BARBERVILLE, FL (Jan. 26, 2026) — Six months ago, Tyler Courtney laid in a hospital bed recovering from surgery, pondering his future and his odds to ever race a Sprint Car again.

A violent crash in July 2025 destroyed his race car, but not his drive to pursue his passion.

“I think there were times when I didn’t see a lot of progress happening. Those are tough times, I’ll tell you that,” said Courtney, of Indianapolis, IN. “Those are tough times when you kinda think your career might be over.

“But it never stopped me from working hard to get back to where I am now.”

This weekend, the national 410 Sprint Car regular will get back behind the wheel of the Clauson Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 7BC for the first time since the accident with a 360c.i. engine under the hood as the American Sprint Car Series opens its 35th season of competition at Volusia Speedway Park.

Over the last 28 weeks, Courtney said he’s spent enough time in doctor’s appointments and physical therapy sessions to last him a lifetime. Being out of the race car was hard for the 31-year-old, but his wait is finally over. It’s time to put the helmet on once again.

“I would say excited is an understatement,” Courtney said. “I live, sleep, breathe, eat and drink racing. So, not doing anything to that nature… obviously, I was around the racetrack, but not being in the car the last six months really eats at you. Being able to get back behind the wheel is… exciting isn’t the right word. If there was a better word than ‘excited’ I’d use it.”

Courtney’s high-speed rollover crash at Eldora Speedway last summer led to safety officials extracting him from his car before medical personnel transported him to a hospital for evaluation. What doctors found forced him out of the seat for the remainder of his 2025 campaign.

“I broke my T7 (vertebrae) and they fused me from T5 to T9,” Courtney said. “I got 10 screws. I know for sure two, but there might be three plates in there, I’m not sure.”

He spent the next four months resting in recovery from the procedure and began physical therapy in November. Courtney also went through a period of wearing glasses to correct double vision — a temporary symptom of cranial nerve damage he suffered in the crash. Now fully healed from injury and cleared by all doctors, “Sunshine” is just thankful for a sense of normalcy to return to his schedule after questioning his future in the sport.

“I don’t think there was ever a point I thought I’d willingly not get back into it, but there were definitely points that I thought in the whole process that I might not be able to,” Courtney said. “Once I got cleared from my doctors, they were kinda up front with me on that, saying that they didn’t think I would be either. But obviously, they can’t just come out and tell you that. They want to keep your hopes up and make you work hard to get back to where you were.

“Obviously, that worked.”

A former standout in the non-winged variety of open-wheel racing, the two-time United States Auto Club champion made a transition to the 410 Winged Sprint Car world full-time in 2021, where he’s spent nearly every minute of his on-track time since. What few 360 Sprint Car starts he’s made in that time have come mostly with the American Sprint Car Series at Knoxville Raceway in the 360 Knoxville Nationals, which he won in 2024.

This Thursday–Saturday, he’ll make his first appearance with the Series since that triumphant night in Iowa.

“I got talking with my team, and I was like, ‘Why don’t we just go down there and run with the 360s? That would probably be a better way for me to kinda get my footing underneath me,’” Courtney said. “Obviously, it’s still fast in a 360 at Volusia, but it’s not quite a 410. So, we decided to go down there and get our feet wet. We put a deal together with our engine builder at Stanton Racing Engines to get a 360 built.”

The speed of the historic Florida 1/2-mile oval that is Volusia Speedway Park is not unfamiliar to Courtney. In 18 career starts, he’s compiled 13 top-10s, three top-fives and one memorable Feature win with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars in a last-corner pass on Rico Abreu.

“I think Volusia’s gonna be a great place, honestly, because it’s typically pretty smooth, it’s fast, and it races well when they have the track right,” Courtney said. “I think it’s gonna be a good place to get me back up to speed. I think speed is the one thing I’ve been lacking over the last six months — the raw speed of everything. Obviously, I’ve driven my streetcar around and stuff, but that’s not going 120 miles an hour around other cars.”

In the early stages of his recovery, Courtney set himself a goal to be fully recovered and ready for competition again by February. Opening night of competition at Volusia lands on January 29. He admits his physical recovery process exceeded his expectations, and he may have found some additional fortitude along the way as well.

“I think it’s made me stronger mentally,” Courtney said. “I always felt like I was pretty strong mentally before, but just not letting anything creep in or deter me from my ultimate goal was important for me to realize. I think the people around me helped me with that.”

His last six months have been difficult. But he’s taken the steps, he’s traveled the road to recovery and is ready for the biggest return of his career with one goal in mind.

“I think, for me, it was more important to prove to people that this can happen to you, but it’s up to me to make it happen and get back to where I was before,” Courtney said. “I think injuries don’t get talked about a lot in our sport; I think it’s just kind of a scary thing. But at the end of the day, racing is dangerous, and these things are gonna happen to people.

“I guess I just wanted to show people that you can get hurt and come back and be who you were before.”

The 35th American Sprint Car Series season gets underway Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 29–31, at Volusia Speedway Park in the 55th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Tickets are on sale now; click here to purchase.

SUN RISING: Tyler Courtney Returns to Sprint Car Racing with ASCS at Volusia

BARBERVILLE, FL (Jan. 26, 2026) — Six months ago, Tyler Courtney laid in a hospital bed recovering from surgery, pondering his future and his odds to ever race a Sprint Car again.

A violent crash in July 2025 destroyed his race car, but not his drive to pursue his passion.

“I think there were times when I didn’t see a lot of progress happening. Those are tough times, I’ll tell you that,” said Courtney, of Indianapolis, IN. “Those are tough times when you kinda think your career might be over.

“But it never stopped me from working hard to get back to where I am now.”

This weekend, the national 410 Sprint Car regular will get back behind the wheel of the Clauson Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink No. 7BC for the first time since the accident with a 360c.i. engine under the hood as the American Sprint Car Series opens its 35th season of competition at Volusia Speedway Park.

Over the last 28 weeks, Courtney said he’s spent enough time in doctor’s appointments and physical therapy sessions to last him a lifetime. Being out of the race car was hard for the 31-year-old, but his wait is finally over. It’s time to put the helmet on once again.

“I would say excited is an understatement,” Courtney said. “I live, sleep, breathe, eat and drink racing. So, not doing anything to that nature… obviously, I was around the racetrack, but not being in the car the last six months really eats at you. Being able to get back behind the wheel is… exciting isn’t the right word. If there was a better word than ‘excited’ I’d use it.”

Courtney’s high-speed rollover crash at Eldora Speedway last summer led to safety officials extracting him from his car before medical personnel transported him to a hospital for evaluation. What doctors found forced him out of the seat for the remainder of his 2025 campaign.

“I broke my T7 (vertebrae) and they fused me from T5 to T9,” Courtney said. “I got 10 screws. I know for sure two, but there might be three plates in there, I’m not sure.”

He spent the next four months resting in recovery from the procedure and began physical therapy in November. Courtney also went through a period of wearing glasses to correct double vision — a temporary symptom of cranial nerve damage he suffered in the crash. Now fully healed from injury and cleared by all doctors, “Sunshine” is just thankful for a sense of normalcy to return to his schedule after questioning his future in the sport.

“I don’t think there was ever a point I thought I’d willingly not get back into it, but there were definitely points that I thought in the whole process that I might not be able to,” Courtney said. “Once I got cleared from my doctors, they were kinda up front with me on that, saying that they didn’t think I would be either. But obviously, they can’t just come out and tell you that. They want to keep your hopes up and make you work hard to get back to where you were.

“Obviously, that worked.”

A former standout in the non-winged variety of open-wheel racing, the two-time United States Auto Club champion made a transition to the 410 Winged Sprint Car world full-time in 2021, where he’s spent nearly every minute of his on-track time since. What few 360 Sprint Car starts he’s made in that time have come mostly with the American Sprint Car Series at Knoxville Raceway in the 360 Knoxville Nationals, which he won in 2024.

This Thursday–Saturday, he’ll make his first appearance with the Series since that triumphant night in Iowa.

“I got talking with my team, and I was like, ‘Why don’t we just go down there and run with the 360s? That would probably be a better way for me to kinda get my footing underneath me,’” Courtney said. “Obviously, it’s still fast in a 360 at Volusia, but it’s not quite a 410. So, we decided to go down there and get our feet wet. We put a deal together with our engine builder at Stanton Racing Engines to get a 360 built.”

The speed of the historic Florida 1/2-mile oval that is Volusia Speedway Park is not unfamiliar to Courtney. In 18 career starts, he’s compiled 13 top-10s, three top-fives and one memorable Feature win with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars in a last-corner pass on Rico Abreu.

“I think Volusia’s gonna be a great place, honestly, because it’s typically pretty smooth, it’s fast, and it races well when they have the track right,” Courtney said. “I think it’s gonna be a good place to get me back up to speed. I think speed is the one thing I’ve been lacking over the last six months — the raw speed of everything. Obviously, I’ve driven my streetcar around and stuff, but that’s not going 120 miles an hour around other cars.”

In the early stages of his recovery, Courtney set himself a goal to be fully recovered and ready for competition again by February. Opening night of competition at Volusia lands on January 29. He admits his physical recovery process exceeded his expectations, and he may have found some additional fortitude along the way as well.

“I think it’s made me stronger mentally,” Courtney said. “I always felt like I was pretty strong mentally before, but just not letting anything creep in or deter me from my ultimate goal was important for me to realize. I think the people around me helped me with that.”

His last six months have been difficult. But he’s taken the steps, he’s traveled the road to recovery and is ready for the biggest return of his career with one goal in mind.

“I think, for me, it was more important to prove to people that this can happen to you, but it’s up to me to make it happen and get back to where I was before,” Courtney said. “I think injuries don’t get talked about a lot in our sport; I think it’s just kind of a scary thing. But at the end of the day, racing is dangerous, and these things are gonna happen to people.

“I guess I just wanted to show people that you can get hurt and come back and be who you were before.”

The 35th American Sprint Car Series season gets underway Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 29–31, at Volusia Speedway Park in the 55th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Tickets are on sale now; click here to purchase.

How can you watch the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.

Todd Morrow Living Out World of Outlaws Dream Full-Time in 2026

CONCORD, NC (January 26, 2026) – The 2026 season may already be underway, but the roster of full-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision drivers is still expanding.

Todd Morrow has declared his intentions to contest the full 2026 season with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet behind the wheel of the Britton Motorsports No. T1. The 40-year-old Penton, AL driver becomes the fifth World of Outlaws newcomer chasing this year’s MD3 Rookie of the Year Award, joining Trey Mills, Logan Zarin, Eli Johnson and Daulton Wilson.

“We just started last year at the World [100], we put all this together and we’ve only been doing it for six months,” Morrow said. “I originally retired because it had just got so expensive, and I had been out of it for about eight years. Just started back at Eldora [Speedway] for my debut. We’ve got a lot of learning, but they wanted to do it. I always wanted to do this one time, so we’re going to see if we can make it happen.”

Following the Eldora trip, Morrow traveled to seven more events across the southeast last fall in preparation for the upcoming season. The signs of progress were there, as Morrow made his first World of Outlaws Feature start at Senoia Raceway and earned a Southern All Stars top five at Dixie Speedway, marking the resumption of his story in the sport that began decades ago.

“My dad was always around it, grew up around Cleveland Speedway with Joe Lee Johnson,” Morrow said. “I just always wanted to race. Started racing when I was probably six in go karts, then started in cars when I was 14.”

Morrow went on to become a well-respected regional racer in the south, with five Southern All Stars wins highlighting his resume. He knows that expanding his footprint to the national level this season will bring plenty of challenges, which is why he’s keeping his expectations modest in the short-term while building toward the future.

“Just run all the races and be competitive,” Morrow said regarding his goals for 2026. “Sure, a win would be nice, but with me being out of the game, just building a notebook, getting competitive, and working on it for next year.”

Morrow will continue his 2026 season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision at Volusia Speedway Park during Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals (Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 12-14), followed by the Swamp Cabbage 100 at Hendry County Motorsports Park (Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21). Get tickets and more information for both events by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

Todd Morrow Living Out World of Outlaws Dream Full-Time in 2026

CONCORD, NC (January 26, 2026) – The 2026 season may already be underway, but the roster of full-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision drivers is still expanding.

Todd Morrow has declared his intentions to contest the full 2026 season with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet behind the wheel of the Britton Motorsports No. T1. The 40-year-old Penton, AL driver becomes the fifth World of Outlaws newcomer chasing this year’s MD3 Rookie of the Year Award, joining Trey Mills, Logan Zarin, Eli Johnson and Daulton Wilson.

“We just started last year at the World [100], we put all this together and we’ve only been doing it for six months,” Morrow said. “I originally retired because it had just got so expensive, and I had been out of it for about eight years. Just started back at Eldora [Speedway] for my debut. We’ve got a lot of learning, but they wanted to do it. I always wanted to do this one time, so we’re going to see if we can make it happen.”

Following the Eldora trip, Morrow traveled to seven more events across the southeast last fall in preparation for the upcoming season. The signs of progress were there, as Morrow made his first World of Outlaws Feature start at Senoia Raceway and earned a Southern All Stars top five at Dixie Speedway, marking the resumption of his story in the sport that began decades ago.

“My dad was always around it, grew up around Cleveland Speedway with Joe Lee Johnson,” Morrow said. “I just always wanted to race. Started racing when I was probably six in go karts, then started in cars when I was 14.”

Morrow went on to become a well-respected regional racer in the south, with five Southern All Stars wins highlighting his resume. He knows that expanding his footprint to the national level this season will bring plenty of challenges, which is why he’s keeping his expectations modest in the short-term while building toward the future.

“Just run all the races and be competitive,” Morrow said regarding his goals for 2026. “Sure, a win would be nice, but with me being out of the game, just building a notebook, getting competitive, and working on it for next year.”

Morrow will continue his 2026 season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision at Volusia Speedway Park during Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals (Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 12-14), followed by the Swamp Cabbage 100 at Hendry County Motorsports Park (Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21). Get tickets and more information for both events by clicking here.

Todd Morrow Living Out World of Outlaws Dream Full-Time in 2026

CONCORD, NC (January 26, 2026) – The 2026 season may already be underway, but the roster of full-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision drivers is still expanding.

Todd Morrow has declared his intentions to contest the full 2026 season with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet behind the wheel of the Britton Motorsports No. T1. The 40-year-old Penton, AL driver becomes the fifth World of Outlaws newcomer chasing this year’s MD3 Rookie of the Year Award, joining Trey Mills, Logan Zarin, Eli Johnson and Daulton Wilson.

“We just started last year at the World [100], we put all this together and we’ve only been doing it for six months,” Morrow said. “I originally retired because it had just got so expensive, and I had been out of it for about eight years. Just started back at Eldora [Speedway] for my debut. We’ve got a lot of learning, but they wanted to do it. I always wanted to do this one time, so we’re going to see if we can make it happen.”

Following the Eldora trip, Morrow traveled to seven more events across the southeast last fall in preparation for the upcoming season. The signs of progress were there, as Morrow made his first World of Outlaws Feature start at Senoia Raceway and earned a Southern All Stars top five at Dixie Speedway, marking the resumption of his story in the sport that began decades ago.

“My dad was always around it, grew up around Cleveland Speedway with Joe Lee Johnson,” Morrow said. “I just always wanted to race. Started racing when I was probably six in go karts, then started in cars when I was 14.”

Morrow went on to become a well-respected regional racer in the south, with five Southern All Stars wins highlighting his resume. He knows that expanding his footprint to the national level this season will bring plenty of challenges, which is why he’s keeping his expectations modest in the short-term while building toward the future.

“Just run all the races and be competitive,” Morrow said regarding his goals for 2026. “Sure, a win would be nice, but with me being out of the game, just building a notebook, getting competitive, and working on it for next year.”

Morrow will continue his 2026 season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision at Volusia Speedway Park during Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals (Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 12-14), followed by the Swamp Cabbage 100 at Hendry County Motorsports Park (Friday-Saturday, Feb. 20-21). Get tickets and more information for both events by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

Faces familiar and new to call the shots for 24-time championship organization’s three Funny Car and one Top Fuel program

JOHN FORCE RACING ANNOUNCES CREW CHIEFSFOR NHRA’S 75th ANNIVERSARY SEASONFaces familiar and new to call the shots for 24-time championship organization’s three Funny Car and one Top Fuel program

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (Jan. 26, 2026) – John Force Racing rolls into a new era of competition for the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season with an expanded lineup of drivers, crew chiefs and crew who collectively have the singular focus of winning for the 24-time championship organization. “This is a great time to be part of John Force Racing and I’m more excited about getting the season going than I have been in a long time,” said 16-time NHRA Funny Car World Champion and team owner John Force. “There are new crew chiefs and crew members bringing fresh blood to the race shop, sharing their experience and know-how with the crew chiefs and crew already established here who have won races and championships and set national records. We’re back to having four teams in Top Fuel and Funny Car and I can’t wait to see them go down the track at Gainesville.” Continuing to call the shots for 2012 NHRA Funny Car World Champion Jack Beckman and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet SS Funny Car team will be veteran crew chiefs Danny Hood and Tim Fabrisi. Beckman’s first full season with the PEAK SQUAD garnered a third-place finish in the 2025 point standings on the strength of two victories (Pomona 1, Chicago) and three runner-up finishes (Richmond, Indianapolis, St. Louis) as well as five No. 1 Qualifier spots (Gainesville, Chicago, Richmond, Brainerd, Indianapolis). Long-time John Force Racing crew chief Chris Cunningham moves from the PEAK SQUAD to join forces with co-crew chief Jason Bunker, most recently with Cruz Pedregon Racing, in overseeing the performance of the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team with driver Jordan Vandergriff. Vandergriff will make his Funny Car debut in 2026 after competing in 11 Top Fuel events in 2019, earning a runner-up finish at Dallas and two other semi-final showings. After a five-year hiatus from the competition, he made two starts last season in relief of injured Top Fuel driver Shawn Reed. David Grubnic and John Collins will continue to prepare the John Force Racing Top Fuel Dragster in 2026 with Josh Hart now behind the wheel and a new primary partnership with Hart’s Burnyzz Speed Shop. Last year, Grubnic and Collins guided two-time NHRA Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force, who stepped out of the seat at season’s end to start a family, to a fourth-place finish in the point standings with two wins (New Hampshire and Las Vegas, her female record-breaking 19th in the class) one runner-up finish (Seattle), and six No. 1 Qualifier positions (Pomona1, Richmond, Sonoma, Indianapolis, Charlotte2, Las Vegas). The team also set the NHRA speed national record multiple times, the final mark of 343. 51 mph made at Indianapolis. Hart, who has two NHRA Top Fuel victories to his credit (2021 Gainesville and Charlotte), finished 10th in last year’s Top Fuel point standings as team owner and driver. The decision-makers on the Bandero Premium Tequila Chevrolet SS Funny Car team with driver Alexis DeJoria are Mike Neff, who has been both driver and crew chief with John Force Racing and was DeJoria’s crew chief last season, and Jonnie Lindberg, also a former driver who was co-crew chief the past two seasons at Paul Lee Racing. The six-time NHRA Funny Car event winner finished 12th in last season’s point standings, with semifinal finishes at Gainesville, Epping, Seattle and Indianapolis. John Force Racing kicks off the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, the sanctioning body’s 75th anniversary, March 5-8 with the AMALIE MOTOR OIL NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville (Fla.) Raceway.

Action Express Racing team of Aitken, Bamber, Vesti and Zilisch Come Back from Lap DownDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2026) — The Rolex 24 At Daytona became a six-hour sprint race after overnight fog kept the race under yellow conditions for more than six-and-a-half hours. But the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R from Action Express Racing team stormed through the fog and came from a lap down to finish second and just 1.5 seconds behind the No. 7 Penske Motorsports car.  Jack Aitken, who drove along with Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch, made a hard charge throughout the final hour and nearly caught the No. 7 Penske machine twice, but had to settle for a podium finish.

It’s Cadillac’s ninth podium finish in 10 Rolex 24 At Daytona races and the second consecutive runner-up finish.  The No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX for Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta finished sixth.  Their teammates – Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Stevens – driving the No. 10 car suffered a mechanical issue and, combined with the time remaining in the race, retired from the event.

With the runner-up finish, Cadillac Racing now has 105 podiums (21 GTP, 84 DPi) since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017. The Cadillac Racing team now heads to the 74th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 18-21 in Sebring, Florida.  Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube (not in the U.S.) will broadcast beginning at 10 am ET on Saturday, March 21, and NBCSN will broadcast beginning at 5 pm ET. Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel will stream the entirety of the race along with the IMSA Radio broadcast at IMSA.com, Sirius 211/XM 207.

Driver Quotes  No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Jack Aitken: “We had to fight pretty much all the way through the race, and it was not an easy 24-Hour race. Not like some previous years where some things came our way. Couple of setbacks early on and we had to dig deep to get back on the lead lap and get through the field. There were some fantastic stints all the way through the night and the end. To fall just short is a bit heartbreaking. Hopefully this shows the strength of the Whelen Cadillac. We were able to take the challenge to them today and it’s a testament to the boys and girls that got the car on the grid today. Big thanks to them and to Cadillac as a whole. We’re going to keep flighting and get that win someday.” Earl Bamber: “We had a good car and a good team and we knew Porsche was going to be strong at the start of the race and they were going to be our main contender. So yeah, I think it was going to be between the 7, the 6 and ourselves. We came up short by 1.5 seconds, but I think it was an amazing team effort by everyone on Cadillac and Whelen. We had quite a few setbacks and issues in the night and we just kept digging and digging and came home second. Obviously it’s not what we wanted, but we will finish second and take the points.” Frederik Vesti: “It’s one of the first times in my life I’ve been extremely disappointed with a second-place finish. That just says so much about our potential this weekend. But to finish second in a race where we were a lap down, we had few minor issues throughout the race so to finish second is a very big result. Obviously finishing second by 1.5 seconds from P1 is extremely frustrating, but it’s a great start to the season. We can all be proud of everyone on the team and the efforts this weekend. And we’ll come back a do better.” Connor Zilisch: “Yeah, it was a great day. Jack (Aitken) did everything he could there at the end to try and get us the win, but just came up a little bit short. I am so proud of the effort of everyone with Cadillac and Action Express Racing. I had a lot of fun being a part of it and getting to learn from all those guys, my teammates, so yeah just thankful for the opportunity and happy it went well. Second always sucks, but we did everything we could, and we have to be proud of that.”

No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Louis Deletraz: “Well, we made it to the end and congratulations to the 31 for the second place and to Cadillac. We made it to the end and no mistakes by the drivers and no mistakes from the team. I think sometime after midnight something broke at the back of the car, to be confirmed, but we lost a lot of pace out of it. I think we were quite good on deg (degradation), but then again when its losing pace, we just didn’t have it. We had good strategy on fuel and its good points on the championship. Looking forward to more and can’t wait to get to Sebring already.” Colton Herta: “Hard fight to the end for us in the 40 car. Was not the race that we wanted, but good points for the full-time guys. We never gave up and tried our hardest, so proud of that and definitely some stuff to look at and get better on for Sebring. Looking forward to that one.” Jordan Taylor: “Yeah, obviously not a great day for the whole team and for us. I think we salvaged sixth place there at the end with a good call on fuel strategy, but overall, disappointed because a couple of times I thought we were in the mix for the race. So, just hopefully we can go to Sebring with a little more pace and win there.”

No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Filipe Albuquerque: “What a shame, it’s a long race but for me a very short race because of the fog (overnight), but we still got to P3 and Ricky was looking very very strong. I think we could have battle for something and the pace is better from Wayne Taylor Racing.”  Will Stevens: “A disappointing result, but there are some positives to take away from the week. At times during the race, we had the pace to be up in the standings, but it’s disappointing, not to be at the end to fight for something. I think we made good steps over the winter, and we’ll take some time to digest it and move on to Sebring.” Ricky Taylor: “What a shame. I feel bad because on that last stint, the last thing I did was make a mistake in turn six, but I think we had a really good Cadillac. We were the only ones on new tires and were making some progress and something went wrong. Really unfortunate but I am very proud of the team and the guys and coming here with a second year with Cadillac and I think we were finally doing justice to what the Cadillac GTP can do, so it’s encouraging for the remainder of the year.”

