FAIRBURY, IL (July 15, 2026) – When Daulton Wilson took the checkers at Stateline Speedway, it was more than his first win with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision. It was the fulfillment of a promise.
Big Frog/Viper Motorsports brought Wilson into the fold for one primary reason – they believed in his ability to make them winners at the highest level of dirt Late Model racing. For the past several years, the No. 58 has been a revolving door of short-term drivers. Everyone from Tim McCreadie to Jimmy Owens, Drake Troutman, Ross Bailes, Ashton Winger, Tyler Clem and even Super DIRTcar Series star Matt Sheppard have made appearances in the Big Frog car in the past half-decade.
Wilson became the latest addition to that list last fall when he joined the team for a few races after departing JRR Motorsports in October. But Wilson soon began to hit it off with team owners Augie Burttram, Shawn Martin and the rest of the crew, and by the end of the year, the team realized that Wilson might be the driver they could build around long-term that they had been looking for.
By mid-January, the deal was done for Wilson to drive the car for the full 2026 season on tour with the World of Outlaws, and that mutual commitment paid off on their perfect night in New York.
“It’s a pretty big relief,” Wilson said. “We’ve been in position and had a few that kind of slipped through. You wonder when that breakthrough’s going to happen. To finally get that win is definitely a big relief and a big sense of satisfaction for everybody. That’s what we set out to do, and we were finally able to get one. Hopefully we can get us some more.”
As Wilson alluded to, the first win could have come much earlier in the season had things gone differently on a couple of occasions. The most notable examples were East Alabama Motor Speedway, where Wilson jumped the cushion when he was two laps from victory and let Nick Hoffman get by, and Bedford Speedway, where he led the first 29 laps before Mason Zeigler passed him and went on to win.
However, those weren’t the only two commendable showings from the MD3 Rookie of the Year contender in the first half of the season. In the 18 races between Hendry County Motorsports Park in February and Marion Center Raceway in May, Wilson had seven top fives and only missed the top 10 five times.
But as spring turned to summer, the No. 58V team’s fortunes took a turn for the worse. Prior to Stateline, Wilson cracked the top 10 only twice in 11 races. He rolled into Busti, NY in dire need of a momentum shift, and it came in the form of a trophy and a $15,000 check.
“You know, it’s racing. We’ve had a lot of bad luck,” Wilson said. “The early spring there was some racetracks that I had been to, and then we went through a stretch there where we went to places that were totally new to me and all of us. Just a combination of everything. Everything’s so close now, if you’re off just a little bit, you run 10th. We’ve had a good car, and Stateline, everything just went our way, we did everything right and it all worked out.”
After following up his win in 13th in his debut at Sharon Speedway, Wilson’s attention has turned to the biggest weekend of the season, the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway (Friday-Saturday, July 24-25). For a North Carolinian who enjoys the red clay 1/2-miles across the southeast, “Big Perm” has been a formidable challenger at Illinois’ signature bullring.
The 2024 PDC will always be remembered for Bobby Pierce’s last-lap pass on Hoffman to score his first win in the event, but it’s easy to forget that the driver lurking behind both of them in third that night was Wilson. That run stood as his World of Outlaws career best before he joined the tour full-time in 2026, and it was far from a fluke. Wilson has finished in the top five in all three Friday Showdown Features he’s competed in, and he also ran second at Fairbury as part of Illinois Speedweek in 2023.
“That place, the atmosphere and everything is just completely different there,” Wilson said. “That is one of the races that we’ve gone to in previous years even though we weren’t full-time. It’s one of those places that we enjoy going to, and it seems to fit me pretty good. I’ve never won there, but I’ve had some really good runs there.”
Once the party wraps up in Fairbury, Wilson will set sail for the next destination of New Richmond, WI, for the second of back-to-back crown jewels. Wilson has only been to Cedar Lake Speedway once for the 2023 USA Nationals and finished 25th in the 100-lapper, but the contagious energy alone was enough to make him excited to return this season.
“That place is cool,” Wilson said. “It’s really fun and a really good racetrack. In the past, we always tried to go, and it only worked out for us to go that one time. But at least having been there one time, it still gives us a little bit of an idea for what we’re in for.”
Now that Wilson’s first World of Outlaws triumph is in the books, winning one of the sport’s crown jewels has become the next item on his career agenda. Last year, Ryan Gustin checked that box at Cedar Lake with his first USA Nationals victory. Whether it’s at Fairbury, Cedar Lake or somewhere else down the line, Wilson is confident that his turn is coming.
“We’ve been close at the PDC before,” Wilson said. “You’ve got to crawl before you can walk, and that’s kind of where we’re getting our feet under us. Definitely, I’d love to win one of them, any of them. Any race is a big deal, but a crown jewel, that’s the goal for sure.”
