The premier dirt late model drivers in the nation are heading to “Dirt’s Monster Half Mile” this weekend as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visits Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS) for the 38th Annual Pittsburgher on Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3. The action begins Friday night with a complete Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series program with drivers battling for a $10,000 top prize. The intensity steps up on Saturday as the nation’s top teams and drivers battle for a massive $50,000 payday. Each night will feature a full schedule including Dirt Draft Hot Laps, Allstar Performance Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and the respective A-Main for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The Penn Ohio Pro Stocks return on Friday for the Bob Walters Memorial. The RUSH Late Model Series will compete in a full program on both Friday and Saturday for the Bill Hendren Memorial. On Friday, pit gates open at 2:00 PM, followed by general admission at 3:00 PM and Hot Laps starting at 6:00 PM. Saturday follows a similar schedule with pit gates opening at 2:00 PM and general admission gates at 3:00 PM, while adding a driver autograph session from 4:30 PM to 5:15 PM prior to Hot Laps at 6:00 PM. Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, a half-mile oval known as “Dirt’s Monster Half Mile,” is situated at 170 Kelso Road, just a short drive from downtown Pittsburgh. Advanced tickets, camping passes, and official details are available at PPMS.com. The race for the 2026 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Championship is down to the wire. Brandon Sheppard holds a razor-thin 20-point advantage over Hudson O’Neal after Brownstown. Devin Moran sits third, followed by Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Overton tied for fourth. Rounding out the top ten are Max Blair, Josh Rice, Brian Shirley, Garrett Alberson, and Clay Harris. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Purses:Friday, October 2: 1. $10,000, 2. $5,500, 3. $3,500, 4. $2,700, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,300, 7. $2,200, 8. $2,100, 9. $2,050, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,200, 14. $1,000, 15. $950, 16. $925, 17. $900, 18. $875, 19. $850, 20. $825, 21. $800, 22. $800, 23. $800, 24. $800 = $48,575 Saturday, October 3: 1. $50,000, 2. $20,000, 3. $10,000, 4. $8,000, 5. $7,000, 6. $6,000, 7. $4,500, 8. $4,000, 9. $3,800, 10. $3,600, 11. $3,400, 12. $3,200, 13. $3,000, 14. $2,500, 15. $2,400, 16. $2,300, 17. $2,200, 18. $2,100, 19. $2,000, 20. $2,000, 21. $2,000, 22. $2,000, 23. $2,000, 24. $2,000 = $150,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Tire Rule:Left Rear/Fronts – Hoosier (90) NLMT2, (90) NLMT3Right Rear – Hoosier (92) NRM NLMT2, (92) NRM NLMT3, (92) NRM NLMT4 Previous Pittsburgher Winners:2025 – Jonathan Davenport2024 – Jonathan Davenport2023 – Ricky Thornton Jr.2022 – Rained out2021 – Hudson O’Neal2020 – Ricky Thornton Jr.2019 – Don O’Neal2018 – Bobby Pierce2017 – Don O’Neal2016 – Josh Richards2015 – Scott Bloomquist2014 – Gregg Satterlee2013 – Scott Bloomquist2012 – Gregg Satterlee2011 – Keith Barbara2010 – Davey Johnson2009 – Bart Hartman2008 – Steve Baker2007 – Josh Richards2006 – Shane Clanton2005 – Donnie Moran2004 – Bart Hartman2003 – Matt Urban2002 – Rick Aukland2001 – Chub Frank2000 – Davey Johnson1999 – Todd Andrews1998 – Tim Hitt1997 – Rick Aukland1996 – Tim Hitt1995 – Scott Bloomquist1994 – Davey Johnson1993 – Scott Bloomquist1992 – Davey Johnson1991 – Donnie Moran1990 – Bob Wearing Jr.1989 – Scott Bloomquist1987-’88 – Race Not Held1986 – Donnie Moran1982-’85 – Race Not Held1981 – Tye Long1980 – Tye LongPURCHASE PITTSBURGHER 100 TICKETS

Brian Shirley Breaks Through with Jackson 100 Win a Brownstown You can finally call Brian Shirley a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner as the Chatham, Illinois racer became the 97th different winner on Saturday night at Brownstown Speedway. Shirley captured the 47th Annual WillScot Jackson 100 Presented by the Jackson County Visitors Center. Shirley took the lead from Kyle Bronson on the 24th lap and led the rest of the way to not only pick up the $50,000 first place prize, but a $5,000 bonus from UNOH, and the fourth driver this year to be awarded a $1,000 check from Steering Buddy for becoming a first time series winner.Read More >

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Hudson O’Neal– 20 PTS

Brandon SheppardLEADER

Devin Moran– 125 PTS

VIEW FULL POINTS

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND APPROACHING

PURCHASE DIRT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS

Upcoming Events

The Clash on the Wabash Friday, October 9thSaturday, October 10th Eldora SpeedwayRossburg, OhioPURCHASE TICKETS46th Annual Dirt Track World Championship Friday, October 16thSaturday, October 17th West Virginia Motor SpeedwayMineral Wells, West VirginiaPURCHASE TICKETS

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Set for 38th Annual Pittsburgher The premier dirt late model drivers in the nation are heading to “Dirt’s Monster Half Mile” this weekend as the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series visits Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway (PPMS) for the 38th Annual Pittsburgher on Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3. The action begins Friday night with a complete Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series program with drivers battling for a $10,000 top prize. The intensity steps up on Saturday as the nation’s top teams and drivers battle for a massive $50,000 payday. Each night will feature a full schedule including Dirt Draft Hot Laps, Allstar Performance Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and the respective A-Main for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The Penn Ohio Pro Stocks return on Friday for the Bob Walters Memorial. The RUSH Late Model Series will compete in a full program on both Friday and Saturday for the Bill Hendren Memorial. On Friday, pit gates open at 2:00 PM, followed by general admission at 3:00 PM and Hot Laps starting at 6:00 PM. Saturday follows a similar schedule with pit gates opening at 2:00 PM and general admission gates at 3:00 PM, while adding a driver autograph session from 4:30 PM to 5:15 PM prior to Hot Laps at 6:00 PM. Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway, a half-mile oval known as “Dirt’s Monster Half Mile,” is situated at 170 Kelso Road, just a short drive from downtown Pittsburgh. Advanced tickets, camping passes, and official details are available at PPMS.com. The race for the 2026 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Championship is down to the wire. Brandon Sheppard holds a razor-thin 20-point advantage over Hudson O’Neal after Brownstown. Devin Moran sits third, followed by Ricky Thornton Jr. and Brandon Overton tied for fourth. Rounding out the top ten are Max Blair, Josh Rice, Brian Shirley, Garrett Alberson, and Clay Harris. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Purses:Friday, October 2: 1. $10,000, 2. $5,500, 3. $3,500, 4. $2,700, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,300, 7. $2,200, 8. $2,100, 9. $2,050, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,200, 14. $1,000, 15. $950, 16. $925, 17. $900, 18. $875, 19. $850, 20. $825, 21. $800, 22. $800, 23. $800, 24. $800 = $48,575 Saturday, October 3: 1. $50,000, 2. $20,000, 3. $10,000, 4. $8,000, 5. $7,000, 6. $6,000, 7. $4,500, 8. $4,000, 9. $3,800, 10. $3,600, 11. $3,400, 12. $3,200, 13. $3,000, 14. $2,500, 15. $2,400, 16. $2,300, 17. $2,200, 18. $2,100, 19. $2,000, 20. $2,000, 21. $2,000, 22. $2,000, 23. $2,000, 24. $2,000 = $150,000 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Tire Rule:Left Rear/Fronts – Hoosier (90) NLMT2, (90) NLMT3Right Rear – Hoosier (92) NRM NLMT2, (92) NRM NLMT3, (92) NRM NLMT4 Previous Pittsburgher Winners:2025 – Jonathan Davenport2024 – Jonathan Davenport2023 – Ricky Thornton Jr.2022 – Rained out2021 – Hudson O’Neal2020 – Ricky Thornton Jr.2019 – Don O’Neal2018 – Bobby Pierce2017 – Don O’Neal2016 – Josh Richards2015 – Scott Bloomquist2014 – Gregg Satterlee2013 – Scott Bloomquist2012 – Gregg Satterlee2011 – Keith Barbara2010 – Davey Johnson2009 – Bart Hartman2008 – Steve Baker2007 – Josh Richards2006 – Shane Clanton2005 – Donnie Moran2004 – Bart Hartman2003 – Matt Urban2002 – Rick Aukland2001 – Chub Frank2000 – Davey Johnson1999 – Todd Andrews1998 – Tim Hitt1997 – Rick Aukland1996 – Tim Hitt1995 – Scott Bloomquist1994 – Davey Johnson1993 – Scott Bloomquist1992 – Davey Johnson1991 – Donnie Moran1990 – Bob Wearing Jr.1989 – Scott Bloomquist1987-’88 – Race Not Held1986 – Donnie Moran1982-’85 – Race Not Held1981 – Tye Long1980 – Tye LongPURCHASE PITTSBURGHER 100 TICKETS

Brian Shirley Breaks Through with Jackson 100 Win a Brownstown You can finally call Brian Shirley a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner as the Chatham, Illinois racer became the 97th different winner on Saturday night at Brownstown Speedway. Shirley captured the 47th Annual WillScot Jackson 100 Presented by the Jackson County Visitors Center. Shirley took the lead from Kyle Bronson on the 24th lap and led the rest of the way to not only pick up the $50,000 first place prize, but a $5,000 bonus from UNOH, and the fourth driver this year to be awarded a $1,000 check from Steering Buddy for becoming a first time series winner.Read More >

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Hudson O’Neal– 20 PTS

Brandon SheppardLEADER

Devin Moran– 125 PTS

VIEW FULL POINTS

CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND APPROACHING

PURCHASE DIRT TRACK WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TICKETS

Upcoming Events

The Clash on the Wabash Friday, October 9thSaturday, October 10th Eldora SpeedwayRossburg, OhioPURCHASE TICKETS46th Annual Dirt Track World Championship Friday, October 16thSaturday, October 17th West Virginia Motor SpeedwayMineral Wells, West VirginiaPURCHASE TICKETS

DETROIT (Sept. 28, 2026) – Jack Aitken, driver of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, was a guest on an IMSA media teleconference to discuss the upcoming 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3.  Aitken will drive with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.  Just one Cadillac needs to start the race for the brand to clinch their fifth IMSA manufacturer title since 2017 and their 11th overall. And when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac starts the race, Action Express Racing will unofficially clinch the team title, which will be the seventh for the organization. (The car must pass tech post-race).  Heading into Road Atlanta, Aitken needs to finish ninth or better in class to lock up the driver championship. But qualifying awards points, so depending on where Aitken qualifies as well as second-place Lauren Heinrich, the only driver that can catch Aitken, there is a chance he could clinch the title after Thursday qualifying. Heinrich must win the race no matter what to even have a shot at the title.  Transcript of select questions: What are your thoughts going into Road Atlanta? “I think it’s a track and a race that we like. We’ve done well there over the last few years and particularly last year. So, we’re pretty confident we can come in and have a decent car off the bat. My goal is to try and have a great qualifying. And hopefully that means that we could go into the race worry-free and just enjoy it and race for the win. If we’re going in and we still have a similar gap in the championship, then we need to be a little bit smarter. But it’s nothing that we haven’t been doing all year long anyway. Like I said, we’ve got a good a good feel in the team right now and I’ve got a lot of trust in people around me, so very happy to just go in and treat it like any of the races that we’ve been to this year and come out with very good results.”

You’ve raced against a lot of guys in the top class, but what are your thoughts on Laurin Heinrich? “I mean, he’s obviously a phenomenal driver, so it’s always fun having those battles. Especially in this championship with the multi-class dynamic and the circuits that we visit, it sets out a great scene for it. I think we’ve had some really good fights this year. And for him to do it at such a young age is obviously really impressive as well. I’m sure whatever this year turns out to be we can expect to have a lot more fights with him over the next few years. Yeah, I’ll probably see even more improvement from him given his age, which is a slightly scary thought, but it’s been a fun year. And I’m curious to have more fights with him wheel-to-wheel.”

Some folks say that you and Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) should pay a little more attention to collecting points instead of moving up the podium. And the way Action Express attacked it at Road America, and also at Indy, that’s not the case. So, I think the fans would all like to see everyone out there racing as hard as they can. What do you have to say to the people that suggest that maybe you should pay a little bit more attention to the points rather than moving up the podium?“I like to keep a very simplistic view of it, because it makes my life easier. I feel like I’m a broken record, but we’ve done a very good job over the last year, I think. Both in terms of putting a fast car out there and having pretty clean, efficient, well-called races and we do that by weighing up risk by planning out and prepping a lot of the stuff that we do and every professional, whether it’s the guys making the calls on the pit wall, or me or Earl or Fred in the car, put a lot of effort into trying to calibrate that risk reward level and kind of get it right. And all that to say, we feel like we live in a pretty happy spot and go for the moves that we think are, are going to pay off and work well for us. That’s about as far as we think about it. You can always argue to play it a bit safer when you have a lead in the championship. But it’s also dangerous to start changing your methods and to change the way that you approach things, because when you’re in a groove and when things are working well, you want to keep it as similar as possible. So to people that question, that method, is really more that we want to keep doing what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it because it works well for us and it’s to change as little as possible. And it’s also more fun to race that way. I think it’s more ambitious. It’s as simple as that from our point of view. I’m not saying it’s absolutely the right way to do it, but it’s the way that we like to go about it. It’s worked out well for the most part. The only race where we haven’t been on the podium. I don’t think it was because we were taking excessive risk, or anything like that. So, we’re going to carry that on into Petit Le Mans.” Does that mean we can anticipate you defending your Petit Le Mans title in the last hours in Road Atlanta?  “That’s certainly the plan. But anything can happen at that race, and we’ve done well there over the years, so I think it’s a race that’s kind to us, whether it’s me or one of the other guys at the finish. So, we’re going to be racing for the win, I’m pretty sure.”

This championship is unique because both you and Laurin are not sharing it with any co-drivers. What are your thoughts on that? “I think it’s a bit of a shame. I mean it seems to be happening more often at the moment with drivers, generally being pulled in more directions, with more clashes between championships that are expanding and trying to fight for limited spots on the calendar. So, it’s slightly inevitable these days. But like I say, it’s a shame because, Earl is my full season teammate has been fantastic and has put more than his fair share into this championship. The fact that he misses one race and will pay for that by not being on the podium with me feels quite unfair, but it’s the way it is. And Fred has the endurance driver has contributed a huge amount as well. I sort of know from that position being I was in the endurance championship in 2023 when Whelen secured the teams and Drivers Championship then. I don’t know if there’s a way around it if there’ll be a way to have a drop round or something in the points to account for this kind of thing. But yeah, it does feel quite bittersweet. But I’ll buy him some drinks at the end of the year. Hopefully that evens it out.” Jack you are listed as being from both Great Britain and South Korea. Can you talk about the support you have gotten from the South Korean fans?  “Yeah it’s been quite nice seeing the growth of, I guess South Korean interest and international motorsport. I think as a nation, there is quite a strong racing culture and car culture in general, but maybe not been as prevalent in the international championships until more recently and that growth has been really cool to watch and be a part of because I only really came into the sport in the last couple of decades obviously. The amount of messages of support and questions and interests that I get from South Koreans that are either looking to work in motorsport or drive or just support, it’s really cool. And yeah, I take a lot of heart from that. And even get a lot of people coming up to me and just saying hello and just expressing joy of, you know, discovering these championships and these cars and watching. So it means a lot to me. Yeah, I can’t wait. You know, it’s just really cool and I’m happy to see it. So hopefully it carries on growing and we’ve obviously got a South Korean manufacturer involved in these rule sets now as well, which is even better and yeah, it’s just really positive stuff and I’m happy to see it.”

Transcript of Jack Aitken, driver of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R

DETROIT (Sept. 28, 2026) – Jack Aitken, driver of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, was a guest on an IMSA media teleconference to discuss the upcoming 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia on October 3.  Aitken will drive with Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti.  Just one Cadillac needs to start the race for the brand to clinch their fifth IMSA manufacturer title since 2017 and their 11th overall. And when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac starts the race, Action Express Racing will unofficially clinch the team title, which will be the seventh for the organization. (The car must pass tech post-race).  Heading into Road Atlanta, Aitken needs to finish ninth or better in class to lock up the driver championship. But qualifying awards points, so depending on where Aitken qualifies as well as second-place Lauren Heinrich, the only driver that can catch Aitken, there is a chance he could clinch the title after Thursday qualifying. Heinrich must win the race no matter what to even have a shot at the title.  Transcript of select questions: What are your thoughts going into Road Atlanta? “I think it’s a track and a race that we like. We’ve done well there over the last few years and particularly last year. So, we’re pretty confident we can come in and have a decent car off the bat. My goal is to try and have a great qualifying. And hopefully that means that we could go into the race worry-free and just enjoy it and race for the win. If we’re going in and we still have a similar gap in the championship, then we need to be a little bit smarter. But it’s nothing that we haven’t been doing all year long anyway. Like I said, we’ve got a good a good feel in the team right now and I’ve got a lot of trust in people around me, so very happy to just go in and treat it like any of the races that we’ve been to this year and come out with very good results.”