Cadillac Has Strong Runner-Up Finish in Rolex 24 At DaytonaAction Express Racing team of Aitken, Bamber, Vesti and Zilisch Come Back from Lap DownDAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 25, 2026) — The Rolex 24 At Daytona became a six-hour sprint race after overnight fog kept the race under yellow conditions for more than six-and-a-half hours. But the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R from Action Express Racing team stormed through the fog and came from a lap down to finish second and just 1.5 seconds behind the No. 7 Penske Motorsports car.  Jack Aitken, who drove along with Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch, made a hard charge throughout the final hour and nearly caught the No. 7 Penske machine twice, but had to settle for a podium finish.

It’s Cadillac’s ninth podium finish in 10 Rolex 24 At Daytona races and the second consecutive runner-up finish.  The No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX for Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz and Colton Herta finished sixth.  Their teammates – Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Will Stevens – driving the No. 10 car suffered a mechanical issue and, combined with the time remaining in the race, retired from the event.

With the runner-up finish, Cadillac Racing now has 105 podiums (21 GTP, 84 DPi) since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017. The Cadillac Racing team now heads to the 74th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on March 18-21 in Sebring, Florida.  Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube (not in the U.S.) will broadcast beginning at 10 am ET on Saturday, March 21, and NBCSN will broadcast beginning at 5 pm ET. Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel will stream the entirety of the race along with the IMSA Radio broadcast at IMSA.com, Sirius 211/XM 207.

Driver Quotes  No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Jack Aitken: “We had to fight pretty much all the way through the race, and it was not an easy 24-Hour race. Not like some previous years where some things came our way. Couple of setbacks early on and we had to dig deep to get back on the lead lap and get through the field. There were some fantastic stints all the way through the night and the end. To fall just short is a bit heartbreaking. Hopefully this shows the strength of the Whelen Cadillac. We were able to take the challenge to them today and it’s a testament to the boys and girls that got the car on the grid today. Big thanks to them and to Cadillac as a whole. We’re going to keep flighting and get that win someday.” Earl Bamber: “We had a good car and a good team and we knew Porsche was going to be strong at the start of the race and they were going to be our main contender. So yeah, I think it was going to be between the 7, the 6 and ourselves. We came up short by 1.5 seconds, but I think it was an amazing team effort by everyone on Cadillac and Whelen. We had quite a few setbacks and issues in the night and we just kept digging and digging and came home second. Obviously it’s not what we wanted, but we will finish second and take the points.” Frederik Vesti: “It’s one of the first times in my life I’ve been extremely disappointed with a second-place finish. That just says so much about our potential this weekend. But to finish second in a race where we were a lap down, we had few minor issues throughout the race so to finish second is a very big result. Obviously finishing second by 1.5 seconds from P1 is extremely frustrating, but it’s a great start to the season. We can all be proud of everyone on the team and the efforts this weekend. And we’ll come back a do better.” Connor Zilisch: “Yeah, it was a great day. Jack (Aitken) did everything he could there at the end to try and get us the win, but just came up a little bit short. I am so proud of the effort of everyone with Cadillac and Action Express Racing. I had a lot of fun being a part of it and getting to learn from all those guys, my teammates, so yeah just thankful for the opportunity and happy it went well. Second always sucks, but we did everything we could, and we have to be proud of that.”

No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Louis Deletraz: “Well, we made it to the end and congratulations to the 31 for the second place and to Cadillac. We made it to the end and no mistakes by the drivers and no mistakes from the team. I think sometime after midnight something broke at the back of the car, to be confirmed, but we lost a lot of pace out of it. I think we were quite good on deg (degradation), but then again when its losing pace, we just didn’t have it. We had good strategy on fuel and its good points on the championship. Looking forward to more and can’t wait to get to Sebring already.” Colton Herta: “Hard fight to the end for us in the 40 car. Was not the race that we wanted, but good points for the full-time guys. We never gave up and tried our hardest, so proud of that and definitely some stuff to look at and get better on for Sebring. Looking forward to that one.” Jordan Taylor: “Yeah, obviously not a great day for the whole team and for us. I think we salvaged sixth place there at the end with a good call on fuel strategy, but overall, disappointed because a couple of times I thought we were in the mix for the race. So, just hopefully we can go to Sebring with a little more pace and win there.”

No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing Filipe Albuquerque: “What a shame, it’s a long race but for me a very short race because of the fog (overnight), but we still got to P3 and Ricky was looking very very strong. I think we could have battle for something and the pace is better from Wayne Taylor Racing.”  Will Stevens: “A disappointing result, but there are some positives to take away from the week. At times during the race, we had the pace to be up in the standings, but it’s disappointing, not to be at the end to fight for something. I think we made good steps over the winter, and we’ll take some time to digest it and move on to Sebring.” Ricky Taylor: “What a shame. I feel bad because on that last stint, the last thing I did was make a mistake in turn six, but I think we had a really good Cadillac. We were the only ones on new tires and were making some progress and something went wrong. Really unfortunate but I am very proud of the team and the guys and coming here with a second year with Cadillac and I think we were finally doing justice to what the Cadillac GTP can do, so it’s encouraging for the remainder of the year.”

Corvette GT3 teams show promise in Rolex 24 to open season DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 25, 2026) – Four of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs entered for the Rolex 24 At Daytona completed the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as the Corvette Racing program kicked off its third season of competition. Both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and 13 Autosport recorded fourth-place class finishes at the end of a crazy race that featured running in both warm sunshine and cool, gloomy fog.

The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone just missed the GTD PRO podium in their Corvette Z06 GT3.R, finishing fourth. In GTD, the 13 Autosport team of Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Ben Green showed the same performance that netted the team a class victory a year ago but came up just short this year.

Corvette Racing Media Resources Documents | Statistics | Photos | Factory Driver Bios | Chevrolet Newsroom

Both of the Pro-class Corvette GT3s were the forces of the race through the first 20 hours. The pair of yellow Corvettes combined to lead for 319 laps – 160 coming from the No. 3 trio of pole-winner Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The cars ran in formation for much of the race – before and after a lengthy six-and-a-half, full-course yellow period due to fog – before the race went sideways. It started with a suspension issue for the No. 3 Corvette with a little more than five hours to go that cost the team 46 seconds in its garage. The sister Corvette continued to run at the front as late as two-and-a-half hours to go – due in part to a third-to-first move by Milner – before Varrone was shoved off-track shortly after a restart. That cost the No. 4 team time and track position back to seventh before the drive-back by Catsburg to the end. GTD-class Corvettes also spent time out front of class before misfortune struck each of the customer cars. The 13 Autosport Z06 GT3.R led the GTD race four times for 32 laps in a solid start to its full-season championship push. The team mirrored its strategy to its 2025 victory by having Fidani and Kern drive much of the race’s first half before putting in the team’s two Pro-level drivers to the end. DXDT Racing also led with its No. 36 Corvette with a similar strategy. After Salih Yoluc and Mason Filippi set the stage for most of the early parts, Charlie Eastwood and Scott McLaughlin pushed the DXDT entry to the front for 90 laps before a cracked gearbox ended the team’s day inside the final two hours. New customer team DragonSpeed also had an encouraging early run in its Corvette debut. Giacomo Altoe, Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson and Matteo Cairoli ran solidly in the middle of the 21-car pack with their No. 81 Corvette, which was moving up before Cairoli was hit by a prototype car near the five-hour mark. The impact sent Cairoli into the tire barriers as the Corvette sustained left-side damage. Despite losing 15 laps and nearly 25 minutes, the team carried on and used the rest of the race as an extended test session for its new Corvette. The next event for Corvette Racing in IMSA is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 21.

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “One of those that could have been for the whole team. The real shame is that it didn’t just happen to one car; both had issues to compromise the end result. Our Corvettes were working really well. We had decent pace but I don’t know if we would have been able to fight at the front right to the end. It seemed like others seemed to get quite strong at the end. Who knows. It would have been nice to have been in with a chance. The Pratt Miller team did a great job all race. We had flawless pit stops and just the one issue. The guys will look into that and we’ll come back stronger at Sebring.”

MARVIN KIRCHHÖFER, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “First off all, those six hours of full course yellow where I think I did three-and-a-half out of the maximum four was probably one of the most exhausting stints that I’ve ever had. It’s a lot of riding around and trying not to fall asleep. I’m gutted for the team, obviously. Everyone has done an outstanding job and worked very hard the last two weeks. When you lead the race for as long as we did and then have a mechanical issue in the last four or five hours, it’s tough. We were pushing hard along with the No. 4 car, which was always up front as well. The guys would have deserved a decent result here. Still, I enjoyed it. I’m not happy with the outcome but we will next go to the next race at Sebring and make it a good race over there.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Somehow it all went away for us. Of course there was the incident when the Ferrari smashed us off. I feel like even without that, it was not going to be easy. It seemed like everyone at the end of the race had an extra switch and could power up a bit. But that definitely did not help. Big hats off to the team. The execution was amazing with zero mistakes. The car was good and the setup was good. I think we finished second if you look at the full-season contenders so that’s not too bad. It’s unfortunate because I felt like we were going to come away with a new watch.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Thursday night, it looked like we were going to have a very different event, just to even finish the race flawlessly, let alone be not far up the order. Everybody should be really proud of themselves. I think we had a fourth-place car and we were in the game for a long part of it. There was a little bit of bumping and shoving at the end, but it didn’t change the outcome. Fourth is the maximum we had, and we achieved the maximum result that we were capable of this weekend. Everybody put together a great car. It was as fast as our Corvette was going to go, and we all drove the wheels off it. I am very proud of the team. It’s good to leave thinking you got the best out of your machine. We’ll crack on and try to get the win at Sebring.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “After what we went through on Thursday, I couldn’t be prouder of this crew. Everyone dug deep, worked through the night, and we showed up ready to race, that says everything about this team. We were right in the fight all weekend, and while we wanted that podium, a fourth-place finish in the biggest race of the season is still extremely rewarding. Huge credit to the crew and my teammates for their work and dedication. We’ll take what we learned and go to Sebring even hungrier.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really, really proud of the team. The car was flawless, I loved it. Everything on our side was good. It just wasn’t in our hands. Honestly, it feels horrible. The race just unfolded in an unlucky way for us. You can’t win this race every year, and unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be for us this time. That’s racing, the racing gods decide if you get to win or not, and this year they decided we weren’t going to.”

BEN GREEN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really happy to finish the Rolex 24 at Daytona with 13 Autosport on my debut at the event. It’s great to make it to the end, and to finish fourth. Of course, we wish we were on the podium, because we were fighting for the win at different points throughout the race. I’m very proud of the effort from the entire team, and it’s been great to have support from GM as well. Our Chevy V8 was singing on the Daytona banking for 24 hours, faultless, and I’m proud of everyone’s work to make that happen.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Not the finish we hoped for. This was probably one of the best weekends we’ve had together with DXDT. The pace was super-strong from rolling out for the Roar. It was the same in the race. We were keeping our nose clean and sitting in the top-three for a lot of the race and took the lead with about three-and-a-half hours to go before we developed a crack in the gearbox. We’re unsure how it happened, which is just gutting. It’s definitely the best chance I’ve had to win this race. But these things happen in endurance races. The pace was brilliant and Sebring is just around the corner. Hopefully we can go there and collect some trophies.”

GIACOMO ALTOÉ, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I can see the potential of the car and the team. We for sure are still in the learning phases with this car and there is a lot to improve. It was important for us to finish the race and collect all the data possible to analyze it and continue learning. We will build from here.”

CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Hope to HeartbreakCorvette GT3 teams show promise in Rolex 24 to open season DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 25, 2026) – Four of the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs entered for the Rolex 24 At Daytona completed the opening round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as the Corvette Racing program kicked off its third season of competition. Both Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports and 13 Autosport recorded fourth-place class finishes at the end of a crazy race that featured running in both warm sunshine and cool, gloomy fog.

The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry of Tommy Milner, Nicky Catsburg and Nico Varrone just missed the GTD PRO podium in their Corvette Z06 GT3.R, finishing fourth. In GTD, the 13 Autosport team of Matt Bell, Orey Fidani, Lars Kern and Ben Green showed the same performance that netted the team a class victory a year ago but came up just short this year.

Corvette Racing Media Resources Documents | Statistics | Photos | Factory Driver Bios | Chevrolet Newsroom

Both of the Pro-class Corvette GT3s were the forces of the race through the first 20 hours. The pair of yellow Corvettes combined to lead for 319 laps – 160 coming from the No. 3 trio of pole-winner Alexander Sims, Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The cars ran in formation for much of the race – before and after a lengthy six-and-a-half, full-course yellow period due to fog – before the race went sideways. It started with a suspension issue for the No. 3 Corvette with a little more than five hours to go that cost the team 46 seconds in its garage. The sister Corvette continued to run at the front as late as two-and-a-half hours to go – due in part to a third-to-first move by Milner – before Varrone was shoved off-track shortly after a restart. That cost the No. 4 team time and track position back to seventh before the drive-back by Catsburg to the end. GTD-class Corvettes also spent time out front of class before misfortune struck each of the customer cars. The 13 Autosport Z06 GT3.R led the GTD race four times for 32 laps in a solid start to its full-season championship push. The team mirrored its strategy to its 2025 victory by having Fidani and Kern drive much of the race’s first half before putting in the team’s two Pro-level drivers to the end. DXDT Racing also led with its No. 36 Corvette with a similar strategy. After Salih Yoluc and Mason Filippi set the stage for most of the early parts, Charlie Eastwood and Scott McLaughlin pushed the DXDT entry to the front for 90 laps before a cracked gearbox ended the team’s day inside the final two hours. New customer team DragonSpeed also had an encouraging early run in its Corvette debut. Giacomo Altoe, Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson and Matteo Cairoli ran solidly in the middle of the 21-car pack with their No. 81 Corvette, which was moving up before Cairoli was hit by a prototype car near the five-hour mark. The impact sent Cairoli into the tire barriers as the Corvette sustained left-side damage. Despite losing 15 laps and nearly 25 minutes, the team carried on and used the rest of the race as an extended test session for its new Corvette. The next event for Corvette Racing in IMSA is the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday, March 21.

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “One of those that could have been for the whole team. The real shame is that it didn’t just happen to one car; both had issues to compromise the end result. Our Corvettes were working really well. We had decent pace but I don’t know if we would have been able to fight at the front right to the end. It seemed like others seemed to get quite strong at the end. Who knows. It would have been nice to have been in with a chance. The Pratt Miller team did a great job all race. We had flawless pit stops and just the one issue. The guys will look into that and we’ll come back stronger at Sebring.”

MARVIN KIRCHHÖFER, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “First off all, those six hours of full course yellow where I think I did three-and-a-half out of the maximum four was probably one of the most exhausting stints that I’ve ever had. It’s a lot of riding around and trying not to fall asleep. I’m gutted for the team, obviously. Everyone has done an outstanding job and worked very hard the last two weeks. When you lead the race for as long as we did and then have a mechanical issue in the last four or five hours, it’s tough. We were pushing hard along with the No. 4 car, which was always up front as well. The guys would have deserved a decent result here. Still, I enjoyed it. I’m not happy with the outcome but we will next go to the next race at Sebring and make it a good race over there.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Somehow it all went away for us. Of course there was the incident when the Ferrari smashed us off. I feel like even without that, it was not going to be easy. It seemed like everyone at the end of the race had an extra switch and could power up a bit. But that definitely did not help. Big hats off to the team. The execution was amazing with zero mistakes. The car was good and the setup was good. I think we finished second if you look at the full-season contenders so that’s not too bad. It’s unfortunate because I felt like we were going to come away with a new watch.”

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Thursday night, it looked like we were going to have a very different event, just to even finish the race flawlessly, let alone be not far up the order. Everybody should be really proud of themselves. I think we had a fourth-place car and we were in the game for a long part of it. There was a little bit of bumping and shoving at the end, but it didn’t change the outcome. Fourth is the maximum we had, and we achieved the maximum result that we were capable of this weekend. Everybody put together a great car. It was as fast as our Corvette was going to go, and we all drove the wheels off it. I am very proud of the team. It’s good to leave thinking you got the best out of your machine. We’ll crack on and try to get the win at Sebring.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “After what we went through on Thursday, I couldn’t be prouder of this crew. Everyone dug deep, worked through the night, and we showed up ready to race, that says everything about this team. We were right in the fight all weekend, and while we wanted that podium, a fourth-place finish in the biggest race of the season is still extremely rewarding. Huge credit to the crew and my teammates for their work and dedication. We’ll take what we learned and go to Sebring even hungrier.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really, really proud of the team. The car was flawless, I loved it. Everything on our side was good. It just wasn’t in our hands. Honestly, it feels horrible. The race just unfolded in an unlucky way for us. You can’t win this race every year, and unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be for us this time. That’s racing, the racing gods decide if you get to win or not, and this year they decided we weren’t going to.”

BEN GREEN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m really happy to finish the Rolex 24 at Daytona with 13 Autosport on my debut at the event. It’s great to make it to the end, and to finish fourth. Of course, we wish we were on the podium, because we were fighting for the win at different points throughout the race. I’m very proud of the effort from the entire team, and it’s been great to have support from GM as well. Our Chevy V8 was singing on the Daytona banking for 24 hours, faultless, and I’m proud of everyone’s work to make that happen.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Not the finish we hoped for. This was probably one of the best weekends we’ve had together with DXDT. The pace was super-strong from rolling out for the Roar. It was the same in the race. We were keeping our nose clean and sitting in the top-three for a lot of the race and took the lead with about three-and-a-half hours to go before we developed a crack in the gearbox. We’re unsure how it happened, which is just gutting. It’s definitely the best chance I’ve had to win this race. But these things happen in endurance races. The pace was brilliant and Sebring is just around the corner. Hopefully we can go there and collect some trophies.”

GIACOMO ALTOÉ, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I can see the potential of the car and the team. We for sure are still in the learning phases with this car and there is a lot to improve. It was important for us to finish the race and collect all the data possible to analyze it and continue learning. We will build from here.”

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 25, 2026) – For the first time since 2021, Michael Page is a Feature winner at Volusia Speedway Park.

The Douglasville, GA driver took the grind from a 20th-place starting spot to leave the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals finale with a $10,000 reward on Saturday night with the Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models.

602 Late Model champion Hayden Cardwell took the 34-car field to the initial start by maintaining the lead in the first three laps before Friday winners Pearson Williams and Trynt Lloyd made contact and spun into the back stretch guardrail. Williams rolled over once after the contact, but the two drivers were OK.

On the restart, Justin Williams took his chance for the lead by taking the No. 7W Longhorn Chassis to the cushion while Cardwell kept his Late Model to the bottom of the track. They stayed even for two laps around the track until Williams was clear of the Tennessee native on Lap 6.

Behind the two drivers, Page had a near-scare after a fuel pressure issue forced him to visit the work area before the racing began. When the green flag waved, Page gained 10 spots by taking every hole that his Late Model was able to fit through on the opening circuit.

Page kept the charge by shifting to sixth on the Lap 3 restart, then worked up to the top five on Lap 11. When the caution waved again on Lap 15, Page drove around the cushion to move into the podium over Cardwell. He used the momentum to reach the bottom of Logan Bradford for the runner-up spot.

When the final caution flew on Lap 24, it erased a 1.7-second lead by Williams and offered a final chance for Page to strike. He did just that as the “Peach State” racer threw a slide job into Turn 1, shifted to the top, and outran William through Turns 3-4 through the middle for the Feature’s lead.

Page never relinquished the position as he crossed the finish line to complete a mountainous climb for a significant payday.

“Man, this is good,” Page said. “I just can’t qualify, man. Every time I come here, I have to come from the back. When it’s wide open, I feel like I have no motor. Then, when it slicks off, I have more motor. I don’t really understand it, but don’t give up. Like I told (the crew), we’re here to have fun, win or lose. We’re here to win, we come to win. I knew it from the first lap, I was like ‘Holy shit, this thing is rolling.’”

Williams finishing in second place earned him the overall title after the 30-lap battle for his first surfboard trophy in his second visit to the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“To come down here and get a win and the second place, we couldn’t ask for any better,” Williams said. “We coulda went with a little different tire and been a little bit better, I started to lose the right front towards the end. But, all in all, it was a good weekend for us and our team.

“It’s kind of unbelievable, really. I work on my cars in a little small shop, and I got a full-time job, so to be able to come in here and do that means the world.”

RESULTS: Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18X-Michael Page[20]; 2. 7W-Justin Williams[2]; 3. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[1]; 4. T99-Mario Gresham[14]; 5. 5-Wil Herrington[23]; 6. 09-Ross Bailes[5]; 7. 18IH-Clay Harris[25]; 8. 67-Logan Bradford[4]; 9. 99-Kyle Hardy[8]; 10. 46-Deisel Jones[10]; 11. 2S-Layton Sullivan[22]; 12. C02-Daulton Wilson[9]; 13. 611-Koulten Herbert[29]; 14. 18BY-Austin Yarbrough[15]; 15. 15-Marty Massey[30]; 16. 24-Austin Bloodworth[19]; 17. 515-Bubba Roling[7]; 18. 15M-Mason Massey[26]; 19. 56-Christian Schneider[28]; 20. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[16]; 21. 12C-Chase Giddens[34]; 22. 17-Austin Storm[33]; 23. 85-Corey North[24]; 24. 22S-Jeremy Steele[13]; 25. 23V-Matt Henderson[17]; 26. 97T-Ty Giles[6]; 27. 16S-Sam Seawright[21]; 28. G4-Trent Ivey[11]; 29. 44P-Kole Platt[31]; 30. 121-Pearson Williams[3]; 31. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[12]; 32. 8W-Bubba Whitener[18]; 33. 7A-Corey Almond[27]; 34. 31S-Tim Swartz[32]

Ivey Captures 602 Late Models Sunshine Nationals Finale, Cardwell Clinches 2026 Championship

Trent Ivey came to Volusia Speedway Park to add some good stock to his racing program.

Leaving the seventh edition of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, he’ll need room to fit two trophies earned from 602 Late Model racing at the Barberville, FL facility. 

Hayden Cardwell began the week as the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series winner, and exited as the overall points champion after contending for the Feature win each night.

Polesitter Dawson Lowe led the field of 30 cars to the green flag as Cardwell split Chase Blackwell and Wyatt Coffey three wide across the backstretch to take second place as Coffey slotted into third, and Ivey took over fourth.

When the caution waved on Lap 5, multiple drivers used the restart as a way to steal multiple positions for early momentum. Coffey used the middle lane to his advantage by outrunning Cardwell for second, then sliced to the bottom of Lowe to take the lead. The race for the lead did not end immediately as Cardwell tossed a slide job in Turns 3-4 for the top point.

After a Lap 15 multi-car incident on the frontstretch halted the racing momentarily, the “Lil’ Headknocker” took his opportunity to fight against the leaders on the restart by taking over second from Coffey through Turns 3-4 as Cardwell tried to run away from the field. 

With four laps remaining, Ivey threw his Late Model to the bottom and slid up on Cardwell. The two made contact with Ivey’s right rear hitting Cardwell’s left front bumper. They both had to save cars, but did not lose enough speed to lose positions as Ivey became the new leader.

Ivey grew his margin to Cardwell by one second as he caps the weekend with two victories and a combined $4,500 from his efforts.

“I just want to apologize to Hayden,” Ivey said. “I caught him a lot quicker than I thought, and I didn’t plan on really sliding him, but I hit the inside wall and I just ended up in it. But, we’re down here racing, trying to keep our name in a hat, let people know we got some good stock in Trent Ivey Racing.”

While Cardwell left the Feature without the finale trophy, his two wins and runner-up performance across three days earned him a first career Surfboard trophy.

“It’s cool, this thing’s been badass all week,” Cardwell said. “So, yeah, it sucks to get raced like that. We kind of fell off pretty bad there towards the end of the race. I race everybody as clean as I possibly can, but it’s just unfortunate. I knew Trent was obviously pretty good there, but it is what it is.”

