El Paso, Illinois’ Ryan Unzicker (No. 24 RJR Transportation Toyota) led practice for this evening’s ARCA Menards Series Southern Illinois 100 on the Magic Mile at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Unzicker turned a fast lap 33.023 seconds/109.015 miles per hour.
Fellow Illinoisan Kelly Kovski (No. 16 Schluckbier Farms/RaceTires.com Chevrolet), from Springfield, was second with a lap of 33.459 seconds/107.594 miles per hour. Both Unzicker and Kovski are looking for their first career ARCA Menards Series victory.
Last year’s Springfield winner Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio/Illinois Truck & Equipment Toyota) was third at 33.472 seconds/107.553 miles per hour, Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota), winner of the last series race at Springfield two weeks ago, was fourth at 33.551 seconds/107.299 miles per hour, and Carson Hocevar (No. 28 GMPartsNow.com/Scott’s Coins/KBR Development Chevrolet) was fifth at 33.602 seconds/107.136 miles per hour).
Defending Southern Illinois 100 winner Logan Seavey (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) was sixth, Riley Herbst (No. 18 Monster Energy/ORCA Coolers/Terrible Herbst/Advance Auto Parts Toyota), last year’s runner-up Will Kimmel (No. 69 Kimmel Racing Ford), Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford), and Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford) rounded out the top ten.
The 60-minute session was only slowed once for debris at the flagstand.
General Tire Pole Qualifying is up next at 6:30 pm ET/5:30 pm CT, with the green flag for the Southern Illinois 100 scheduled for shortly after 9 pm ET/8 pm CT. ARCA for Me members can follow with live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates at ARCARacing.com.