You’ve raced against a lot of guys in the top class, but what are your thoughts on Laurin Heinrich? “I mean, he’s obviously a phenomenal driver, so it’s always fun having those battles. Especially in this championship with the multi-class dynamic and the circuits that we visit, it sets out a great scene for it. I think we’ve had some really good fights this year. And for him to do it at such a young age is obviously really impressive as well. I’m sure whatever this year turns out to be we can expect to have a lot more fights with him over the next few years. Yeah, I’ll probably see even more improvement from him given his age, which is a slightly scary thought, but it’s been a fun year. And I’m curious to have more fights with him wheel-to-wheel.”

Some folks say that you and Cadillac Whelen (Action Express Racing) should pay a little more attention to collecting points instead of moving up the podium. And the way Action Express attacked it at Road America, and also at Indy, that’s not the case. So, I think the fans would all like to see everyone out there racing as hard as they can. What do you have to say to the people that suggest that maybe you should pay a little bit more attention to the points rather than moving up the podium?“I like to keep a very simplistic view of it, because it makes my life easier. I feel like I’m a broken record, but we’ve done a very good job over the last year, I think. Both in terms of putting a fast car out there and having pretty clean, efficient, well-called races and we do that by weighing up risk by planning out and prepping a lot of the stuff that we do and every professional, whether it’s the guys making the calls on the pit wall, or me or Earl or Fred in the car, put a lot of effort into trying to calibrate that risk reward level and kind of get it right. And all that to say, we feel like we live in a pretty happy spot and go for the moves that we think are, are going to pay off and work well for us. That’s about as far as we think about it. You can always argue to play it a bit safer when you have a lead in the championship. But it’s also dangerous to start changing your methods and to change the way that you approach things, because when you’re in a groove and when things are working well, you want to keep it as similar as possible. So to people that question, that method, is really more that we want to keep doing what we’re doing and the way we’re doing it because it works well for us and it’s to change as little as possible. And it’s also more fun to race that way. I think it’s more ambitious. It’s as simple as that from our point of view. I’m not saying it’s absolutely the right way to do it, but it’s the way that we like to go about it. It’s worked out well for the most part. The only race where we haven’t been on the podium. I don’t think it was because we were taking excessive risk, or anything like that. So, we’re going to carry that on into Petit Le Mans.” Does that mean we can anticipate you defending your Petit Le Mans title in the last hours in Road Atlanta?  “That’s certainly the plan. But anything can happen at that race, and we’ve done well there over the years, so I think it’s a race that’s kind to us, whether it’s me or one of the other guys at the finish. So, we’re going to be racing for the win, I’m pretty sure.”

This championship is unique because both you and Laurin are not sharing it with any co-drivers. What are your thoughts on that? “I think it’s a bit of a shame. I mean it seems to be happening more often at the moment with drivers, generally being pulled in more directions, with more clashes between championships that are expanding and trying to fight for limited spots on the calendar. So, it’s slightly inevitable these days. But like I say, it’s a shame because, Earl is my full season teammate has been fantastic and has put more than his fair share into this championship. The fact that he misses one race and will pay for that by not being on the podium with me feels quite unfair, but it’s the way it is. And Fred has the endurance driver has contributed a huge amount as well. I sort of know from that position being I was in the endurance championship in 2023 when Whelen secured the teams and Drivers Championship then. I don’t know if there’s a way around it if there’ll be a way to have a drop round or something in the points to account for this kind of thing. But yeah, it does feel quite bittersweet. But I’ll buy him some drinks at the end of the year. Hopefully that evens it out.” Jack you are listed as being from both Great Britain and South Korea. Can you talk about the support you have gotten from the South Korean fans?  “Yeah it’s been quite nice seeing the growth of, I guess South Korean interest and international motorsport. I think as a nation, there is quite a strong racing culture and car culture in general, but maybe not been as prevalent in the international championships until more recently and that growth has been really cool to watch and be a part of because I only really came into the sport in the last couple of decades obviously. The amount of messages of support and questions and interests that I get from South Koreans that are either looking to work in motorsport or drive or just support, it’s really cool. And yeah, I take a lot of heart from that. And even get a lot of people coming up to me and just saying hello and just expressing joy of, you know, discovering these championships and these cars and watching. So it means a lot to me. Yeah, I can’t wait. You know, it’s just really cool and I’m happy to see it. So hopefully it carries on growing and we’ve obviously got a South Korean manufacturer involved in these rule sets now as well, which is even better and yeah, it’s just really positive stuff and I’m happy to see it.”

Zoom transcript with Corvette Racing factory driver heading to championship race

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports driver Tommy Milner met with members of the media via Zoom on Monday afternoon to discuss this weekend’s Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. He and No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R teammate Nicky Catsburg lead GTD PRO Driver Championship while Chevrolet leads the Manufacturer standings. The No. 4 pairing is coming off a runner-up class finish at Indianapolis two weeks ago and was second at Petit Le Mans a year ago with Nico Varrone.

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.ROn the outlook for Petit Le Mans and entering the final race of the season leading the GTD PRO championships.“Certainly it’s great to be in the points lead going into the last race. That’s where you’d prefer to be, of course. But everything is still very close. Ultimately we need to have a very strong race, no matter what. There’s still many, many cars mathematically in the hunt for the championship, and so all of those teams will certainly be doing everything that they can to get that win. For us, it’s as we’ve approached all the other races this year. Obviously we need to score good points, no matter what. I know there’s lots of points possibilities and things like that we won’t bother ourselves with at this point. That won’t matter until the race gets going. But yeah, we’ve had a good year so far. Some ups and some downs, but obviously great to be P1 going into the last race. And then great to have Nico back as well. He’s a super, super talented young kid who’s been very fast this year. So yeah, for us, it’s going to be a little business as usual in many ways, and focusing on ourselves, making sure that we have the best Corvette that we can for the race and see what happens at the end.”Describe how crazy this race gets in the final hour with the traffic, the track being dark and everything you face at the end.“We’ve seen for many, many years now that the racing is very exciting at the end of Petit. Atlanta is a very dark racetrack, so there’s a lot of sections where there’s really no track lighting and with all the elevation change and things like that, you have lots of areas where you are driving at many times what it feels like blind and just kind of going off of muscle memory. The track itself is difficult, and then obviously you throw in a big sports car race at the end of the year, the last race of a championship, and everybody is driving absolutely at the limit of themselves and the car’s capabilities. Being in a GT car and Road Atlanta being as difficult as it is, just by yourself but when you add the traffic into the equation, the racing is very tricky in many situations. These days in IMSA, in all classes the competitiveness is so high and all the cars end up being very close on the racetrack… for us in a GT car, usually it’s not just one prototype car coming by; it’s two or three. Sometimes it’s one LMP2 and two GTPs, and so the closing speeds are different. You rely as much as you can on your spotters and all the information that you have from your team about what’s coming, but ultimately it’s our responsibility in the car to make the right decisions in places… when to kind of let those guys go by, especially in the Esses, making sure that we don’t put ourselves in a bad position. So there’s a lot that goes into it at the end of the race with the traffic, with the championships on the line, people wanting to win that race, obviously. All those things coming together make the race quite exciting, typically. I would say some tracks we go to are more mentally draining than others. Road Atlanta is definitely a combination of both mental and physical exhaustion at the end of the race.”

CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD ATLANTA: Tommy Milner Q&AZoom transcript with Corvette Racing factory driver heading to championship race

Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports driver Tommy Milner met with members of the media via Zoom on Monday afternoon to discuss this weekend’s Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. He and No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R teammate Nicky Catsburg lead GTD PRO Driver Championship while Chevrolet leads the Manufacturer standings. The No. 4 pairing is coming off a runner-up class finish at Indianapolis two weeks ago and was second at Petit Le Mans a year ago with Nico Varrone.

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.ROn the outlook for Petit Le Mans and entering the final race of the season leading the GTD PRO championships.“Certainly it’s great to be in the points lead going into the last race. That’s where you’d prefer to be, of course. But everything is still very close. Ultimately we need to have a very strong race, no matter what. There’s still many, many cars mathematically in the hunt for the championship, and so all of those teams will certainly be doing everything that they can to get that win. For us, it’s as we’ve approached all the other races this year. Obviously we need to score good points, no matter what. I know there’s lots of points possibilities and things like that we won’t bother ourselves with at this point. That won’t matter until the race gets going. But yeah, we’ve had a good year so far. Some ups and some downs, but obviously great to be P1 going into the last race. And then great to have Nico back as well. He’s a super, super talented young kid who’s been very fast this year. So yeah, for us, it’s going to be a little business as usual in many ways, and focusing on ourselves, making sure that we have the best Corvette that we can for the race and see what happens at the end.”Describe how crazy this race gets in the final hour with the traffic, the track being dark and everything you face at the end.“We’ve seen for many, many years now that the racing is very exciting at the end of Petit. Atlanta is a very dark racetrack, so there’s a lot of sections where there’s really no track lighting and with all the elevation change and things like that, you have lots of areas where you are driving at many times what it feels like blind and just kind of going off of muscle memory. The track itself is difficult, and then obviously you throw in a big sports car race at the end of the year, the last race of a championship, and everybody is driving absolutely at the limit of themselves and the car’s capabilities. Being in a GT car and Road Atlanta being as difficult as it is, just by yourself but when you add the traffic into the equation, the racing is very tricky in many situations. These days in IMSA, in all classes the competitiveness is so high and all the cars end up being very close on the racetrack… for us in a GT car, usually it’s not just one prototype car coming by; it’s two or three. Sometimes it’s one LMP2 and two GTPs, and so the closing speeds are different. You rely as much as you can on your spotters and all the information that you have from your team about what’s coming, but ultimately it’s our responsibility in the car to make the right decisions in places… when to kind of let those guys go by, especially in the Esses, making sure that we don’t put ourselves in a bad position. So there’s a lot that goes into it at the end of the race with the traffic, with the championships on the line, people wanting to win that race, obviously. All those things coming together make the race quite exciting, typically. I would say some tracks we go to are more mentally draining than others. Road Atlanta is definitely a combination of both mental and physical exhaustion at the end of the race.”

CONCORD, NC (September 28, 2026) – The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet will be back in western Pennsylvania for a full weekend of racing in May 2027.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will begin its three-night swing through the “Keystone State” with the World of Outlaws Billy Winn Classic at Bedford Speedway on Thursday, May 20. From there, it’s off to Marion Center Raceway for the World of Outlaws Connor Bobik Memorial on Friday, May 21. Then on Saturday, May 22, the Series will make its long-awaited return to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway with the World of Outlaws Penn National.

All three races will pay $20,000 to the winner, making it a can’t-miss weekend for both fans and racers in the area.

One of the largest and fastest tracks in Late Model racing, Pittsburgh will be hosting its first World of Outlaws race in two decades next season. The Series visited the 1/2-mile three times in the 2000s, with Bart Hartman (2004), Shane Clanton (2006) and Josh Richards (2007) each collecting victories.

Bedford and Marion Center have both been staples of the World of Outlaws schedule in recent years. In 2026, local favorite Mason Zeigler upset the Outlaws to win the Billy Winn Classic at Bedford, while Bobby Pierce won at Marion Center to become the first two-time Connor Bobik Memorial winner in the 16-year history of the event.

Stay tuned to WorldofOutlaws.com for ticket and other event information, as well as the release of the full 2027 schedule for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision in the coming months.

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

2027 Pennsylvania Weekend Includes Return to Pittsburgh Alongside Bedford, Marion Center

CONCORD, NC (September 28, 2026) – The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet will be back in western Pennsylvania for a full weekend of racing in May 2027.

The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will begin its three-night swing through the “Keystone State” with the World of Outlaws Billy Winn Classic at Bedford Speedway on Thursday, May 20. From there, it’s off to Marion Center Raceway for the World of Outlaws Connor Bobik Memorial on Friday, May 21. Then on Saturday, May 22, the Series will make its long-awaited return to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Motor Speedway with the World of Outlaws Penn National.

All three races will pay $20,000 to the winner, making it a can’t-miss weekend for both fans and racers in the area.

One of the largest and fastest tracks in Late Model racing, Pittsburgh will be hosting its first World of Outlaws race in two decades next season. The Series visited the 1/2-mile three times in the 2000s, with Bart Hartman (2004), Shane Clanton (2006) and Josh Richards (2007) each collecting victories.

Bedford and Marion Center have both been staples of the World of Outlaws schedule in recent years. In 2026, local favorite Mason Zeigler upset the Outlaws to win the Billy Winn Classic at Bedford, while Bobby Pierce won at Marion Center to become the first two-time Connor Bobik Memorial winner in the 16-year history of the event.

Stay tuned to WorldofOutlaws.com for ticket and other event information, as well as the release of the full 2027 schedule for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision in the coming months.

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

ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/2027-pennsylvania-weekend-includes-return-to-pittsburgh-alongside-bedford-marion-center/

Media Resources: Images | Media Advances | Cadillac Newsroom

DETROIT (Sept. 28, 2026) – Cadillac Racing enters Petit Le Mans looking to make room in their trophy case, as they are looking to bring home some hardware back to Detroit by clinching the manufacturer title, the No. 31 team title and hopefully a driver title with Jack Aitken.  A win in the 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, wouldn’t be too bad either.  Just one Cadillac needs to start the race for the brand to clinch their fifth IMSA manufacturer title since 2017 and their 11th overall. And when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac starts the race, Action Express Racing will unofficially clinch the team title, which will be the seventh for the team with drivers Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. (The car must pass tech post-race).  Heading into Road Atlanta, Aitken needs to finish ninth or better in class to lock up the driver championship. But qualifying awards points, so depending on where Aitken qualifies as well as second-place Lauren Heinrich, the only driver that can catch Aitken, there is a chance he could clinch the title after Thursday qualifying. Heinrich must win the race no matter what to even have a shot at the title.  The good news for Action Express Racing, is they won this race last year with Aitken, Bamber and Vesti and they been on the podium all but one race in the last 10.  Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing with the No. 10 (Ricky Talyor and Filipe Albuquerque) and No. 40 (Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz) are looking to further their momentum from early August at Road America. Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque won at Road America and then finished sixth at Indianapolis. Jordan Taylor and Deletraz finished fourth at Indianapolis.  Colton Herta (No. 40) and Will Stevens (No. 10) will join Wayne Taylor Racing as the third drivers for the 10-hour event. The final IMSA GTP event of 2026 is the 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The 10-hour race starts at 12:10 pm EDT on October 3 and will be broadcast on NBC from 12-3 pm and streamed flag-to-flag on Peacock and IMSAs YouTube page (outside United States). IMSA Radio will stream live audio coverage on XM 206, Channel 996 on the SiriusXM app and IMSA.com.

What they’re saying No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Ricky Taylor: “Going into Petit with the VSeries.R, there’s a lot of good positive points to think about. I think we had a great race in Road America with it being a six-hour endurance race. Action Express won here last year with the V-Series.R. We’ve also got Will Stevens coming back to join us for the first time since Sebring as well, with us coming off of the COTA WEC race together. I think there is a lot of momentum and positivity around the weekend. Hopefully we can finish off the year with a good result for Cadillac.”  Filipe Albuquerque: “The momentum is good. We want to keep going for podiums. Obviously, a win would be amazing. We tested at Road Atlanta earlier this month, and as a result, we understood more about the car. It’s not going to be as hot in the race as it was at the test, so we will need to address that.”  Will Stevens: “With Petit being the season finale, I feel like it’s a race where you take all the momentum from the season. For me personally, it’s momentum from both WEC and the progress I see from everyone at WTR. Obviously getting the win recently at Road America has strengthened the team’s morale and helps bring confidence to everyone. I feel like the momentum is very much growing. It’s also very nice to go into the off season with a strong final race of the year. I think we have confidence that we can put the right package together to try and come away with a win here at Petit.”

No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Jordan Taylor: “Coming into the final endurance race of the year, it’ll be great to have Colton Herta back with us. He did Daytona and Sebring with us, and then he’s been off in Formula 2 and Formula 1. It’ll be interesting to get some new insights from him when he jumps back in the car here in Atlanta. Obviously, we’ve learned a lot throughout this year. There’s been a lot of developments in the car, so I’m sure he’ll be pretty pleased to jump back in and see how far the cars have come. It’s one of the big races of the year, and it’s one that everyone wants to win. Hopefully we can end the year on a high note and head into the off season with some positive momentum.”  Louis Deletraz: “The objective is to win for Cadillac. We’re not in the championship fight, but we’ve been quick, and winning Petit Le Mans in GTP has been a dream of mine. I have done it in LMP2, but not quite in GTP. It is a goal for me, but also for the team. I really enjoy working with Jordan, Colton, Cadillac and WTR, so the final race of the year is going to be just a full push, big smiles, and trying to get through traffic.”  Colton Herta: “I’m excited to be back with Jordan and Louis at Road Atlanta. It’s been a while since we were last together at Sebring and few years since I’ve raced at this track. I know the team tested here earlier this month to get prepared for the weekend. It’ll be nice to be behind the wheel of the Cadillac V-Series.R again and ready to hit the ground running”

No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Earl Bamber: “It’s great to go to Petit with the team and manufacturers wrapped up as long as we start the race. Now we need to get Jack Aitken a driver’s title and another Petit win for the team to round out what has been an incredible 12 months.” Jack Aitken: “We go into the race with it still open, which can happen depending on how qualifying goes and anything can happen especially at Petit. It’s a race we’ve done well at in the years gone by. I think we’ll have a strong car and at least be in the mix. It’s been very tight overall in the last few races and we’ve been very consistent, but we can always be challenged, and we go into with the same mindset. Just be consistent.” Fredrick Vesti: “Heading to Petit Le Mans to one of the best races of the season. Can’t wait to fight it out on track and finish off what has been an incredible year. The gloves are off and we are ready to fight it for it.”