RESULTS: Feature (20 Laps): 1. 28I-Trent Ivey[5]; 2. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[4]; 3. 611-Koulten Herbert[8]; 4. 2-Wyatt Coffey[2]; 5. 67-Logan Bradford[15]; 6. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[11]; 7. 51-Mack McCarter[16]; 8. T9-Brodie Thompson[18]; 9. 3-Grayson Ott[17]; 10. 16-Dawson Lowe[1]; 11. 53-Brandon Yates[21]; 12. 21-Mario Gresham[9]; 13. 7K-Matthew Kade[10]; 14. 131-Matt Herlong[14]; 15. 51C-Luke Clements[12]; 16. 6-Chase Blackwell[3]; 17. 01-Ben Lanford[13]; 18. 17J-Griffin Jones[19]; 19. KO-Caylan Kettle[20]; 20. 88-Dustin Rollins[27]; 21. 1-Hania Humphries[29]; 22. 25-Brandon Lunsford[25]; 23. 9-John Marshall Pursley[7]; 24. 21M-Mayson Mossow[30]; 25. 28B-Jeff Queen[24]; 26. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[22]; 27. 1M-Morghan Johnson[28]; 28. 27-Tim Ryan[23]; 29. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[6]; 30. 28-Austin Leamon[26]

Up Next: Volusia Speedway Park will continue to open the 2026 racing season with Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Thursday, Jan. 29, with the American Sprint Car Series National Tour and DIRTcar UMP Modifieds taking stage.

Page Ascends 19 Positions for Sunshine Nationals Finale Win, Williams Earns First 604 Late Model Surfboard

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 25, 2026) – For the first time since 2021, Michael Page is a Feature winner at Volusia Speedway Park.

The Douglasville, GA driver took the grind from a 20th-place starting spot to leave the DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals finale with a $10,000 reward on Saturday night with the Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models.

602 Late Model champion Hayden Cardwell took the 34-car field to the initial start by maintaining the lead in the first three laps before Friday winners Pearson Williams and Trynt Lloyd made contact and spun into the back stretch guardrail. Williams rolled over once after the contact, but the two drivers were OK.

On the restart, Justin Williams took his chance for the lead by taking the No. 7W Longhorn Chassis to the cushion while Cardwell kept his Late Model to the bottom of the track. They stayed even for two laps around the track until Williams was clear of the Tennessee native on Lap 6.

Behind the two drivers, Page had a near-scare after a fuel pressure issue forced him to visit the work area before the racing began. When the green flag waved, Page gained 10 spots by taking every hole that his Late Model was able to fit through on the opening circuit.

Page kept the charge by shifting to sixth on the Lap 3 restart, then worked up to the top five on Lap 11. When the caution waved again on Lap 15, Page drove around the cushion to move into the podium over Cardwell. He used the momentum to reach the bottom of Logan Bradford for the runner-up spot.

When the final caution flew on Lap 24, it erased a 1.7-second lead by Williams and offered a final chance for Page to strike. He did just that as the “Peach State” racer threw a slide job into Turn 1, shifted to the top, and outran William through Turns 3-4 through the middle for the Feature’s lead.

Page never relinquished the position as he crossed the finish line to complete a mountainous climb for a significant payday.

“Man, this is good,” Page said. “I just can’t qualify, man. Every time I come here, I have to come from the back. When it’s wide open, I feel like I have no motor. Then, when it slicks off, I have more motor. I don’t really understand it, but don’t give up. Like I told (the crew), we’re here to have fun, win or lose. We’re here to win, we come to win. I knew it from the first lap, I was like ‘Holy shit, this thing is rolling.’”

Williams finishing in second place earned him the overall title after the 30-lap battle for his first surfboard trophy in his second visit to the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“To come down here and get a win and the second place, we couldn’t ask for any better,” Williams said. “We coulda went with a little different tire and been a little bit better, I started to lose the right front towards the end. But, all in all, it was a good weekend for us and our team.

“It’s kind of unbelievable, really. I work on my cars in a little small shop, and I got a full-time job, so to be able to come in here and do that means the world.”

RESULTS: Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18X-Michael Page[20]; 2. 7W-Justin Williams[2]; 3. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[1]; 4. T99-Mario Gresham[14]; 5. 5-Wil Herrington[23]; 6. 09-Ross Bailes[5]; 7. 18IH-Clay Harris[25]; 8. 67-Logan Bradford[4]; 9. 99-Kyle Hardy[8]; 10. 46-Deisel Jones[10]; 11. 2S-Layton Sullivan[22]; 12. C02-Daulton Wilson[9]; 13. 611-Koulten Herbert[29]; 14. 18BY-Austin Yarbrough[15]; 15. 15-Marty Massey[30]; 16. 24-Austin Bloodworth[19]; 17. 515-Bubba Roling[7]; 18. 15M-Mason Massey[26]; 19. 56-Christian Schneider[28]; 20. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[16]; 21. 12C-Chase Giddens[34]; 22. 17-Austin Storm[33]; 23. 85-Corey North[24]; 24. 22S-Jeremy Steele[13]; 25. 23V-Matt Henderson[17]; 26. 97T-Ty Giles[6]; 27. 16S-Sam Seawright[21]; 28. G4-Trent Ivey[11]; 29. 44P-Kole Platt[31]; 30. 121-Pearson Williams[3]; 31. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[12]; 32. 8W-Bubba Whitener[18]; 33. 7A-Corey Almond[27]; 34. 31S-Tim Swartz[32]

Ivey Captures 602 Late Models Sunshine Nationals Finale, Cardwell Clinches 2026 Championship

Trent Ivey came to Volusia Speedway Park to add some good stock to his racing program.

Leaving the seventh edition of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, he’ll need room to fit two trophies earned from 602 Late Model racing at the Barberville, FL facility. 

Hayden Cardwell began the week as the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series winner, and exited as the overall points champion after contending for the Feature win each night.

Polesitter Dawson Lowe led the field of 30 cars to the green flag as Cardwell split Chase Blackwell and Wyatt Coffey three wide across the backstretch to take second place as Coffey slotted into third, and Ivey took over fourth.

When the caution waved on Lap 5, multiple drivers used the restart as a way to steal multiple positions for early momentum. Coffey used the middle lane to his advantage by outrunning Cardwell for second, then sliced to the bottom of Lowe to take the lead. The race for the lead did not end immediately as Cardwell tossed a slide job in Turns 3-4 for the top point.

After a Lap 15 multi-car incident on the frontstretch halted the racing momentarily, the “Lil’ Headknocker” took his opportunity to fight against the leaders on the restart by taking over second from Coffey through Turns 3-4 as Cardwell tried to run away from the field. 

With four laps remaining, Ivey threw his Late Model to the bottom and slid up on Cardwell. The two made contact with Ivey’s right rear hitting Cardwell’s left front bumper. They both had to save cars, but did not lose enough speed to lose positions as Ivey became the new leader.

Ivey grew his margin to Cardwell by one second as he caps the weekend with two victories and a combined $4,500 from his efforts.

“I just want to apologize to Hayden,” Ivey said. “I caught him a lot quicker than I thought, and I didn’t plan on really sliding him, but I hit the inside wall and I just ended up in it. But, we’re down here racing, trying to keep our name in a hat, let people know we got some good stock in Trent Ivey Racing.”

While Cardwell left the Feature without the finale trophy, his two wins and runner-up performance across three days earned him a first career Surfboard trophy.

“It’s cool, this thing’s been badass all week,” Cardwell said. “So, yeah, it sucks to get raced like that. We kind of fell off pretty bad there towards the end of the race. I race everybody as clean as I possibly can, but it’s just unfortunate. I knew Trent was obviously pretty good there, but it is what it is.”

RESULTS: Feature (20 Laps): 1. 28I-Trent Ivey[5]; 2. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[4]; 3. 611-Koulten Herbert[8]; 4. 2-Wyatt Coffey[2]; 5. 67-Logan Bradford[15]; 6. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[11]; 7. 51-Mack McCarter[16]; 8. T9-Brodie Thompson[18]; 9. 3-Grayson Ott[17]; 10. 16-Dawson Lowe[1]; 11. 53-Brandon Yates[21]; 12. 21-Mario Gresham[9]; 13. 7K-Matthew Kade[10]; 14. 131-Matt Herlong[14]; 15. 51C-Luke Clements[12]; 16. 6-Chase Blackwell[3]; 17. 01-Ben Lanford[13]; 18. 17J-Griffin Jones[19]; 19. KO-Caylan Kettle[20]; 20. 88-Dustin Rollins[27]; 21. 1-Hania Humphries[29]; 22. 25-Brandon Lunsford[25]; 23. 9-John Marshall Pursley[7]; 24. 21M-Mayson Mossow[30]; 25. 28B-Jeff Queen[24]; 26. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[22]; 27. 1M-Morghan Johnson[28]; 28. 27-Tim Ryan[23]; 29. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[6]; 30. 28-Austin Leamon[26]

Up Next: Volusia Speedway Park will continue to open the 2026 racing season with Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Thursday, Jan. 29, with the American Sprint Car Series National Tour and DIRTcar UMP Modifieds taking stage.

DIRTCAR NATIONALS INFO

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 24, 2026) – Tim McCreadie made one thing clear on Saturday night at Volusia Speedway Park – he plans on being a part of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision championship conversation all year long.

Last season, the primary reason he wasn’t in contention down the stretch was his poor start to the year, as the Briggs Transport team didn’t reach Victory Lane until May. McCreadie was determined to not let that happen again, and he only needed three nights to finish the job and score his first win of the year at DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals.

“I’ve said this before, I love winning at Volusia,” McCreadie said. “Whether it’s now, whether it’s here during Cup week, I love racing at Volusia. I wish it was up where New York was, I’d probably still be racing weekly.”

Early in the 50-lap contest, Ryan Gustin wasted no time jumping out to a sizeable lead and commanded the first 20 laps. But McCreadie was busy hustling his way through the field from the 10th starting spot, and with 20 laps on the board he had ran down the “Reaper.” McCreadie soon set sail from the rest of the pack, but a Lap 34 restart gave Gustin another shot.

With McCreadie rolling the bottom and Gustin ripping the high side, the two remained door-to-door for laps on end. But a slider with 14 to go put McCreadie on top, and he never relinquished the lead from there on his way to his third World of Outlaws win at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“This place is different and you’ve got to build a balance,” McCreadie said. “Last night, I couldn’t steer on the bottom even though I was there the whole time. We worked on that tonight and the track kind of came to us. Felt like I was a sitting duck, but I moved back to the middle and I didn’t hear nobody anymore, so it must have been good.”

Brandon Sheppard moved up to second late to clinch the Sunshine Nationals championship, while Dennis Erb Jr., Gustin and Drake Troutman completed the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision returns to Volusia Speedway Park to wrap up Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Feb. 12-14. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Ryan Gustin set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Brandon Overton won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Brandon Overton won Heat 1.

Bobby Pierce won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Ryan Gustin won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Chris Madden won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Josh Rice and Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Ryan Gustin won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Brandon Sheppard was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Ricky Thornton Jr. was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Hudson O’Neal was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Chris Madden was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Daulton Wilson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Tristan Chamberlain was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Donald McIntosh was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

McCreadie Collects 40th World of Outlaws Victory in Sunshine Nationals at Volusia

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 24, 2026) – Tim McCreadie made one thing clear on Saturday night at Volusia Speedway Park – he plans on being a part of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision championship conversation all year long.

Last season, the primary reason he wasn’t in contention down the stretch was his poor start to the year, as the Briggs Transport team didn’t reach Victory Lane until May. McCreadie was determined to not let that happen again, and he only needed three nights to finish the job and score his first win of the year at DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals.

“I’ve said this before, I love winning at Volusia,” McCreadie said. “Whether it’s now, whether it’s here during Cup week, I love racing at Volusia. I wish it was up where New York was, I’d probably still be racing weekly.”

Early in the 50-lap contest, Ryan Gustin wasted no time jumping out to a sizeable lead and commanded the first 20 laps. But McCreadie was busy hustling his way through the field from the 10th starting spot, and with 20 laps on the board he had ran down the “Reaper.” McCreadie soon set sail from the rest of the pack, but a Lap 34 restart gave Gustin another shot.

With McCreadie rolling the bottom and Gustin ripping the high side, the two remained door-to-door for laps on end. But a slider with 14 to go put McCreadie on top, and he never relinquished the lead from there on his way to his third World of Outlaws win at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“This place is different and you’ve got to build a balance,” McCreadie said. “Last night, I couldn’t steer on the bottom even though I was there the whole time. We worked on that tonight and the track kind of came to us. Felt like I was a sitting duck, but I moved back to the middle and I didn’t hear nobody anymore, so it must have been good.”

Brandon Sheppard moved up to second late to clinch the Sunshine Nationals championship, while Dennis Erb Jr., Gustin and Drake Troutman completed the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision returns to Volusia Speedway Park to wrap up Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, Feb. 12-14. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Ryan Gustin set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Brandon Overton won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Brandon Overton won Heat 1.

Bobby Pierce won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Ryan Gustin won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Chris Madden won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Josh Rice and Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Ryan Gustin won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Brandon Sheppard was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Ricky Thornton Jr. was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Hudson O’Neal was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Chris Madden was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Daulton Wilson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Tristan Chamberlain was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Donald McIntosh was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 9M-Tim McCreadie[10]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[12]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[18]; 8. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 9. 9-Nick Hoffman[20]; 10. 6-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 11. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[19]; 14. 7M-Donald McIntosh[16]; 15. 5-Mark Whitener[9]; 16. 1-Tyler Erb[25]; 17. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 18. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]; 19. 114-Jordan Koehler[22]; 20. 1Z-Logan Zarin[15]; 21. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 22. 97-Cody Overton[21]; 23. 14-Trey Mills[26]; 24. 11R-Josh Rice[17]; 25. 11S-Allen Styck[13]; 26. 55E-Eli Johnson[27]; 27. B1-Brent Larson[14]

Corvette GTD PRO entries leading through opening stanza of Rolex 24 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 24, 2026) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs led and ran up front for the majority of the opening hours of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday.Alexander Sims led the GTD PRO class in the pole-sitting No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that he is driving with Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The trio has run no lower than fifth in the race, which started under warm and sunny skies but turned significantly cooler and more gloomy with fog rolling in near the one-third mark.

While the No. 3 Corvette started and ran up front from the start, the No. 4 sister Z06 GT3.R quickly established itself as a contender with a strong charge by Nicky Catsburg at the start. He moved from seventh in class at the start to the class lead in his second stint, followed by solid drives by teammates Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone to keep the trio on the heels of the No. 3 in second place.

Corvette Racing Media Resources Documents | Statistics | Photos | Factory Driver Bios | Chevrolet Newsroom

Both Sims and Catsburg were in the tail-end of their second double-stints to carry the Corvettes into the middle of the night around the 3.56-mile Daytona Road Course. In GTD, both DXDT Racing and 13 Autosport positioned themselves for contending charges later in the race. The No. 36 DXDT Corvette spent much of the first eight hours in the top-10 with Salih Yoluc doing most of the early work with Charlie Eastwood and Mason Filippi each driving single stints. Eastwood ran as high as second from his fourth-place starting position, and Yoluc was 10th at the eight-hour mark. Defending GTD race-winner 13 Autosport was ready to start its charge to the front from 14th in class with 16 hours left. Orey Fidani drove more than four-and-a-half hours to meet the minimum drivetime requirements, which put Lars Kern, Matt Bell and Ben Green in position to climb the leaderboard as other entries prepared to cycle their Bronze-rated drivers through the nighttime. It was a similar strategy to last year’s winning effort under the AWA banner. DragonSpeed, in its first race as part of Corvette Racing, had a disappointing opening to the race. Matteo Cairoli was sent off-track by an LMP2 car while running in the top-15, and the No. 81 Corvette made contact with one of the track’s tire barriers. The collision caused a full-course yellow and damaged much of the left-side bodywork of the Corvette. But the DragonSpeed crew quickly repaired the car and got Cairoli back out for what turned into an extended test session for the team to learn more about its new Corvette. Corvette Racing’s next update will come after the 18-hour mark.

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTESANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “All good for us so far. In the first stint both Fords pitted before the yellows so they got out ahead of us. I just realized it was worth staying where I was unless we had a clear opportunity to pass. That kind of played out; I could save tires and fuel, and we were able to jump them on the next stop. On the restart I was lucky to be on the right side when Tommy got caught out by two prototypes. From that point on, I just followed the pace. It’s still unknown how the tires are going to behave with just taking two on a stop. I was taking it a little bit cautious, but I’d say the tire held up very well. I could open the gap a little bit but the (No. 9) Lambo was coming fast but when I saw they were struggling as much as I thought then we opened it up more. The Corvette was really good at the end of the stint. It’s early but so far the car is doing what I want.”(Corvette vs. Ford battle and pace?) “Last year we couldn’t really stay ahead of them at any point. For sure we have more speed now and we can stay ahead. Our car is really, really good but I’m sure they will be too. Once we get to the time when it’s time to single-stint the tires, it might be a little different for everyone.”(The fight with the No. 4 Corvette early) “It’s not great not knowing what to do with your teammate ahead of you. If he runs into traffic, you’re definitely not going to throw your car in there like you would with any other car. But it’s so early in the race that it doesn’t really matter who is ahead. In a way, Nicky (Catsburg) followed Alex (Sims) for most of the stint and I did the same with Tommy (Milner). Everything eventually plays out. I kept my pace and the car is really good.”(On level of aggression earlier) “I haven’t been aggressive so far and trying to stay out of trouble. If I see someone really aggressive then I don’t mind letting them by. I saw the Lambo flashing its lights at me from behind and I was like ‘There’s 20 hours to go.'”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The P2 cars were in a bit of mayhem going into Turn One. It was pretty daunting to go through the corner and not really know where to go and try not to run over any debris. Thankfully we got through in one piece. I was trying to keep things calm from then on, look after the car and be smart with energy management. I have absolutely no idea what other people were doing. We were at front but I don’t know what the pace of everyone else was.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The plan is to save some fuel here early on to be a little off strategy to shorten the race at the end. The first stint was fun and really good but the second stint wasn’t too much fun anymore. A P2 spun in front of me and I thought I was going to be OK but all of a sudden another one appeared that I couldn’t see. Then I had more really bad P2 traffic later and lost like five or six seconds on that lap. It’s frustrating but obviously it’s early. We’re doing what we can and taking our licks now so at the end of the race we’ll be in a better position. But the car is fine… it’s totally fine.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The start was a little wilder than I thought it would be. Everyone seemed to be super-enthusiastic to try and win the race in the first few laps. There was a lot of debris everywhere and cars going off, so I tried to stay out of trouble. I got pretty lucky on a couple of the restarts where I had a little bit of a jump compared to the guys ahead of us and I managed to take some places. It was a good first stint… saved some fuel and jumped some places. The car feels really good but it’s a little early to tell yet. There will be a lot of changing conditions but at the moment it feels very good.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s been a really good start to the Rolex 24 for us. The opening stint was all about staying smart and not taking too many risks, and the team has done an incredible job setting us up to be competitive with our strategy. We avoided trouble at the start, hit our timing windows perfectly with the cautions, and handing over the car in a solid track position is exactly where you want to be in a race like this. Now it’s all about executing and letting the team do what they do best.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Everything worked really well. The car is in a good spot and feels really comfortable. Everything is going to plan. The last pit stop wasn’t great on my behalf. I went two or three feet long on the stop so we had to push back. We lost two or three spots but it feels like we have the pace to get back to where we’ve been. The car is easy to drive and feeling really good.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a good start to the race. We seem to have pretty strong pace to sit at the front of the GTD class. We are saving quite a bit of fuel, more than most of the field, as well. All seems to be going to plan at the minute, but still it’s still early days.”

SALIH YOLUC, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “All good in that run. It was a bit of a busy triple-stint out there. We have a good car so hopefully we will manage until the last couple hours and then we will attack for the win. There’s a long time to go yet so let’s see where we are in the morning.”

CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: Eight-Hour ReportCorvette GTD PRO entries leading through opening stanza of Rolex 24 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (January 24, 2026) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs led and ran up front for the majority of the opening hours of the Rolex 24 At Daytona on Saturday.Alexander Sims led the GTD PRO class in the pole-sitting No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that he is driving with Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. The trio has run no lower than fifth in the race, which started under warm and sunny skies but turned significantly cooler and more gloomy with fog rolling in near the one-third mark.

While the No. 3 Corvette started and ran up front from the start, the No. 4 sister Z06 GT3.R quickly established itself as a contender with a strong charge by Nicky Catsburg at the start. He moved from seventh in class at the start to the class lead in his second stint, followed by solid drives by teammates Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone to keep the trio on the heels of the No. 3 in second place.

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Both Sims and Catsburg were in the tail-end of their second double-stints to carry the Corvettes into the middle of the night around the 3.56-mile Daytona Road Course. In GTD, both DXDT Racing and 13 Autosport positioned themselves for contending charges later in the race. The No. 36 DXDT Corvette spent much of the first eight hours in the top-10 with Salih Yoluc doing most of the early work with Charlie Eastwood and Mason Filippi each driving single stints. Eastwood ran as high as second from his fourth-place starting position, and Yoluc was 10th at the eight-hour mark. Defending GTD race-winner 13 Autosport was ready to start its charge to the front from 14th in class with 16 hours left. Orey Fidani drove more than four-and-a-half hours to meet the minimum drivetime requirements, which put Lars Kern, Matt Bell and Ben Green in position to climb the leaderboard as other entries prepared to cycle their Bronze-rated drivers through the nighttime. It was a similar strategy to last year’s winning effort under the AWA banner. DragonSpeed, in its first race as part of Corvette Racing, had a disappointing opening to the race. Matteo Cairoli was sent off-track by an LMP2 car while running in the top-15, and the No. 81 Corvette made contact with one of the track’s tire barriers. The collision caused a full-course yellow and damaged much of the left-side bodywork of the Corvette. But the DragonSpeed crew quickly repaired the car and got Cairoli back out for what turned into an extended test session for the team to learn more about its new Corvette. Corvette Racing’s next update will come after the 18-hour mark.

SELECT CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R DRIVER QUOTESANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “All good for us so far. In the first stint both Fords pitted before the yellows so they got out ahead of us. I just realized it was worth staying where I was unless we had a clear opportunity to pass. That kind of played out; I could save tires and fuel, and we were able to jump them on the next stop. On the restart I was lucky to be on the right side when Tommy got caught out by two prototypes. From that point on, I just followed the pace. It’s still unknown how the tires are going to behave with just taking two on a stop. I was taking it a little bit cautious, but I’d say the tire held up very well. I could open the gap a little bit but the (No. 9) Lambo was coming fast but when I saw they were struggling as much as I thought then we opened it up more. The Corvette was really good at the end of the stint. It’s early but so far the car is doing what I want.”(Corvette vs. Ford battle and pace?) “Last year we couldn’t really stay ahead of them at any point. For sure we have more speed now and we can stay ahead. Our car is really, really good but I’m sure they will be too. Once we get to the time when it’s time to single-stint the tires, it might be a little different for everyone.”(The fight with the No. 4 Corvette early) “It’s not great not knowing what to do with your teammate ahead of you. If he runs into traffic, you’re definitely not going to throw your car in there like you would with any other car. But it’s so early in the race that it doesn’t really matter who is ahead. In a way, Nicky (Catsburg) followed Alex (Sims) for most of the stint and I did the same with Tommy (Milner). Everything eventually plays out. I kept my pace and the car is really good.”(On level of aggression earlier) “I haven’t been aggressive so far and trying to stay out of trouble. If I see someone really aggressive then I don’t mind letting them by. I saw the Lambo flashing its lights at me from behind and I was like ‘There’s 20 hours to go.'”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The P2 cars were in a bit of mayhem going into Turn One. It was pretty daunting to go through the corner and not really know where to go and try not to run over any debris. Thankfully we got through in one piece. I was trying to keep things calm from then on, look after the car and be smart with energy management. I have absolutely no idea what other people were doing. We were at front but I don’t know what the pace of everyone else was.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The plan is to save some fuel here early on to be a little off strategy to shorten the race at the end. The first stint was fun and really good but the second stint wasn’t too much fun anymore. A P2 spun in front of me and I thought I was going to be OK but all of a sudden another one appeared that I couldn’t see. Then I had more really bad P2 traffic later and lost like five or six seconds on that lap. It’s frustrating but obviously it’s early. We’re doing what we can and taking our licks now so at the end of the race we’ll be in a better position. But the car is fine… it’s totally fine.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The start was a little wilder than I thought it would be. Everyone seemed to be super-enthusiastic to try and win the race in the first few laps. There was a lot of debris everywhere and cars going off, so I tried to stay out of trouble. I got pretty lucky on a couple of the restarts where I had a little bit of a jump compared to the guys ahead of us and I managed to take some places. It was a good first stint… saved some fuel and jumped some places. The car feels really good but it’s a little early to tell yet. There will be a lot of changing conditions but at the moment it feels very good.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It’s been a really good start to the Rolex 24 for us. The opening stint was all about staying smart and not taking too many risks, and the team has done an incredible job setting us up to be competitive with our strategy. We avoided trouble at the start, hit our timing windows perfectly with the cautions, and handing over the car in a solid track position is exactly where you want to be in a race like this. Now it’s all about executing and letting the team do what they do best.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Everything worked really well. The car is in a good spot and feels really comfortable. Everything is going to plan. The last pit stop wasn’t great on my behalf. I went two or three feet long on the stop so we had to push back. We lost two or three spots but it feels like we have the pace to get back to where we’ve been. The car is easy to drive and feeling really good.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a good start to the race. We seem to have pretty strong pace to sit at the front of the GTD class. We are saving quite a bit of fuel, more than most of the field, as well. All seems to be going to plan at the minute, but still it’s still early days.”

