Natalie Decker will make her seventeenth start of her ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards rookie campaign at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds during the Labor Day running of the General Tire Grabber 100.
Tracking an upward trend, the 21-year old rookie has earned three of her seven top-10 finishes on the season over the span of the last four series events. This includes back-to-back tenth place finishes at Springfield and Berlin and a fifth place finish at Elko back in July.
Over the weekend the Eagle River, WI native will travel to southern Illinois and compete in just her second career dirt race on DuQuoin’s 1-mile surface.
Currently occupying the seventh spot in ARCA’s driver championship point standings, Decker remains dedicated to the process of her development and maintaining consistency behind the wheel.
“I’m having so much fun this year in the ARCA Series,” says Decker, who jumped out of the gate winning the general tire pole award and finishing fifth in the series season opening event at Daytona International Speedway.
“We’ve definitely had our highs and lows but every week I walk away from the track feeling like I’ve learned something new to bring back the next race. This season with Venturini Motorsports has really helped me. The more experience I get the better I’ll become.”
“I feel really good. I’m excited for DuQuoin and really hoping for another solid race. Being consistent is important. We’re getting there. My crew chief Frank Kimmel has been a big help. There’s no track we go to that he hasn’t won. Having someone like that coming through your radio is a big plus. He’s helped a lot.”
Decker’s top-10 finish two weeks ago at Springfield was the best ARCA dirt finish by a female driver since Trista Stevenson finished tenth at DuQuoin in 2016. Former driver Taylor Ferns holds the all-time ARCA record with a ninth-place finish at Springfield in 2013. Ferns also finished 10th at DuQuoin the same year. Both Ferns and Stevenson drove for Venturini Motorsports.
ARCA, considered the most versatile and leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country, has run 358 dirt races since the series’ inception in 1953. Of Venturini Motorsports’ 49-series victories, the longtime series team has earned five wins on dirt, three at Springfield and two at DuQuoin since 2010 – Steve Arpin (DuQuoin ’10), Brennan Poole (Springfield ’13), Kevin Swindell (Springfield ’14), Tom Hessert (DuQuoin ’16) and most recently Christian Eckes (Springfield ’18).
The ARCA race at Du Quoin is all part of a holiday doubleheader weekend of racing, featuring USAC Silver Crown on Sunday, September 2 and the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards on Monday, September 3. The race will start at 2:00PM CDT and will air live on MAVTV.
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