Cadillac looking to lock up championships at Road Atlanta

Media Resources: Images | Media Advances | Cadillac Newsroom

DETROIT (Sept. 28, 2026) – Cadillac Racing enters Petit Le Mans looking to make room in their trophy case, as they are looking to bring home some hardware back to Detroit by clinching the manufacturer title, the No. 31 team title and hopefully a driver title with Jack Aitken.  A win in the 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia, wouldn’t be too bad either.  Just one Cadillac needs to start the race for the brand to clinch their fifth IMSA manufacturer title since 2017 and their 11th overall. And when the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac starts the race, Action Express Racing will unofficially clinch the team title, which will be the seventh for the team with drivers Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber and Frederik Vesti. (The car must pass tech post-race).  Heading into Road Atlanta, Aitken needs to finish ninth or better in class to lock up the driver championship. But qualifying awards points, so depending on where Aitken qualifies as well as second-place Lauren Heinrich, the only driver that can catch Aitken, there is a chance he could clinch the title after Thursday qualifying. Heinrich must win the race no matter what to even have a shot at the title.  The good news for Action Express Racing, is they won this race last year with Aitken, Bamber and Vesti and they been on the podium all but one race in the last 10.  Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing with the No. 10 (Ricky Talyor and Filipe Albuquerque) and No. 40 (Jordan Taylor and Louis Deletraz) are looking to further their momentum from early August at Road America. Ricky Taylor and Albuquerque won at Road America and then finished sixth at Indianapolis. Jordan Taylor and Deletraz finished fourth at Indianapolis.  Colton Herta (No. 40) and Will Stevens (No. 10) will join Wayne Taylor Racing as the third drivers for the 10-hour event. The final IMSA GTP event of 2026 is the 29th Annual Motul Petit Le Mans from the Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia. The 10-hour race starts at 12:10 pm EDT on October 3 and will be broadcast on NBC from 12-3 pm and streamed flag-to-flag on Peacock and IMSAs YouTube page (outside United States). IMSA Radio will stream live audio coverage on XM 206, Channel 996 on the SiriusXM app and IMSA.com.

What they’re saying No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Ricky Taylor: “Going into Petit with the VSeries.R, there’s a lot of good positive points to think about. I think we had a great race in Road America with it being a six-hour endurance race. Action Express won here last year with the V-Series.R. We’ve also got Will Stevens coming back to join us for the first time since Sebring as well, with us coming off of the COTA WEC race together. I think there is a lot of momentum and positivity around the weekend. Hopefully we can finish off the year with a good result for Cadillac.”  Filipe Albuquerque: “The momentum is good. We want to keep going for podiums. Obviously, a win would be amazing. We tested at Road Atlanta earlier this month, and as a result, we understood more about the car. It’s not going to be as hot in the race as it was at the test, so we will need to address that.”  Will Stevens: “With Petit being the season finale, I feel like it’s a race where you take all the momentum from the season. For me personally, it’s momentum from both WEC and the progress I see from everyone at WTR. Obviously getting the win recently at Road America has strengthened the team’s morale and helps bring confidence to everyone. I feel like the momentum is very much growing. It’s also very nice to go into the off season with a strong final race of the year. I think we have confidence that we can put the right package together to try and come away with a win here at Petit.”

No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Jordan Taylor: “Coming into the final endurance race of the year, it’ll be great to have Colton Herta back with us. He did Daytona and Sebring with us, and then he’s been off in Formula 2 and Formula 1. It’ll be interesting to get some new insights from him when he jumps back in the car here in Atlanta. Obviously, we’ve learned a lot throughout this year. There’s been a lot of developments in the car, so I’m sure he’ll be pretty pleased to jump back in and see how far the cars have come. It’s one of the big races of the year, and it’s one that everyone wants to win. Hopefully we can end the year on a high note and head into the off season with some positive momentum.”  Louis Deletraz: “The objective is to win for Cadillac. We’re not in the championship fight, but we’ve been quick, and winning Petit Le Mans in GTP has been a dream of mine. I have done it in LMP2, but not quite in GTP. It is a goal for me, but also for the team. I really enjoy working with Jordan, Colton, Cadillac and WTR, so the final race of the year is going to be just a full push, big smiles, and trying to get through traffic.”  Colton Herta: “I’m excited to be back with Jordan and Louis at Road Atlanta. It’s been a while since we were last together at Sebring and few years since I’ve raced at this track. I know the team tested here earlier this month to get prepared for the weekend. It’ll be nice to be behind the wheel of the Cadillac V-Series.R again and ready to hit the ground running”

No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Earl Bamber: “It’s great to go to Petit with the team and manufacturers wrapped up as long as we start the race. Now we need to get Jack Aitken a driver’s title and another Petit win for the team to round out what has been an incredible 12 months.” Jack Aitken: “We go into the race with it still open, which can happen depending on how qualifying goes and anything can happen especially at Petit. It’s a race we’ve done well at in the years gone by. I think we’ll have a strong car and at least be in the mix. It’s been very tight overall in the last few races and we’ve been very consistent, but we can always be challenged, and we go into with the same mindset. Just be consistent.” Fredrick Vesti: “Heading to Petit Le Mans to one of the best races of the season. Can’t wait to fight it out on track and finish off what has been an incredible year. The gloves are off and we are ready to fight it for it.”

Cadillac Racing at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta 2025-2017 2025: First (No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R) start second – Jack Aitken, Earl Bamber, Frederik Vesti         Sixth (No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R) start eighth – Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque, Will Stevens          Eighth (No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R) start 11th – Jordan Taylor, Louis Deletraz, Norman Nato 2024: First (No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R) start fourth – Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon        Fifth (No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R) start first – Jack Aitken, Pipo Derani, Tom Blomqvist 2023: Second (No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R) start second – Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott Dixon        Sixth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering V-Series.R) start eighth – Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims, Jack Aitken 2022: Second (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla, Mike Conway         Third (No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Rockenfeller         Fourth (No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais, Scott Dixon         Fifth in class, eighth overall (No. 02 Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Ryan Hunter-Reay         Seventh in class, 39th overall (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval, Richard Westbrook 2021: Second (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Mike Conway         Fourth (No. 48 Ally Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Jimmie Johnson, Kamui Kobayashi, Simon Pagenaud         Fifth (No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Renger van der Zande, Earl Bamber, Scott Dixon         28th overall (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval, Sebastien Bourdais 2020 (six-hour race on Sept. 5): Third (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Filipe Albuquerque         Fourth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Joao Barbosa, Sebastien Bourdais, Tristan Vautier         Fifth (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Renger van der Zande, Ryan Briscoe        28th overall (No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Stephen Simpson, Matheus Leist 2020 (10-hour race on Oct. 17): First (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Renger van der Zande, Ryan Briscoe, Scott Dixon        Fourth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Joao Barbosa, Sebastien Bourdais, Tristan Vautier        Fifth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Filipe Albuquerque       26th overall (No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start eighth – Chris Miller, Matheus Leist, Gabriel Aubry 2019: First (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran         Second (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start eighth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor, Matthieu Vaxiviere         Fifth (No. 84 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Simon Trummer, Stephen Simpson, Chris Miller         Seventh (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque, Mike Conway         Ninth (No. 85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Tristan Vautier, Misha Goikhberg, Juan Piedrahita         22nd overall (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Will Owen, Spencer Pigot, Rene Binder 2018: First (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 11th – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor, Ryan Hunter-Reay        Fourth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Tristan Vautier, Filipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi        Eighth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth — Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran, Gabby Chaves 2017: Second (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Dane Cameron, Eric Curran, Mike Conway        Fifth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start eighth – Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa, Filipe Albuquerque        37th overall (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 13th – Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor, Ryan Hunter-Reay

Event: Hollywood Casino 400

Location: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas

Date: Sunday, September 27, 2026

Start: 10th

Finish: 35th

For the past nine races, Josh Berry and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team have regularly found themselves in contention for top-five and top-10 finishes, including a strong stretch since the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase.

But that momentum was interrupted Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where Berry was collected in a multi-car accident during the Hollywood Casino 400 and ultimately finished 35th, 10 laps down.

Thanks in part to their recent strong performances, Berry and the Menards/Dutch Boy team earned a top-10 starting position after rain washed out Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions and the field was set per the NASCAR Rulebook.

Starting 10th for Sunday’s 267-lap race, Berry kept the No. 21 Mustang Dark Horse inside the top 10 until the competition caution at Lap 35. After making a pit stop under the yellow, Berry returned to the track just outside the top 10 and remained there through the end of Stage 1, taking the green-and-white checkered flag in 11th.

Berry continued to race just outside the top 10 during Stage 2 before the caution came out at Lap 115 for Noah Gragson’s engine failure. The No. 21 team took the opportunity to pit for tires and fuel, with Berry lining up 15th for the ensuing restart.

Shortly after the field returned to green, a multi-car accident developed on the inside line before the contact spread across the track and into the outside lane where Berry was running. With nowhere to escape the incident, the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Mustang sustained substantial damage.

Berry fell to 35th in the running order and two laps down as the team went to work making repairs. He returned to the track and continued to battle through the remainder of the afternoon, but the damage took its toll as Berry lost additional laps before taking the checkered flag in 35th, 10 laps down.

Event: Hollywood Casino 400

Location: Kansas Speedway, Kansas City, Kansas

Date: Sunday, September 27, 2026

Start: 10th

Finish: 35th

For the past nine races, Josh Berry and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team have regularly found themselves in contention for top-five and top-10 finishes, including a strong stretch since the start of the NASCAR Cup Series Chase.

But that momentum was interrupted Sunday at Kansas Speedway, where Berry was collected in a multi-car accident during the Hollywood Casino 400 and ultimately finished 35th, 10 laps down.

Thanks in part to their recent strong performances, Berry and the Menards/Dutch Boy team earned a top-10 starting position after rain washed out Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions and the field was set per the NASCAR Rulebook.

Starting 10th for Sunday’s 267-lap race, Berry kept the No. 21 Mustang Dark Horse inside the top 10 until the competition caution at Lap 35. After making a pit stop under the yellow, Berry returned to the track just outside the top 10 and remained there through the end of Stage 1, taking the green-and-white checkered flag in 11th.

Berry continued to race just outside the top 10 during Stage 2 before the caution came out at Lap 115 for Noah Gragson’s engine failure. The No. 21 team took the opportunity to pit for tires and fuel, with Berry lining up 15th for the ensuing restart.

Shortly after the field returned to green, a multi-car accident developed on the inside line before the contact spread across the track and into the outside lane where Berry was running. With nowhere to escape the incident, the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy Mustang sustained substantial damage.

Berry fell to 35th in the running order and two laps down as the team went to work making repairs. He returned to the track and continued to battle through the remainder of the afternoon, but the damage took its toll as Berry lost additional laps before taking the checkered flag in 35th, 10 laps down.

Berry and the Wood Brothers team will look to rebound and return to their recent form next weekend in the South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

RACE RECAP – ROCKINGHAM Race 16 of 20

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

SHORT SUNDAY OF RACING FOR JFR AT THE ROCKVandergriff/DeJoria go out in Round 2, Beckman/Hart in Round 1

RACE RECAP – ROCKINGHAMRace 16 of 20

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

SHORT SUNDAY OF RACING FOR JFR AT THE ROCKVandergriff/DeJoria go out in Round 2, Beckman/Hart in Round 1

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (Sept. 27, 2026) – The return to The Rock didn’t play out for the John Force Racing teams as they had prepared and planned for heading into the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham Dragway. Jordan Vandergriff and Alexis DeJoria bowed out in Round 2 while Jack Beckman and Josh Hart exited in Round 1. Vandergriff and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team (No. 11 qualifier) set low elapsed time of the session in their first-round matchup against Chad Green, running 3.869 seconds at 331.61 mph to Green’s 3.912 seconds at 330.64 mph. The run gave Vandergriff lane choice in the second round against Austin Prock. In Round 2, Vandergriff ran a quicker 3.905 seconds at 329.19 mph to Prock’s 3.916 seconds at 322.81 mph but Prock grabbed the holeshot (.030 to .042) to win by an almost inconceivable two ten-thousandths of a second. “What a drag race,” said Vandergriff. “That is what I dreamed of being a part of and it’s what I view NHRA Drag Racing to be … winning and losing by two ten-thousandths of a second. We just ended up on the wrong side of it today. It was a great effort all weekend by Chris Cunningham, Jason Bunker and all the Cornwell Quality Tools boys. They gave me a great Chevy race car. We struggled through qualifying a little bit but we turned it around and, on race day, had a car that could run with anybody. We just ended up on the wrong side of a blockbuster race. We’ll regroup and head to St. Louis to see what we can do there.” DeJoria and the Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car (No. 2 qualifier) put out a cylinder early in their Round 1 matchup against John Smith but still ran 3.959 seconds at 318.92 mph to Smith’s 4.429 seconds at 209.79 mph and moved on. In Round 2 against Paul Lee, the win went to Lee’s reaction time (.026 to .040) as both drivers ran identical 3.924-second laps at 328.95 mph. “The positive we can all take away from this race is the fact that we know what we have,” said DeJoria. “We did absolutely everything we were supposed to do but got beat. They were a tick faster. We have a really good consistent Bandero Café Chevy race car and now we’re getting fast. I’m heartbroken because these guys work so hard and we’re right on the brink of getting that first win with John Force Racing. Sometimes all you need is to catch a break and we just haven’t caught a break yet. I believe in this team and I’m so blessed to be a part of it. Everybody did a great job this weekend and it’s not over.” Beckman and the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet SS Funny Car team (No. 4 qualifier) made a strong 3.916-second run at 324.44 mph but Daniel Wilkerson grabbed the holeshot (.026 to .047) to earn the win with a run of 3.931 seconds at 327.27 mph. “That was a very, very frustrating loss,” said Beckman. “I’ve said since I won the championship in 2012 because of the Countdown that I’m not a fan of the Countdown because if you lose first round, you don’t get a chance to earn more points for the rest of the day. It’s unlike any other sport out there so it makes it extra devastating to lose first round. History will show today as a holeshot loss because if you roll in further on the starting beams, it makes your reaction time look better but your elapsed time look worse. I always stage shallow to give myself a longer reaction time, because my car is in the beam longer, but it gives us a better chance of running a quicker ET and maintaining lane choice. I think Wilkie’s car outran us by three thousandths of a second and that’s where our problem was. Every loss is a tough loss but a first-round exit in the Countdown is about as bad as it gets. The silver lining is that we have a great race car and we get a chance to redeem ourselves in five days at St. Louis.” Hart and the Speedmaster Top Fuel dragster (No. 5 qualifier) had lane choice for Round 1 against Will Smith but put a cylinder out very early in the run, clocking in at 3.829 seconds at 320.74 mph to Smith’s run of 3.767 seconds at 330.88 mph. “The last couple of races have been extremely humbling,” said Hart. “We shook, we smoked, we went low ET, and we went slower than the Funny Cars. Drag racing is a humbling sport, so we’ll continue to push through these major setbacks in the Countdown, but it’s definitely not what we intended to do.” The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Fuel point standings after 16 of 20 races are: 1. Shawn Langdon, 2,335; 2. Doug Kalitta, 2,310; 3. Tony Stewart, 2,180; 4. Leah Pruett, 2,168; 5. Antron Brown, 2,148; 6. Billy Torrence, 2,131; 7. (tie) Maddi Gordon, 2,128; Josh Hart, 2,128; 9. Will Smith, 2,118; 10. Clay Millican, 2,088. The 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Funny Car point standings after 16 of 20 races are: 1. Matt Hagan, 2,321; 2. Jordan Vandergriff, 2,237; 3. J.R. Todd, 2,215; 4. Ron Capps, 2,209; 5. Jack Beckman, 2,195; 6. Austin Prock, 2,177; 7. Alexis DeJoria, 2,151; 8. Daniel Wilkerson, 2,120; 9. Chad Green, 2,089; 10. Spencer Hyde, 2,065. The 17th of 20 races on the 2026 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series schedule is the Oct. 2-4 NHRA Midwest Nationals at the Rock at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill.