SALIH YOLUC, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “All good in that run. It was a bit of a busy triple-stint out there. We have a good car so hopefully we will manage until the last couple hours and then we will attack for the win. There’s a long time to go yet so let’s see where we are in the morning.”

The Greatest Show on Dirt will tackle a trio of California tracks in September including a new facility

CONCORD, NC (January 24, 2026) – The 2026 western swing for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is set.

After a weekend in Kansas that features trips to Belleville High Banks (Sept. 11) and Dodge City Raceway Park (Sept. 12) and a Monday night stop in Colorado at El Paso County Raceway (Sept. 14), The Greatest Show on Dirt will saddle up for a four-race, freshened California visit.

The “Golden State” stretch starts with a race that honors one of the most iconic figures in the sport as the fifth Dennis Roth Classic stays in the central valley but shifts to Stockton Dirt Track on Sept. 18-19, paying a stout $83,000 to win the finale. David Gravel topped the 2025 running in thrilling fashion.

The scene then shifts to “Bako” as the tour makes its second-ever visit to Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway on Friday, Sept. 25. Home state hero Michael “Buddy” Kofoid won the track’s first appearance on the schedule last year.

To wrap things up, a trip to the beach announces an exciting new chapter. The World of Outlaws has visited 20 different “Golden State” facilities since Ted Johnson unleashed the band of travelers in 1978, which is more than any other state. Ventura Raceway isn’t on that list, but that’s set to change. The Series will invade the “SoCal” seaside bullring on Saturday, Sept. 26, for what promises to be a thrilling debut.

That’ll wrap up the western swing, and then it’s a long haul east to Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the 64th National Open as the World of Outlaws face off with the Pennsylvania Posse for $75,000.

Tickets for the West Coast Swing will go on sale this coming week.

The 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season is set to begin on Feb. 4-7 at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

THE WESTERN SWING: Four-Race California Trip Set for 2026, Led by Dennis Roth Classic

The Greatest Show on Dirt will tackle a trio of California tracks in September including a new facility

CONCORD, NC (January 24, 2026) – The 2026 western swing for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is set.

After a weekend in Kansas that features trips to Belleville High Banks (Sept. 11) and Dodge City Raceway Park (Sept. 12) and a Monday night stop in Colorado at El Paso County Raceway (Sept. 14), The Greatest Show on Dirt will saddle up for a four-race, freshened California visit.

The “Golden State” stretch starts with a race that honors one of the most iconic figures in the sport as the fifth Dennis Roth Classic stays in the central valley but shifts to Stockton Dirt Track on Sept. 18-19, paying a stout $83,000 to win the finale. David Gravel topped the 2025 running in thrilling fashion.

The scene then shifts to “Bako” as the tour makes its second-ever visit to Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway on Friday, Sept. 25. Home state hero Michael “Buddy” Kofoid won the track’s first appearance on the schedule last year.

To wrap things up, a trip to the beach announces an exciting new chapter. The World of Outlaws has visited 20 different “Golden State” facilities since Ted Johnson unleashed the band of travelers in 1978, which is more than any other state. Ventura Raceway isn’t on that list, but that’s set to change. The Series will invade the “SoCal” seaside bullring on Saturday, Sept. 26, for what promises to be a thrilling debut.

That’ll wrap up the western swing, and then it’s a long haul east to Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the 64th National Open as the World of Outlaws face off with the Pennsylvania Posse for $75,000.

Tickets for the West Coast Swing will go on sale this coming week.

The 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season is set to begin on Feb. 4-7 at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 23, 2025) – Fans that attended Volusia Speedway Park on Friday saw 205 cars hit the racing surface to hunt for a DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals straw hat through eight Features.

As Hudson O’Neal took his second career event win with the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision, four Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models Features and three 602 Late Models Features saw 20 drivers from each division clinch a position in Saturday’s finale races.

In the 604 Late Models, drivers who are a lock include Bubba Roling, Pearson Williams, Hayden Cardwell, Justin Williams, Ross Bailes, Ty Giles, Kyle Hardy, Logan Bradford, Trent Ivey, Daulton Wilson, Mario Gresham, Jeremy Steele, Corey Neil Jr, Trynt Lloyd, Deisel Jones, Austin Yarbrough, Matt Henderson, Bubba Whitener, Austin Bloodworth and Michael Page.

The 602 Late Model racers that made the big show are Wyatt Coffey, Hayden Cardwell, Chase Blackwell, Trent Ivey, Dawson Lowe, Jordan Lockhart, Matthew Kade, Luke Clements, Koulten Herbert, Richard Stephens, Wiley McDaniel, John Marshall Pursley, Mario Gresham, Ben Lanford, Matt Herlong, Mack McCarter, Grayson Ott, Brodie Thompson, Griffin Jones and Logan Bradford.

Read More: O’Neal Fends Off Erb in Friday Night Duel at Sunshine National

Here is how each Feature played out:

602 Late Model Feature #1 

Hayden Cardwell can’t be beat. At least not yet. 

After running away with a preliminary Feature win with the 602 Late Models on the opening night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, and winning the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series race on Monday, Cardwell picked up another trophy Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park. 

The Knoxville, TN driver started third in the first 602 Late Model prelim Feature of the night but wasn’t interested in staying there long.

A caution on Lap 1 halted a clean start. But when the race resumed, Cardwell split the two leaders going into Turn 1, racing three-wide in the middle with Jordan Lockhart to his outside and John Marshall to his inside. That led to a side-by-side battle down the backstretch with Lockhart, which Cardwell ended by the time they reached Turn 3. 

“I think that he knew that I was restarting on the outside, so I think that he went ahead and protected that and just kind of opened the door for me on the bottom and just was able to hit it and stick it pretty good.” 

He darted ahead to the lead and never looked back. Lockhart faded, moving Kade up to second, but the No. 7K had nothing to match Cardwell’s speed. 

“First off, I want to give a big shoutout to Volusia, man, this track is on kill right now,” Cardwell said. “I struggled a little bit earlier… But I feel like we have a good piece for the longer race tomorrow. We still have a little bit of work to do, but I’m really pleased with it.” 

RESULTS: Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[3]; 2. 7K-Matthew Kade[6]; 3. 9-John Marshall Pursley[1]; 4. T9-Brodie Thompson[11]; 5. 17J-Griffin Jones[5]; 6. 51C-Luke Clements[4]; 7. 3-Grayson Ott[7]; 8. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[2]; 9. 111-Brennen Shirley[8]; 10. 10-Karli Bennett[12]; 11. 11S-Brad Kinchen[10]; 12. 25-Brandon Lunsford[13]; 13. 5-Curtis Thomas[9]; 14. 20-Kody Cook[15]; 15. C4-Devin Whatley[14]; 16. 51H-Tim Holston[16]; 17. B17-Braxton Faucett[18]; 18. 48-Brody Yarbrough[17]; 19. (DNF) 44K-Troy Kidd[19] 

602 Late Model Feature #2 

Trent Ivey came up short of getting his first DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals win last night, but made sure to capitalize on Friday. 

When the 15-lap prelim Feature commenced, Chase Blackwell pulled ahead of the pack, while there was a three-wide battle for second behind. Ivey won the battle, crawling around the bottom of the 1/2-mile track to pull ahead of his contenders and then set his sights on Blackwell. 

By Lap 5, Ivey was on Blackwell’s rear bumper coming off Turn 4 and crossed underneath him to dive to the lead into Turn 1. The South Carolina driver pulled ahead by a car length and grew the distance each lap. 

A caution on Lap 10 brought the field back together, but Ivey continued on to the win when the race went green again. 

“I knew how good our race car was, and, man, I wasn’t going to let nobody take that one from me,” Ivey said. “I came down here to get a (Sunshine Nationals straw) hat, and I’m leaving with one.” 

RESULTS: Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 28I-Trent Ivey[3]; 2. 67-Logan Bradford[5]; 3. 21-Mario Gresham[7]; 4. 6-Chase Blackwell[1]; 5. 51-Mack McCarter[4]; 6. 32-Jack Mills[12]; 7. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[10]; 8. 611-Koulten Herbert[6]; 9. 1M-Morghan Johnson[9]; 10. 00-Richard Stephens[8]; 11. 27-Tim Ryan[19]; 12. F17-Johnny Faucett[14]; 13. 11-Bart Studdard[11]; 14. (DNF) 11R-Hunter Robbins[2]; 15. (DNF) 28-Austin Leamon[15]; 16. (DNF) 71C-Davy Cline[13]; 17. (DNF) 1J-Jason Papp[16]; 18. (DNF) 37-Layne Smith[17]; 19. (DNF) 14T-Tristen Kinchen[18] 

602 Late Model Feature #3 

The final 602 Late Model prelim Feature of the night ended the theme of the third-place starter winning the race, and instead traded it for a duel of the top two. 

Twelve-year-old Wyatt Coffey, of Waynesboro, VA started on the pole with Dawson Lowe to his outside. When the two drivers drag raced into Turn 1, Lowe outpowered Coffey through the corner, getting the better run around the outside, and took the lead. 

Coffey never let Lowe get away, though. Methodically running consistent laps, Coffey crept his way closer and closer to Lowe each lap until he was able to pull the trigger. 

On Lap 10, Coffey mastered the top lane and pulled the same move Lowe pulled on him, firing his car around the outside of the leader to take the top spot. 

Lowe tried to stay within striking distance of Coffey, but couldn’t match his pace for the remainder of the race. 

“I definitely can’t thank my guys enough for getting me in the position I am today,” Coffey said. “I watched Trent the race before, and I saw he was getting around the top pretty good, so I was just able to move around and get around him then.” 

RESULTS: Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 2-Wyatt Coffey[1]; 2. 16-Dawson Lowe[2]; 3. 01-Ben Lanford[3]; 4. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[4]; 5. 53-Brandon Yates[7]; 6. 131-Matt Herlong[6]; 7. 1A-David Showers Jr[13]; 8. 88-Dustin Rollins[5]; 9. 28B-Jeff Queen[10]; 10. KO-Caylan Kettle[9]; 11. 8-Zack Owens[14]; 12. 23H-Kade Hunkapiller[8]; 13. 86-Kody Jett[11]; 14. 21M-Mayson Mossow[15]; 15. 13-Devin Rooks[12]; 16. (DNS) 1-Hania Humphries; 17. (DNS) KB-Kerry King; 18. (DNS) 19-Sam Oakley; 19. (DNS) 149-Seth Speed 

604 Late Model Feature #1

In the first trip to Volusia Speedway Park for Sunshine Nationals, Pearson Williams has found immediate comfort in the 604 Late Models.

Jared Delk led the field to the green flag with Williams to his outside. He attempted to take the lead on the opening lap by attempting a crossover move in Turns 3-4, but Delk held off his first chance to control the field.

Delk found his rhythm through the first four laps by keeping his No. 118 Late Model to the bottom while Williams followed suit.

On Lap 5, Delk began to lose control of his car through Turns 3-4 by losing his ability to keep the car on the bottom lane. Williams took advantage of the opportunity for the lead by keeping his car as low as possible to cut the distance between the two leaders.

On Lap 8, Delk’s handling struggled while defending the top spot from Williams through Turns 3-4, opening the door for the No. 121 Late Model to sweep under the Jamestown, TN driver.

As Delk faltered from his handling, Bubba Roling and Koulten Herbert entered the picture as the biggest challengers to Williams in the Feature’s second half. As lapped traffic came in view of Williams, Roling picked up the effort to shorten the bubble by arcing his No. 515 to the bottom, then sliding up to the cushion off of each turn. 

When Roling attempted to pass Williams with two laps remaining, the sole caution waved to give the 604 Late Model drivers a final dash for the win. Williams nailed the restart perfectly as Roling slipped to the cushion in Turns 1-2. Though Roling mustered a final slide job, Williams sped away to his first career win at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“Oh my God, God is good,” Williams said. “I wish my wife was here. I can’t thank everybody enough. I’m speechless. It took a long time to get back here, and I mean, we go to the race to win. I just never expected to be here. We got an awesome racecar.”

RESULTS: Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 121-Pearson Williams[2]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[3]; 3. 611-Koulten Herbert[4]; 4. 18BY-Austin Yarbrough[14]; 5. C02-Daulton Wilson[7]; 6. 16S-Sam Seawright[5]; 7. 41-Derike Bennett[8]; 8. 25-Derrick Stewart[6]; 9. 8-Josh Henry[17]; 10. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[9]; 11. 118-Jared Delk[1]; 12. 26-Jack Brown[13]; 13. 2S-Layton Sullivan[21]; 14. 7T-Tyler Thomason[10]; 15. 94-Holden Allen[11]; 16. 28-Austin Leamon[25]; 17. 17-Austin Storm[16]; 18. 55-Kyle Courtney[18]; 19. 17X-Brett Gray[20]; 20. 14W-Jake Whitehead[12]; 21. 4F-Rye Faulk[26]; 22. 125-Mark Underwood Jr[23]; 23. 3B-Billy Boyd Sr[22]; 24. 6B-Hunter Boyd[24]; 25. 6-Clay Harris[19]; 26. (DNS) 257-Skylar Marlar; 27. (DNS) 3-Caleb Gay

604 Late Model Feature #2

After spinning in Thursday’s 604 Late Models Feature 2, Deisel Jones left Volusia on Friday as a first-time Sunshine Nationalswinner.

The Alabaster, AL driver began the 20-lap Feature from the Pole Position as Trent Ivey and Bubba Whitener followed in tow through the bottom lane.

Ivey kept his distance from the Crate Racin’ USA Winter Shootout Series points leader by a one-second interval, but found it harder to gain ground on Jones.

When the lapped traffic occupied multiple lanes, Jones kept the No. 46 glued to the bottom of the track while the slower cars used higher lanes of the half-mile track.

In the final laps, Ivey took his No. G4 Late Model to the cushion in a last-ditch effort for victory, but Jones’s ability to stick to the deep end of the track proved the winning strategy, as he earned his first career win at the track on his first visit.

“We spun out yesterday, I heard it about 300 times today after we went fastest,” Jones said. “They’re like ‘Don’t spin out!’ and I was like ‘Yeah, that sounds good.’ So, I thought we were gonna get the win then, so this makes my confidence come back.”

RESULTS: Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 46-Deisel Jones[1]; 2. G4-Trent Ivey[2]; 3. 8W-Bubba Whitener[4]; 4. 99-Kyle Hardy[5]; 5. 09-Ross Bailes[10]; 6. 18X-Michael Page[8]; 7. K7-Keaton Smith[3]; 8. 23V-Matt Henderson[6]; 9. 7A-Corey Almond[16]; 10. 15M-Mason Massey[7]; 11. 56-Christian Schneider[11]; 12. 5-Wil Herrington[9]; 13. 85-Corey North[14]; 14. 87-Jake Rainey[18]; 15. 12C-Chase Giddens[19]; 16. 15N-Nevin Gainey[13]; 17. 2P-Terry Poore[15]; 18. 15-Marty Massey[12]; 19. 36H-James Haynes[26]; 20. 33-Gavin Johnson[17]; 21. 7-Slate Jones[20]; 22. 59-Brandon Catto[21]; 23. 18-Josh Vinyard[23]; 24. 18B-Todd Brewster[25]; 25. 27W-Rob Westergard[24]; 26. 18I-Jason Intoppa[22]

604 Late Model Feature #3

In Logan Bradford’s first visit to Volusia, he will leave the weekend as a Sunshine Nationals Feature winner.

The Huntsville, AL driver worked from ninth at the drop of the green flag as polesitter Austin Bloodworth took a one-second advantage over Tim Clark through the first half of chasing a $1,500 payday.

Behind the leaders, Bradford maneuvered through the pack by reaching the top five by Lap 7, then moved into the podium with a three-wide dive into Turn 3 on the bottom for the positions on the next lap.

On Lap 12, the caution was thrown for a slowing Mikey Kopka in Turn 4. On the ensuing restart, Clark got loose through the middle of Turn 1 and clipped the right rear of Hayden Ownby, sending Clark into the Turn 2 wall and out of the race. He was able to drive away, but his chances of winning ended.

The final restart of the Feature saw the “Rocket City Kid” take a slide job against Bloodworth in Turns 1-2. While the two drivers narrowly made contact, Bradford took the lead and grew the gap to 2.7 seconds in the final seven laps for his first Sunshine Nationals straw hat.

“This is my first-ever CRUSA win, and to be at this place, it’s probably one of the biggest things I’ll do in my career,” Bradford said. “I just can’t thank everybody enough for helping me. I felt like if we got some green flag laps in, I felt like I would have been one of the contenders. After we got going, I knew I had the car to win.”

RESULTS: Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 67-Logan Bradford[9]; 2. 51-Mack McCarter[5]; 3. 24-Austin Bloodworth[1]; 4. 44O-Hayden Ownbey[6]; 5. 9-Nick Johnson[4]; 6. 14AJ-AJ Miller[16]; 7. 13-Landon Mathews[8]; 8. 721-Blake Clouser[14]; 9. 17J-John Winge[12]; 10. 67C-Gregory Carrico[17]; 11. 19P-Matthew Porter[10]; 12. 44P-Kole Platt[7]; 13. 1A-David Showers Jr[15]; 14. 28W-David Williamson[11]; 15. 43-Jarrett Edwards[23]; 16. 4-Kale Green[18]; 17. 54T-Tuck Trentham[13]; 18. 58-Trent McLeod[19]; 19. (DNF) 22T-Tim Clark[2]; 20. (DNF) 96-Mikey Kopka[20]; 21. (DNF) 32K-Kimber Crooms[25]; 22. (DNF) 23S-Toby Sims[3]; 23. (DNF) 4M-Billy Boyd Jr[21]; 24. (DNF) 16G-Austin Gonzalez[22]; 25. (DNF) 91A-Matt Adams[24]; 26. (DNS) 00R-John Ruggiero Jr

604 Late Model Feature #4

In the first visit to Volusia since 2022, Justin Williams completed Friday night’s 604 Late Model racing with his first trip to Sunshine Nationals Victory Lane.

Williams began the Feature in sixth as 602 Late Model winner Hayden Cardwell set the early pace in his No. 17C machine. Then, racing slowed on Lap 4 with the first caution of the Feature.

On the restart, Williams caught momentum on the outside line while Cardwell struggled to gain race-leading speed. The Lynchburg, VA driver gained clearance across the backstretch, then cut to the bottom of Turn 3. In doing so, Cardwell’s Late Model was disrupted by the dirty air and sent him out of the groove. 

While Cardwell kept the forward momentum, it left a gap for Jeremy Steele and Thursday winner Ty Giles to move into the podium positions. With Williams at the front, he paced the field to a 1.1-second lead over Steele until a near-scare on Lap 13 with a slowing lapped car forced him to move up into the wall. Fortunately for Williams, no damage hurt his chances as he led to the restart.

Steele gained the outside momentum against Williams to set up for a pass, but Williams defended by moving to the high side. Steele reached the left quarter panel of the No. 7W, but the two made contact at the bottom of Turn 3, forcing Steele to shift to the high side exiting Turn 4.

After securing the lead, Williams drove to a 1.4-second lead to set the stage for him to prepare a chase for $10,000 on Saturday night.

“Man, this is an awesome racetrack,” Williams said. “I thought that lapped car screwed me up there, and I thought I was going to let it get away. Luckily, the caution ended up coming out and I got my spot back. Like I said, what an awesome racetrack. This is my second time coming down here, and this time was a lot better than my first experience.”

RESULTS: Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. 7W-Justin Williams[6]; 2. 22S-Jeremy Steele[4]; 3. 97T-Ty Giles[8]; 4. T99-Mario Gresham[5]; 5. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[1]; 6. 1*-Mavrick Davidson[13]; 7. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[23]; 8. 66-Jody Knowles[7]; 9. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[2]; 10. 57-Landen Zakalowski[18]; 11. 30-Curtis Glover[3]; 12. 00W-Ethan Wilson[9]; 13. 2-Zack Carley[17]; 14. 14-Cade Brookshire[16]; 15. 25C-Donnie Chappell[20]; 16. 44-Kam Boyd[12]; 17. 131-Matt Herlong[19]; 18. 23D-Tim Damron[14]; 19. 07B-Baily Cardwell[11]; 20. 31S-Tim Swartz[21]; 21. 4D-Trey Davis[22]; 22. 18G-Ricky Greene[10]; 23. 71C-Davy Cline[24]; 24. 26B-Adam Bedenbaugh[15]; 25. 07-Ivedent Lloyd[25]; 26. 47-Ryan West[26]

Up Next: The final night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals will see the Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models and 602 Late Models chase the surfboard trophies alongside the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision.

SUNSHINE FINALE TICKETS

FRIDAY WINNERS: Pearson Williams, Jones, Bradford, Justin Williams, Cardwell, Ivey, Coffey Take Triumph in Sunshine Nationals

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 23, 2025) – Fans that attended Volusia Speedway Park on Friday saw 205 cars hit the racing surface to hunt for a DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals straw hat through eight Features.

As Hudson O’Neal took his second career event win with the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision, four Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models Features and three 602 Late Models Features saw 20 drivers from each division clinch a position in Saturday’s finale races.

In the 604 Late Models, drivers who are a lock include Bubba Roling, Pearson Williams, Hayden Cardwell, Justin Williams, Ross Bailes, Ty Giles, Kyle Hardy, Logan Bradford, Trent Ivey, Daulton Wilson, Mario Gresham, Jeremy Steele, Corey Neil Jr, Trynt Lloyd, Deisel Jones, Austin Yarbrough, Matt Henderson, Bubba Whitener, Austin Bloodworth and Michael Page.

The 602 Late Model racers that made the big show are Wyatt Coffey, Hayden Cardwell, Chase Blackwell, Trent Ivey, Dawson Lowe, Jordan Lockhart, Matthew Kade, Luke Clements, Koulten Herbert, Richard Stephens, Wiley McDaniel, John Marshall Pursley, Mario Gresham, Ben Lanford, Matt Herlong, Mack McCarter, Grayson Ott, Brodie Thompson, Griffin Jones and Logan Bradford.

Read More: O’Neal Fends Off Erb in Friday Night Duel at Sunshine National

Here is how each Feature played out:

602 Late Model Feature #1 

Hayden Cardwell can’t be beat. At least not yet. 

After running away with a preliminary Feature win with the 602 Late Models on the opening night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, and winning the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series race on Monday, Cardwell picked up another trophy Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park. 

The Knoxville, TN driver started third in the first 602 Late Model prelim Feature of the night but wasn’t interested in staying there long.

A caution on Lap 1 halted a clean start. But when the race resumed, Cardwell split the two leaders going into Turn 1, racing three-wide in the middle with Jordan Lockhart to his outside and John Marshall to his inside. That led to a side-by-side battle down the backstretch with Lockhart, which Cardwell ended by the time they reached Turn 3. 

“I think that he knew that I was restarting on the outside, so I think that he went ahead and protected that and just kind of opened the door for me on the bottom and just was able to hit it and stick it pretty good.” 

