World of Outlaws officials announced that driver Shannon Babb has been fined and placed on probation after he failed a tire test during the Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway on Saturday, April 11th.

The tire samples were taken following qualifying and then sent to an independent lab for testing. According to the World of Outlaws, “The test revealed the tire sample from Babb’s car did not conform to the benchmark provided by Hoosier Tire Company. Additional analysis verified the primary laboratory findings.”

The series fined Babb $11,771.33. The fine includes the loss of his prize money and contingencies, tire testing and shipping costs, and a “fine equal to 1/3 of first-place ‘to-win’ amount.” He was also put on a 12-month probation.

Babb originally finished 9th in Saturday night’s feature during the Illini 100 after starting in 6th. He qualified 7th in Group B and finished second in Heat 3 behind Trey Mills.

Babb responded to the penalty writing on Facebook, “The World of Outlaws ruling on the tire sample taken from Saturday night’s Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway is unfortunate to say the least. The tire was a National Late Model 2 that we purchased from the tire truck at Farmer City Raceway at 3:00pm on Saturday April 11th. We cleaned our tire with a degreaser and wiped it off to remove the factory mold release coating from the tire.

“If we would have washed it off and not wiped it off, it would’ve been ok,” he continued. “This resulted in the tire not meeting the benchmark. We were honest with the World of Outlaws on the degreaser used to clean the tire and the test results that came back confirmed the components of that degreaser.”

“We have always raced with integrity and take pride in how we present our racing team and represent our sponsors. We accept the penalty, respect the rules and hope that the sanctioning bodies continue to follow their policies and rules for all dirt late model competitors,” the team concluded. “Shannon Babb Racing will have no further comment on this matter and we are looking forward to continuing our 2026 racing season!”

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