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Kyle Larson wrapped up a dominate afternoon at Kansas Speedway with a trip to victory lane in the Hollywood Casino 400. The win – Larson’s second of the season and his fourth in NASCAR’s top division at Kansas Speedway – came alongside a perfect day as the reigning champion drove to a stage sweep, clocked-in the fastest lap of the race, recorded 235 of 267 laps led, and tallied the victory to earn a 76-point day. With four races complete, Larson has extended the points lead to 26 points over Denny Hamlin. A trio of Hendrick Motorsports-powered Chevrolet’s completed the Team Chevy top-10 at the Midwest-based oval. William Byron and the No. 24 team joined Larson with a pair of points-earning stages, going on to earn a seventh-place result. Chase Elliott drove his No. 9 Chevrolet to the team’s 10th top-10 finish of the season as he ended the day with an eighth-place finish.  RACE RECAP:  Stage One: With yet another practice and qualifying day for the NASCAR Cup Series canceled due to weather, Kyle Larson’s second-place effort last weekend put the reigning champion on the front row of the starting lineup for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Lining up on the outside lane, a masterful start saw the No. 5 Chevrolet take the lead on the opening lap and quickly extend his margin to just over three-seconds in only 10 laps around the 1.5-mile circuit. Also showing early speed within that distance was his teammate, William Byron, who turned an eighth-place starting position into a spot within the top-four. With a competition caution slated around the 35-lap marker, Larson continued to set an impressive pace even as he reached lap traffic – ending the green flag run with a 2.8-second cushion over second. While the field hit pit road under the competition caution, it was a four tire call by crew chief Cliff Daniels as the No. 5 pit crew kept their driver in the top position for the restart. Electing the inside lane, it was a drag race with Denny Hamlin for the top position as the pair ran side-by-side for the entirety of the opening lap of the run, but it was the Team Chevy driver that narrowly edged the No. 11 at the line by just .01-seconds to maintain the lead. While Hamlin was able to keep Larson within reach for the beginning portion of the run, the reigning champion progressively started to build his lead as the race reached 20 laps to go in the stage. Despite the added challenge of lap traffic in the closing laps, Larson was able to capitalize on his lead to comfortably take the first green-white checkered flag. Also driving to a points-earning effort in Stage One included three fellow Team Chevy Chase contenders with Carson Hocevar in fourth and teammates, Byron and Chase Elliott, in the seventh and eighth positions, respectively.  Stage Two: With a call for four tires and fuel under the stage break, the No. 5 pit crew fired off a stop to keep Larson in the top position once again for the start of Stage Two. While Hamlin briefly challenged Larson for the lead on the restart, it was the Team Chevy driver that effortlessly maintained the lead and quickly started to build a gap on the No. 11 within the opening laps. While Larson remained a steady fixture in the command position, Hocevar began to endure a challenging stage when a slow stop under a caution near the midway point saw the driver fall to the 12th position for the restart. But calamity coming to the green flag saw a handful of cars, including Hocevar, go spinning down the frontstretch. Coming to the attention of crew chief Luke Lambert, the No. 77 team went to work on damaged sustained to the right-front splitter. Despite spending a lengthy amount of time on pit road for repairs, the team was able to keep Hocevar on the lead lap for the restart. With a caution-free run to the end of the stage, it was Larson that continued to pace the field en route to a stage sweep.  Final Stage: The No. 5 pit crew continued to be undefeated in the race off pit road with a quick four tire and fuel stop under the stage break putting Larson back on the front row for the start of the final stage. This time, Larson was accompanied by Toyota’s Chase Briscoe for the restart, but the speed of his Chevrolet-powered machine put him back at the point for the final run of the race. Just past the 200-lap marker and approaching another long green flag run, Briscoe was the first true challenger of the day for Larson as he reached the back bumper of the No. 5 as the pair maneuvered through lap traffic. Approaching the window for the first green flag pit cycle of the day, Daniels called Larson to pit road with 52 laps to go with Briscoe in tow. An 8.7-second stop by the No. 5 pit crew and a strong exit off pit road by Larson saw the team build a solid one-second gap back towards Briscoe as they cycled back to the front of the field and on the horizon of the longest run of the race. Having led all but three laps of the day as the race hit 30 laps to go, a tight battle between the two saw Larson fall to second, but as the race hit single-digits, his speed prevailed as a masterful pass saw Larson regain the lead and never look back en route to his second trip to victory lane of the season.

Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 ResultsPos.     Driver 1st – Kyle Larson7th – William Byron8th – Chase ElliottChevrolet’s season statistics with 30 NASCAR Cup Series races complete: Wins: 8Poles: 6Top-Fives: 51Top 10s: 101Stage Wins: 21

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase will continue at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 on Sunday, October 4, at 5:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Larson Dominates at Kansas Speedway to Earn Second Victory of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Season

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Kyle Larson wrapped up a dominate afternoon at Kansas Speedway with a trip to victory lane in the Hollywood Casino 400. The win – Larson’s second of the season and his fourth in NASCAR’s top division at Kansas Speedway – came alongside a perfect day as the reigning champion drove to a stage sweep, clocked-in the fastest lap of the race, recorded 235 of 267 laps led, and tallied the victory to earn a 76-point day. With four races complete, Larson has extended the points lead to 26 points over Denny Hamlin. A trio of Hendrick Motorsports-powered Chevrolet’s completed the Team Chevy top-10 at the Midwest-based oval. William Byron and the No. 24 team joined Larson with a pair of points-earning stages, going on to earn a seventh-place result. Chase Elliott drove his No. 9 Chevrolet to the team’s 10th top-10 finish of the season as he ended the day with an eighth-place finish.  RACE RECAP:  Stage One: With yet another practice and qualifying day for the NASCAR Cup Series canceled due to weather, Kyle Larson’s second-place effort last weekend put the reigning champion on the front row of the starting lineup for the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Lining up on the outside lane, a masterful start saw the No. 5 Chevrolet take the lead on the opening lap and quickly extend his margin to just over three-seconds in only 10 laps around the 1.5-mile circuit. Also showing early speed within that distance was his teammate, William Byron, who turned an eighth-place starting position into a spot within the top-four. With a competition caution slated around the 35-lap marker, Larson continued to set an impressive pace even as he reached lap traffic – ending the green flag run with a 2.8-second cushion over second. While the field hit pit road under the competition caution, it was a four tire call by crew chief Cliff Daniels as the No. 5 pit crew kept their driver in the top position for the restart. Electing the inside lane, it was a drag race with Denny Hamlin for the top position as the pair ran side-by-side for the entirety of the opening lap of the run, but it was the Team Chevy driver that narrowly edged the No. 11 at the line by just .01-seconds to maintain the lead. While Hamlin was able to keep Larson within reach for the beginning portion of the run, the reigning champion progressively started to build his lead as the race reached 20 laps to go in the stage. Despite the added challenge of lap traffic in the closing laps, Larson was able to capitalize on his lead to comfortably take the first green-white checkered flag. Also driving to a points-earning effort in Stage One included three fellow Team Chevy Chase contenders with Carson Hocevar in fourth and teammates, Byron and Chase Elliott, in the seventh and eighth positions, respectively.  Stage Two: With a call for four tires and fuel under the stage break, the No. 5 pit crew fired off a stop to keep Larson in the top position once again for the start of Stage Two. While Hamlin briefly challenged Larson for the lead on the restart, it was the Team Chevy driver that effortlessly maintained the lead and quickly started to build a gap on the No. 11 within the opening laps. While Larson remained a steady fixture in the command position, Hocevar began to endure a challenging stage when a slow stop under a caution near the midway point saw the driver fall to the 12th position for the restart. But calamity coming to the green flag saw a handful of cars, including Hocevar, go spinning down the frontstretch. Coming to the attention of crew chief Luke Lambert, the No. 77 team went to work on damaged sustained to the right-front splitter. Despite spending a lengthy amount of time on pit road for repairs, the team was able to keep Hocevar on the lead lap for the restart. With a caution-free run to the end of the stage, it was Larson that continued to pace the field en route to a stage sweep.  Final Stage: The No. 5 pit crew continued to be undefeated in the race off pit road with a quick four tire and fuel stop under the stage break putting Larson back on the front row for the start of the final stage. This time, Larson was accompanied by Toyota’s Chase Briscoe for the restart, but the speed of his Chevrolet-powered machine put him back at the point for the final run of the race. Just past the 200-lap marker and approaching another long green flag run, Briscoe was the first true challenger of the day for Larson as he reached the back bumper of the No. 5 as the pair maneuvered through lap traffic. Approaching the window for the first green flag pit cycle of the day, Daniels called Larson to pit road with 52 laps to go with Briscoe in tow. An 8.7-second stop by the No. 5 pit crew and a strong exit off pit road by Larson saw the team build a solid one-second gap back towards Briscoe as they cycled back to the front of the field and on the horizon of the longest run of the race. Having led all but three laps of the day as the race hit 30 laps to go, a tight battle between the two saw Larson fall to second, but as the race hit single-digits, his speed prevailed as a masterful pass saw Larson regain the lead and never look back en route to his second trip to victory lane of the season.

Team Chevy Unofficial Top-10 ResultsPos.     Driver 1st – Kyle Larson7th – William Byron8th – Chase ElliottChevrolet’s season statistics with 30 NASCAR Cup Series races complete: Wins: 8Poles: 6Top-Fives: 51Top 10s: 101Stage Wins: 21

The 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Chase will continue at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 on Sunday, October 4, at 5:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes: Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Finished: 21st“Proud of everyone on the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Magnum Pheasant Chevrolet team today at Kansas Speedway for fighting until the last lap. We didn’t have practice and qualifying yesterday, so we knew we were going to learn a bit about the car’s balance in the initial laps. We started off a touch loose, but overall good, and then made an adjustment that made me way too tight. The team went back to the drawing board and were able to reverse that and get it to where the car’s balance was pretty good, we were making top-10 lap times and I was driving forward. We’ll make some notes for 2027 and turn our focus to Las Vegas next week.”   Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 1stJust kind of describe what it’s like to have such a dominant performance at a racetrack that’s been so good to you.“Yeah, it was great. Obviously, starting on the front row helped a lot, as well as just controlling the race, having good restarts and great power by our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy. It wasn’t easy. I know it looked easy at times. There were definitely runs that were easier, but when the sun came out, it got difficult just to maintain my grip. I would stretch out, and then I’d catch traffic and I would just not be very good. I guess that the way that run just played out there, maybe coming out in traffic and the pace being down a little bit helped me live a little bit longer. I think it’s just sometimes easier to be the hunter rather than being hunted. I could see he (Chase Briscoe) was starting to struggle in front of me and still pushing really hard. I was just trying to take it easy, let him make a mistake and build some runs on exit. We were able to do that. Just proud of the team.” Throughout the course of the day, you expressed a little concern about your car once you come off the top. You worried about lap traffic. What did you finally have to do? Did you figure it out, or was it just a matter of making it work best possible?“Yeah, I think it’s just kind of a matter of making it work. I did have to change my line up there a lot. Once (Chase) Briscoe got by me, maybe that helped me just discover something that helped me a little bit. I was just not very good when I would catch traffic, but out in clean air, we were amazing.  Huge thank you to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. Congratulations to everybody at the Hendrick Automotive Group too, celebrating their 50th anniversary. We’ve gotten a couple special wins here for Mr. H, and I’m glad to do this one for all the 10,000 plus employees at Hendrick.” What is that like to have that crew pit on the car and to be able to drive off pit road first?“Yeah, it takes a team, and our pit crew has been on it all year. They have been ranked towards the top all season. It was a great day on pit road and hopefully they’re leading again. Huge thank you to them. And again, thanks to Cliff Daniels (crew chief), everybody on this No. 5 team for not having any practice and having the balance as good as it was.”   Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 8th“It was an improvement from last week, for sure. Our No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet was pretty good. We had a couple runs there in the middle stages where it got a little tight. I just made a couple bad decisions on restarts, and everything we had gained, I felt like I lost it all right there. We finally started to get our balance back and going the right direction. I think I had given up a bit too much at that point of time.  Overall, it was definitely an improved day from where we’ve been. We just have to try and build on that. Hopefully we can just put some of these solid days together and try to continue to build on the good stuff from the day. There were some high spots for us, more than there has been lately, so we’ll see where it goes.”   William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 7th“I thought the speed of our No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet was hard to judge. We were just tight all day, and we couldn’t really get it to rotate on the restarts. I felt like our pit crew was doing a really good job of getting track position on pit road. On every restart, we just couldn’t fire off and couldn’t go with speed. We just fought that throughout the day. I thought our long runs were reasonable, but we still fought some balance issues. We just didn’t have the balance we wanted, but I thought our Chevy was pretty good.”  Is there anything you and Rudy Fugle (crew chief) can work on for the next two intermediate tracks?“Yeah, we’ll definitely keep working on it. Obviously, we have a good baseline at Hendrick Motorsports now. Congrats to Kyle (Larson, race winner) and the No. 5 team. We just have to keep working.”   Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 26th“Our Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet had speed on the long run, but we struggled on fire off. For the first 15-20 laps, our car was really tight and it would take too long to come in. At the same time, we were at the limit of the rears at the end of a run. If we could have found a way to not lose so much ground at the beginning, I think we could have had a solid finish because most runs, we would drive back forward at the end. We’ll learn from today and try to come back better next season.”   Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 27th“A messy day here in Kansas, we had a few things not go our way and we fell behind pretty quick. From there, the balance wasn’t where we needed to be to make up the ground we had lost. It’s tough, our Delaware Life Chevrolet showed signs of solid speed early in the day. Once we got pushed back to the back half of the field, it felt like we couldn’t recover from there. I have faith in our group, we have a few more 1.5-mile tracks coming up, so it’s going to be important to maximize those going forward and build into next season.”

No. 34 Corvette takes third in LMGT3, No. 33 extends championship lead OYAMA, Shizuoka, Japan (September 27, 2026)  – TF Sport and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R returned to the podium in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a third-place LMGT3 finish for the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette after a wild Six Hours of Fuji.Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey claimed their second podium finish in three races after a strong come-back drive after an opening-lap spin. It came two races after the trio won in class at Brazil for their first victory of the season. The result also vaulted the No. 34 drivers and team from eighth to third place in the championship standings with two races left. Both TF Sport Corvettes finished in the top-five with the championship-leading No. 33 Z06 GT3.R finishing fifth. The result solidified Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating as 1-2-3 in Drivers points while the No. 33 squad grew its lead in the Teams standings by two points to 24 with a total of 52 points remaining in the season. Both Corvettes worked their way up from mid-pack at the start and into podium contention inside the final two hours. Yoluc had the worst of the luck of the two Corvettes at the start as he had contact on the start at the first corner and dropped from eighth down to 15th by the time he got the No. 34 going again. Keating weathered the start a bit better and gained three spots at the start shortly before the first of four safety car periods despite bits of contact to his Corvette as well. The TF Sport team split the pit strategies for the two Corvettes during the opening two hours. While Keating stopped for a driver change to Edgar just shy of the two-hour mark, Yoluc stayed out in the No. 34 and stopped from the lead near the 2:20 mark to Dempsey. Both teams made their final driver changes with 1:40 remaining during a virtual safety car period with Eastwood and Catsburg taking over and rejoining just outside the top-five. Both Corvettes made their final stop during the final safety car period and elected to take fuel only, which moved the pairing to first and second with 20 minutes ago and Eastwood ahead of his teammate. While the strategy gained valuable track position, other cars that took tires took advantage in the closing laps but the decision still proved valuable with a solid points haul for both Corvettes. TF Sport’s next race in the FIA World Endurance Championship is Sunday, October 18 from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

ANDREA HIDALGO, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “It was a positive result here at Fuji for the two Corvettes. The No. 34 had a great race and recovery from the spin and penalties, finishing on the podium and jumping up to third in the championship. Although the 33 didn’t finish on the podium, the group had a good race as well and were able to extend their championship lead. A great job by everyone at TF Sport. We’re all looking forward to more at Barcelona.”

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

PETER DEMPSEY, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A strong weekend for us and the first time here for me. The car felt good since FP1, really. We improved it a little for FP2. Qualifying being cancelled didn’t really make a major difference for our race. Unlucky with Salih getting spun around at Turn One, and we had a penalty that we had to serve twice which cost us another 20 seconds. The full-course yellows didn’t fall in the right place for us so that put us outside the top-10. The strategy was really good but we had no luck until an hour-and-a-half to go where the VSC fell at the right point for us to jump forward on strategy. Charlie did a phenomenal job at the end to try and hang on for the win on a double-stinted tires. To bring up P3 is good for the championship so there’s all to play for heading into the last two rounds.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It felt almost like an IMSA race, finishing in the dark almost. We were in an unfortunate position because some cars behind us had new tires, and Charlie and I didn’t so in a way we were sitting ducks and trying to defend. I must say that the call from the team not to take tires was a good one. We gained positions, and the 34 especially gained positions. They did very well today. It was just unfortunate at the end as  some had (newer) tires than we did. But the fights we had, I enjoyed them. You win some and you lose some. This time we went backward but it was cool fighting. The Corvette was good today, and Ben did a good job.”What I found astonishing is that we were sitting here in the garage and Jonny said (before his first stint) it might be better if we don’t take tires. It doesn’t happen very often when a driver says that we’d be better if we don’t take tires because drivers want tires. That’s what makes a really good teammate and was awesome.”

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was pretty good. My first stint was quite difficult. We kept Ben’s tires because with the strategy we were on, we were really unlucky with the safety car. We had less energy than the others so to not drop basically to last, we decided to keep Ben’s tires and save the time in pitlane. I think it worked out because even though it was difficult on track, we didn’t lose as much as what we gained in pitlane so that was a good call. The second stint was quite OK. I just got stuck behind the BMW.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was good. I had a good start and a good restart. It’s nice to be able to pass a few people. I think I was fourth when I brought it in and started 10th, so I feel like it’s pretty good. We weren’t really exactly sure what to do with the setup because it rained all day yesterday. At the start today it was pretty wet so I’m not surprised there was a big pileup in Turn One. I think most of the water on the track was there. Right there where you’re going into the brake zone, you have the pit exit line paint and the safety car line paint. Anytime you’re trying to race other people in the wet on top of paint, it’s not going to end well. I was glad to make it through. I did get hit… actually I got hit a lot out there in the last two hours. At the start, I got rear-ended by somebody but was able to keep the car straight. I don’t know why but when Darren Leung in the BMW was next to me, he kept on hip-checking me and bouncing off the side of me. I don’t really understand what he was trying to communicate. And under full-course yellow, I had one of the Peugeots run into the back of me!”