Wilson will continue his season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision in the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway on Friday and Saturday, July 24-25. General admission tickets will be available at the gate.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
Newest World of Outlaws Winner Wilson Chasing First Taste of Crown Jewel Glory at Fairbury, Cedar Lake
FAIRBURY, IL (July 15, 2026) – When Daulton Wilson took the checkers at Stateline Speedway, it was more than his first win with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision. It was the fulfillment of a promise.
Big Frog/Viper Motorsports brought Wilson into the fold for one primary reason – they believed in his ability to make them winners at the highest level of dirt Late Model racing. For the past several years, the No. 58 has been a revolving door of short-term drivers. Everyone from Tim McCreadie to Jimmy Owens, Drake Troutman, Ross Bailes, Ashton Winger, Tyler Clem and even Super DIRTcar Series star Matt Sheppard have made appearances in the Big Frog car in the past half-decade.
Wilson became the latest addition to that list last fall when he joined the team for a few races after departing JRR Motorsports in October. But Wilson soon began to hit it off with team owners Augie Burttram, Shawn Martin and the rest of the crew, and by the end of the year, the team realized that Wilson might be the driver they could build around long-term that they had been looking for.
By mid-January, the deal was done for Wilson to drive the car for the full 2026 season on tour with the World of Outlaws, and that mutual commitment paid off on their perfect night in New York.
“It’s a pretty big relief,” Wilson said. “We’ve been in position and had a few that kind of slipped through. You wonder when that breakthrough’s going to happen. To finally get that win is definitely a big relief and a big sense of satisfaction for everybody. That’s what we set out to do, and we were finally able to get one. Hopefully we can get us some more.”
As Wilson alluded to, the first win could have come much earlier in the season had things gone differently on a couple of occasions. The most notable examples were East Alabama Motor Speedway, where Wilson jumped the cushion when he was two laps from victory and let Nick Hoffman get by, and Bedford Speedway, where he led the first 29 laps before Mason Zeigler passed him and went on to win.
However, those weren’t the only two commendable showings from the MD3 Rookie of the Year contender in the first half of the season. In the 18 races between Hendry County Motorsports Park in February and Marion Center Raceway in May, Wilson had seven top fives and only missed the top 10 five times.
But as spring turned to summer, the No. 58V team’s fortunes took a turn for the worse. Prior to Stateline, Wilson cracked the top 10 only twice in 11 races. He rolled into Busti, NY in dire need of a momentum shift, and it came in the form of a trophy and a $15,000 check.
“You know, it’s racing. We’ve had a lot of bad luck,” Wilson said. “The early spring there was some racetracks that I had been to, and then we went through a stretch there where we went to places that were totally new to me and all of us. Just a combination of everything. Everything’s so close now, if you’re off just a little bit, you run 10th. We’ve had a good car, and Stateline, everything just went our way, we did everything right and it all worked out.”
After following up his win in 13th in his debut at Sharon Speedway, Wilson’s attention has turned to the biggest weekend of the season, the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway (Friday-Saturday, July 24-25). For a North Carolinian who enjoys the red clay 1/2-miles across the southeast, “Big Perm” has been a formidable challenger at Illinois’ signature bullring.
The 2024 PDC will always be remembered for Bobby Pierce’s last-lap pass on Hoffman to score his first win in the event, but it’s easy to forget that the driver lurking behind both of them in third that night was Wilson. That run stood as his World of Outlaws career best before he joined the tour full-time in 2026, and it was far from a fluke. Wilson has finished in the top five in all three Friday Showdown Features he’s competed in, and he also ran second at Fairbury as part of Illinois Speedweek in 2023.
“That place, the atmosphere and everything is just completely different there,” Wilson said. “That is one of the races that we’ve gone to in previous years even though we weren’t full-time. It’s one of those places that we enjoy going to, and it seems to fit me pretty good. I’ve never won there, but I’ve had some really good runs there.”
Once the party wraps up in Fairbury, Wilson will set sail for the next destination of New Richmond, WI, for the second of back-to-back crown jewels. Wilson has only been to Cedar Lake Speedway once for the 2023 USA Nationals and finished 25th in the 100-lapper, but the contagious energy alone was enough to make him excited to return this season.
“That place is cool,” Wilson said. “It’s really fun and a really good racetrack. In the past, we always tried to go, and it only worked out for us to go that one time. But at least having been there one time, it still gives us a little bit of an idea for what we’re in for.”
Now that Wilson’s first World of Outlaws triumph is in the books, winning one of the sport’s crown jewels has become the next item on his career agenda. Last year, Ryan Gustin checked that box at Cedar Lake with his first USA Nationals victory. Whether it’s at Fairbury, Cedar Lake or somewhere else down the line, Wilson is confident that his turn is coming.