He darted ahead to the lead and never looked back. Lockhart faded, moving Kade up to second, but the No. 7K had nothing to match Cardwell’s speed. 

“First off, I want to give a big shoutout to Volusia, man, this track is on kill right now,” Cardwell said. “I struggled a little bit earlier… But I feel like we have a good piece for the longer race tomorrow. We still have a little bit of work to do, but I’m really pleased with it.” 

RESULTS: Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[3]; 2. 7K-Matthew Kade[6]; 3. 9-John Marshall Pursley[1]; 4. T9-Brodie Thompson[11]; 5. 17J-Griffin Jones[5]; 6. 51C-Luke Clements[4]; 7. 3-Grayson Ott[7]; 8. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[2]; 9. 111-Brennen Shirley[8]; 10. 10-Karli Bennett[12]; 11. 11S-Brad Kinchen[10]; 12. 25-Brandon Lunsford[13]; 13. 5-Curtis Thomas[9]; 14. 20-Kody Cook[15]; 15. C4-Devin Whatley[14]; 16. 51H-Tim Holston[16]; 17. B17-Braxton Faucett[18]; 18. 48-Brody Yarbrough[17]; 19. (DNF) 44K-Troy Kidd[19] 

602 Late Model Feature #2 

Trent Ivey came up short of getting his first DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals win last night, but made sure to capitalize on Friday. 

When the 15-lap prelim Feature commenced, Chase Blackwell pulled ahead of the pack, while there was a three-wide battle for second behind. Ivey won the battle, crawling around the bottom of the 1/2-mile track to pull ahead of his contenders and then set his sights on Blackwell. 

By Lap 5, Ivey was on Blackwell’s rear bumper coming off Turn 4 and crossed underneath him to dive to the lead into Turn 1. The South Carolina driver pulled ahead by a car length and grew the distance each lap. 

A caution on Lap 10 brought the field back together, but Ivey continued on to the win when the race went green again. 

“I knew how good our race car was, and, man, I wasn’t going to let nobody take that one from me,” Ivey said. “I came down here to get a (Sunshine Nationals straw) hat, and I’m leaving with one.” 

RESULTS: Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 28I-Trent Ivey[3]; 2. 67-Logan Bradford[5]; 3. 21-Mario Gresham[7]; 4. 6-Chase Blackwell[1]; 5. 51-Mack McCarter[4]; 6. 32-Jack Mills[12]; 7. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[10]; 8. 611-Koulten Herbert[6]; 9. 1M-Morghan Johnson[9]; 10. 00-Richard Stephens[8]; 11. 27-Tim Ryan[19]; 12. F17-Johnny Faucett[14]; 13. 11-Bart Studdard[11]; 14. (DNF) 11R-Hunter Robbins[2]; 15. (DNF) 28-Austin Leamon[15]; 16. (DNF) 71C-Davy Cline[13]; 17. (DNF) 1J-Jason Papp[16]; 18. (DNF) 37-Layne Smith[17]; 19. (DNF) 14T-Tristen Kinchen[18] 

602 Late Model Feature #3 

The final 602 Late Model prelim Feature of the night ended the theme of the third-place starter winning the race, and instead traded it for a duel of the top two. 

Twelve-year-old Wyatt Coffey, of Waynesboro, VA started on the pole with Dawson Lowe to his outside. When the two drivers drag raced into Turn 1, Lowe outpowered Coffey through the corner, getting the better run around the outside, and took the lead. 

Coffey never let Lowe get away, though. Methodically running consistent laps, Coffey crept his way closer and closer to Lowe each lap until he was able to pull the trigger. 

On Lap 10, Coffey mastered the top lane and pulled the same move Lowe pulled on him, firing his car around the outside of the leader to take the top spot. 

Lowe tried to stay within striking distance of Coffey, but couldn’t match his pace for the remainder of the race. 

“I definitely can’t thank my guys enough for getting me in the position I am today,” Coffey said. “I watched Trent the race before, and I saw he was getting around the top pretty good, so I was just able to move around and get around him then.” 

RESULTS: Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 2-Wyatt Coffey[1]; 2. 16-Dawson Lowe[2]; 3. 01-Ben Lanford[3]; 4. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[4]; 5. 53-Brandon Yates[7]; 6. 131-Matt Herlong[6]; 7. 1A-David Showers Jr[13]; 8. 88-Dustin Rollins[5]; 9. 28B-Jeff Queen[10]; 10. KO-Caylan Kettle[9]; 11. 8-Zack Owens[14]; 12. 23H-Kade Hunkapiller[8]; 13. 86-Kody Jett[11]; 14. 21M-Mayson Mossow[15]; 15. 13-Devin Rooks[12]; 16. (DNS) 1-Hania Humphries; 17. (DNS) KB-Kerry King; 18. (DNS) 19-Sam Oakley; 19. (DNS) 149-Seth Speed 

604 Late Model Feature #1

In the first trip to Volusia Speedway Park for Sunshine Nationals, Pearson Williams has found immediate comfort in the 604 Late Models.

Jared Delk led the field to the green flag with Williams to his outside. He attempted to take the lead on the opening lap by attempting a crossover move in Turns 3-4, but Delk held off his first chance to control the field.

Delk found his rhythm through the first four laps by keeping his No. 118 Late Model to the bottom while Williams followed suit.

On Lap 5, Delk began to lose control of his car through Turns 3-4 by losing his ability to keep the car on the bottom lane. Williams took advantage of the opportunity for the lead by keeping his car as low as possible to cut the distance between the two leaders.

On Lap 8, Delk’s handling struggled while defending the top spot from Williams through Turns 3-4, opening the door for the No. 121 Late Model to sweep under the Jamestown, TN driver.

As Delk faltered from his handling, Bubba Roling and Koulten Herbert entered the picture as the biggest challengers to Williams in the Feature’s second half. As lapped traffic came in view of Williams, Roling picked up the effort to shorten the bubble by arcing his No. 515 to the bottom, then sliding up to the cushion off of each turn. 

When Roling attempted to pass Williams with two laps remaining, the sole caution waved to give the 604 Late Model drivers a final dash for the win. Williams nailed the restart perfectly as Roling slipped to the cushion in Turns 1-2. Though Roling mustered a final slide job, Williams sped away to his first career win at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile.”

“Oh my God, God is good,” Williams said. “I wish my wife was here. I can’t thank everybody enough. I’m speechless. It took a long time to get back here, and I mean, we go to the race to win. I just never expected to be here. We got an awesome racecar.”

RESULTS: Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 121-Pearson Williams[2]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[3]; 3. 611-Koulten Herbert[4]; 4. 18BY-Austin Yarbrough[14]; 5. C02-Daulton Wilson[7]; 6. 16S-Sam Seawright[5]; 7. 41-Derike Bennett[8]; 8. 25-Derrick Stewart[6]; 9. 8-Josh Henry[17]; 10. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[9]; 11. 118-Jared Delk[1]; 12. 26-Jack Brown[13]; 13. 2S-Layton Sullivan[21]; 14. 7T-Tyler Thomason[10]; 15. 94-Holden Allen[11]; 16. 28-Austin Leamon[25]; 17. 17-Austin Storm[16]; 18. 55-Kyle Courtney[18]; 19. 17X-Brett Gray[20]; 20. 14W-Jake Whitehead[12]; 21. 4F-Rye Faulk[26]; 22. 125-Mark Underwood Jr[23]; 23. 3B-Billy Boyd Sr[22]; 24. 6B-Hunter Boyd[24]; 25. 6-Clay Harris[19]; 26. (DNS) 257-Skylar Marlar; 27. (DNS) 3-Caleb Gay

604 Late Model Feature #2

After spinning in Thursday’s 604 Late Models Feature 2, Deisel Jones left Volusia on Friday as a first-time Sunshine Nationalswinner.

The Alabaster, AL driver began the 20-lap Feature from the Pole Position as Trent Ivey and Bubba Whitener followed in tow through the bottom lane.

Ivey kept his distance from the Crate Racin’ USA Winter Shootout Series points leader by a one-second interval, but found it harder to gain ground on Jones.

When the lapped traffic occupied multiple lanes, Jones kept the No. 46 glued to the bottom of the track while the slower cars used higher lanes of the half-mile track.

In the final laps, Ivey took his No. G4 Late Model to the cushion in a last-ditch effort for victory, but Jones’s ability to stick to the deep end of the track proved the winning strategy, as he earned his first career win at the track on his first visit.

“We spun out yesterday, I heard it about 300 times today after we went fastest,” Jones said. “They’re like ‘Don’t spin out!’ and I was like ‘Yeah, that sounds good.’ So, I thought we were gonna get the win then, so this makes my confidence come back.”

RESULTS: Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 46-Deisel Jones[1]; 2. G4-Trent Ivey[2]; 3. 8W-Bubba Whitener[4]; 4. 99-Kyle Hardy[5]; 5. 09-Ross Bailes[10]; 6. 18X-Michael Page[8]; 7. K7-Keaton Smith[3]; 8. 23V-Matt Henderson[6]; 9. 7A-Corey Almond[16]; 10. 15M-Mason Massey[7]; 11. 56-Christian Schneider[11]; 12. 5-Wil Herrington[9]; 13. 85-Corey North[14]; 14. 87-Jake Rainey[18]; 15. 12C-Chase Giddens[19]; 16. 15N-Nevin Gainey[13]; 17. 2P-Terry Poore[15]; 18. 15-Marty Massey[12]; 19. 36H-James Haynes[26]; 20. 33-Gavin Johnson[17]; 21. 7-Slate Jones[20]; 22. 59-Brandon Catto[21]; 23. 18-Josh Vinyard[23]; 24. 18B-Todd Brewster[25]; 25. 27W-Rob Westergard[24]; 26. 18I-Jason Intoppa[22]

604 Late Model Feature #3

In Logan Bradford’s first visit to Volusia, he will leave the weekend as a Sunshine Nationals Feature winner.

The Huntsville, AL driver worked from ninth at the drop of the green flag as polesitter Austin Bloodworth took a one-second advantage over Tim Clark through the first half of chasing a $1,500 payday.

Behind the leaders, Bradford maneuvered through the pack by reaching the top five by Lap 7, then moved into the podium with a three-wide dive into Turn 3 on the bottom for the positions on the next lap.

On Lap 12, the caution was thrown for a slowing Mikey Kopka in Turn 4. On the ensuing restart, Clark got loose through the middle of Turn 1 and clipped the right rear of Hayden Ownby, sending Clark into the Turn 2 wall and out of the race. He was able to drive away, but his chances of winning ended.

The final restart of the Feature saw the “Rocket City Kid” take a slide job against Bloodworth in Turns 1-2. While the two drivers narrowly made contact, Bradford took the lead and grew the gap to 2.7 seconds in the final seven laps for his first Sunshine Nationals straw hat.

“This is my first-ever CRUSA win, and to be at this place, it’s probably one of the biggest things I’ll do in my career,” Bradford said. “I just can’t thank everybody enough for helping me. I felt like if we got some green flag laps in, I felt like I would have been one of the contenders. After we got going, I knew I had the car to win.”

RESULTS: Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 67-Logan Bradford[9]; 2. 51-Mack McCarter[5]; 3. 24-Austin Bloodworth[1]; 4. 44O-Hayden Ownbey[6]; 5. 9-Nick Johnson[4]; 6. 14AJ-AJ Miller[16]; 7. 13-Landon Mathews[8]; 8. 721-Blake Clouser[14]; 9. 17J-John Winge[12]; 10. 67C-Gregory Carrico[17]; 11. 19P-Matthew Porter[10]; 12. 44P-Kole Platt[7]; 13. 1A-David Showers Jr[15]; 14. 28W-David Williamson[11]; 15. 43-Jarrett Edwards[23]; 16. 4-Kale Green[18]; 17. 54T-Tuck Trentham[13]; 18. 58-Trent McLeod[19]; 19. (DNF) 22T-Tim Clark[2]; 20. (DNF) 96-Mikey Kopka[20]; 21. (DNF) 32K-Kimber Crooms[25]; 22. (DNF) 23S-Toby Sims[3]; 23. (DNF) 4M-Billy Boyd Jr[21]; 24. (DNF) 16G-Austin Gonzalez[22]; 25. (DNF) 91A-Matt Adams[24]; 26. (DNS) 00R-John Ruggiero Jr

604 Late Model Feature #4

In the first visit to Volusia since 2022, Justin Williams completed Friday night’s 604 Late Model racing with his first trip to Sunshine Nationals Victory Lane.

Williams began the Feature in sixth as 602 Late Model winner Hayden Cardwell set the early pace in his No. 17C machine. Then, racing slowed on Lap 4 with the first caution of the Feature.

On the restart, Williams caught momentum on the outside line while Cardwell struggled to gain race-leading speed. The Lynchburg, VA driver gained clearance across the backstretch, then cut to the bottom of Turn 3. In doing so, Cardwell’s Late Model was disrupted by the dirty air and sent him out of the groove. 

While Cardwell kept the forward momentum, it left a gap for Jeremy Steele and Thursday winner Ty Giles to move into the podium positions. With Williams at the front, he paced the field to a 1.1-second lead over Steele until a near-scare on Lap 13 with a slowing lapped car forced him to move up into the wall. Fortunately for Williams, no damage hurt his chances as he led to the restart.

Steele gained the outside momentum against Williams to set up for a pass, but Williams defended by moving to the high side. Steele reached the left quarter panel of the No. 7W, but the two made contact at the bottom of Turn 3, forcing Steele to shift to the high side exiting Turn 4.

After securing the lead, Williams drove to a 1.4-second lead to set the stage for him to prepare a chase for $10,000 on Saturday night.

“Man, this is an awesome racetrack,” Williams said. “I thought that lapped car screwed me up there, and I thought I was going to let it get away. Luckily, the caution ended up coming out and I got my spot back. Like I said, what an awesome racetrack. This is my second time coming down here, and this time was a lot better than my first experience.”

RESULTS: Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. 7W-Justin Williams[6]; 2. 22S-Jeremy Steele[4]; 3. 97T-Ty Giles[8]; 4. T99-Mario Gresham[5]; 5. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[1]; 6. 1*-Mavrick Davidson[13]; 7. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[23]; 8. 66-Jody Knowles[7]; 9. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[2]; 10. 57-Landen Zakalowski[18]; 11. 30-Curtis Glover[3]; 12. 00W-Ethan Wilson[9]; 13. 2-Zack Carley[17]; 14. 14-Cade Brookshire[16]; 15. 25C-Donnie Chappell[20]; 16. 44-Kam Boyd[12]; 17. 131-Matt Herlong[19]; 18. 23D-Tim Damron[14]; 19. 07B-Baily Cardwell[11]; 20. 31S-Tim Swartz[21]; 21. 4D-Trey Davis[22]; 22. 18G-Ricky Greene[10]; 23. 71C-Davy Cline[24]; 24. 26B-Adam Bedenbaugh[15]; 25. 07-Ivedent Lloyd[25]; 26. 47-Ryan West[26]

Up Next: The final night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals will see the Crate Racin’ USA 604 Late Models and 602 Late Models chase the surfboard trophies alongside the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision.

SUNSHINE FINALE TICKETS

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BARBERVILLE, FL (January 23, 2026) – The K&L Rumley Enterprises No. 6 team wasn’t even planning on coming to DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals until days before the event. By the end of Friday night, they were glad they changed their minds.

After Hudson O’Neal finished up a two-win trip to Arizona for the Wild West Shootout, car owner Kevin Rumley elected to take a detour on his way home to Lexington, NC and swing by Volusia Speedway Park to try to keep the hot streak going. They did exactly that on Friday night, as O’Neal pulled off the wire-to-wire victory on the second night of the 2026 season for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

The Martinsville, IN driver powered around the outside of Bilstein Pole Award winner Brandon Overton on the start, but the No. 76 remained his closest competitor early on. The most dominant driver throughout the weekend, Chris Madden, was never far behind until he slowed at the top of Turn 4 while running second to bring out the first caution of the night.

Overton began to fade on the ensuing restart, and in his place, Tyler Erb emerged as the driver to take the fight to O’Neal. By the final lap, “Terbo” was right on O’Neal’s back bumper and dove low through Turns 1 and 2 to make it side-by-side down the backstretch. However, O’Neal had enough speed on the top to clear Erb into Turn 3, shutting the door at the checkers to seal his fourth Volusia win.

“I about gave it away going down into [Turn] 1,” O’Neal said. “I got a little bit too high, got my left-rear in the rough and it kind of jumped my right-front up. Whenever I seen [Erb] leaving [Turn] 2, I was like, ‘Oh no.’ I knew I got a better run than him, and I was just trying my best not to miss the bottom. I wasn’t sure where he was at.”

Erb crossed the line second by a car length to match his Volusia career best, while Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman made up the rest of the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will wrap up DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals on Saturday, Jan. 24, with a $20,000-to-win main event at Volusia Speedway Park. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Ryan Gustin set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Chris Madden won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Brandon Overton won Heat 1.

Hudson O’Neal won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Chris Madden won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Tyler Erb won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Cody Overton and Dennis Erb Jr. won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Brandon Overton won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Bobby Pierce won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Tyler Erb was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Brandon Sheppard was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Kyle Strickler was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Dale McDowell was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Cody Overton was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Logan Zarin was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

O’Neal Fends Off Erb in Friay Night Duel at Sunshine Nationals

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 23, 2026) – The K&L Rumley Enterprises No. 6 team wasn’t even planning on coming to DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals until days before the event. By the end of Friday night, they were glad they changed their minds.

After Hudson O’Neal finished up a two-win trip to Arizona for the Wild West Shootout, car owner Kevin Rumley elected to take a detour on his way home to Lexington, NC and swing by Volusia Speedway Park to try to keep the hot streak going. They did exactly that on Friday night, as O’Neal pulled off the wire-to-wire victory on the second night of the 2026 season for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

The Martinsville, IN driver powered around the outside of Bilstein Pole Award winner Brandon Overton on the start, but the No. 76 remained his closest competitor early on. The most dominant driver throughout the weekend, Chris Madden, was never far behind until he slowed at the top of Turn 4 while running second to bring out the first caution of the night.

Overton began to fade on the ensuing restart, and in his place, Tyler Erb emerged as the driver to take the fight to O’Neal. By the final lap, “Terbo” was right on O’Neal’s back bumper and dove low through Turns 1 and 2 to make it side-by-side down the backstretch. However, O’Neal had enough speed on the top to clear Erb into Turn 3, shutting the door at the checkers to seal his fourth Volusia win.

“I about gave it away going down into [Turn] 1,” O’Neal said. “I got a little bit too high, got my left-rear in the rough and it kind of jumped my right-front up. Whenever I seen [Erb] leaving [Turn] 2, I was like, ‘Oh no.’ I knew I got a better run than him, and I was just trying my best not to miss the bottom. I wasn’t sure where he was at.”

Erb crossed the line second by a car length to match his Volusia career best, while Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman made up the rest of the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will wrap up DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals on Saturday, Jan. 24, with a $20,000-to-win main event at Volusia Speedway Park. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Ryan Gustin set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Chris Madden won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Brandon Overton won Heat 1.

Hudson O’Neal won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Chris Madden won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Tyler Erb won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Cody Overton and Dennis Erb Jr. won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Brandon Overton won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Bobby Pierce won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Tyler Erb was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Brandon Sheppard was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Kyle Strickler was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Dale McDowell was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Cody Overton was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Logan Zarin was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 6-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[11]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[8]; 6. 111-Max Blair[7]; 7. 8-Kyle Strickler[9]; 8. 17M-Dale McDowell[15]; 9. 19R-Ryan Gustin[12]; 10. 32-Bobby Pierce[23]; 11. 22*-Drake Troutman[14]; 12. 97-Cody Overton[17]; 13. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[18]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[22]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[10]; 17. 11R-Josh Rice[20]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[26]; 19. 58V-Daulton Wilson[25]; 20. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 21. B1-Brent Larson[16]; 22. 14-Trey Mills[27]; 23. 114-Jordan Koehler[19]; 24. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 25. 19-Dustin Sorensen[21]; 26. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 27. 44-Chris Madden[3]; 28. 55E-Eli Johnson[28] 

Jack Aitken Sets Fast Time of 1:33.939 for second Cadillac pole since 2024 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2026) — Jack Aitken, one of four drivers of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, won the pole for the prestigious Rolex 24 At Daytona with a fast lap of one minute 33.939 seconds / 136.429 mph.  It’s the second pole for Cadillac in three years as the program swept the front row in 2024. Aitken’s teammates are Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch.

“There isn’t a better way to start,” Aitken said. “We had a great ROAR, and we knew that there was potential in the car and it was good to get that done over one lap. It’s nice to see that we are all performing well, but it’s only one lap and we have 24 hours this weekend. That is when the real meat comes, is this weekend. The Whelen Cadillac was just flying, and it got a bit hairy at times; through the Kink it had some movement and that was a bit hair-raising, but it was fast and that is all that matters.”

Daytona Media Guide2025 IMSA Statistics Cadillac Racing At Daytona

It carries the momentum for the No. 31 team as it won the final two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races in 2025, first with Aitken, Bamber and Vesti winning the Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September and then another victory in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.  “Congratulations to the #31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the 2026 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona,” said Jim Campbell, vice-president of Performance & Motorsports Commercial Operations for General Motors. “It is a proud moment for everyone at Cadillac Racing, and we will be doing all we can to convert the pole to victory at this iconic event.” The No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX driven by Louis Deletraz was third at 1:34.069 with a speed of 136.240 mph, while teammate Filipe Albuquerque, driver of the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX was seventh at 1:34.513 with a speed of 135.600.  Deletraz teammates are Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta, while Albuquerque’s teammates are Ricky Taylor and Will Stevens. Coverage of the Rolex 24 At Daytona starts at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Jan. 24, on NBC, with continuing network coverage on Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel (not in the U.S.) until NBC will pick up the broadcast at noon Sunday, Jan. 25, for the finish. Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel will stream the entirety of the race along with the IMSA Radio broadcast at IMSA.com, Sirius 211/XM 207, locally at 93.5 FM/1150 AM and 107.9 FM at the track.

Jack Aitken No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R run by Action Express Racing: It looks like as I mentioned there from front to back a pretty close gap. What do you expect as you look ahead to the race, and what did you have to do to score the pole here today?“Yeah, as always with qualifying here it’s a little bit going into the unknown because there’s not a big focus on qualifying through the practice sessions, and we’re very tight on our tire allocation and time on track frankly, so we don’t tend to want to spend it on qualifying sims. I know some guys did this morning, so we took what we could from those runs to learn as much as we could about this new tire and then just rolled the dice a little bit. It’s a lot of fun because you go into the unknown and you have to judge it lap by lap quite a lot. And the car was a bit loose, which made it a bit scary at times, but clearly, it’s fast. Yeah, the Whelen Cadillac guys did a really good job to sort out a great car for me. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. Q. How confident were you? At one point, Renger van der Zande obviously took pole from you. You had it first, then he took it. How confident were you that you were going to be able to come back and get that, and were you surprised there wasn’t a little bit more at the very end of the session, that it wasn’t challenged even more so?“I could see Renger in front of me actually, so it was a good gauge. When we finished the first laps, like flying laps, I could see it going away from me so I was like, that’s not good. Sort of got going after that and put a couple of good laps in even if they were scrappy, and I thought that’s as good as I can do. I peeled off into the pits because these tires do have a peak and then a drop, so I was just hoping nobody had done anything really weird and gone out super late or anything because if you’re just pounding around you’re not going to improve. But yeah, there was still nervous moments waiting in pit lane. It’s a big moment to get your first pole here.” Q. This was the first qualifying with the new tire from Michelin. How was your experience with this one?“I think most of the improvements and changes are something that you’ll see more in the race with cold tire performance and the long stint performance has changed a fair bit. But for qualifying over one lap, it peaks pretty hard just like it used to. Lap 4 or so is kind of when you get that peak grip and you’ve got a couple laps to do it, and if you don’t, then it does drop away quite sharply. It’s still a good tire in that sense, but not a lot of changes from last year I would say.” Q. Jack, you mentioned the focus on race running. Kind of talk about your confidence level on long runs, particularly I know you haven’t had a lot of representative running yet but stuff like double and triple stints. What do you think that’s going to look like?“I think, yeah, we’re pretty confident with what we can do in terms of the medium and double stinting because I think that’s — even though the temperatures are getting a bit higher over the weekend, it’ll be fun. It’s a little bit ugly, but you can get it done. The soft tire is also not looking bad, I would say. We haven’t gone outright for a long run stint equivalent during practice because again, we just don’t have the time, so it’s lots of short runs, and they never quite behave the same as one big stint. Looking at what others are doing, everyone was in the same boat a little bit. I think we’re in decent shape, but it’s very, very hard to tell, as always, at this point in the weekend. You’ll get your answers, I think, a few hours into the race.” Q. Jack, a lot was made about this new “One Cadillac” mantra. What might that look like in the early stages of Saturday and Sunday’s race?“I don’t think there’s going to be any changes. It worked well last year, so it’s good that we’ve got more than one Cadillac towards the front, and they have been strong all week. The Wayne Taylor cars, as well. I think the approach will be the same. We’ll help each other out where we can and try not to make life too difficult if there’s stuff that we can do to help each other in terms of strategy, we’ll always look at that, as well, and it’s just keeping the communication open. I doubt there will be a fixed plan. It’s always hard to do that with racing.”