CORVETTE RACING AT FUJI: Podium & Points for TF SportNo. 34 Corvette takes third in LMGT3, No. 33 extends championship lead OYAMA, Shizuoka, Japan (September 27, 2026)  – TF Sport and the Corvette Z06 GT3.R returned to the podium in the FIA World Endurance Championship with a third-place LMGT3 finish for the No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette after a wild Six Hours of Fuji.Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey claimed their second podium finish in three races after a strong come-back drive after an opening-lap spin. It came two races after the trio won in class at Brazil for their first victory of the season. The result also vaulted the No. 34 drivers and team from eighth to third place in the championship standings with two races left. Both TF Sport Corvettes finished in the top-five with the championship-leading No. 33 Z06 GT3.R finishing fifth. The result solidified Jonny Edgar, Nicky Catsburg and Ben Keating as 1-2-3 in Drivers points while the No. 33 squad grew its lead in the Teams standings by two points to 24 with a total of 52 points remaining in the season. Both Corvettes worked their way up from mid-pack at the start and into podium contention inside the final two hours. Yoluc had the worst of the luck of the two Corvettes at the start as he had contact on the start at the first corner and dropped from eighth down to 15th by the time he got the No. 34 going again. Keating weathered the start a bit better and gained three spots at the start shortly before the first of four safety car periods despite bits of contact to his Corvette as well. The TF Sport team split the pit strategies for the two Corvettes during the opening two hours. While Keating stopped for a driver change to Edgar just shy of the two-hour mark, Yoluc stayed out in the No. 34 and stopped from the lead near the 2:20 mark to Dempsey. Both teams made their final driver changes with 1:40 remaining during a virtual safety car period with Eastwood and Catsburg taking over and rejoining just outside the top-five. Both Corvettes made their final stop during the final safety car period and elected to take fuel only, which moved the pairing to first and second with 20 minutes ago and Eastwood ahead of his teammate. While the strategy gained valuable track position, other cars that took tires took advantage in the closing laps but the decision still proved valuable with a solid points haul for both Corvettes. TF Sport’s next race in the FIA World Endurance Championship is Sunday, October 18 from Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

ANDREA HIDALGO, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER: “It was a positive result here at Fuji for the two Corvettes. The No. 34 had a great race and recovery from the spin and penalties, finishing on the podium and jumping up to third in the championship. Although the 33 didn’t finish on the podium, the group had a good race as well and were able to extend their championship lead. A great job by everyone at TF Sport. We’re all looking forward to more at Barcelona.”

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTES

PETER DEMPSEY, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A strong weekend for us and the first time here for me. The car felt good since FP1, really. We improved it a little for FP2. Qualifying being cancelled didn’t really make a major difference for our race. Unlucky with Salih getting spun around at Turn One, and we had a penalty that we had to serve twice which cost us another 20 seconds. The full-course yellows didn’t fall in the right place for us so that put us outside the top-10. The strategy was really good but we had no luck until an hour-and-a-half to go where the VSC fell at the right point for us to jump forward on strategy. Charlie did a phenomenal job at the end to try and hang on for the win on a double-stinted tires. To bring up P3 is good for the championship so there’s all to play for heading into the last two rounds.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It felt almost like an IMSA race, finishing in the dark almost. We were in an unfortunate position because some cars behind us had new tires, and Charlie and I didn’t so in a way we were sitting ducks and trying to defend. I must say that the call from the team not to take tires was a good one. We gained positions, and the 34 especially gained positions. They did very well today. It was just unfortunate at the end as  some had (newer) tires than we did. But the fights we had, I enjoyed them. You win some and you lose some. This time we went backward but it was cool fighting. The Corvette was good today, and Ben did a good job.”What I found astonishing is that we were sitting here in the garage and Jonny said (before his first stint) it might be better if we don’t take tires. It doesn’t happen very often when a driver says that we’d be better if we don’t take tires because drivers want tires. That’s what makes a really good teammate and was awesome.”

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was pretty good. My first stint was quite difficult. We kept Ben’s tires because with the strategy we were on, we were really unlucky with the safety car. We had less energy than the others so to not drop basically to last, we decided to keep Ben’s tires and save the time in pitlane. I think it worked out because even though it was difficult on track, we didn’t lose as much as what we gained in pitlane so that was a good call. The second stint was quite OK. I just got stuck behind the BMW.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was good. I had a good start and a good restart. It’s nice to be able to pass a few people. I think I was fourth when I brought it in and started 10th, so I feel like it’s pretty good. We weren’t really exactly sure what to do with the setup because it rained all day yesterday. At the start today it was pretty wet so I’m not surprised there was a big pileup in Turn One. I think most of the water on the track was there. Right there where you’re going into the brake zone, you have the pit exit line paint and the safety car line paint. Anytime you’re trying to race other people in the wet on top of paint, it’s not going to end well. I was glad to make it through. I did get hit… actually I got hit a lot out there in the last two hours. At the start, I got rear-ended by somebody but was able to keep the car straight. I don’t know why but when Darren Leung in the BMW was next to me, he kept on hip-checking me and bouncing off the side of me. I don’t really understand what he was trying to communicate. And under full-course yellow, I had one of the Peugeots run into the back of me!”

TOM FERRIER, OWNER, TF SPORT: “Coming into the race, we would have taken third and fifth, for sure. A little disappointing when you start with 20 minutes to go and you’re 1-2, but we kind of gambled there and didn’t take tires to get us to the front. We probably didn’t quite have the performance at the end. It got a bit rough and tumble there at the end but happy to score some good points. It ups the lead in the championship and improves the position for the 34, so a good day.”

September 27th 2026 – Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA secured a double points finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji, with the No.38 taking the checkered flag in P5 and the No.12 in P7. Qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji on Saturday had been cancelled due to poor visibility. As a result, the starting grid was determined by the combined fastest times from all free practice sessions. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA lined up in P7 (No.38) and P10 (No.12). A chaotic and incident-filled race followed, with the VSC and safety car coming out and neutralising the race on a number of occasions. Despite overtaking being notoriously difficult around this track, both cars were able to make up positions throughout the race. By hour four, the No.38 had progressed to P4 and the No.12 was running in P9. With an hour to go, the No.12 received a drive through penalty, which had to be served immediately after the latest safety car period, resulting in the car dropping down the field. The No.38 also fell foul of the safety car period, having to stop for fuel and losing position. With 20 mins of the race to go, the race was restarted and both cars set about a final push to the finish. The No.38 took the checkered flag in P5 with the No.12 taking P7, securing further Championship points and closing the gap to third in the Manufacturers’ Championship.

Double points finish for Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA at Fuji September 27th 2026 – Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA secured a double points finish at the 6 Hours of Fuji, with the No.38 taking the checkered flag in P5 and the No.12 in P7. Qualifying for the 6 Hours of Fuji on Saturday had been cancelled due to poor visibility. As a result, the starting grid was determined by the combined fastest times from all free practice sessions. Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA lined up in P7 (No.38) and P10 (No.12). A chaotic and incident-filled race followed, with the VSC and safety car coming out and neutralising the race on a number of occasions. Despite overtaking being notoriously difficult around this track, both cars were able to make up positions throughout the race. By hour four, the No.38 had progressed to P4 and the No.12 was running in P9. With an hour to go, the No.12 received a drive through penalty, which had to be served immediately after the latest safety car period, resulting in the car dropping down the field. The No.38 also fell foul of the safety car period, having to stop for fuel and losing position. With 20 mins of the race to go, the race was restarted and both cars set about a final push to the finish. The No.38 took the checkered flag in P5 with the No.12 taking P7, securing further Championship points and closing the gap to third in the Manufacturers’ Championship.

What they’re saying:Jeromy Moore, Chief Engineer Cadillac Racing:“A mixed day for us today. We had a competitive car again, that showed strong pace, but also had some safety car periods that didn’t go our way and a couple of penalties that we picked up. We are coming away with more Championship points which is always a positive thing, but now we look ahead to the next race in Barcelona where we will be looking to fight for the win.” No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Will Stevens: “Overall, I think we can be satisfied with P7. We looked good at points of the race and struggled at other points, and we had a few penalties along the way. With an hour or so to go, it looked like we’d be fighting for P9 or P10 at best, so the fact that we came away with P7 shows that if you keep plugging away and keep pushing, you can recover. From that side, it’s positive to come away with some points even on a tough day. There are still some details for us to work on over the final two races of the year, but hopefully we can keep chipping away and finish the season strongly in Barcelona and Monza.” No. 12 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Norman Nato:“A double points finish with P5 and P7; it’s always good to score points with both cars, so it’s a strong result for everybody. We always want more and have the pace to be fighting for the win so it’s easy not to be happy with P7 today. Now we head to Barcelona and keep pushing for some more strong results.” No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Jack Aitken: “Another top-five finish, so it’s nice that we’ve been able to put together a consistent run of results. I think we were in the fight for the podium if we’d managed to get absolutely everything out of it today, but it was a pretty wild race with a lot of interruptions, so it was quite a tricky one. The car ran well and we had a pretty mistake-free race, which is always what we want. It’s just a shame not to come away with a trophy.” No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Earl Bamber: “It was an okay day. We probably could have got a bit more out of it, but pace-wise we were there. A top-five finish is okay, but I think there was potentially a little more available.” No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA, Sébastian Bourdais: “Overall, it was a decent day. There were some very tricky calls to make on the pit wall and, with the last one, you had to gamble on the future. When you look at how hard we fought to come back from the incident with Earl early on, and a start where he seemed to get all the bad breaks, to then be knocking on the door of a podium and come away with fifth, I don’t think we should be too disappointed. I guess once you start being disappointed with top-five finishes, that’s probably a good thing as well.” Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA heads to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the 6 Hours of Barcelona and the next round of the WEC on October 18th.

You can finally call Brian Shirley a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner as the Chatham, Illinois racer became the 97th different winner on Saturday night at Brownstown Speedway. Shirley captured the 47th Annual WillScot Jackson 100 Presented by the Jackson County Visitors Center.

Shirley took the lead from Kyle Bronson on the 24th lap and led the rest of the way to not only pick up the $50,000 first place prize, but a $5,000 bonus from UNOH, and the fourth driver this year to be awarded a $1,000 check from Steering Buddy for becoming a first time series winner.

Shirley, who started ninth took the win withstanding challenges from Josh Rice before a caution with 14 laps to go. Shirley would pull away from the Sunoco Race Fuels North/South 100 winner to take the victory.

Rice finished in second with Max Blair taking the third spot. The defending Jackson 100 winner Ricky Thornton Jr., who led the first lap of the race, finished fourth with 3-time and reigning Indiana Icebreaker winner Devin Moran coming home in fifth.

Shirley scored his first win at Brownstown since a Summer Nationals victory in 2008.

“It sounds great to be a Lucas Oil winner. There are a few things I want to do in my career before I hang up the hat and one of them was win a Lucas Oil race. I wasn’t wanting to end my career without a Lucas Oil win. This is so rewarding, you know we race against the best guys in the country week in and week out and we get our teeth kicked in here and there.”

“Man, that was a long 100 laps. I was just counting and counting, and we were able to get it done. I thought we had a car that was capable of getting to the front and how we was going to manage that when we got to the front. I was really second guessing to go out and go around lapped cars or just ride so I had something left, luckily we had that caution, and I was hoping to see one a little sooner, but all-in-all the good Lord just said it was our night and luckily all things came together.”

Rice, who was looking for his second Crown Jewel victory of the season, finished 0.646 seconds behind Shirley.

“I felt it took 80 laps for my tires to come in where I could actually steer. I think that was my shot before that caution there. I just couldn’t get back into a rhythm once we had that caution it was like my right front cooled off and I couldn’t steer anymore. Hats off to Brian he did a heck of a job; he did what he had to do to win. He played the lapped traffic perfect. He could swing out on those straightaways where I had to kind of stay in the mud.”

Blair came from the 14th starting position to round out the Big River Steel Podium.

“I honestly think we were good enough to win. Josh never made a mistake on that bottom it was like I had a chain to his bumper for 100 laps. I thought I had a shot at him two or three times, but it was going to get hairy and probably was going to be contact, so I lifted and seen the next lap. Man, I love this place, it is a lot of fun. We weren’t real good last night, the track was little different tonight, so we changed a couple of things, so we are definitely headed in the right direction. I wish it would have been 130 laps.”

The winner’s Bob and Lisa Cullen-owned, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Thomason Express, Hoker Trucking, Allgaier Performance, Ted Brown’s Quality Paint and Body Shop, Slicker Graphics, Cheap Cars, J&J Gaming, and J&E Construction.

Completing the top ten were Frank Heckenast Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan Davenport, and Carson Ferguson.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 

Race Summary 

47th Annual Jackson 100

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Brownstown Speedway | Brownstown, IN

Allstar Performance Time Trials

Fast Time Group A: Brody Smith | 13.730 seconds (overall)

Fast Time Group B: Josh Rice | 13.974 seconds

Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 5. 17SR-Brody Smith[1]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 7. S21-Seth Daniels[9]; 8. 11C-Tyler Collins[8]; 9. D48-Derek Groomer[7]; 10. 17W-Lee Williams[10]

Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 12J-Jason Jameson[8]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 5. 21R-Colby Reed[9]; 6. 35-Dustin Linville[2]; 7. 93F-Carson Ferguson[5]; 8. 76S-Shelby Miles[6]; 9. JD3-Jack Dossey III[7]; 10. (DNS) 48J-Jug Wethington

Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 2. 11-Josh Rice[1]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 4. 111-Max Blair[4]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 6. 32-Chad Stapleton[7]; 7. 20-Tyler Neal[8]; 8. 18L-Trevor Landrum[6]; 9. 6-Clay Harris[10], 10. 1CJ-Justin Shaw[9]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 2. 15R-James Rice[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 4. 17SS-Brenden Smith[1]; 5. C7-Adam Stricker[6]; 6. 22F-Chris Ferguson[8]; 7. P3-Steve Peeden[7]; 8. 22X-Matt Boknecht[5]; 9. 23-Keegan Cox[9]

Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 2. 17SR-Brody Smith[1]; 3. 11C-Tyler Collins[7]; 4. 21R-Colby Reed[2]; 5. D48-Derek Groomer[9]; 6. 93F-Carson Ferguson[6]; 7. 17W-Lee Williams[11]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[5]; 9. (DNS) 35-Dustin Linville; 10. (DNS) 76S-Shelby Miles; 11. (DNS) JD3-Jack Dossey III; 12. (DNS) 48J-Jug Wethington

UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (9 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 22F-Chris Ferguson[4]; 3. 32-Chad Stapleton[3]; 4. 18L-Trevor Landrum[7]; 5. P3-Steve Peeden[6]; 6. 20-Tyler Neal[5]; 7. 1CJ-Justin Shaw[9]; 8. 22X-Matt Boknecht[8]; 9. 6-Clay Harris[11]; 10. (DNS) C7-Adam Stricker; 11. (DNS) 23-Keegan Cox

47th Annual Jackson 100 | Feature Finish (100 Laps):

Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings

1 – 9 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $56,900

2 – 6 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $21,000

3 – 14 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $10,900

4 – 1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $9,300

5 – 12 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $8,300

6 – 3 – 99JR – Frank Heckenast Jr – Frankfort, IL – $6,000

7 – 4 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $5,800

8 – 5 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $5,000

9 – 10 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $3,800

10 – 24 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $4,500

11 – 18 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $4,300

12 – 13 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $4,100

13 – 17 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $3,900

14 – 23 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $3,500

15 – 15 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $2,400

16 – 2 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $3,200

17 – 22 – 32 – Chad Stapleton – Edinburgh, IN – $2,200

18 – 25 – D48 – Derek Groomer – Bloomington, IN – $2,100

19 – 11 – 12J – Jason Jameson – Lawrenceburg, IN – $2,000

20 – 7 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $2,900

21 – 19 – 17SR – Brody Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,000

22 – 20 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $2,000

23 – 16 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,900

24 – 8 – 15R – James Rice – Verona, KY – $2,000

25 – 21 – 11C – Tyler Collins – North Vernon, IN – $2,000

Race Statistics  

Entrants: 39

Bilstein Shocks Pole Sitter: Ricky Thornton, Jr.

MD3 Lap Leaders: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Lap 1); Kyle Bronson (Laps 2-23); Brian Shirley (Laps 24-100)

Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Brian Shirley

Wieland Feature Winner: Brian Shirley

Margin of Victory: 0.646 seconds

Hellraizer Jacks Cautions: Jason Jameson, Brody Smith, Chad Stapleton (initial start); Tyler Collins, Dan Ebert, Clay Harris (Lap 2); Derek Groomer (Lap 86)

MyRacePass Series Provisional: Clay Harris; Carson Ferguson

Fast Time Provisional: n/a

Emergency Provisionals: n/a

Track Provisional: Derek Groomer

Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Brian Shirley, Josh Rice, Max Blair

Penske Shocks Top 5: Brian Shirley, Josh Rice, Max Blair, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Devin Moran

Behrent’s One-Lap-to-Go Top 3: Brian Shirley, Josh Rice, Max Blair

PEM 4th Place Feature: Ricky Thornton, Jr.

