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Popejoy Incorporated Presents the Illinois Dirt Shootout Powered by Hotrod Septic Treatment Entries #91 - #105

Popejoy Incorporated Presents the Illinois Dirt Shootout Powered by Hotrod Septic Treatment Entries #91 - #105

Over the course of the next month, the MARS Modified Championship Powered by Summit Racing Equipment will be spotlighting each of the drivers entered into the upcoming Illinois Dirt Shootout being held at Fairbury Speedway on May 23 - 25.

Donnie Martin II

Event Car #: 1M
Hometown: Oakwood, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not qualified for a MARS feature

2023 was Donnie’s first full season of racing as he split time between the DIRTcar UMP Modified division and the DIRTcar Pro Modified class. At a quick glance of the results, one would not make that assumption though as he finished in the top-10 in over 70% of his total starts. His best career DIRTcar UMP Modified finish is a 9th place finish in weekly action at Farmer City Raceway.

Lyndon Whitfill

Event Car #: 21LW
Hometown: Fairbury, IL
Best MARS finish: 14th at Farmer City Raceway and World Famous Highland Speedway

Born and bred as a Fairbury Speedway competitor, the Fairbury native has hit the road with the MARS tour full-time in 2024. Although he has had a couple of rough outings in his last couple of starts, Whitfill currently sits 10th in series standings and 4th in Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year points. The young driver has shown plenty of potential to this point, as he looks to shake the monkey off his back prior to the Illinois Dirt Shootout weekend.

Cody Wright

Event Car #: 22W
Hometown: Coatesville, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

Lincoln Park Speedway regular that will be looking to make a rare start in the Land of Lincoln. Wright finished top-10 in track points in 2023 and made his first start of the 2024 season this past weekend at Lincoln Park Speedway where he recorded a 12th place finish.

Mason Duncan

Event Car #: 32
Hometown: Metamora, IL
Best MARS finish: 13th at Spoon River Speedway

Another Fairbury Speedway local that has hit the road early in 2024 with the MARS Modified tour as a full-time competitor. Duncan is gunning for the Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year title, which is a highly contested race with over 10 drivers currently competing for the honors. Through the first 4 races he has shown plenty of flashes of speed but has been plagued with bad luck to this point. He will look to have a strong showing these last few weeks prior to the Illinois Dirt Shootout in preparation for the event.

Cody Stilwell

Event Car #: 00S
Hometown: Godfrey, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

Stilwell is a driver with numerous years of Modified experience but has not made a large amount of starts in the previous few seasons. This year he has unloaded twice at World Famous Highland Speedway with his best finish being a 13th place finish.

Nick Allen

Event Car #: 21A
Hometown: Wheatfield, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

A driver that is no stranger to victory lane in the DIRTcar UMP Modified division and always tends to shine when he visits FALS. After dabbling in the Late Model division, expect to see Allen back in the Modfiied more this season, although he has yet to make a start just yet. Last season he picked up Modified feature wins at Kokomo Speedway and Kankakee County Speedway. His best Fairbury Speedway finish of 2023 was a 2nd place finish on PDC prelim night.

Ryan Sutter

Event Car #: 18
Hometown: Coldwater, OH
Best MARS finish: 15th at Fairbury Speedway

Long-time competitor in the DIRTcar UMP Modified division that is a driver to keep your eye on Memorial Day weekend. Sutter made the trip west to FALS in 2023 on 3 different occasions with his best finish being a 6th place finish on PDC prelim night. His 2 wins in 2023 both came at Montpelier Motor Speedway.

Tyler Nicely

Event Car #: 25N
Hometown: Owensboro, KY
Best MARS finish: 1st at Brownstown Bullring, Red Hill Raceway, Farmer City Raceway.

2023 was the year of Tyler Nicely in the DIRTcar UMP Modified division as he captured the National Title for the first time in his career. With over 20 feature wins in 2023, and 3 of them being MARS victories, you knew that when the #25 was in the pit area that he would be towards the front. With his focus early in 2024 shifting more to Pavement Stock Car racing, will the #25 still be one of the cars to beat come Illinois Dirt Shootout weekend? Nicely picked up 4 victories at Volusia Speedway Park back in February at DIRTcar Nationals.

Ryan Thomas

Event Car #: T9
Hometown: Brownstown, IN
Best MARS finish: 4th at Farmer City Raceway

After not racing the second half of 2023 to focus on building his Diamond Chassis cars, the #T9 reemerged at the MARS Modified season opener a few weeks back at Farmer City Raceway. After a challenging weekend then, Thomas was able to leave his racing misfortune in Illinois as he picked up the Dirt Track World Championship make-up event at Eldora Speedway this past Saturday that was worth $10,000.

Josh Harris

Event Car #: 22H
Hometown: Utica, KY
Best MARS finish: 1st at Federated Auto Parts Raceway @ I-55

After a strong 2023 campaign, that resulted in Josh Harris finishing 2nd in points, all signs pointed towards the #22 being one of the favorites to knock off Michael Long for the championship in 2024. With misfortune tailing Harris through the early part of the MARS schedule, he had fallen further than expected pre-season, in series points. He made the difficult decision to not make the tow to Peoria Speedway this past weekend, but in turn picked up the Roddy feature win this past Friday night at Bloomington Speedway. With history being in his favor at FALS, the #22 comes into Illinois Dirt Shootout weekend as one of the favorites to take home the $20,000.

Austin Holcombe

Event Car #: A8
Hometown: Elm City, NC
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

One of the top-guns on the East Coast in DIRTcar UMP Modified racing that seldom finds himself in the Land of Lincoln. 2023 was a strong season for Holcombe as he captured Modified Mafia tour victories at County Line Raceway, Needmore Speedway, and Halifax County Motor Speedway. Holcombe came out the gate strong in 2024 as he picked up victories the first two nights of competition at East Bay Raceway Park during Winternationals.

Brent Hole

Event Car #: ZERO
Hometown: New Knoxville, OH
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

Waynesfield Raceway Park regular that had strong showings at the speedway considering he only made a handful of starts total in 2023. His best finish of the season was a 5th place finish in October.

Wes McClara

Event Car #: 45M
Hometown: Coatesville, IN
Best MARS finish: Has not competed in a MARS event

Long-time Super Stock driver that made the switch over to full-time DIRTcar UMP Modified racing in 2022. Mostly racing at Lincoln Park Speedway, McClara has put together some good finishes and captured 6th in track standings last season. This year he has already posted a top-5 finish at Paragon Speedway.

Degan Dozard

Event Car #: 17D
Hometown: Peoria, IL
Best MARS finish: 15th at Peoria Speedway

One of the up-and-coming DIRTcar UMP Modified drivers in the Central Illinois region that continues to get faster as the weeks progress. Last season he captured 8 top-5 finishes at Farmer City Raceway and Peoria Speedway. This year he has raced the absolute best competition in the Midwest each time he has unloaded and captured a career best MARS finish of 15th this past weekend at Peoria Speedway.

Jarrett Stryker

Event Car #: 18S
Hometown: Breese, IL
Best MARS finish: Has not started a MARS feature

A series of unfortunate events have plagued the Breese, Illinois driver in 2024 as he aims to tackle the MARS Modified tour in its entirety. He has shown plenty of speed throughout the tour to this point, but between mechanical issues and being at the wrong place at the wrong time, he just hasn’t pieced together the results to show for it. Stryker currently sits 6th in Sunoco Race Fuels Rookie of the Year standings.

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