Brent Crews scored his first career ARCA Racing Series victory on the Springfield Mile dirt track at the Illinois State Fairgrounds on Sunday. Photo: ARCA Racing Series
Brent Crews earned his first career ARCA Menards Series victory on Sunday at on the dirt Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Crews is no stranger to finding victory lane on a dirt track but took great pride in earning his first series victory in his second ARCA at a historic facility like the Springfield Mile.
“This is the highest-caliber stuff I’ve ever done,” Crews said. “Being able to win (at Springfield) means a lot, but I want to give all glory to God. None of this would be possible without him, (Crew Chief) Monon (Rahman) and everyone at Venturini Motorsports that puts their hands on this thing to make it fast.”
Entering Sunday’s race, Crews had already racked up a stellar dirt track resume that included multiple victories in Midget cars.
It did not take long for Crews to get comfortable with the heavier ARCA cars around Springfield’s one-mile dirt oval. He set the fastest lap in qualifying with a time of 35.544 seconds before going on to dominate the race.
The only competition Crews faced came from Jesse Love, who passed Crews shortly after the initial start. After losing the lead to Crews, Love continued to fade during the final green flag run and settled for a third-place finish.
Although Love was unable to tie Tim Steele, Bruce Gould, Harold Smith and Jack Bowsher for most consecutive ARCA Menards Series victories with five, he did help complete a perfect weekend for Venturini Motorsports.
Love won Friday’s race at Watkins Glen International after a last lap pass while Sean Hingorani took the checkered flag in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series West race at Evergreen Speedway.
Sandwiched in between the two Venturini cars was Andres Perez de Lara, who recorded a career-best second-place finish despite having no dirt experience before Sunday’s race.
Perez de Lara wanted to learn as much as possible through the 100 laps at the Springfield Mile. He was satisfied with his overall performance and is optimistic about his chances of winning the next ARCA Menards Series dirt race at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on September 3.
“I’m just happy with a second place,” Perez de Lara said. “It was really fun out there. This was my first time on dirt, so I didn’t really know what to expect. We progressed so much throughout the day, so I know a lot more going into DuQuoin. Hopefully we can have a better finish (there).”
As he navigated an increasingly dry Springfield Mile, Perez de Lara ended up losing sight of Crews, who won by just more than 20 seconds.
Diligent work in the pits during the lap 50 race break helped Crews find the speed to usurp Love in the second half of the race. Crews did not have to wait long, as a rare mistake from Love allowed him to muscle his way ahead and cruise to that first win.
“(Love) was super fast to start off,” Crews said. “When we came to pit road and came back off, I knew we would have a super quick race car. Jesse kind of bobbled up in (turns) 1 and 2, but I knew he was going to run me really hard. I stuck it to the inside and we ended up making it work.”
Crews has not yet committed to competing at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, but with $20,000 on the line for sweeping both dirt races, he hopes to have a shot at another win in just a few short weeks.
There won’t be much rest for the ARCA Menards Series competitors following their grueling doubleheader weekend. The next race on the calendar on Sunday afternoon, August 27 at the Milwaukee Mile.
ARCA Racing Series
Illinois State Fairgrounds – Springfield, IL
Dutch Boy 100 – August 20, 2023
1. Brent Crews
2. Andres Perez de Lara
3. Jesse Love
4. Kelly Kovski
5. William Sawalich
6. Ken Schrader
7. Frankie Muniz
8. Taylor Reimer
9. Jon Garrett
10. Brayton Laster
11. Dale Quarterley
12. Christian Rose
13. Sean Corr
14. Tim Monroe
15. Alex Clubb
16. A.J. Moyer
17. Dallas Frueh
18. Brad Smith
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