Diversified Machine 5th Place Feature: Devin Moran

Wilwood Brakes 7th Place Feature: Hudson O’Neal

Wehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Dillon McCowan

Velocity Manufacturing 13th Place Feature: Dan Ebert

XS Power Batteries 15th Place Feature: Mike Marlar

Hoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Carson Ferguson (Advanced 14 positions)

MD3 Most Laps Led: Brian Shirley (77 Laps)

Sunoco Race Fuels Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Josh Rice

Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Brandon Sheppard

O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Josh Rice

Pro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Frank Heckenast, Jr. | Lap 7 | 14.641 seconds

FK Rod Ends Hard Luck Award: Clay Harris

Victory Fuel Power Move of the Race: Max Blair

Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Anthony Martin

ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Race Engines

Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis

Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Hudson O’Neal | 14.0493 seconds

Time of Race: 36 minutes 35 seconds

Big River Steel Championship Standings Presented by ARP:

Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Earnings

1 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 6725 – $278,500

2 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 6705 – $265,500

3 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 6600 – $321,374

4 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 6230 – $252,425

5 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 6230 – $162,700

6 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 6125 – $164,025

7 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – 5880 – $214,275

8 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 5800 – $166,700

9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 5635 – $122,825

10 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 5410 – $105,975

11 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 5365 – $99,050

12 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – 5345 – $92,175

13 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 5280 – $147,975

14 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – 5195 – $118,525

15 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 4640 – $66,700

16 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – 4290 – $53,125

17 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 3970 – $34,475

Big River Steel Top 5 Bonus Standings Presented by ARP ($100,000):

Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Gap

1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 210 – 0

2 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 205 – -5

3 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 195 – -15

4 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 190 – -20

5 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 170 – -40

Big River Steel 6th-15th Bonus Standings Presented by ARP ($25,000):

Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Gap

1 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 250 – 0

2 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – 240 – -10

3 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 220 – -30

4 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 180 – -70

5 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – 175 – -75

6 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 165 – -85

7 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 160 – -90

8 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – 150 – -100

9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 130 – -120

Brian Shirley Breaks Through with Jackson 100 Win a Brownstown

You can finally call Brian Shirley a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner as the Chatham, Illinois racer became the 97th different winner on Saturday night at Brownstown Speedway. Shirley captured the 47th Annual WillScot Jackson 100 Presented by the Jackson County Visitors Center.

Shirley took the lead from Kyle Bronson on the 24th lap and led the rest of the way to not only pick up the $50,000 first place prize, but a $5,000 bonus from UNOH, and the fourth driver this year to be awarded a $1,000 check from Steering Buddy for becoming a first time series winner.

Shirley, who started ninth took the win withstanding challenges from Josh Rice before a caution with 14 laps to go. Shirley would pull away from the Sunoco Race Fuels North/South 100 winner to take the victory.

Rice finished in second with Max Blair taking the third spot. The defending Jackson 100 winner Ricky Thornton Jr., who led the first lap of the race, finished fourth with 3-time and reigning Indiana Icebreaker winner Devin Moran coming home in fifth.

Shirley scored his first win at Brownstown since a Summer Nationals victory in 2008.

“It sounds great to be a Lucas Oil winner. There are a few things I want to do in my career before I hang up the hat and one of them was win a Lucas Oil race. I wasn’t wanting to end my career without a Lucas Oil win. This is so rewarding, you know we race against the best guys in the country week in and week out and we get our teeth kicked in here and there.”

“Man, that was a long 100 laps. I was just counting and counting, and we were able to get it done. I thought we had a car that was capable of getting to the front and how we was going to manage that when we got to the front. I was really second guessing to go out and go around lapped cars or just ride so I had something left, luckily we had that caution, and I was hoping to see one a little sooner, but all-in-all the good Lord just said it was our night and luckily all things came together.”

Rice, who was looking for his second Crown Jewel victory of the season, finished 0.646 seconds behind Shirley.

“I felt it took 80 laps for my tires to come in where I could actually steer. I think that was my shot before that caution there. I just couldn’t get back into a rhythm once we had that caution it was like my right front cooled off and I couldn’t steer anymore. Hats off to Brian he did a heck of a job; he did what he had to do to win. He played the lapped traffic perfect. He could swing out on those straightaways where I had to kind of stay in the mud.”

Blair came from the 14th starting position to round out the Big River Steel Podium.

“I honestly think we were good enough to win. Josh never made a mistake on that bottom it was like I had a chain to his bumper for 100 laps. I thought I had a shot at him two or three times, but it was going to get hairy and probably was going to be contact, so I lifted and seen the next lap. Man, I love this place, it is a lot of fun. We weren’t real good last night, the track was little different tonight, so we changed a couple of things, so we are definitely headed in the right direction. I wish it would have been 130 laps.”

The winner’s Bob and Lisa Cullen-owned, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Thomason Express, Hoker Trucking, Allgaier Performance, Ted Brown’s Quality Paint and Body Shop, Slicker Graphics, Cheap Cars, J&J Gaming, and J&E Construction.

Completing the top ten were Frank Heckenast Jr., Hudson O’Neal, Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan Davenport, and Carson Ferguson.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 

Race Summary 

47th Annual Jackson 100

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Brownstown Speedway | Brownstown, IN

Allstar Performance Time Trials

Fast Time Group A: Brody Smith | 13.730 seconds (overall)

Fast Time Group B: Josh Rice | 13.974 seconds

Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 5. 17SR-Brody Smith[1]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[5]; 7. S21-Seth Daniels[9]; 8. 11C-Tyler Collins[8]; 9. D48-Derek Groomer[7]; 10. 17W-Lee Williams[10]

Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 12J-Jason Jameson[8]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 5. 21R-Colby Reed[9]; 6. 35-Dustin Linville[2]; 7. 93F-Carson Ferguson[5]; 8. 76S-Shelby Miles[6]; 9. JD3-Jack Dossey III[7]; 10. (DNS) 48J-Jug Wethington

Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 2. 11-Josh Rice[1]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 4. 111-Max Blair[4]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 6. 32-Chad Stapleton[7]; 7. 20-Tyler Neal[8]; 8. 18L-Trevor Landrum[6]; 9. 6-Clay Harris[10], 10. 1CJ-Justin Shaw[9]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 2. 15R-James Rice[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 4. 17SS-Brenden Smith[1]; 5. C7-Adam Stricker[6]; 6. 22F-Chris Ferguson[8]; 7. P3-Steve Peeden[7]; 8. 22X-Matt Boknecht[5]; 9. 23-Keegan Cox[9]

Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 2. 17SR-Brody Smith[1]; 3. 11C-Tyler Collins[7]; 4. 21R-Colby Reed[2]; 5. D48-Derek Groomer[9]; 6. 93F-Carson Ferguson[6]; 7. 17W-Lee Williams[11]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[5]; 9. (DNS) 35-Dustin Linville; 10. (DNS) 76S-Shelby Miles; 11. (DNS) JD3-Jack Dossey III; 12. (DNS) 48J-Jug Wethington

UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (9 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 2. 22F-Chris Ferguson[4]; 3. 32-Chad Stapleton[3]; 4. 18L-Trevor Landrum[7]; 5. P3-Steve Peeden[6]; 6. 20-Tyler Neal[5]; 7. 1CJ-Justin Shaw[9]; 8. 22X-Matt Boknecht[8]; 9. 6-Clay Harris[11]; 10. (DNS) C7-Adam Stricker; 11. (DNS) 23-Keegan Cox

47th Annual Jackson 100 | Feature Finish (100 Laps):

Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings

1 – 9 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $56,900

2 – 6 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $21,000

3 – 14 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $10,900

4 – 1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $9,300

5 – 12 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $8,300

6 – 3 – 99JR – Frank Heckenast Jr – Frankfort, IL – $6,000

7 – 4 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $5,800

8 – 5 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $5,000

9 – 10 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $3,800

10 – 24 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $4,500

11 – 18 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $4,300

12 – 13 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $4,100

13 – 17 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $3,900

14 – 23 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $3,500

15 – 15 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $2,400

16 – 2 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $3,200

17 – 22 – 32 – Chad Stapleton – Edinburgh, IN – $2,200

18 – 25 – D48 – Derek Groomer – Bloomington, IN – $2,100

19 – 11 – 12J – Jason Jameson – Lawrenceburg, IN – $2,000

20 – 7 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $2,900

21 – 19 – 17SR – Brody Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,000

22 – 20 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $2,000

23 – 16 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,900

24 – 8 – 15R – James Rice – Verona, KY – $2,000

25 – 21 – 11C – Tyler Collins – North Vernon, IN – $2,000

Race Statistics  

Entrants: 39

Bilstein Shocks Pole Sitter: Ricky Thornton, Jr.

MD3 Lap Leaders: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Lap 1); Kyle Bronson (Laps 2-23); Brian Shirley (Laps 24-100)

Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Brian Shirley

Wieland Feature Winner: Brian Shirley

Margin of Victory: 0.646 seconds

Hellraizer Jacks Cautions: Jason Jameson, Brody Smith, Chad Stapleton (initial start); Tyler Collins, Dan Ebert, Clay Harris (Lap 2); Derek Groomer (Lap 86)

MyRacePass Series Provisional: Clay Harris; Carson Ferguson

Fast Time Provisional: n/a

Emergency Provisionals: n/a

Track Provisional: Derek Groomer

Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Brian Shirley, Josh Rice, Max Blair

Penske Shocks Top 5: Brian Shirley, Josh Rice, Max Blair, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Devin Moran

Behrent’s One-Lap-to-Go Top 3: Brian Shirley, Josh Rice, Max Blair

PEM 4th Place Feature: Ricky Thornton, Jr.

Diversified Machine 5th Place Feature: Devin Moran

Wilwood Brakes 7th Place Feature: Hudson O’Neal

Wehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Dillon McCowan

Velocity Manufacturing 13th Place Feature: Dan Ebert

XS Power Batteries 15th Place Feature: Mike Marlar

Hoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Carson Ferguson (Advanced 14 positions)

MD3 Most Laps Led: Brian Shirley (77 Laps)

Sunoco Race Fuels Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Josh Rice

Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Brandon Sheppard

O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Josh Rice

Pro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Frank Heckenast, Jr. | Lap 7 | 14.641 seconds

FK Rod Ends Hard Luck Award: Clay Harris

Victory Fuel Power Move of the Race: Max Blair

Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Anthony Martin

ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Race Engines

Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis

Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Hudson O’Neal | 14.0493 seconds

Time of Race: 36 minutes 35 seconds

Big River Steel Championship Standings Presented by ARP:

Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Earnings

1 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 6725 – $278,500

2 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 6705 – $265,500

3 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 6600 – $321,374

4 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 6230 – $252,425

5 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 6230 – $162,700

6 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 6125 – $164,025

7 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – 5880 – $214,275

8 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 5800 – $166,700

9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 5635 – $122,825

10 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 5410 – $105,975

11 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 5365 – $99,050

12 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – 5345 – $92,175

13 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 5280 – $147,975

14 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – 5195 – $118,525

15 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 4640 – $66,700

16 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – 4290 – $53,125

17 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 3970 – $34,475

Big River Steel Top 5 Bonus Standings Presented by ARP ($100,000):

Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Gap

1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 210 – 0

2 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 205 – -5

3 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 195 – -15

4 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 190 – -20

5 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 170 – -40

Big River Steel 6th-15th Bonus Standings Presented by ARP ($25,000):

Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Gap

1 – 3s – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 250 – 0

2 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – 240 – -10

3 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 220 – -30

4 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 180 – -70

5 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – 175 – -75

6 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 165 – -85

7 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 160 – -90

8 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – 150 – -100

9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 130 – -120

10 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 125 – -125

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (September 27, 2026) — Spencer Hyde, driver of the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car, has officially added the final new national event track to his NHRA resume. This weekend, he qualified in the No. 12 position at the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham Dragway. The 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year highlighted one of his sponsors, The Caine Group, a local North Carolina company.
 
“I love it here in North Carolina, and I was fortunate enough to meet Jim and Janet Russell back at the fall Charlotte race last year,” said Hyde. “We got hooked up with them and put a deal together for Charlotte this year, and then they had so much fun they wanted to come back and do something for Rockingham too. We didn’t do a full car wrap for this event. We just did a tier-two level sponsorship, which was great. They wanted to continue to honor their late son Caine, who loved racing. I just wish we could perform better for them, but we’re happy that they’re here to support.”

 Spencer Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car will head to St. Louis looking to build Countdown momentum, photo credit Innovation Creative Experts

The NHRA is celebrating their 75^th anniversary this season, and a big part of what has made this year special is the addition of four new tracks hosting national events. Rockingham is the final new track on tour and is known for its grandstands. The left-side grandstands are built into a hill, and fans enter the track by looking down the grandstands at the dragstrip.
 
“The grandstands here were packed,” said Hyde. “I love the whole left side of the track, the big hill that the grandstands are carved out of. I think that’s the coolest thing. And even when the grandstands are full, the pits seem busy. There are people everywhere here. And from what I understand, a lot of these people showed up and bought tickets at the gate, which is really cool. So obviously, this is a hotbed for drag racing, and I hope we keep coming back here.”
 
Hyde’s best run of the weekend was his fourth and final qualifying pass on Saturday, a 3.976 second, 319.15 mph run that was enough to put him in the No. 12 spot against J.R. Todd on race day. In the first round, Todd grabbed a slight starting line advantage, and the only full-time Canadian driver in the Funny Car class could not catch up before the finish line stripe.
 
“We now head to St. Louis, to finish out this three-in-a-row stretch in the Countdown,” said Hyde. “We’re going to keep trying to make the Caine Group, Hyde Construction and OUTLAW Light Beer proud. There are four races left in our playoffs, and this Head Racing team will make every one of them count.”
 
Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car will be back in NHRA competition next week at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals on October 2-4 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just outside of St. Louis. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, October 2 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, October 3. The third race day of the 2026 Countdown to the Championship will be contested on Sunday. For tickets or more information on the NHRA Midwest Nationals visit nhra.com.
 
Qualifying Results – Funny Car
Q1: 4.4555, 192.88 mph; Qual. 10
Q2: 8.7520, 63.18 mph; Qual. 13
Q3: 4.0350, 306.12 mph; Qual. 12
Q4: 3.9763, 319.15 mph; Qual. 12
Bonus Points: 0
 
Race Results
First Round
J.R. Todd, Jupiter, Fla., DHL Toyota GR Supra, (0.0247), 3.9117 sec, 336.57 mph def. Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Contractors & Engineers Funny Car, (0.0494), 4.4697 sec, 202.16 mph
 
Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Point Standings – Funny Car

HYDE LEAVES ROCKINGHAM FOCUSED ON ST. LOUIS AND NEXT COUNTDOWN RACE

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (September 27, 2026) — Spencer Hyde, driver of the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car, has officially added the final new national event track to his NHRA resume. This weekend, he qualified in the No. 12 position at the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham Dragway. The 2025 NHRA Rookie of the Year highlighted one of his sponsors, The Caine Group, a local North Carolina company.
 
“I love it here in North Carolina, and I was fortunate enough to meet Jim and Janet Russell back at the fall Charlotte race last year,” said Hyde. “We got hooked up with them and put a deal together for Charlotte this year, and then they had so much fun they wanted to come back and do something for Rockingham too. We didn’t do a full car wrap for this event. We just did a tier-two level sponsorship, which was great. They wanted to continue to honor their late son Caine, who loved racing. I just wish we could perform better for them, but we’re happy that they’re here to support.”

 Spencer Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car will head to St. Louis looking to build Countdown momentum, photo credit Innovation Creative Experts

The NHRA is celebrating their 75^th anniversary this season, and a big part of what has made this year special is the addition of four new tracks hosting national events. Rockingham is the final new track on tour and is known for its grandstands. The left-side grandstands are built into a hill, and fans enter the track by looking down the grandstands at the dragstrip.
 
“The grandstands here were packed,” said Hyde. “I love the whole left side of the track, the big hill that the grandstands are carved out of. I think that’s the coolest thing. And even when the grandstands are full, the pits seem busy. There are people everywhere here. And from what I understand, a lot of these people showed up and bought tickets at the gate, which is really cool. So obviously, this is a hotbed for drag racing, and I hope we keep coming back here.”
 
Hyde’s best run of the weekend was his fourth and final qualifying pass on Saturday, a 3.976 second, 319.15 mph run that was enough to put him in the No. 12 spot against J.R. Todd on race day. In the first round, Todd grabbed a slight starting line advantage, and the only full-time Canadian driver in the Funny Car class could not catch up before the finish line stripe.
 
“We now head to St. Louis, to finish out this three-in-a-row stretch in the Countdown,” said Hyde. “We’re going to keep trying to make the Caine Group, Hyde Construction and OUTLAW Light Beer proud. There are four races left in our playoffs, and this Head Racing team will make every one of them count.”
 
Hyde and the Head Contractors and Engineers Funny Car will be back in NHRA competition next week at the NAPA Auto Parts NHRA Midwest Nationals on October 2-4 at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, just outside of St. Louis. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, October 2 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, October 3. The third race day of the 2026 Countdown to the Championship will be contested on Sunday. For tickets or more information on the NHRA Midwest Nationals visit nhra.com.
 
Qualifying Results – Funny Car
Q1: 4.4555, 192.88 mph; Qual. 10
Q2: 8.7520, 63.18 mph; Qual. 13
Q3: 4.0350, 306.12 mph; Qual. 12
Q4: 3.9763, 319.15 mph; Qual. 12
Bonus Points: 0
 
Race Results
First Round
J.R. Todd, Jupiter, Fla., DHL Toyota GR Supra, (0.0247), 3.9117 sec, 336.57 mph def. Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Contractors & Engineers Funny Car, (0.0494), 4.4697 sec, 202.16 mph
 
Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Point Standings – Funny Car

1. Matt Hagan, 2321
2. Jordan Vandergriff, 2237
3. J.R. Todd, 2215
4. Ron Capps, 2211
5. Jack Beckman, 2195
6. Austin Prock, 2177
7. Alexis DeJoria, 2151
8. Daniel Wilkerson, 2120
9. Chad Green, 2089
10. Spencer Hyde, 2065

After a pair of runner-ups, the Clovis, CA native tops a three-leader thriller in his home state

VENTURA, CA (September 26, 2026) – Corey Day was tired of running second in his home state.

