McQuinn Breaks Through at Spoon River for First 2018 Win
By Jessica Jenkins

Heading into a pair of races at Lincoln Speedway and Spoon River Speedway the weekend after Father's Day, Robby McQuinn looked to turn his recent momentum into a pair of wins. Splitting his schedule between USAC's IMRA Speed 2 division and Lincoln's D2 midget class, the 19 year old carried five heat wins out of seven races and three runner-up finishes since May into night one at Lincoln Speedway on Friday, June 16th.

Firing off from fourth in the second heat, McQuinn climbed up to third by the checkered flag to claim an inside row three starting spot once green waved over the Feature. He didn't take long to climb up to a podium position and quickly went after second place. Staging a battle for the runner up spot over a majority of the race, he eventually captured the position only to find the leader had walked off. With the 15 lap race quickly counting down, Robby McQuinn Racing's #09 was awarded its fourth second place finish of the season.

Returning to Spoon River Speedway one weekend after his near victory at the 3/8 mile track, McQuinn was focused on racing out of the race winner's shadow and into the bright lights of victory lane. Intent on redeeming himself after slipping off track in turn three from the lead with six laps remaining exactly a week earlier, the 2017 high school graduate desired nothing less than his first feature win of the season. Lined up outside row one of heat three, McQuinn took the lead on lap one and never looked back while masterfully handling two restarts on the way to his sixth heat win of 2018. Pulling 5th in the redraw for the Bill Anderson Memorial feature lineup, he jumped to second on lap one and took over as leader by lap 8. Restarting from the lead following a red on lap 16, he held on over the final four laps and took home his first victory since a pair of wins last August.

After claiming his first USAC IMRA win McQuinn commented, "It felt good to just get the monkey off our backs. After running second for what feels like almost every race this year and winning all but 3 heat races, it felt good to get over the hump. After this weekend I know that we have a car to challenge for the win every weekend. Not that I didn’t think we had the car to do it, it just gives me reassurance that we can. I know now that I can win and that the harder I drive my car, the better it seems to work." With the support of his family, Storage Box, Bank of Springfield, Multi Fire Plug Wires and Mills Pallet inc., this upcoming racer from Springfield, IL can now set his sights on even more victories.

McQuinn now sits just four markers out of Lincoln Speedway's points lead and also closed up a little on the IMRA points leader. He'll return to Spoon River this weekend for the June 30th USAC IMRA event. Lincoln Speedway's next D2 race will be July 13th. Stay tuned to the Robby McQuinn Racing Facebook page for more information about his races this weekend and updates throughout each night's action.