining on the schedule, Self looks to keep his foot on the gas.
In addition to leading the driver point standings, he currently leads two other of ARCA’s prestigious special award categories; the CGS Imaging Four Crown and the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge.
The Four Crown Award is a compilation of four different types of tracks to represent the diversity of the ARCA Menards Series schedule – superspeedway, intermediate, short track, and a dirt track. This year’s Four Crown is made up of Talladega (Superspeedway), Michigan (intermediate), Springfield (mile dirt), and Salem (short track). Self finished fifth at Talladega before going on to win at Michigan and Springfield. He leads Bret Holmes by 35 points going into the final Four Crown race next month at Salem Speedway.
Self will join Venturini Motorsport teammates Christian Eckes and Logan Seavey for the holiday weekend dirt spectacular.
The Southern Illinois 100 on the Magic Mile at the DuQuoin State Fair is set for Saturday night August 31. Practice starts at 2:30 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying is slated for 5:30 pm CT, and the race is set for 8 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV
Sources: Venturini Motorsports PR