An off weekend from the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship chase allowed Day to return to his roots this week. The Clovis, CA native hooked up with the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14 team for a trio of World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races in the “Golden State.”

The first two led to Day being forced to settle for second. Carson Macedo slid by him late on Tuesday at Kings Speedway, and Donny Schatz held him off Friday at Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.

Day simply refused to fall a spot shy again on Saturday when the scene shifted to Ventura Raceway for the Toyota Racing Battle at the Beach presented by ARP as the Series made its highly anticipated debut at the Southern California 1/5 mile.

The 20-year-old faced a fierce battle for third with Bill Balog in the early going as the two traded the position and nearly made contact multiple times. Up front, Steven Snyder Jr. and Emerson Axsom gave the fans a show with a war of their own for the top spot. They swapped sliders and crossovers until Snyder Jr. finally secured the lead. A pivotal restart allowed Day to surge from fourth to second, and then one mistake on the cushion from Snyder Jr. was all it took. Day slid by the Three Stooges Racing No. 51 and held off late challenges from Bill Balog and Sheldon Haudenschild to head to Victory Lane.

“That was sick,” Day said. “It was awesome. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, and I’m sure no one else did, but that was phenomenal. That was one of the better races I’ve had this year and one of the better tracks we’ve gotten to race on. Hats off to the whole Ventura track crew. It’s a privilege to be able to race at a facility like this and to have a badass track like that to go with it is awesome.”

Day’s second World of Outlaws win of 2026 is the fifth of his career. He also became the eighth multi-time winner with The Greatest Show on Dirt this season. Add in his two consecutive Turkey Night Grand Prix triumphs with the USAC National Midgets, and Day is now on a three-race win streak at Ventura.

Sheldon Haudenschild rolled the KCP Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 18 up to second for his 25th podium of the season.

Bill Balog fought up front all race long and looked as if he may have a shot to win before ultimately rounding out the podium.

Emerson Axsom and Buddy Kofoid completed the top five.

NIGHTLY NOTES

Emerson Axsom laid down the Race//Ready Hottest Lap of the Night.

Corey Day set Simpson Quick Time and established a new track record in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Corey Day (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Steve Snyder Jr. (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two), and Garet Williamson (WIX Filters Heat Three).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Emerson Axsom.

Steven Snyder Jr. topped the Toyota Dash.

Carson Macedo wheeled from 14th to seventh for his second consecutive KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

That also made Macedo the Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher.

Emerson Axsom’s fourth-place effort made him the Five Star Bodies Rookie of the Race.

Steven Snyder Jr. clocked the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Steven Snyder Jr.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make the long haul east to Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the $75,000-to-win 64th J & S Classics National Open on Oct. 2-3. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

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

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

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 14-Corey Day[3]; 2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 27-Emerson Axsom[2]; 5. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]; 6. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[14]; 8. 17-Spencer Bayston[10]; 9. 2-David Gravel[12]; 10. 7S-Chris Windom[7]; 11. 21-Dominic Scelzi[17]; 12. 24-Max Mittry[9]; 13. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[1]; 14. 2C-Cole Macedo[13]; 15. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart[16]; 17. 5K-Gauge Garcia[20]; 18. 0-Tim Kaeding[18]; 19. 73-Braden Chiaramonte[21]; 20. 16C-Skylar Gee[25]; 21. 6-Bryce Lucius[24]; 22. (DNF) 3-Kaleb Montgomery[22]; 23. (DNF) 88N-DJ Netto[19]; 24. (DNF) 28M-Conner Morrell[23]; 25. (DNF) 10-Dominic Gorden[11]

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

BEACHSIDE BARNBURNER: Day Claims Wild World of Outlaws Ventura Debut

After a pair of runner-ups, the Clovis, CA native tops a three-leader thriller in his home state

VENTURA, CA (September 26, 2026) – Corey Day was tired of running second in his home state.

An off weekend from the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series championship chase allowed Day to return to his roots this week. The Clovis, CA native hooked up with the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14 team for a trio of World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races in the “Golden State.”

The first two led to Day being forced to settle for second. Carson Macedo slid by him late on Tuesday at Kings Speedway, and Donny Schatz held him off Friday at Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.

Day simply refused to fall a spot shy again on Saturday when the scene shifted to Ventura Raceway for the Toyota Racing Battle at the Beach presented by ARP as the Series made its highly anticipated debut at the Southern California 1/5 mile.

The 20-year-old faced a fierce battle for third with Bill Balog in the early going as the two traded the position and nearly made contact multiple times. Up front, Steven Snyder Jr. and Emerson Axsom gave the fans a show with a war of their own for the top spot. They swapped sliders and crossovers until Snyder Jr. finally secured the lead. A pivotal restart allowed Day to surge from fourth to second, and then one mistake on the cushion from Snyder Jr. was all it took. Day slid by the Three Stooges Racing No. 51 and held off late challenges from Bill Balog and Sheldon Haudenschild to head to Victory Lane.

“That was sick,” Day said. “It was awesome. Honestly, I didn’t know what to expect, and I’m sure no one else did, but that was phenomenal. That was one of the better races I’ve had this year and one of the better tracks we’ve gotten to race on. Hats off to the whole Ventura track crew. It’s a privilege to be able to race at a facility like this and to have a badass track like that to go with it is awesome.”

Day’s second World of Outlaws win of 2026 is the fifth of his career. He also became the eighth multi-time winner with The Greatest Show on Dirt this season. Add in his two consecutive Turkey Night Grand Prix triumphs with the USAC National Midgets, and Day is now on a three-race win streak at Ventura.

Sheldon Haudenschild rolled the KCP Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 18 up to second for his 25th podium of the season.

Bill Balog fought up front all race long and looked as if he may have a shot to win before ultimately rounding out the podium.

Emerson Axsom and Buddy Kofoid completed the top five.

NIGHTLY NOTES

Emerson Axsom laid down the Race//Ready Hottest Lap of the Night.

Corey Day set Simpson Quick Time and established a new track record in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Corey Day (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Steve Snyder Jr. (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two), and Garet Williamson (WIX Filters Heat Three).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Emerson Axsom.

Steven Snyder Jr. topped the Toyota Dash.

Carson Macedo wheeled from 14th to seventh for his second consecutive KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

That also made Macedo the Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher.

Emerson Axsom’s fourth-place effort made him the Five Star Bodies Rookie of the Race.

Steven Snyder Jr. clocked the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Steven Snyder Jr.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make the long haul east to Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the $75,000-to-win 64th J & S Classics National Open on Oct. 2-3. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

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

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

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 14-Corey Day[3]; 2. 18-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 3. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 4. 27-Emerson Axsom[2]; 5. 83-Michael Kofoid[6]; 6. 23-Garet Williamson[5]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[14]; 8. 17-Spencer Bayston[10]; 9. 2-David Gravel[12]; 10. 7S-Chris Windom[7]; 11. 21-Dominic Scelzi[17]; 12. 24-Max Mittry[9]; 13. 51-Steven Snyder Jr[1]; 14. 2C-Cole Macedo[13]; 15. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 16. 1S-Logan Schuchart[16]; 17. 5K-Gauge Garcia[20]; 18. 0-Tim Kaeding[18]; 19. 73-Braden Chiaramonte[21]; 20. 16C-Skylar Gee[25]; 21. 6-Bryce Lucius[24]; 22. (DNF) 3-Kaleb Montgomery[22]; 23. (DNF) 88N-DJ Netto[19]; 24. (DNF) 28M-Conner Morrell[23]; 25. (DNF) 10-Dominic Gorden[11]

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/sprintcars/beachside-barnburner-day-claims-wild-world-of-outlaws-ventura-debut/

PEVELY, MO (September 26, 2026) – The driver who grew up in the shadow of the arch is now the King of the Arch.

Nick Hoffman was on a rail on Friday night at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, and he didn’t miss a beat in the second half of the weekend doubleheader on Saturday.

From fourth in the starting order, Hoffman needed a few more laps than he did on Friday to find his way to the front. Out front, it was a race between Dallon Murty up high and Jason Feger down low in the opening laps, with Murty pulling away for the early advantage.

While hugging the wall the same way he did on Friday, Hoffman picked off Feger for second with eight laps on the board. Six circuits later, Hoffman had caught Murty when the slower car of Kayden Clatt on the cushion forced Murty to get off the top and down to the same lane as Hoffman.

With Hoffman’s line suddenly impeded, he had to move up a lane to make the pass for the lead. A strong run through the middle of Turns 3 and 4 gave Hoffman enough momentum to clear Murty for the lead on Lap 18, moving into the spot that he never relinquished the rest of the way.

That didn’t mean Hoffman went unchallenged late in the race, however. Feger got back around Murty for second with 25 laps remaining, and inside of 10 to go, he was on Hoffman’s back bumper. A caution for Logan Zarin spun backwards in Turn 3 set up a three-lap sprint to the finish, which Hoffman came out on top of for his eighth win of the season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

“Jason’s one of my buddies and it’s fun racing with him,” Hoffman said. “That’s a hell of a run for them guys, too. I seen him peeking down there and I knew I had to get back in line just to defend. So, I had to turn left down the front straightaway and block. I was really happy that [Rickey] Frankel turned the No. 1Z around there, because I wanted to get reracked there. I felt like I was in trouble there if he could have got the middle rolling. It just worked out for me.”

Feger settled for second ahead of Drake Troutman, who knocked his deck out pounding the cushion on the last restart climbing up to third. Dallon Murty reset his World of Outlaws career best in fourth, while Bobby Pierce recovered from a spin earlier in the race to finish fifth.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision travels south to Boothill Speedway for the Bayou Classic on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3. Tickets will be available at the gate.

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

RACE NOTES:

Nick Hoffman set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Trey Mills won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Trey Mills won Heat 1.

Jason Feger won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Dallon Murty won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Nick Hoffman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Chase Junghans and Kayden Clatt won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Jason Feger won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Tristan Chamberlain won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Trey Mills won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

Jason Feger was the Air National Guard Second-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Dallon Murty was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Trey Mills was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

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

Gordy Gundaker was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Brent Larson was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

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

Feature (55 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 3. 5-Drake Troutman[10]; 4. 13-Dallon Murty[2]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[3]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 9. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[14]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[16]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson[9]; 13. 11-Gordy Gundaker[11]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[15]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[24]; 16. 09-Michael Leach[6]; 17. 33-Rickey Frankel[19]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[21]; 19. 18J-Chase Junghans[17]; 20. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 21. 33H-Wil Herrington[8]; 22. 18-Shannon Babb[20]; 23. 55E-Eli Johnson[25]; 24. 10J-Jordan Bauer[22]; 25. 50-Kayden Clatt[18]

Hoffman Completes Weekend Sweep at I-55 With $20,000 Saturday Score

PEVELY, MO (September 26, 2026) – The driver who grew up in the shadow of the arch is now the King of the Arch.

Nick Hoffman was on a rail on Friday night at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park, and he didn’t miss a beat in the second half of the weekend doubleheader on Saturday.

From fourth in the starting order, Hoffman needed a few more laps than he did on Friday to find his way to the front. Out front, it was a race between Dallon Murty up high and Jason Feger down low in the opening laps, with Murty pulling away for the early advantage.

While hugging the wall the same way he did on Friday, Hoffman picked off Feger for second with eight laps on the board. Six circuits later, Hoffman had caught Murty when the slower car of Kayden Clatt on the cushion forced Murty to get off the top and down to the same lane as Hoffman.

With Hoffman’s line suddenly impeded, he had to move up a lane to make the pass for the lead. A strong run through the middle of Turns 3 and 4 gave Hoffman enough momentum to clear Murty for the lead on Lap 18, moving into the spot that he never relinquished the rest of the way.

That didn’t mean Hoffman went unchallenged late in the race, however. Feger got back around Murty for second with 25 laps remaining, and inside of 10 to go, he was on Hoffman’s back bumper. A caution for Logan Zarin spun backwards in Turn 3 set up a three-lap sprint to the finish, which Hoffman came out on top of for his eighth win of the season with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

“Jason’s one of my buddies and it’s fun racing with him,” Hoffman said. “That’s a hell of a run for them guys, too. I seen him peeking down there and I knew I had to get back in line just to defend. So, I had to turn left down the front straightaway and block. I was really happy that [Rickey] Frankel turned the No. 1Z around there, because I wanted to get reracked there. I felt like I was in trouble there if he could have got the middle rolling. It just worked out for me.”

Feger settled for second ahead of Drake Troutman, who knocked his deck out pounding the cushion on the last restart climbing up to third. Dallon Murty reset his World of Outlaws career best in fourth, while Bobby Pierce recovered from a spin earlier in the race to finish fifth.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision travels south to Boothill Speedway for the Bayou Classic on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 2-3. Tickets will be available at the gate.

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

RACE NOTES:

Nick Hoffman set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Trey Mills won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Trey Mills won Heat 1.

Jason Feger won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Dallon Murty won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Nick Hoffman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Chase Junghans and Kayden Clatt won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Jason Feger won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Tristan Chamberlain won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Trey Mills won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

Jason Feger was the Air National Guard Second-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

Dallon Murty was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Trey Mills was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dennis Erb Jr. was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

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

Gordy Gundaker was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Brent Larson was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

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

Feature (55 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 3. 5-Drake Troutman[10]; 4. 13-Dallon Murty[2]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[13]; 6. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 7. 14-Trey Mills[3]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 9. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[14]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[16]; 12. 58V-Daulton Wilson[9]; 13. 11-Gordy Gundaker[11]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[15]; 15. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[24]; 16. 09-Michael Leach[6]; 17. 33-Rickey Frankel[19]; 18. 1Z-Logan Zarin[21]; 19. 18J-Chase Junghans[17]; 20. 74X-Ethan Dotson[23]; 21. 33H-Wil Herrington[8]; 22. 18-Shannon Babb[20]; 23. 55E-Eli Johnson[25]; 24. 10J-Jordan Bauer[22]; 25. 50-Kayden Clatt[18]

ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/hoffman-completes-weekend-sweep-at-i-55-with-20000-saturday-score/

SATURDAY RECAP – ROCKINGHAM Race 16 of 20

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

STRONG SATURDAY FOR JFR AT THE ROCKAll four teams move up the qualifying ladder for Sunday’s eliminations

SATURDAY RECAP – ROCKINGHAMRace 16 of 20

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

STRONG SATURDAY FOR JFR AT THE ROCKAll four teams move up the qualifying ladder for Sunday’s eliminations

ROCKINGHAM, N.C. (Sept. 26, 2026) – A clear and sunny day with temperatures barely reaching 80 degrees allowed John Force Racing’s four teams to improve on their performances in the final two qualifying sessions in preparation for the first round of the inaugural NHRA Nationals at The Rock at Rockingham Dragway.   Alexis DeJoria and the Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car team rebounded nicely from Friday’s first two qualifying attempts, setting low elapsed time in both of Saturday’s. The Bandero Café tripped the lights in the first session with a run of 3.892 seconds at 334.82 mph and followed it up with a final run of 3.924 seconds at 331.86 mph. The No. 2 qualifier will face No. 15 qualifier John Smith (4.205 seconds at 251.68 mph) in Round 1. Jack Beckman and the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet SS Funny Car team ran identical 3.911-second passes in Friday’s qualifying sessions, which qualified the team in the No. 4 spot. They pushed a bit too hard in Saturday’s first qualifying session but rallied with a 3.926-second run at 327.51 mph in the final session. Beckman will face No. 13 qualifier Daniel Wilkerson (3.982 seconds at 325.85 mph) in Round 1. Josh Hart and the Speedmaster Top Fuel team clicked off a rock solid 3.744-second run at 334.32 mph in the first qualifying session Saturday to move into the No. 5 position and overpowered the track in the fourth and final session. Hart will face No. 12 qualifier Will Smith (3.786 seconds at 330.40 mph) in Round 1. Jordan Vandergriff and the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car team struggled in the first three qualifying sessions so, in Sunday’s final session, the Funny Car rookie kept his foot on the accelerator pedal despite the car making significant moves left and right as it approached the finish line. The move paid off with a run of 3. 970 seconds at 276.07 mph, earning the No. 11 qualifying position. Vandergriff will face No. 6 qualifier Chad Green (3.920 seconds at 327.27 mph) in Round 1. Final eliminations are scheduled for 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, Sept. 27. Quote from Alexis DeJoria, Bandero Café Chevrolet SS Funny Car: “This Bandero Cafe Chevy SS nitro Funny Car team made Saturday ours. I knew we could do it. Neff, Jonnie, all our guys have what it takes. We watched our teammate, Jack Beckman, go down the track the pair in front of us and we backed him up with our run. We earned six bonus points today, we’re the No. 2 qualifier going in tomorrow and we don’t have to race Jordan first round, so that’s another plus. I’m gonna sleep a lot better tonight.” Quote from Jack Beckman, HendrickCars.com Chevrolet SS Funny Car: “The HendrickCars.com Chevy ran two 3.91s and a 3.92 in pretty different conditions during our four qualifying runs. The 3.91 was low in Q1 and that 3.91 in Q2 was third low of the session and wasn’t anywhere close to what we were shooting for. But we learned on that run that this track was better than we gave it credit for. We pushed too hard in Q3 and smoked the tires but, in Q4, we were right there, just two thousandths of a second off low ET. I think that Q3 run, where we push too hard, might be the one that helps us tune to win the race tomorrow. Sometimes the ones that don’t look perfect are the ones that tell us what we need to do or how far we can go.” Quote from Josh Hart, Speedmaster Top Fuel Dragster: “I feel good about how our Speedmaster car is running and weather conditions will be similar tomorrow. Grubnic called his shot in Q3 like we did at the beginning of the season and it went right down Broadway like we expected. Before Q4, he told me we ‘We’re going to try something but I may not get away with it.’ I like that type of communication. It means a lot to me as a driver so I can plan my mindset when I go up there. It’s been a very, very good day so I’m confident about tomorrow. We’ll just focus on one pass at a time and turn on four win lights.” Quote from Jordan Vandergriff, Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car: “It was an eventful qualifying session for the Cornwell Quality Tools Chevy team. I think I held it a little long on that Q4 run because I knew we needed to make a full pass but it got to a point where I had to come out of it because it got too sideways. Maybe it was my fault, maybe it was the track. Whatever the case, it was still a 3.97 with an early shut off so we’re feeling really good about tomorrow.” TV Schedule Television coverage on Sun., Sept. 27, includes qualifying on FS1 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. ET before eliminations action at from 3 – 6 p.m. ET on FS1.