Louis Deletraz No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX:“I’m very happy with qualifying. First, congrats to Cadillac and the No. 31 on pole position. I was just one-tenth shy of it. But qualifying is not the most important part here. We just need to be sure that we have a good race car. Honestly, it was a good session. From throughout the Roar to FP1, we kept improving the No. 40 Cadillac and felt confident and I think we have a great race car. Thanks to everyone at Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing. Now, we keep working and just a few hours to the race.”

Filipe Albuquerque No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R:“Congratulations to Cadillac and the No. 31. Qualifying was not great. We were expecting to be with the other Cadillacs so it was disappointing. In the morning session, we looked good, so we need to understand what happened there. P7, it just hurts my ego, not the race result so it’s all about that. Now, we will see come the race.”

No. 31 Cadillac Wins Pole for Rolex 24 At DaytonaJack Aitken Sets Fast Time of 1:33.939 for second Cadillac pole since 2024 DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2026) — Jack Aitken, one of four drivers of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, won the pole for the prestigious Rolex 24 At Daytona with a fast lap of one minute 33.939 seconds / 136.429 mph.  It’s the second pole for Cadillac in three years as the program swept the front row in 2024. Aitken’s teammates are Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti and Connor Zilisch.

“There isn’t a better way to start,” Aitken said. “We had a great ROAR, and we knew that there was potential in the car and it was good to get that done over one lap. It’s nice to see that we are all performing well, but it’s only one lap and we have 24 hours this weekend. That is when the real meat comes, is this weekend. The Whelen Cadillac was just flying, and it got a bit hairy at times; through the Kink it had some movement and that was a bit hair-raising, but it was fast and that is all that matters.”

Daytona Media Guide2025 IMSA Statistics Cadillac Racing At Daytona

It carries the momentum for the No. 31 team as it won the final two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races in 2025, first with Aitken, Bamber and Vesti winning the Battle On The Bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in September and then another victory in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in the Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.  “Congratulations to the #31 Cadillac Racing V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the 2026 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona,” said Jim Campbell, vice-president of Performance & Motorsports Commercial Operations for General Motors. “It is a proud moment for everyone at Cadillac Racing, and we will be doing all we can to convert the pole to victory at this iconic event.” The No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX driven by Louis Deletraz was third at 1:34.069 with a speed of 136.240 mph, while teammate Filipe Albuquerque, driver of the No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX was seventh at 1:34.513 with a speed of 135.600.  Deletraz teammates are Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta, while Albuquerque’s teammates are Ricky Taylor and Will Stevens. Coverage of the Rolex 24 At Daytona starts at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday, Jan. 24, on NBC, with continuing network coverage on Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel (not in the U.S.) until NBC will pick up the broadcast at noon Sunday, Jan. 25, for the finish. Peacock (U.S.) and IMSA’s YouTube channel will stream the entirety of the race along with the IMSA Radio broadcast at IMSA.com, Sirius 211/XM 207, locally at 93.5 FM/1150 AM and 107.9 FM at the track.

Jack Aitken No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R run by Action Express Racing: It looks like as I mentioned there from front to back a pretty close gap. What do you expect as you look ahead to the race, and what did you have to do to score the pole here today?“Yeah, as always with qualifying here it’s a little bit going into the unknown because there’s not a big focus on qualifying through the practice sessions, and we’re very tight on our tire allocation and time on track frankly, so we don’t tend to want to spend it on qualifying sims. I know some guys did this morning, so we took what we could from those runs to learn as much as we could about this new tire and then just rolled the dice a little bit. It’s a lot of fun because you go into the unknown and you have to judge it lap by lap quite a lot. And the car was a bit loose, which made it a bit scary at times, but clearly, it’s fast. Yeah, the Whelen Cadillac guys did a really good job to sort out a great car for me. So yeah, it was a lot of fun. Q. How confident were you? At one point, Renger van der Zande obviously took pole from you. You had it first, then he took it. How confident were you that you were going to be able to come back and get that, and were you surprised there wasn’t a little bit more at the very end of the session, that it wasn’t challenged even more so?“I could see Renger in front of me actually, so it was a good gauge. When we finished the first laps, like flying laps, I could see it going away from me so I was like, that’s not good. Sort of got going after that and put a couple of good laps in even if they were scrappy, and I thought that’s as good as I can do. I peeled off into the pits because these tires do have a peak and then a drop, so I was just hoping nobody had done anything really weird and gone out super late or anything because if you’re just pounding around you’re not going to improve. But yeah, there was still nervous moments waiting in pit lane. It’s a big moment to get your first pole here.” Q. This was the first qualifying with the new tire from Michelin. How was your experience with this one?“I think most of the improvements and changes are something that you’ll see more in the race with cold tire performance and the long stint performance has changed a fair bit. But for qualifying over one lap, it peaks pretty hard just like it used to. Lap 4 or so is kind of when you get that peak grip and you’ve got a couple laps to do it, and if you don’t, then it does drop away quite sharply. It’s still a good tire in that sense, but not a lot of changes from last year I would say.” Q. Jack, you mentioned the focus on race running. Kind of talk about your confidence level on long runs, particularly I know you haven’t had a lot of representative running yet but stuff like double and triple stints. What do you think that’s going to look like?“I think, yeah, we’re pretty confident with what we can do in terms of the medium and double stinting because I think that’s — even though the temperatures are getting a bit higher over the weekend, it’ll be fun. It’s a little bit ugly, but you can get it done. The soft tire is also not looking bad, I would say. We haven’t gone outright for a long run stint equivalent during practice because again, we just don’t have the time, so it’s lots of short runs, and they never quite behave the same as one big stint. Looking at what others are doing, everyone was in the same boat a little bit. I think we’re in decent shape, but it’s very, very hard to tell, as always, at this point in the weekend. You’ll get your answers, I think, a few hours into the race.” Q. Jack, a lot was made about this new “One Cadillac” mantra. What might that look like in the early stages of Saturday and Sunday’s race?“I don’t think there’s going to be any changes. It worked well last year, so it’s good that we’ve got more than one Cadillac towards the front, and they have been strong all week. The Wayne Taylor cars, as well. I think the approach will be the same. We’ll help each other out where we can and try not to make life too difficult if there’s stuff that we can do to help each other in terms of strategy, we’ll always look at that, as well, and it’s just keeping the communication open. I doubt there will be a fixed plan. It’s always hard to do that with racing.”

Louis Deletraz No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R sponsored by DEX:“I’m very happy with qualifying. First, congrats to Cadillac and the No. 31 on pole position. I was just one-tenth shy of it. But qualifying is not the most important part here. We just need to be sure that we have a good race car. Honestly, it was a good session. From throughout the Roar to FP1, we kept improving the No. 40 Cadillac and felt confident and I think we have a great race car. Thanks to everyone at Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing. Now, we keep working and just a few hours to the race.”

Filipe Albuquerque No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R:“Congratulations to Cadillac and the No. 31. Qualifying was not great. We were expecting to be with the other Cadillacs so it was disappointing. In the morning session, we looked good, so we need to understand what happened there. P7, it just hurts my ego, not the race result so it’s all about that. Now, we will see come the race.”

Red Line Oil Joins Hull Racing for the 2026 Season DALLAS (January 23, 2026) — Buddy Hull, owner and Funny Car driver announced today that Red Line Oil has joined Hull Racing as an official partner for the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, beginning with the historic NHRA Gatornationals. Red Line Oil, known worldwide for its industry-leading synthetic lubricants and unmatched performance in the most demanding motorsports environments, brings a proven legacy of reliability, innovation and winning results to the Hull Racing program.   “It’s impossible to not love the energy Buddy brings in everything he does,” said Mark Beatty, Brand Director for Red Line Oil. “Having Buddy on #teamredlineoil makes us better, stronger, and faster!”  The future stars of Red Line Oil (left to right) Maverick and Buddy Hull of Hull Racing, photo credit Hull RacingAs part of the partnership, Red Line Oil branding will be featured across Hull Racing assets throughout the NHRA season and select specialty events. The team will rely on Red Line’s advanced lubricants to support top performance under extreme race conditions. Hull has been a featured driver on and off the track including the Stampede of Speed at Texas Motorplex and as host of the award-winning television show, Talkin’ Funny Cars with Buddy Hull, which will return for its third season in 2026.   This partnership represents a shared focus on precision, power and professionalism as Hull Racing prepares for an aggressive and competitive 2026 NHRA campaign.   “Red Line Oil is a brand that racers trust at the absolute highest level,” said Buddy Hull, team owner of Hull Racing. “Their commitment to performance, durability, and engineering excellence aligns perfectly with how we operate as a team. We’re excited to have them onboard for 2026.”

CONCORD, NC (January 23, 2026) – Jason Johnson’s ultimate goal when he built Jason Johnson Racing was a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship, and Carson Macedo intends to fulfill it for him.

The Lemoore, CA native is officially signed on for his eighth consecutive year with The Greatest Show on Dirt and sixth since joining forces with the “Ragin’ Cajun’s” team. They’ve proven to be one of the sport’s top combinations as Macedo has racked up 52 Series victories and finished no worse than third in points aboard the No. 41. Their résumé together boasts a pair of National Open titles, an $83,000 Dennis Roth Classic score, four checkered flags from the famed Knoxville Raceway, and much more.

The 2025 season marked a slight slip for Macedo. After rising to runner-up in 2024, Michael Kofoid eclipsed him for second last year, forcing Macedo to settle for third. The stats for Macedo were still stout as he amassed 11 wins, 25 podiums, 35 top fives, and 53 top 10s. It marked Macedo’s fourth time in the last five years reaching double-digit victories.

The group continues to be led by team owner/crew chief Philip Dietz, with Robby McQuinn (car chief) and Adam Zimmerman (tire specialist) both returning for their third seasons with JJR. With the same crew committed and as motivated as ever, expect Macedo to be in the thick of the 2026 championship hunt.

Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing begin the chase for the 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car championship at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Feb. 4-7 in Barberville, FL. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

Carson Macedo Ready to Continue World of Outlaws Title Pursuit with Jason Johnson Racing

CONCORD, NC (January 23, 2026) – Jason Johnson’s ultimate goal when he built Jason Johnson Racing was a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series championship, and Carson Macedo intends to fulfill it for him.

The Lemoore, CA native is officially signed on for his eighth consecutive year with The Greatest Show on Dirt and sixth since joining forces with the “Ragin’ Cajun’s” team. They’ve proven to be one of the sport’s top combinations as Macedo has racked up 52 Series victories and finished no worse than third in points aboard the No. 41. Their résumé together boasts a pair of National Open titles, an $83,000 Dennis Roth Classic score, four checkered flags from the famed Knoxville Raceway, and much more.

The 2025 season marked a slight slip for Macedo. After rising to runner-up in 2024, Michael Kofoid eclipsed him for second last year, forcing Macedo to settle for third. The stats for Macedo were still stout as he amassed 11 wins, 25 podiums, 35 top fives, and 53 top 10s. It marked Macedo’s fourth time in the last five years reaching double-digit victories.

The group continues to be led by team owner/crew chief Philip Dietz, with Robby McQuinn (car chief) and Adam Zimmerman (tire specialist) both returning for their third seasons with JJR. With the same crew committed and as motivated as ever, expect Macedo to be in the thick of the 2026 championship hunt.

Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing begin the chase for the 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car championship at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Feb. 4-7 in Barberville, FL. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.

Wieland Named Title Sponsor of Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Winter Nationals

BATAVIA, Ohio (January 23, 2026) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing is proud to announce Wieland as the title sponsor of the Winter Nationals. The Wieland Winter Nationals will showcase the top Dirt Late Model competitors as they kick off the racing season with multiple nights of high-intensity action at premier venues. The partnership brings together two brands deeply rooted in performance, innovation, and a shared commitment to excellence in motorsports. Action begins at All-Tech Raceway in Lake City, Florida, with racing scheduled for February 19-21. The series then moves to Ocala Speedway in Ocala, Florida, where competitors will take part in five consecutive nights of racing from February 24-28. The Winter Nationals will conclude at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, Georgia, with four nights of racing slated for March 4-7. “We are excited to welcome Wieland as the title sponsor of the Winter Nationals,” said Series Director Rick Schwallie. “Wieland’s reputation for quality and performance aligns perfectly with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and their support elevates an event that already sets the tone for the entire season.” Wieland, a long-standing supporter of grassroots and professional racing, is widely recognized for its industry-leading aluminum products and manufacturing expertise. Their involvement as title sponsor further strengthens the Winter Nationals’ status as a marquee event while reinforcing Wieland’s dedication to motorsports and the racing community. “Wieland Metal Services, a division of the Wieland Group, is proud to continue its partnership with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2026,” said Aaron Baldridge, Managing Director & Vice President of Sales, Aluminum Products. “Over the years, this collaboration has allowed Wieland to give back to the sport while reinforcing our position as the leading aluminum supplier in Late Model racing. Our relentless pursuit of quality and service excellence aligns perfectly with FloRacing’s core values and dedication to the sport. The 2026 signature event, the Wieland Winter Nationals, exemplifies our ongoing commitment to late model dirt track racing and our valued partnership with FloRacing and the Series. This partnership reflects our shared passion for performance and innovation. We’re excited to continue supporting the sport and its community through the 2026 season.” For the latest news, results, championship standings, and more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing, please visit www.lucasdirt.com. About WielandIn addition to supporting motorsports, Wieland Metal Services offers one of the most extensive selections of permanently available metal products in the industry today. Our portfolio includes copper, copper alloys, aluminum, and other high-performance metals in strip and cut-to-length forms. We maintain a full range of copper and brass alloys, aluminum alloys, and stainless steel in strip, sheet, coil, and foil forms, complemented by extruded and cast semi-finished products such as rods, bars, tubes, wires, and profiles. With over twenty specialized service options across North America, we provide custom finishing capabilities and value-added services including precision metal slitting, blanking, plate cutting, tinning, and electroplating, metal coatings, traverse winding, and cut-to-size services for bars, rods, and tubes. These solutions serve customers across diverse technology sectors with uncompromising demands for precision and performance.

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 22, 2025) – Volusia Speedway Park opened the 2026 racing season with over 200 Late Models on the Barberville, FL property Thursday night for the seventh edition of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals.

While Chris Madden took victory with the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision in the season opener, three 602 Late Model Features and four Crate Racin’ USA/DIRTcar 604 Late Models Features laid the groundwork for the top-20 drivers between the two classes to compete for the event championship on Saturday night.Read More: Madden Conquers Sunshine Nationals Opener in Wells Motorsports Debut

Here is how each Feature played out:

By Nick Graziano

602 Late Model Feature #1 

Six thousandths of a second. That’s how close the finish was to kick off Feature racing at Volusia Speedway Park in 2026. 

The 602 Late Models kicked things off during the first night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals with Jordan Lockhardt and Marty Massey leading the field to the green in the 15-lap prelim race. 

Lockhardt held command for the majority of the event, leaving everyone behind him racing for second. 

Massey had a strong hold of the runner-up position until he brought out a caution on Lap 11 due to a motor issue. His exit moved Luke Clements up to second and Dawson Lowe into the final podium spot. However, Hayden Cardwell, in fourth, was the one to watch on the restart. 

When the race resumed, Cardwell jumped to the high side and found a new head of steam. While everyone else hugged the bottom, he passed Lowe for third off Turn 2 and then passed Clements for second off Turn 4. With two laps to go, he hunted down Lockhardt and gave him a challenge for the first time all night. 

On the final lap, Cardwell drove as hard as he could into Turns 3 and 4, which allowed him to pull side by side with Lockhardt off Turn 4 and edge ahead of him by 0.006 seconds at the checkered flag. 

It was his first Sunshine Nationals win and second big win of the week, as he won the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series event on Monday. 

RELATED: Hayden Cardwell claims World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series win at Eldora 

“I thought we were going to fire off better there from Lap 1, but didn’t really have the speed at the bottom at all,” Cardwell said. “I feel like everyone thought it was kind of one lane there on the bottom and said, ‘What the hell, man,’ we didn’t have much to lose there, so I stepped out of the groove there, and I thought it was really good. I think we were just a little too snug for the bottom. The outside opened up for us, and it was a crazy finish for sure.” 

RESULTS: Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[4]; 2. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[1]; 3. 51C-Luke Clements[3]; 4. 16-Dawson Lowe[5]; 5. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[6]; 6. 3-Grayson Ott[8]; 7. KO-Caylan Kettle[7]; 8. 149-Seth Speed[10]; 9. 28B-Jeff Queen[17]; 10. 44K-Troy Kidd[18]; 11. 15-Marty Massey[2]; 12. 55-Kyle Courtney[15]; 13. 32-Jack Mills[12]; 14. (DNS) 1M-Morghan Johnson; 15. (DNS) 5-Curtis Thomas; 16. (DNS) 48-Brody Yarbrough; 17. (DNS) C4-Devin Whatley; 18. (DNS) 71C-Davy Cline; 19. (DNS) KB-Kerry King

602 Late Model Feature #2 

After the first 602 Feature of the night opened with a blink and you’ll miss it finish, Koulten Herbert wanted less of a heart attack moment to end the second prelim Feature of the night. 

The Georgia driver took the lead from the outside pole at the start of the 15-lap Feature and never looked back. 

Behind him, polesitter John Marshall Pursley faded after the green flag, allowing Trent Ivey to move into second. The rest of the field went three wide, lap after lap, to settle the other positions. 

Herbert’s stout pace was slowed when Braxton Faucett slowed on Lap 9, and the field was brought to his back bumper. 

Ivey didn’t waste his opportunity to pounce on Herbert on the restart, diving underneath him going into Turn 1. However, Herbert was able to find the grip he needed through Turn 2 to pull ahead down the backstretch. 

Ivey went from looking at the lead to fading to third after Chase Blackwell was able to take advantage of Ivey’s failed attempt and dart by him for second. 

Blackwell had nothing for Herbert, though. The No. 611 set sail and pulled away to a 1.4-second lead. 

“It’s a rocket ship right now,” Herbert said about his ride. “We got the right things on it, and I was able to do my job. My crew provided me a great, great race car. I have to thank Logan, Colby, and my dad. Cody Overton has been helping us this week. Bubba Roling. Everyone that has a hand on his. They made this thing really fast.

RESULTS: Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 611-Koulten Herbert[2]; 2. 6-Chase Blackwell[3]; 3. 28I-Trent Ivey[4]; 4. 21-Mario Gresham[9]; 5. 27-Tim Ryan[13]; 6. 11R-Hunter Robbins[7]; 7. 67-Logan Bradford[17]; 8. 51-Mack McCarter[10]; 9. 01-Ben Lanford[5]; 10. 17J-Griffin Jones[8]; 11. 53-Brandon Yates[14]; 12. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[6]; 13. 9-John Marshall Pursley[1]; 14. 111-Brennen Shirley[18]; 15. 88-Dustin Rollins[12]; 16. 23H-Kade Hunkapiller[19]; 17. 11S-Brad Kinchen[11]; 18. 86-Kody Jett[16]; 19. B17-Braxton Faucett[15] 

602 Late Model Feature #3 

Richard “Richie” Stephens came all the way from Arizona to try and score a win at the famed Volusia Speedway Park, but the field in prelim Feature #3 didn’t make it easy on him. 

He started on the pole in the 15-lap Feature and had a clean launch ahead of the 19 cars behind him when the green flag flew for the first time. But he didn’t make it far around the 1/2-mile until the race was slowed by a caution. 

The trend continued the next couple of restarts, hindering Stephens from finding a rhythm. 

When the race went caution-free for a handful of laps, Stephens started to build some momentum and pull away from second-place Matthew Kade. However, another caution flew on Lap 5, group everyone together again. 

On the restart, Stephens pulled ahead again, while Wyatt Coffey got the jump on Kade to move into second. Behind them, Austin Leamon was on a march, up to fourth from 14th. 

The field saw the yellow again on Lap 7 after a couple of cars tangled. When the race resumed, the green flag was shown to the 602 Late Models for the final time of the night. 

Stephens continued to lead the field, followed by Coffey in second and then Leamon, who snuck into third on the restart. The top three remained that way to the Lap 11 caution, which ended the Feature due to reaching the race’s time limit. 

“I was just trying to survive man,” Stephens said. “I was trying to get a good rhythm. Trying to make everything happen and get going there. Tires get some heat in them and get going, and then the caution would come out. 

“To be honest, we put everything on this car to test for the (Saturday) Feature tonight. We was better, but we have a long way to go to get better, though.” 

RESULTS: Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 00-Richard Stephens[1]; 2. 2-Wyatt Coffey[3]; 3. 28-Austin Leamon[14]; 4. 131-Matt Herlong[7]; 5. 7K-Matthew Kade[2]; 6. 1J-Jason Papp[5]; 7. T9-Brodie Thompson[13]; 8. 20-Kody Cook[8]; 9. 25-Brandon Lunsford[16]; 10. 11-Bart Studdard[6]; 11. 13-Devin Rooks[9]; 12. 14T-Tristen Kichen[11]; 13. (DNF) 1A-David Showers Sr[15]; 14. (DNF) 8-Zack Owens[12]; 15. (DNF) 10-Karli Bennett[4]; 16. (DNF) 51H-Tim Holston[10]; 17. (DNF) F17-Johnny Faucett[17]; 18. (DNF) 21M-Mayson Mossow[18]; 19. (DNF) 1-Hania Humphries[19]; 20. (DNF) 19-Sam Oakley[20] 

By Matt Skipper

604 Late Models Feature #1

Trynt Lloyd hasn’t missed his footing around Volusia since capturing the 604 Late Model track title in 2025.

The Jacksonville, FL native took full control from the drop of the green flag in the opening Pro Late Model by keeping his No. 2L Longhorn Chassis around the bottom of the half-mile track while Hayden Cardwell kept pressure on Lloyd through the 20 laps.

Through the first half of the $1,500-to-win chase, Lloyd stretched his lead to 2.1 seconds over Cardwell by Lap 10. Then, Cardwell began to chop the gap by arcing his No. 17C towards the middle lane of the corner. 

While Lloyd kept to the bottom lane, Cardwell found momentum through the new racing line and cut three tenths off each lap. When the reigning champ was given the five-to-go signal, the Knoxville, TN driver was within 0.8 seconds of the lead.

On the final lap, Cardwell was behind Lloyd’s back bumper entering Turn 1. Unlike the 602 Late Model Feature, Cardwell fell short of stealing the win as Lloyd drove to his first career wins in both Crate Racin’ USA Late Models and Sunshine Nationals.

“I’ve been trying to get a Crate Racin’ USA or Sunshine win, either one for a while,” Lloyd said. “I wasn’t where I needed to be right there. I’ve been good here all year, and we just need to find it. I knew that 17 would be good, and I didn’t know exactly how far he was, but I figured he’d be right there, and I guess we just managed to hang onto it.”

Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[2]; 2. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[3]; 3. 8-Josh Henry[6]; 4. 23V-Matt Henderson[4]; 5. 7W-Justin Williams[1]; 6. 22S-Jeremy Steele[10]; 7. 7A-Corey Almond[5]; 8. 16S-Sam Seawright[17]; 9. 25C-Donnie Chappell[19]; 10. 15-Marty Massey[12]; 11. 125-Mark Underwood Jr[16]; 12. 18G-Ricky Greene[8]; 13. 43-Jarrett Edwards[24]; 14. 7T-Tyler Thomason[7]; 15. 17-Austin Storm[14]; 16. 17X-Brett Gray[13]; 17. 23S-Toby Sims[25]; 18. 18I-Jason Intoppa[15]; 19. 19P-Matthew Porter[18]; 20. 22T-Tim Clark[9]; 21. 6B-Hunter Boyd[22]; 22. 4M-Billy Boyd Jr[20]; 23. (DNF) 26B-Adam Bedenbaugh[11]; 24. (DNF) 91A-Matt Adams[23]; 25. (DNF) 3B-Billy Boyd Sr[21]

604 Late Models Feature #2

In the first trip back to Volusia in over two years for Ross Bailes, he has not missed a step from the get-go.

The Clover, SC driver started the third Feature from Pole Position and took immediate command around the bottom through the first five laps as Pearson Williams, Daulton Wilson, and Wil Herrington kept Bailes in their sights.

As Bailes started to create significant distance on the cars behind him by driving through the middle lane, Fayetteville, NC’s Wilson became the biggest opponent for the No. 09 as he kept a one-second interval in second place.

While Wilson kept his Big Frog Motorsports Late Model within distance, “Big Perm” was unable to gain extra ground around the half-mile track as Bailes drove to his second win in the event – his first since the 2023 edition of Sunshine Nationals.

“I wanted to get running,” Bailes said. “I’ve only driven this car twice, and at Charlotte, we were really good in Qualifying and didn’t tighten up enough for the Feature. I was kinda worried about that tonight, but man, this thing was on a rail. It was really good.”

Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 09-Ross Bailes[1]; 2. C02-Daulton Wilson[5]; 3. 5-Wil Herrington[8]; 4. 18X-Michael Page[15]; 5. 121-Pearson Williams[2]; 6. T99-Mario Gresham[3]; 7. 56-Christian Schneider[6]; 8. 15M-Mason Massey[7]; 9. 8W-Bubba Whitener[10]; 10. 257-Skylar Marlar[11]; 11. 26-Jack Brown[19]; 12. 94-Holden Allen[13]; 13. 24-Austin Bloodworth[9]; 14. 46-Deisel Jones[4]; 15. 44-Kam Boyd[20]; 16. 51-Mack McCarter[18]; 17. 13-Landon Mathews[16]; 18. 17J-John Winge[22]; 19. 07B-Baily Cardwell[21]; 20. 44P-Kole Platt[12]; 21. 36H-James Haynes[26]; 22. 131-Matt Herlong[17]; 23. 07-Ivedent Lloyd[14]; 24. 71C-Davy Cline[23]; 25. 3-Caleb Gay[24]; 26. 14-Cade Brookshire[25]

604 Late Model Feature #3

While Bubba Roling led the majority of the third 604 Late Model Feature, Kyle Hardy left as the shining driver in Victory Lane.

Hardy started the 20-lap Feature in 10th as Roling’s No. 515 Late Model took the lead from the drop of the green flag. 

Hardy made ground immediately by moving to eighth by Lap 3, fifth by Lap 7, then reached the podium at Lap 11. While Roling broke away with his pace at the helm, Hardy found himself pacing around the bottom of the track to reel the leader back.

On Lap 16, Hardy made his move by moving below Roling in Turns 1-2. The two drivers stayed side-by-side through Turns 3-4 until Hardy gained enough speed to clear the Capital Race Cars machine across the finish line to take the top spot. 

Once Hardy felt the clean air on his No. 99 Late Model, the Winchester, VA racer built the distance to Roling by 1.173 seconds as he earned his first Sunshine Nationals trophy.

“I honestly don’t know how we did it,” Hardy said.
”I think we beat (Roling) on tires there. I’m glad we were able to be down here and get this car out after we destroyed it last week and rebuilt it. 
They started sliding out the bottom, and I really made sure I hit the bottom. Once my tires got heated up, this thing was awesome. I could run wide open.”

Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 99-Kyle Hardy[10]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[1]; 3. 2S-Layton Sullivan[16]; 4. 28W-David Williamson[3]; 5. 85-Corey North[2]; 6. G4-Trent Ivey[11]; 7. 25-Derrick Stewart[14]; 8. 87-Jake Rainey[25]; 9. 00W-Ethan Wilson[9]; 10. 2-Zack Carley[19]; 11. 31S-Tim Swartz[21]; 12. 1*-Mavrick Davidson[12]; 13. 9-Nick Johnson[4]; 14. 12C-Chase Giddens[15]; 15. 66-Jody Knowles[5]; 16. 57-Landen Zakalowski[18]; 17. 2P-Terry Poore[22]; 18. 118-Jared Delk[6]; 19. 18B-Todd Brewster[23]; 20. 4-Kale Green[26]; 21. 33-Gavin Johnson[24]; 22. 18-Josh Vinyard[20]; 23. 44O-Hayden Ownbey[7]; 24. K7-Keaton Smith[8]; 25. 67C-Gregory Carrico[17]; 26. 721-Blake Clouser[13]

604 Late Model Feature #4

Ty Giles brought a spark to Cody Overton’s squad when they needed it most by taking his first career Sunshine Nationalsvictory aboard the Factory 97 Late Model.

The 18-year-old Georgia native began the Feature by following polesitter Jimmy Thomas and second-place Koulten Herbert, then began to find a rhythm at a car length above the bottom to create extra speed entering the straightaways. 

When a restart on Lap 11 brought the field back together, Giles used his line to overtake Harris for second place, then kept his car above 602 Late Model Feature winner Herbert for the lead exiting Turn 4.

Once Giles took the lead, he had to withstand a charge from Harris for the lead as Herbert dropped from the race for mechanical issues. On the final restart with four laps remaining, Giles defended the lead from Harris to cross the checkered flag to complete Thursday’s racing program.

Before Thursday night, Giles had only seen Volusia as a member of Overton’s World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision crew. He left the night as a winner in his first time racing around the half-mile oval.

“I knew I had to slide Koulten or else I wouldn’t be able to get back by him,” Giles said. “The middle stuff was pretty good, and I just started rolling through the middle, and I’m really out of breath.”

Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. 97T-Ty Giles[4]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[8]; 3. 127-Austin Yarbrough[10]; 4. 67-Logan Bradford[6]; 5. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[3]; 6. 30-Curtis Glover[7]; 7. 51KC-Kyle Courtney[27]; 8. 4D-Trey Davis[26]; 9. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[1]; 10. 47-Ryan West[9]; 11. 00R-John Ruggiero Jr[5]; 12. 4F-Rye Faulk[20]; 13. 14AJ-AJ Miller[11]; 14. 96-Mikey Kopka[15]; 15. 28-Austin Leamon[23]; 16. 16G-Austin Gonzalez[13]; 17. 23D-Tim Damron[18]; 18. 14W-Jake Whitehead[21]; 19. 58-Trent McLeod[19]; 20. 7-Slate Jones[16]; 21. 59-Brandon Catto[25]; 22. 1A-David Showers Jr[17]; 23. 32K-Kimber Crooms[22]; 24. 611-Koulten Herbert[2]; 25. 54T-Tuck Trentham[14]; 26. 71-Nevin Gainey[12]; 27. (DNS) 41-Derike Bennett

SHINING THURSDAY: Seven Drivers Claim Sunshine Nationals Victory Through 602 Late Models, 604 Late Models

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 22, 2025) – Volusia Speedway Park opened the 2026 racing season with over 200 Late Models on the Barberville, FL property Thursday night for the seventh edition of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals.

While Chris Madden took victory with the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision in the season opener, three 602 Late Model Features and four Crate Racin’ USA/DIRTcar 604 Late Models Features laid the groundwork for the top-20 drivers between the two classes to compete for the event championship on Saturday night.Read More: Madden Conquers Sunshine Nationals Opener in Wells Motorsports Debut

Here is how each Feature played out:

By Nick Graziano

602 Late Model Feature #1 

Six thousandths of a second. That’s how close the finish was to kick off Feature racing at Volusia Speedway Park in 2026. 

The 602 Late Models kicked things off during the first night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals with Jordan Lockhardt and Marty Massey leading the field to the green in the 15-lap prelim race. 

Lockhardt held command for the majority of the event, leaving everyone behind him racing for second. 

Massey had a strong hold of the runner-up position until he brought out a caution on Lap 11 due to a motor issue. His exit moved Luke Clements up to second and Dawson Lowe into the final podium spot. However, Hayden Cardwell, in fourth, was the one to watch on the restart. 

When the race resumed, Cardwell jumped to the high side and found a new head of steam. While everyone else hugged the bottom, he passed Lowe for third off Turn 2 and then passed Clements for second off Turn 4. With two laps to go, he hunted down Lockhardt and gave him a challenge for the first time all night. 

On the final lap, Cardwell drove as hard as he could into Turns 3 and 4, which allowed him to pull side by side with Lockhardt off Turn 4 and edge ahead of him by 0.006 seconds at the checkered flag. 

It was his first Sunshine Nationals win and second big win of the week, as he won the World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series event on Monday. 

RELATED: Hayden Cardwell claims World of Outlaws iRacing Pro Series win at Eldora 

“I thought we were going to fire off better there from Lap 1, but didn’t really have the speed at the bottom at all,” Cardwell said. “I feel like everyone thought it was kind of one lane there on the bottom and said, ‘What the hell, man,’ we didn’t have much to lose there, so I stepped out of the groove there, and I thought it was really good. I think we were just a little too snug for the bottom. The outside opened up for us, and it was a crazy finish for sure.” 

RESULTS: Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[4]; 2. 7L-Jordan Lockhart[1]; 3. 51C-Luke Clements[3]; 4. 16-Dawson Lowe[5]; 5. 25W-Wiley McDaniel[6]; 6. 3-Grayson Ott[8]; 7. KO-Caylan Kettle[7]; 8. 149-Seth Speed[10]; 9. 28B-Jeff Queen[17]; 10. 44K-Troy Kidd[18]; 11. 15-Marty Massey[2]; 12. 55-Kyle Courtney[15]; 13. 32-Jack Mills[12]; 14. (DNS) 1M-Morghan Johnson; 15. (DNS) 5-Curtis Thomas; 16. (DNS) 48-Brody Yarbrough; 17. (DNS) C4-Devin Whatley; 18. (DNS) 71C-Davy Cline; 19. (DNS) KB-Kerry King

602 Late Model Feature #2 

After the first 602 Feature of the night opened with a blink and you’ll miss it finish, Koulten Herbert wanted less of a heart attack moment to end the second prelim Feature of the night. 

The Georgia driver took the lead from the outside pole at the start of the 15-lap Feature and never looked back. 

Behind him, polesitter John Marshall Pursley faded after the green flag, allowing Trent Ivey to move into second. The rest of the field went three wide, lap after lap, to settle the other positions. 

Herbert’s stout pace was slowed when Braxton Faucett slowed on Lap 9, and the field was brought to his back bumper. 

Ivey didn’t waste his opportunity to pounce on Herbert on the restart, diving underneath him going into Turn 1. However, Herbert was able to find the grip he needed through Turn 2 to pull ahead down the backstretch. 

Ivey went from looking at the lead to fading to third after Chase Blackwell was able to take advantage of Ivey’s failed attempt and dart by him for second. 

Blackwell had nothing for Herbert, though. The No. 611 set sail and pulled away to a 1.4-second lead. 

“It’s a rocket ship right now,” Herbert said about his ride. “We got the right things on it, and I was able to do my job. My crew provided me a great, great race car. I have to thank Logan, Colby, and my dad. Cody Overton has been helping us this week. Bubba Roling. Everyone that has a hand on his. They made this thing really fast.

RESULTS: Feature 2 (15 Laps): 1. 611-Koulten Herbert[2]; 2. 6-Chase Blackwell[3]; 3. 28I-Trent Ivey[4]; 4. 21-Mario Gresham[9]; 5. 27-Tim Ryan[13]; 6. 11R-Hunter Robbins[7]; 7. 67-Logan Bradford[17]; 8. 51-Mack McCarter[10]; 9. 01-Ben Lanford[5]; 10. 17J-Griffin Jones[8]; 11. 53-Brandon Yates[14]; 12. 17B-Timmy Blackwell[6]; 13. 9-John Marshall Pursley[1]; 14. 111-Brennen Shirley[18]; 15. 88-Dustin Rollins[12]; 16. 23H-Kade Hunkapiller[19]; 17. 11S-Brad Kinchen[11]; 18. 86-Kody Jett[16]; 19. B17-Braxton Faucett[15] 

602 Late Model Feature #3 

Richard “Richie” Stephens came all the way from Arizona to try and score a win at the famed Volusia Speedway Park, but the field in prelim Feature #3 didn’t make it easy on him. 

He started on the pole in the 15-lap Feature and had a clean launch ahead of the 19 cars behind him when the green flag flew for the first time. But he didn’t make it far around the 1/2-mile until the race was slowed by a caution. 

The trend continued the next couple of restarts, hindering Stephens from finding a rhythm. 

When the race went caution-free for a handful of laps, Stephens started to build some momentum and pull away from second-place Matthew Kade. However, another caution flew on Lap 5, group everyone together again. 

On the restart, Stephens pulled ahead again, while Wyatt Coffey got the jump on Kade to move into second. Behind them, Austin Leamon was on a march, up to fourth from 14th. 

The field saw the yellow again on Lap 7 after a couple of cars tangled. When the race resumed, the green flag was shown to the 602 Late Models for the final time of the night. 

Stephens continued to lead the field, followed by Coffey in second and then Leamon, who snuck into third on the restart. The top three remained that way to the Lap 11 caution, which ended the Feature due to reaching the race’s time limit. 

“I was just trying to survive man,” Stephens said. “I was trying to get a good rhythm. Trying to make everything happen and get going there. Tires get some heat in them and get going, and then the caution would come out. 

“To be honest, we put everything on this car to test for the (Saturday) Feature tonight. We was better, but we have a long way to go to get better, though.” 

RESULTS: Feature 3 (15 Laps): 1. 00-Richard Stephens[1]; 2. 2-Wyatt Coffey[3]; 3. 28-Austin Leamon[14]; 4. 131-Matt Herlong[7]; 5. 7K-Matthew Kade[2]; 6. 1J-Jason Papp[5]; 7. T9-Brodie Thompson[13]; 8. 20-Kody Cook[8]; 9. 25-Brandon Lunsford[16]; 10. 11-Bart Studdard[6]; 11. 13-Devin Rooks[9]; 12. 14T-Tristen Kichen[11]; 13. (DNF) 1A-David Showers Sr[15]; 14. (DNF) 8-Zack Owens[12]; 15. (DNF) 10-Karli Bennett[4]; 16. (DNF) 51H-Tim Holston[10]; 17. (DNF) F17-Johnny Faucett[17]; 18. (DNF) 21M-Mayson Mossow[18]; 19. (DNF) 1-Hania Humphries[19]; 20. (DNF) 19-Sam Oakley[20] 

By Matt Skipper

604 Late Models Feature #1

Trynt Lloyd hasn’t missed his footing around Volusia since capturing the 604 Late Model track title in 2025.

The Jacksonville, FL native took full control from the drop of the green flag in the opening Pro Late Model by keeping his No. 2L Longhorn Chassis around the bottom of the half-mile track while Hayden Cardwell kept pressure on Lloyd through the 20 laps.

Through the first half of the $1,500-to-win chase, Lloyd stretched his lead to 2.1 seconds over Cardwell by Lap 10. Then, Cardwell began to chop the gap by arcing his No. 17C towards the middle lane of the corner. 

While Lloyd kept to the bottom lane, Cardwell found momentum through the new racing line and cut three tenths off each lap. When the reigning champ was given the five-to-go signal, the Knoxville, TN driver was within 0.8 seconds of the lead.

On the final lap, Cardwell was behind Lloyd’s back bumper entering Turn 1. Unlike the 602 Late Model Feature, Cardwell fell short of stealing the win as Lloyd drove to his first career wins in both Crate Racin’ USA Late Models and Sunshine Nationals.

“I’ve been trying to get a Crate Racin’ USA or Sunshine win, either one for a while,” Lloyd said. “I wasn’t where I needed to be right there. I’ve been good here all year, and we just need to find it. I knew that 17 would be good, and I didn’t know exactly how far he was, but I figured he’d be right there, and I guess we just managed to hang onto it.”

Feature 1 (20 Laps): 1. 2L-Trynt Lloyd[2]; 2. 17C-Hayden Cardwell[3]; 3. 8-Josh Henry[6]; 4. 23V-Matt Henderson[4]; 5. 7W-Justin Williams[1]; 6. 22S-Jeremy Steele[10]; 7. 7A-Corey Almond[5]; 8. 16S-Sam Seawright[17]; 9. 25C-Donnie Chappell[19]; 10. 15-Marty Massey[12]; 11. 125-Mark Underwood Jr[16]; 12. 18G-Ricky Greene[8]; 13. 43-Jarrett Edwards[24]; 14. 7T-Tyler Thomason[7]; 15. 17-Austin Storm[14]; 16. 17X-Brett Gray[13]; 17. 23S-Toby Sims[25]; 18. 18I-Jason Intoppa[15]; 19. 19P-Matthew Porter[18]; 20. 22T-Tim Clark[9]; 21. 6B-Hunter Boyd[22]; 22. 4M-Billy Boyd Jr[20]; 23. (DNF) 26B-Adam Bedenbaugh[11]; 24. (DNF) 91A-Matt Adams[23]; 25. (DNF) 3B-Billy Boyd Sr[21]

604 Late Models Feature #2

In the first trip back to Volusia in over two years for Ross Bailes, he has not missed a step from the get-go.

The Clover, SC driver started the third Feature from Pole Position and took immediate command around the bottom through the first five laps as Pearson Williams, Daulton Wilson, and Wil Herrington kept Bailes in their sights.

As Bailes started to create significant distance on the cars behind him by driving through the middle lane, Fayetteville, NC’s Wilson became the biggest opponent for the No. 09 as he kept a one-second interval in second place.

While Wilson kept his Big Frog Motorsports Late Model within distance, “Big Perm” was unable to gain extra ground around the half-mile track as Bailes drove to his second win in the event – his first since the 2023 edition of Sunshine Nationals.

“I wanted to get running,” Bailes said. “I’ve only driven this car twice, and at Charlotte, we were really good in Qualifying and didn’t tighten up enough for the Feature. I was kinda worried about that tonight, but man, this thing was on a rail. It was really good.”

Feature 2 (20 Laps): 1. 09-Ross Bailes[1]; 2. C02-Daulton Wilson[5]; 3. 5-Wil Herrington[8]; 4. 18X-Michael Page[15]; 5. 121-Pearson Williams[2]; 6. T99-Mario Gresham[3]; 7. 56-Christian Schneider[6]; 8. 15M-Mason Massey[7]; 9. 8W-Bubba Whitener[10]; 10. 257-Skylar Marlar[11]; 11. 26-Jack Brown[19]; 12. 94-Holden Allen[13]; 13. 24-Austin Bloodworth[9]; 14. 46-Deisel Jones[4]; 15. 44-Kam Boyd[20]; 16. 51-Mack McCarter[18]; 17. 13-Landon Mathews[16]; 18. 17J-John Winge[22]; 19. 07B-Baily Cardwell[21]; 20. 44P-Kole Platt[12]; 21. 36H-James Haynes[26]; 22. 131-Matt Herlong[17]; 23. 07-Ivedent Lloyd[14]; 24. 71C-Davy Cline[23]; 25. 3-Caleb Gay[24]; 26. 14-Cade Brookshire[25]

604 Late Model Feature #3

While Bubba Roling led the majority of the third 604 Late Model Feature, Kyle Hardy left as the shining driver in Victory Lane.

Hardy started the 20-lap Feature in 10th as Roling’s No. 515 Late Model took the lead from the drop of the green flag. 

Hardy made ground immediately by moving to eighth by Lap 3, fifth by Lap 7, then reached the podium at Lap 11. While Roling broke away with his pace at the helm, Hardy found himself pacing around the bottom of the track to reel the leader back.

On Lap 16, Hardy made his move by moving below Roling in Turns 1-2. The two drivers stayed side-by-side through Turns 3-4 until Hardy gained enough speed to clear the Capital Race Cars machine across the finish line to take the top spot. 

Once Hardy felt the clean air on his No. 99 Late Model, the Winchester, VA racer built the distance to Roling by 1.173 seconds as he earned his first Sunshine Nationals trophy.

“I honestly don’t know how we did it,” Hardy said.
”I think we beat (Roling) on tires there. I’m glad we were able to be down here and get this car out after we destroyed it last week and rebuilt it. 
They started sliding out the bottom, and I really made sure I hit the bottom. Once my tires got heated up, this thing was awesome. I could run wide open.”

Feature 3 (20 Laps): 1. 99-Kyle Hardy[10]; 2. 515-Bubba Roling[1]; 3. 2S-Layton Sullivan[16]; 4. 28W-David Williamson[3]; 5. 85-Corey North[2]; 6. G4-Trent Ivey[11]; 7. 25-Derrick Stewart[14]; 8. 87-Jake Rainey[25]; 9. 00W-Ethan Wilson[9]; 10. 2-Zack Carley[19]; 11. 31S-Tim Swartz[21]; 12. 1*-Mavrick Davidson[12]; 13. 9-Nick Johnson[4]; 14. 12C-Chase Giddens[15]; 15. 66-Jody Knowles[5]; 16. 57-Landen Zakalowski[18]; 17. 2P-Terry Poore[22]; 18. 118-Jared Delk[6]; 19. 18B-Todd Brewster[23]; 20. 4-Kale Green[26]; 21. 33-Gavin Johnson[24]; 22. 18-Josh Vinyard[20]; 23. 44O-Hayden Ownbey[7]; 24. K7-Keaton Smith[8]; 25. 67C-Gregory Carrico[17]; 26. 721-Blake Clouser[13]

604 Late Model Feature #4

Ty Giles brought a spark to Cody Overton’s squad when they needed it most by taking his first career Sunshine Nationalsvictory aboard the Factory 97 Late Model.

The 18-year-old Georgia native began the Feature by following polesitter Jimmy Thomas and second-place Koulten Herbert, then began to find a rhythm at a car length above the bottom to create extra speed entering the straightaways. 

When a restart on Lap 11 brought the field back together, Giles used his line to overtake Harris for second place, then kept his car above 602 Late Model Feature winner Herbert for the lead exiting Turn 4.

Once Giles took the lead, he had to withstand a charge from Harris for the lead as Herbert dropped from the race for mechanical issues. On the final restart with four laps remaining, Giles defended the lead from Harris to cross the checkered flag to complete Thursday’s racing program.

Before Thursday night, Giles had only seen Volusia as a member of Overton’s World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision crew. He left the night as a winner in his first time racing around the half-mile oval.

“I knew I had to slide Koulten or else I wouldn’t be able to get back by him,” Giles said. “The middle stuff was pretty good, and I just started rolling through the middle, and I’m really out of breath.”

Feature 4 (20 Laps): 1. 97T-Ty Giles[4]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[8]; 3. 127-Austin Yarbrough[10]; 4. 67-Logan Bradford[6]; 5. 7N-Corey Neil Jr[3]; 6. 30-Curtis Glover[7]; 7. 51KC-Kyle Courtney[27]; 8. 4D-Trey Davis[26]; 9. USA1-Jimmy Thomas[1]; 10. 47-Ryan West[9]; 11. 00R-John Ruggiero Jr[5]; 12. 4F-Rye Faulk[20]; 13. 14AJ-AJ Miller[11]; 14. 96-Mikey Kopka[15]; 15. 28-Austin Leamon[23]; 16. 16G-Austin Gonzalez[13]; 17. 23D-Tim Damron[18]; 18. 14W-Jake Whitehead[21]; 19. 58-Trent McLeod[19]; 20. 7-Slate Jones[16]; 21. 59-Brandon Catto[25]; 22. 1A-David Showers Jr[17]; 23. 32K-Kimber Crooms[22]; 24. 611-Koulten Herbert[2]; 25. 54T-Tuck Trentham[14]; 26. 71-Nevin Gainey[12]; 27. (DNS) 41-Derike Bennett

Up Next: DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals continues with the three divisions set for competition around Volusia Speedway Park on Friday-Saturday, Jan. 20-21. Gates will open at 12:00 p.m. ET, and Hot Laps will begin at 4:00 p.m.