“We’ve been close at the PDC before,” Wilson said. “You’ve got to crawl before you can walk, and that’s kind of where we’re getting our feet under us. Definitely, I’d love to win one of them, any of them. Any race is a big deal, but a crown jewel, that’s the goal for sure.”
Wilson will continue his season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision in the Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway on Friday and Saturday, July 24-25. General admission tickets will be available at the gate.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.
LARSON’S STOUT SHORT-TRACK RESUMESince North Wilkesboro Speedway’s recent return to the NASCAR circuit, it has been a track that has fit right into Kyle Larson’s wheelhouse. Heading into the weekend, the California native is the only active driver that has a victory in both the Cup and Craftsman Truck Series – both of which were earned in the track’s revival season (2023). The weekend sweep was highlighted by his third, and most recent, All-Star Race victory – an effort that saw the two-time champion turn an early-race pit road penalty into a race-high 145 laps led en route to the one-million-dollar grand prize. One day prior, the Truck Series race saw a very similar outcome when Larson drove a Spire Motorsports-prepared Silverado RST to a race-high 138 laps led to capture his third of four career wins in the division. Larson’s short-track success really took off when he joined the Hendrick Motorsports stable. With six career short-track wins under his belt in NASCAR’s top division, five have been earned with Cliff Daniels and the No. 5 Chevrolet team. Overall, throughout his 66 short-track starts in the series, his wins have been accompanied by an impressive 22 top-fives and 36 top-10s.
IN-SEASON CHALLENGE: ELLIOTT ADVANCES TO ROUND FOURHendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott ended his homecoming weekend at EchoPark Speedway with a 13th-place result, but it was enough to knock his opponent, Chase Briscoe, out of the In-Season Challenge and advance into the semifinal round. Representing Team Chevy in Round Four at North Wilkesboro Speedway, Elliott will face off against the No. 25 seed Todd Gilliland. With his short-track statistics, Elliott is an arguable favorite to find his way into the finale race. A 23-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series, the Georgia native has earned two career short-track wins – one of which came earlier this season at Martinsville Speedway when he drove the new Camaro ZL1 racecar to its first win since its competition debut. His short-track prowess has paid dividends towards a stout North Wilkesboro resume, with Elliott earning a pair of top-fives and an eighth-place finish in the three All-Star events held at the track.
VAN GISBERGEN’S OVAL PROGRESSION CONTINUESIn the NASCAR Cup Series return visit to EchoPark Speedway, Shane van Gisbergen once again proved that he is getting his footing on the circuit’s oval tracks. With a solid points day on the agenda, the Stephen Doran-led team executed just that by earning points in Stage Two and the track position needed late in the race to contend for the win – ultimately settling for a strong sixth-place finish to maintain a spot above the Chase cutline. The New Zealand native has earned a top-15 finish in 50 percent of the points-paying races thus far this season, including his career-best oval result of fifth that came at Nashville Superspeedway at the start of the summer stretch. Van Gisbergen has made just one appearance at North Wilkesboro Speedway, which came in the 2025 All-Star event weekend. Despite just missing the transfer into the main event, the Trackhouse Racing driver was able to tally an impressive 54 laps led in the Open.
ENFINGER ENTERS THE CHASE PICTUREThe NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ trip to Lime Rock Park ended in a season turnaround performance by Grant Enfinger and the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet team. Amidst the late-race chaos, the veteran driver capitalized on prime track position and a masterful restart to snap a 40-race winless streak and bring Chevrolet to just two wins away from its milestone 300th all-time victory in the division. On top of the win, it was the strong points day that the Alabama native needed as the series sits just four races away from the Chase. Enfinger put together a stellar 65-point race to vault up to ninth in the standings and make his first appearance above the cutline of the season. The race-winning momentum, on top of his robust North Wilkesboro history, serves as the perfect opportunity for the No. 9 team to continue its climb up the standings this weekend. Enfinger has finished in the top-10 in all three of his starts at the North Carolina short-track, with his best finish of second coming in the 2024 event. 




July 12th, 2026 – Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA secured their first podium finish of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) at the Rolex 6 Hours of São Paulo, with Will Stevens and the No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R taking the checkered flag in P3. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA had locked out the front row of the grid at Interlagos, with the No.12 in pole position and the No.38 in P2. Both cars made a clean start and held position. The first pitstop proved to be unlucky for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, with the No.12 experiencing a stuck wheel nut and the No.38 being slightly out of position when entering the box. Having lost almost 20 seconds each, both cars returned to the track and fought hard to make up track position. Both cars recovered well and made good progress through the field. In the final hour, the cars were running P3 and P4 and pushing for P2. However, the No.38’s earlier 5-second penalty (for contact with another car) was added post-race, and late mist in the final 30 minutes, prevented any further gain on the second-place. The No.12 crossed the finish line in P3, with the No.38 just behind in P4. 