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 22, 2026) – When Chris Madden was announced as the driver of the newly-formed Infinity Chassis house car program fielded by Wells Motorsports, not even he could have imagined the partnership would have gotten off to the start that it did.

From the moment they unloaded at Volusia Speedway Park for DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, the No. 44 team were the ones to beat. In Wednesday’s practice night, Madden was the fastest man on the property with a lap faster than the official track record. When it mattered on Thursday, he was fastest overall in Qualifying and dominated his Heat Race.

Once Feature time rolled around, Madden led all 35 circuits on his way to the 40th win of his career with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision at the same track where he won his first two decades ago.

“It’s awesome, you couldn’t ask for a better day today,” Madden said. “David and Eric [Wells] and his family, everybody at Infinity Chassis, what an awesome race car they sent me down here with. Couldn’t ask for anything any better.”

Madden initially got the lead from second-starting Nick Hoffman on the outside on the opening lap, but it wouldn’t be long until his first close call of the night. Twelve laps in, a broken oil pump belt caused Tristan Chamberlain to slow directly in front of the leaders, forcing Madden to take evasive action to avoid a race-ending collision.

The ensuing green-flag run saw Hoffman find his stride, and with four laps remaining, the No. 9 was side-by-side with Madden. Hoffman briefly led through Turns 1 and 2 before Madden pulled the crossover and found another gear, quickly pulling away with the laps winding down.

As Madden was coming off Turn 4 to the checkered flag, Jake Timm spun to the inside wall to create a green-white-checkered finish. Madden remained unfazed though, and drove two more flawless laps to earn his first win since a Southern Nationals triumph at Volunteer Speedway last July.

“Obviously, starting up front is very important,” Madden said. “Was able to get by Nick there on the start, I knew he was going to be very good. He got by me there, I got extremely tight, couldn’t enter where I needed to be entering. Nick caught me there and got by me, and then I just got up on the wheel and let her rip.”

Hoffman settled for second to open his season, while Brandon Sheppard, Dennis Erb Jr. and Ricky Thornton Jr. rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will return to action on Friday, Jan. 23, at Volusia Speedway Park for the second night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Brandon Overton set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Chris Madden won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Chris Madden won Heat 1.

Nick Hoffman won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Donald McIntosh won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Dustin Sorensen won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ethan Dotson and Tim McCreadie won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Nick Hoffman won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Nick Hoffman was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Brandon Sheppard was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Ricky Thornton Jr. was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Kyle Strickler was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dale McDowell was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Donald McIntosh was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Cory Hedgecock was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

Madden Conquers Sunshine Nationals Opener in Wells Motorsports Debut

BARBERVILLE, FL (January 22, 2026) – When Chris Madden was announced as the driver of the newly-formed Infinity Chassis house car program fielded by Wells Motorsports, not even he could have imagined the partnership would have gotten off to the start that it did.

From the moment they unloaded at Volusia Speedway Park for DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals, the No. 44 team were the ones to beat. In Wednesday’s practice night, Madden was the fastest man on the property with a lap faster than the official track record. When it mattered on Thursday, he was fastest overall in Qualifying and dominated his Heat Race.

Once Feature time rolled around, Madden led all 35 circuits on his way to the 40th win of his career with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision at the same track where he won his first two decades ago.

“It’s awesome, you couldn’t ask for a better day today,” Madden said. “David and Eric [Wells] and his family, everybody at Infinity Chassis, what an awesome race car they sent me down here with. Couldn’t ask for anything any better.”

Madden initially got the lead from second-starting Nick Hoffman on the outside on the opening lap, but it wouldn’t be long until his first close call of the night. Twelve laps in, a broken oil pump belt caused Tristan Chamberlain to slow directly in front of the leaders, forcing Madden to take evasive action to avoid a race-ending collision.

The ensuing green-flag run saw Hoffman find his stride, and with four laps remaining, the No. 9 was side-by-side with Madden. Hoffman briefly led through Turns 1 and 2 before Madden pulled the crossover and found another gear, quickly pulling away with the laps winding down.

As Madden was coming off Turn 4 to the checkered flag, Jake Timm spun to the inside wall to create a green-white-checkered finish. Madden remained unfazed though, and drove two more flawless laps to earn his first win since a Southern Nationals triumph at Volunteer Speedway last July.

“Obviously, starting up front is very important,” Madden said. “Was able to get by Nick there on the start, I knew he was going to be very good. He got by me there, I got extremely tight, couldn’t enter where I needed to be entering. Nick caught me there and got by me, and then I just got up on the wheel and let her rip.”

Hoffman settled for second to open his season, while Brandon Sheppard, Dennis Erb Jr. and Ricky Thornton Jr. rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will return to action on Friday, Jan. 23, at Volusia Speedway Park for the second night of DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

RACE NOTES:

Brandon Overton set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Chris Madden won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Chris Madden won Heat 1.

Nick Hoffman won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Donald McIntosh won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Dustin Sorensen won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ethan Dotson and Tim McCreadie won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Nick Hoffman won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Nick Hoffman was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.

Brandon Sheppard was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Ricky Thornton Jr. was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.

Kyle Strickler was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dale McDowell was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Brandon Overton was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Donald McIntosh was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

Cory Hedgecock was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[10]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[4]; 7. 111-Max Blair[11]; 8. 1-Tyler Erb[26]; 9. 32-Bobby Pierce[12]; 10. 8-Kyle Strickler[7]; 11. 17M-Dale McDowell[19]; 12. 76-Brandon Overton[8]; 13. 7M-Donald McIntosh[3]; 14. 9M-Tim McCreadie[18]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 16. 15-Clay Stuckey[21]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 18. 79-Cory Hedgecock[16]; 19. 22*-Drake Troutman[23]; 20. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[9]; 21. 58V-Daulton Wilson[27]; 22. 1Z-Logan Zarin[28]; 23. 74X-Ethan Dotson[17]; 24. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 25. 99B-Boom Briggs[15]; 26. 114-Jordan Koehler[22]; 27. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[25]; 28. 81-Jason Riggs[20]

No. 3 Corvette leads strong effort from all five Z06 GT3.R in Daytona qualifying

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2026) – Alexander Sims sped to the GTD PRO pole position Thursday for the Rolex 24 At Daytona to lead a strong showing for all five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs to start the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Sims set a time of 1:45.106 (121.934 mph) in Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 Z06 GT3.R that he will share this weekend with Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. A Corvette will start from class pole position in the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the first time since 2021 when Sims was part of a qualifying race win for Corvette Racing.

Prior to that, the last time a Corvette qualified on pole position was 2018. On Thursday, three for the Corvette GT3s qualified in the top-12 of the combined GT category. Charlie Eastwood was fourth in GTD with DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette that he will drive with Mason Filippi, Salih Yoluc and Scott McLaughlin. His lap of 1:45.274 (121.739 mph) was 0.161 seconds off the class pole time. Giacomo Altoé was sixth in GTD and less than a half-second to pole position for DragonSpeed in the first team’s first race as a Z06 GT3.R customer team. He will team this weekend with Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson and Matteo Cairoli. Nicky Catsburg went eighth-quickest in GTD PRO for the second Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry – the No. 4 that he will drive with Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone.

Corvette Racing Media Resources Documents | Statistics | Photos | Factory Driver Bios | Chevrolet Newsroom

Defending Rolex 24 GTD winner 13 Autosport qualified 16th in class with Orey Fidani doing the honors Thursday. He will try to repeat with Matt Bell and Lars Kern plus team newcomer Ben Green in the No. 13 Corvette.  The Rolex 24 goes green at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 24. Live coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC with full live coverage on Peacock in the United States and on IMSA.com for video outside the U.S. and global IMSA Radio coverage.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – GTD PRO POLE-WINNER: “It’s really something special around here to be able to do a low fuel qualifying run with new tires. The car just comes alive. What a wonderful experience that was. Our Corvette was really nicely balanced, very nice lap, nice and clear with no traffic, but I had Nicky (Catsburg) up ahead, maybe punching a little bit of a hole for me. Yeah, brilliant, really, really brilliant.(The race outlook and converting pole into a win) “There is a long time between now and then, but nevertheless, it’s nice to start at the front of the field. Fingers crossed we can have a clean race because that’s really the No. 1 goal at the moment – try and maintain the car in one piece, no issues through the first 23-and-a-half hours, be there in the race at the end and then be ready to fight.”(More on qualifying) “Our Corvette was working pretty nicely in the qualifying session. It’s honestly quite a privilege to be able to drive on low fuel. The car just comes alive compared to most of the states that you drive during practice where you’re focusing on race prep. It was just nice conditions, I was able to get a nice gap and just focus on my own driving for all the laps and hook it all together. The Corvette is working well and hopefully we can carry that through to the race.”(Contending in this year’s race after Corvette GTD win in 2025) “We had a decent race last year as well and finished second behind the Ford. It was great to see the AWA car get the class win last year. Our focus is pretty much on our program and what we’re doing this year to try and optimize everything we’ve got. It seems like the car’s in a decent spot right now. Qualifying pace versus race pace is a bit of a different story, so quite quickly our focus goes back to high-fuel runs and trying to get the car dialed in for that.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Obviously not so good. The car was pretty good, I have to say. I just feel like I didn’t execute well. I had a massive oversteer moment on my first push lap and then the second left, I kind of underdrove it. So it was just not a clean run. I do feel like we need to work a bit on the car, but Alex showed what it’s capable of. I do not think we are far away. We are already quite similar (on setup). I was expecting a bit more for myself. We just need to look at it, see what happens tonight and tomorrow and take it from there.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “For me it’s just more seat time. Every time I drive the car, I feel quicker and more familiar with it. The team’s done an awesome job getting us set up and to this point. We just want to be consistent early, be in a good spot and then watch Ben (Green) and Matt (Bell) take it to the front.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “What a difference a year makes. Last year’s qualifying was probably one of the low points of the whole year, I would say… realizing that we were nowhere close. We’re much and much better this year… barely two-tenths off pole in both GTD classes. I think we would still be second in PRO, as it were. So the Corvette felt great. We did struggle with a few bits this morning on the new tire, but our deg was really good over a stint, so that was a bit of a surprise in that regard. We did have a really clean Roar and that translated into that qualifying session, The Corvette seems to have the best deg of the field. At the end of the session, we’re still pumping in some strong times versus the competition that falls off. So that’s great when you do a lot of laps on every tire set and you probably have to double about six sets. Yeah, we’re looking good and still just chipping our way through it. I think going into it we were and we were going to be happy with a top-eight there so top-four was a bit of a surprise, but that came together really nice and now we’re rolling off the second row for the 24.”

CORVETTE RACING AT DAYTONA: GTD PRO Pole for Sims!No. 3 Corvette leads strong effort from all five Z06 GT3.R in Daytona qualifying

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Jan. 22, 2026) – Alexander Sims sped to the GTD PRO pole position Thursday for the Rolex 24 At Daytona to lead a strong showing for all five Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs to start the 2026 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Sims set a time of 1:45.106 (121.934 mph) in Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports’ No. 3 Z06 GT3.R that he will share this weekend with Antonio Garcia and Marvin Kirchhöfer. A Corvette will start from class pole position in the Rolex 24 At Daytona for the first time since 2021 when Sims was part of a qualifying race win for Corvette Racing.

Prior to that, the last time a Corvette qualified on pole position was 2018. On Thursday, three for the Corvette GT3s qualified in the top-12 of the combined GT category. Charlie Eastwood was fourth in GTD with DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette that he will drive with Mason Filippi, Salih Yoluc and Scott McLaughlin. His lap of 1:45.274 (121.739 mph) was 0.161 seconds off the class pole time. Giacomo Altoé was sixth in GTD and less than a half-second to pole position for DragonSpeed in the first team’s first race as a Z06 GT3.R customer team. He will team this weekend with Henrik Hedman, Casper Stevenson and Matteo Cairoli. Nicky Catsburg went eighth-quickest in GTD PRO for the second Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports entry – the No. 4 that he will drive with Tommy Milner and Nico Varrone.

Corvette Racing Media Resources Documents | Statistics | Photos | Factory Driver Bios | Chevrolet Newsroom

Defending Rolex 24 GTD winner 13 Autosport qualified 16th in class with Orey Fidani doing the honors Thursday. He will try to repeat with Matt Bell and Lars Kern plus team newcomer Ben Green in the No. 13 Corvette.  The Rolex 24 goes green at 1:40 p.m. ET on Saturday, January 24. Live coverage begins at 1:30 p.m. ET on NBC with full live coverage on Peacock in the United States and on IMSA.com for video outside the U.S. and global IMSA Radio coverage.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – GTD PRO POLE-WINNER: “It’s really something special around here to be able to do a low fuel qualifying run with new tires. The car just comes alive. What a wonderful experience that was. Our Corvette was really nicely balanced, very nice lap, nice and clear with no traffic, but I had Nicky (Catsburg) up ahead, maybe punching a little bit of a hole for me. Yeah, brilliant, really, really brilliant.(The race outlook and converting pole into a win) “There is a long time between now and then, but nevertheless, it’s nice to start at the front of the field. Fingers crossed we can have a clean race because that’s really the No. 1 goal at the moment – try and maintain the car in one piece, no issues through the first 23-and-a-half hours, be there in the race at the end and then be ready to fight.”(More on qualifying) “Our Corvette was working pretty nicely in the qualifying session. It’s honestly quite a privilege to be able to drive on low fuel. The car just comes alive compared to most of the states that you drive during practice where you’re focusing on race prep. It was just nice conditions, I was able to get a nice gap and just focus on my own driving for all the laps and hook it all together. The Corvette is working well and hopefully we can carry that through to the race.”(Contending in this year’s race after Corvette GTD win in 2025) “We had a decent race last year as well and finished second behind the Ford. It was great to see the AWA car get the class win last year. Our focus is pretty much on our program and what we’re doing this year to try and optimize everything we’ve got. It seems like the car’s in a decent spot right now. Qualifying pace versus race pace is a bit of a different story, so quite quickly our focus goes back to high-fuel runs and trying to get the car dialed in for that.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Obviously not so good. The car was pretty good, I have to say. I just feel like I didn’t execute well. I had a massive oversteer moment on my first push lap and then the second left, I kind of underdrove it. So it was just not a clean run. I do feel like we need to work a bit on the car, but Alex showed what it’s capable of. I do not think we are far away. We are already quite similar (on setup). I was expecting a bit more for myself. We just need to look at it, see what happens tonight and tomorrow and take it from there.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “For me it’s just more seat time. Every time I drive the car, I feel quicker and more familiar with it. The team’s done an awesome job getting us set up and to this point. We just want to be consistent early, be in a good spot and then watch Ben (Green) and Matt (Bell) take it to the front.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 36 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “What a difference a year makes. Last year’s qualifying was probably one of the low points of the whole year, I would say… realizing that we were nowhere close. We’re much and much better this year… barely two-tenths off pole in both GTD classes. I think we would still be second in PRO, as it were. So the Corvette felt great. We did struggle with a few bits this morning on the new tire, but our deg was really good over a stint, so that was a bit of a surprise in that regard. We did have a really clean Roar and that translated into that qualifying session, The Corvette seems to have the best deg of the field. At the end of the session, we’re still pumping in some strong times versus the competition that falls off. So that’s great when you do a lot of laps on every tire set and you probably have to double about six sets. Yeah, we’re looking good and still just chipping our way through it. I think going into it we were and we were going to be happy with a top-eight there so top-four was a bit of a surprise, but that came together really nice and now we’re rolling off the second row for the 24.”

GIACOMO ALTOE, NO. 81 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Today was the first time that I could actually drive the car in a low-fuel, new-tire session. Obviously we are focusing more on our race pace with such a long day coming Saturday and Sunday. So we didn’t know what to expect, honestly, and we are really happy with that result. Of course, I always want more. So I’m not really satisfied, but we still are early on in our learning process. I’ll take it as we start this project, so I’m really happy.”

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CASA GRANDE, AZ (Jan. 22, 2026) — In one month’s time, national 360 Sprint Car racing will debut in the Sonoran Desert with the arrival of the American Sprint Car Series at Avanti Raceway Park.

The inaugural Sonoran Clash hits the 3/8-mile, high-banked oval — formerly known as Central Arizona Raceway — for two separate Saturday–Sunday stints, Feb. 21–22 and Feb. 28–March 1. Drivers will race for the Series standard $4,000-to-win purse on both Saturday dates and a $6,000-to-win purse on both Sunday dates.

Over the four-race stretch, drivers will earn points toward a special miniseries championship chase, which pays $3,000 to the winner, $2,000 to the runner-up and $1,000 to third place. This is separate from the season-long championship points standings which all drivers earn points by default.

Avanti will mark the fourth different track in “The Copper State” the American Sprint Car Series has raced at in its 34-year history. The most recent Series event in Arizona took place at Canyon Speedway Park in February 2020, won by six-time Series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. The Series has also contested events at Cocopah Speedway (2012–2017) and USA Raceway (2009–2013).

Hafertepe will lead the charge for the Series regulars into Avanti as the defending Series champion, coming off an 11-win season last year. Matt Covington will follow him into the desert as the next biggest threat for the season-long championship after a runner-up finish in the 2025 points chase.

Tickets for both weekends of the event will be sold at the track on race day.

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1 MONTH ALERT: American Sprint Car Series Debuts at Central Arizona’s Avanti Raceway Park

CASA GRANDE, AZ (Jan. 22, 2026) — In one month’s time, national 360 Sprint Car racing will debut in the Sonoran Desert with the arrival of the American Sprint Car Series at Avanti Raceway Park.

The inaugural Sonoran Clash hits the 3/8-mile, high-banked oval — formerly known as Central Arizona Raceway — for two separate Saturday–Sunday stints, Feb. 21–22 and Feb. 28–March 1. Drivers will race for the Series standard $4,000-to-win purse on both Saturday dates and a $6,000-to-win purse on both Sunday dates.

Over the four-race stretch, drivers will earn points toward a special miniseries championship chase, which pays $3,000 to the winner, $2,000 to the runner-up and $1,000 to third place. This is separate from the season-long championship points standings which all drivers earn points by default.

Avanti will mark the fourth different track in “The Copper State” the American Sprint Car Series has raced at in its 34-year history. The most recent Series event in Arizona took place at Canyon Speedway Park in February 2020, won by six-time Series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. The Series has also contested events at Cocopah Speedway (2012–2017) and USA Raceway (2009–2013).

Hafertepe will lead the charge for the Series regulars into Avanti as the defending Series champion, coming off an 11-win season last year. Matt Covington will follow him into the desert as the next biggest threat for the season-long championship after a runner-up finish in the 2025 points chase.

Tickets for both weekends of the event will be sold at the track on race day.

How can you watch every American Sprint Car Series race? Live on DIRTVision.

CONCORD, NC (January 22, 2026) – There’s a new driver of the Bill Rose Racing No. 6 in 2026, and his name is Kasey Jedrzejek.

The 21-year-old has teamed with the longtime racer for his rookie World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season. Jedrzejek joins Ashton Torgerson, Scotty Thiel, and Scott Bogucki as the fourth competitor committed to chasing Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year honors.

Jedrzejek and Rose’s plan to join forces materialized quickly after the two connected at the Rumble in Fort Wayne last month. One thing led to another, and suddenly, Jedrzejek is preparing for his first tour with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

“A week or so after that, me and Bill got in contact, and we just started talking about possibly putting a deal together at that point,” Jedrzejek said. “Then I went out to Bill’s shop, checked everything out, and we put a deal together.

“I’m really excited to work with Bill and see how we get things going down in Florida in a couple weeks. Last year, I think they showed a lot of speed with Zach (Hampton), and I’m looking forward to getting in the seat and seeing what I can do. I think it’ll be great having Bill as an asset, not only as a crew chief, but he’s raced for 50 years as well.”

Jedrzejek spent the last two-plus years honing his talents aboard the Ed Neumeister No. 11N primarily in Ohio. The pairing picked up 11 wins together, including Jedrzejek’s first All Star Circuit of Champions triumph at Wayne County Speedway. The LaGrange, OH native also sat on the pole of the Kings Royal last July at Eldora Speedway. Two months later he notched his first career World of Outlaws top five at Millstream Speedway.

“They’ve helped me a lot grow as a driver the past two years,” Jedrzejek said. “I think we really built Ed’s program back up to where it was a couple years before I got there. The first year racing with them, we were just more of an average car out there, weren’t great weren’t bad. But then last year we really started to mesh a lot better together, I feel like, started being a lot more consistent up in the front and more consistently getting wins. They did a lot for me.”

The focus now moves to competing with the best drivers Sprint Car racing has to offer on a weekly basis as Jedrzejek readies for his debut campaign with The Greatest Show on Dirt. It’s not a position he expected to be in so quickly, but he’s ready to make the most of the chance as he takes a major step in his career.

“It’s crazy to think that I’m going to be racing with the Outlaws this year,” Jedrzejek said. “It went pretty smoothly putting a deal together with Bill. It was a lot of thinking on what would be best for me, and if this was something I wanted to go do. I came to the conclusion if I want to be able to race for a living and be on the tour, then I need to do this now. I’m just very excited for the opportunity Bill has given me.”

Jedrzejek and the Bill Rose Racing team begin the 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car campaign at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Feb. 4-7 in Barberville, FL. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

Kasey Jedrzejek Joins Forces with Bill Rose Racing for Rookie World of Outlaws Campaign

CONCORD, NC (January 22, 2026) – There’s a new driver of the Bill Rose Racing No. 6 in 2026, and his name is Kasey Jedrzejek.

The 21-year-old has teamed with the longtime racer for his rookie World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series season. Jedrzejek joins Ashton Torgerson, Scotty Thiel, and Scott Bogucki as the fourth competitor committed to chasing Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year honors.

Jedrzejek and Rose’s plan to join forces materialized quickly after the two connected at the Rumble in Fort Wayne last month. One thing led to another, and suddenly, Jedrzejek is preparing for his first tour with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

“A week or so after that, me and Bill got in contact, and we just started talking about possibly putting a deal together at that point,” Jedrzejek said. “Then I went out to Bill’s shop, checked everything out, and we put a deal together.

“I’m really excited to work with Bill and see how we get things going down in Florida in a couple weeks. Last year, I think they showed a lot of speed with Zach (Hampton), and I’m looking forward to getting in the seat and seeing what I can do. I think it’ll be great having Bill as an asset, not only as a crew chief, but he’s raced for 50 years as well.”

Jedrzejek spent the last two-plus years honing his talents aboard the Ed Neumeister No. 11N primarily in Ohio. The pairing picked up 11 wins together, including Jedrzejek’s first All Star Circuit of Champions triumph at Wayne County Speedway. The LaGrange, OH native also sat on the pole of the Kings Royal last July at Eldora Speedway. Two months later he notched his first career World of Outlaws top five at Millstream Speedway.

“They’ve helped me a lot grow as a driver the past two years,” Jedrzejek said. “I think we really built Ed’s program back up to where it was a couple years before I got there. The first year racing with them, we were just more of an average car out there, weren’t great weren’t bad. But then last year we really started to mesh a lot better together, I feel like, started being a lot more consistent up in the front and more consistently getting wins. They did a lot for me.”

The focus now moves to competing with the best drivers Sprint Car racing has to offer on a weekly basis as Jedrzejek readies for his debut campaign with The Greatest Show on Dirt. It’s not a position he expected to be in so quickly, but he’s ready to make the most of the chance as he takes a major step in his career.

“It’s crazy to think that I’m going to be racing with the Outlaws this year,” Jedrzejek said. “It went pretty smoothly putting a deal together with Bill. It was a lot of thinking on what would be best for me, and if this was something I wanted to go do. I came to the conclusion if I want to be able to race for a living and be on the tour, then I need to do this now. I’m just very excited for the opportunity Bill has given me.”

Jedrzejek and the Bill Rose Racing team begin the 2026 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car campaign at Volusia Speedway Park’s Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Feb. 4-7 in Barberville, FL. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

Where can you see the World of Outlaws in 2026? Click to see the full schedule.

Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.