NASCAR Cup Series Kansas Speedway Team Chevy Driver Quotes September 26, 2026

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Kansas Speedway.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

NASCAR Cup SeriesKansas SpeedwayTeam Chevy Driver QuotesSeptember 26, 2026

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Kansas Speedway.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

Media Availability Quotes:  There was a lot of talk before The Chase started that there might be a different feeling when it comes to pressure with no eliminations. I’m curious, has it felt much different than a year ago?“Well, we’re only three races in, which was a round in the past, so we’ll see as it builds deeper into The Chase. I can definitely see how the pressure just lingers longer. I feel like in the previous format, you would have a lot of pressure, for sure, but then you would get a reset and a deep breath. There’s no reset or deep breath here, so you have to keep plugging away and really focus on executing good, solid races. I would say it’s been equal pressure to this point and it’s going to continue to build, especially if you’re in the hunt.”   Is it surprising and/or frustrating to see a guy like Carson Hocevar, who doesn’t seem to have the greatest respect from the other drivers, get so much love from fans?“No, because he’s different than all of us. He acts different, talks different, dresses different. He’s just different. I think that’s refreshing for fans. He drives more aggressive and willing to do crazier things than the rest of us probably are. No, I mean, it’s not frustrating at all on that aspect. I’m not jealous of any exposure he’s getting from it because he’s doing a good job with it. He’s just different and people like different. You have to keep your eye on him when you’re on the racetrack, but as a fan, I can see why he’s likable in that aspect.”   I’s been nearly three months since the last mile-and-a-half track. How fair is it to expect the Toyota’s to still be the ones to beat this weekend?“We’ll see, but I’m looking at it as — yeah, they’ll for sure be the ones to beat. I just felt like they were always a large step ahead of everybody on the mile-and-a-half stuff, so even if that gap has closed, I don’t expect us to have surpassed them on speed. But we’ll see . These three tracks are good for us, as well, and I felt like we were the next best to the Toyota’s at these three earlier in the year. Maybe not Vegas, but at least here and at Charlotte, from what I remember. Hopefully, we’ve closed the gap a lot. I definitely think we’ve probably closed it some, but they were really, really good, even dating back to last year.”   From your standpoint, does a one-point lead really mean anything different from, say, if it was a one-point deficit in the sense that, hey, we’re there now and now we just need to hold it? Do you feel a sense of adrenaline knowing that you’re there at least?“Well, I would always rather be one point ahead than one point behind. But even going back to after the win, I think we were nine points back, and I was like, okay, we’re there… we have a shot. If we can just keep having good finishes, we’ll get the points lead and all that. Now that you’re leading, nothing really changes, other than you’d like to not fall back. But even if you do, you still have time to make up for it. We’ll just keep plugging away. I’ve been really happy with the speed and, especially, the execution in these first three. I think they’ve gone pretty flawless for our team Now we have some tracks that we probably are even more confident at than the first three, outside of Bristol. But yeah, it’s just tough. It’s a lot of racing, a lot of tough competitors, and just a tough, tough series.”   So much was made during the offseason and during the process of landing on this postseason format. Do you think that three weeks in, the sample size is small, but this format is rewarding the things that it should to create an eventual champion come Homestead?“There’s not ever going to be a perfect format that I think that everybody in the world will agree on, but I think this has definitely been a much better format for crowning a –every champion is deserving, but crowning a deserving champion. I think now that we’ve been into it — I don’t know if it was you or somebody else a few weeks ago asked about stage points, I feel like stage points feel even more important than they’ve ever been, which you can argue is a good thing or a not so great thing. And, you know, we’ve scored the most stage points all year, I believe, now. But I feel like, if you really want to talk about I guess consistency, you can say, yeah, you need to be consistent all race. But I feel for the guys like Ryan Preece. He’s put together a really, really solid Chase to this point, yet he’s still maybe over 100 points out because he hasn’t been able to score hardly any stage points. If we didn’t have stage points, I bet he’d be three to five positions ahead of where he’s at in points right now. So, yeah, that’s the only thing I would look at being different, maybe.”  Before The Chase started, there was this invisible line that teams wanted to hit of being fifth or higher in points. Now, three races into The Chase, we have three drivers in the top-four who started outside the top-five in The Chase points. Do you feel that there will be a different viewpoint next season where you should stack up prior to The Chase? And did you think your climb through three races was going to happen this fast?“I would say I looked at our 55-point deficit as, not that we were out of winning the championship in any form, but I definitely did not think that was a deficit that we could overcome in two races. That’s what I’ve realized is that the points can swing a ton in this format, especially if you win. I look at (Ryan) Blaney for having two DNF’s and he’s in the 40s or something behind us, and in two races, he could be leading the points if he gets a win. Not even two wins, he could just take one win and good stage points and he could be leading. So, yeah, I think with seven races left, if you’re 80-something or more points back, you still have a shot, the way I look at it with this format and wins being so much more important. That part of it’s been nice.”   Kyle, how does this track challenge you? “Yeah, I don’t know. It’s not the most challenging mile-and-a-half, but it’s really kind of fast-paced, I feel like. It can change time to time here, depending on which way the wind is blowing. I feel like this place is really wind sensitive, depending on which direction it’s blowing. So that’s something that I always try to pay attention to when I’m here because it can affect your balance significantly. Restarts are crazy, as always, but here especially. It’s a pretty straightforward kind of mile-and-a-race, but one where if you don’t execute and you get yourself buried, it’s hard to overcome that track position.”   What’s crazier about the restarts than anywhere else?“I wouldn’t pinpoint this as the craziest, but just like every track, even if it doesn’t fit four wide, we’re going to try. Often you see people four wide, middle of the pack, or fanning out to everywhere because you need clean air. It’s fun because you feel like you have an opportunity every restart.”   It’s been a bit of a slower year for Hendrick Motorsports, compared to their normal traditional numbers. Despite that you still find yourself first in the point standing, does that mean something to you a little bit more than it traditionally would have been in the year that you might be a little bit down or a little bit, not as much in victory lane as you normally are, but yet you’re still ahead in the field?“Well, I just think it really, in a way, just shows the resilience of Hendrick Motorsports. I think it’d be easy, as an organization, to get down and, not give up, but lose hope a little bit. But I feel like at HMS, nobody ever lost hope. You know, it’s a long season and we all kind of felt like if we keep working hard, eventually it would turn around. We’re still not to where we want to be, but it is nice to say that a Hendrick Motorsports car has led the points at some point of the year, just for how challenging it’s been. So, yeah, now it’s just about keeping it up there and giving ourselves a chance as we approach the end of The Chase. I’ve been very, very proud of not only our 5 team, but every man and woman at Hendrick Motorsports. As you said, it’s been a tough year, but nobody’s slowed down.”  You mentioned the Toyota’s and the speed they had earlier. But Cliff (Daniels) and your team have been aggressive throughout The Chase and it’s panned out for the most part. Do you feel that if the Toyota’s are fast again, you guys are going to have to find a way to be aggressive to find another way to beat them in terms of strategy?“Yeah, that’s a good question. I don’t know. I guess, yeah, we have been aggressive when you look at it with strategy calls; staying out at Darlington, getting a little bit off sequence at Gateway, and then staying out at Bristol last week. I didn’t even really think about it like that, but we’ll see. You don’t really know what the race calls for on Saturday’s, so we’ll see. Once you get in the race, you kind of see where your speed’s at, what position you’re in and things. And then, you can get an idea on what you want your strategy plan to be if a caution comes out on a certain lap. Again, I feel like our team has just executed great in these first three race. Our pit crew has been solid. The strategy’s been solid. The car’s been solid. I feel like I’ve done a good job behind the wheel. Our spotter’s been great. We just have to stay focused, locked in and keep going.”  What are you able to take from a practice session this early? I know the temperature differences may not be as different as a typical weekend, but is there much you’re able to work on?“Yeah, you try not to pay attention to the lap time as much, but just more so feel your car and feel its balance. That can always be a little bit different, as well, once you get to Sunday with the race starting later and it being a little bit hotter. But you can still get some sense of your balance. And then, yeah, you just try to focus on qualifying; what that balance you feel in practice and what you need for qualifying. Also, what the lines feel like because I feel like it’s always changing, for sure, with the grip level on the track and what parts of the track feel grippier than others. So, yeah, you just try to learn that here in practice. And also, not over-read anything, I think, is good.”  Through the first three races, 13 Chase drivers have been involved in incidents. Last year, through the first three races of the Playoffs, only six drivers were involved in incidents. Do you feel like that’s the level of aggressiveness of The Chase that’s made drivers more aggressive?“Yeah, I’m not sure. I mean, at Gateway, there was just a lot of brake failures, so I think that can kind of sway those stats a little bit. I’m just trying to think of Darlington and Bristol, I don’t know. I don’t really remember who got involved in anything in those races. Obviously, you know, the Blaney thing was unique, as well.  But I’m not sure. I don’t really feel like the racing has been any different all year. I feel like we’re always aggressive, and you’re going for every position that you can, while being smart about it. So yeah, it’s probably just coincidence, I’m guessing, but I don’t know.”  Starting here at Kansas, we head into a stretch of three mile-and-a-half intermediate ovals. How important is it to find speed here tomorrow when setting up success for the next few weeks?“Yeah, I mean, with three mile-and-a-halves, we’d love to come here and be solid and have speed because I think that will give you more confidence as you go to Vegas and Charlotte. But, I mean, the cars haven’t changed, really, so if you were good there the previous time, you’re probably going to be pretty good when you go back again. We were good here. Just good, not great, at these next three, but I think we’ll be better. So, yeah, just show up and see what you got.”

The 10-time champion fends off one of the sport’s top young stars for his second win of the season

BAKERSFIELD, CA (September 25, 2026) – Donny Schatz looked 49 years young on Friday night.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series rolled into Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway amid a California swing that’s been controlled by California drivers and cars.

First it was James McFadden taking the Fresno, CA-based Tarlton Motorsports to Victory Lane at Stockton. Aromas, CA’s Justin Sanders pocketed $83,000 the next night in the Dennis Roth Classic finale. Then Lemoore, CA’s Carson Macedo was the hometown hero on Tuesday at Kings Speedway.

But Fargo, ND’s Donny Schatz crashed the California party.

Schatz turned back the clock in “Bako.” The 10-time Series champion got his elbows up on a tricky cushion to rip from fifth to second. Heartbreaking mechanical woes for Michael “Buddy” Kofoid while leading handed Schatz the top spot, but the job was far from done. Behind Schatz sat Clovis, CA’s Corey Day enjoying an off weekend from the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series to return to his roots. Few are better at hammering the top than Day, but Schatz fended off several challenges from the 20-year-old gasser to take the CJB Motorsports No. 15 to Victory Lane.

“He (Day) threw everything at me,” Schatz said. “I had to do the same thing in return. He was going for it. He’s obviously one of the best racers in the country. First race I’ve finished all week, and it was a win. Awesome for these guys, man. I’ve caused so many bent parts. It’s been a hell of a week. We were hanging out at Brent Kaeding’s, kind of where I started when I first came out to California. Brent kind of took me under his wing and kind of did that again this week to help us get through. I appreciate their help.”

Schatz is up to 318 career World of Outlaws victories, and Friday marked his second since joining CJB Motorsports. It was his first in the state of California since a 2017 Calistoga triumph. Bakersfield became the seventh different “Golden State” facility where he’s won, joining Silver Dollar Speedway, Calistoga Speedway, Thunderbowl Speedway, Stockton Dirt Track, Kings Speedway, and Placerville Speedway. Bakersfield is also the 91st different overall track where Schatz has grabbed a checkered flag with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

Corey Day collected his second straight runner-up finish in his home state aboard the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14.

Chris Windom was impressive all night in the Sides Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink No. 7S to finish third and bring home his third podium of the season.

Spencer Bayston and Emerson Axsom completed the top five.

NIGHTLY NOTES

Bill Balog clocked the Race//Ready Hottest Lap of the Night.

Corey Day set Simpson Quick Time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Corey Day (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Skylar Gee (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two), and Buddy Kofoid (WIX Filters Heat Three).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Buddy Kofoid.

Kofoid also topped the Toyota Dash.

Carson Macedo wheeled from 22nd to 10th to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

Sheldon Haudenschild was the Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher.

Emerson Axsom was the Five Star Bodies Rookie of the Race.

Buddy Kofoid laid down the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Buddy Kofoid.

TURNING BACK TIME: Schatz Rips Bakersfield Cushion to Victory Lane

The 10-time champion fends off one of the sport’s top young stars for his second win of the season

BAKERSFIELD, CA (September 25, 2026) – Donny Schatz looked 49 years young on Friday night.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series rolled into Bakersfield Speedway at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway amid a California swing that’s been controlled by California drivers and cars.

First it was James McFadden taking the Fresno, CA-based Tarlton Motorsports to Victory Lane at Stockton. Aromas, CA’s Justin Sanders pocketed $83,000 the next night in the Dennis Roth Classic finale. Then Lemoore, CA’s Carson Macedo was the hometown hero on Tuesday at Kings Speedway.

But Fargo, ND’s Donny Schatz crashed the California party.

Schatz turned back the clock in “Bako.” The 10-time Series champion got his elbows up on a tricky cushion to rip from fifth to second. Heartbreaking mechanical woes for Michael “Buddy” Kofoid while leading handed Schatz the top spot, but the job was far from done. Behind Schatz sat Clovis, CA’s Corey Day enjoying an off weekend from the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series to return to his roots. Few are better at hammering the top than Day, but Schatz fended off several challenges from the 20-year-old gasser to take the CJB Motorsports No. 15 to Victory Lane.

“He (Day) threw everything at me,” Schatz said. “I had to do the same thing in return. He was going for it. He’s obviously one of the best racers in the country. First race I’ve finished all week, and it was a win. Awesome for these guys, man. I’ve caused so many bent parts. It’s been a hell of a week. We were hanging out at Brent Kaeding’s, kind of where I started when I first came out to California. Brent kind of took me under his wing and kind of did that again this week to help us get through. I appreciate their help.”

Schatz is up to 318 career World of Outlaws victories, and Friday marked his second since joining CJB Motorsports. It was his first in the state of California since a 2017 Calistoga triumph. Bakersfield became the seventh different “Golden State” facility where he’s won, joining Silver Dollar Speedway, Calistoga Speedway, Thunderbowl Speedway, Stockton Dirt Track, Kings Speedway, and Placerville Speedway. Bakersfield is also the 91st different overall track where Schatz has grabbed a checkered flag with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

Corey Day collected his second straight runner-up finish in his home state aboard the Jason Meyers Racing No. 14.

Chris Windom was impressive all night in the Sides Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink No. 7S to finish third and bring home his third podium of the season.

Spencer Bayston and Emerson Axsom completed the top five.

NIGHTLY NOTES

Bill Balog clocked the Race//Ready Hottest Lap of the Night.

Corey Day set Simpson Quick Time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Corey Day (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Skylar Gee (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two), and Buddy Kofoid (WIX Filters Heat Three).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Buddy Kofoid.

Kofoid also topped the Toyota Dash.

Carson Macedo wheeled from 22nd to 10th to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

Sheldon Haudenschild was the Tub O’ Towels Seventh Place Finisher.

Emerson Axsom was the Five Star Bodies Rookie of the Race.

Buddy Kofoid laid down the ACME Trading Company Fast Lap.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Buddy Kofoid.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars close out the California swing with the Series debut at Ventura Raceway for the Toyota Racing Battle at the Beach presented by ARP on Saturday, Sept. 26. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

PERFECT NIGHT: Ryan Timms Dominates for First-Career Eldora Victory with High Limit Liebig Motorsports #10 Team Records Perfect Night in BeFour the Crowns Showdown

ROSSBURG, OHIO. (September 25, 2026) – To this day, Ryan Timms vividly remembers how intimidated he felt during the 2022 4-Crown Nationals – when he made his first laps around the daunting Eldora Speedway. Fast forward four years to the same event on Friday night, and the now 20-year-old scored his first win at the iconic facility – a win that he claimed as one of the most special of his career. Making his 21st attempt at the Rossburg, Ohio half-mile, Timms’ record at “The Big E” was less than ideal and he’d be the first to tell you. He did had have a few solid runs with the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, but he had only recorded one single top-10 finish in his first 17 winged attempts at the track. That all changed during the Night BeFour the Crowns Showdown, though, as Timms and his Liebig Motorsports #10 team absolutely dominated from start-to-finish of the night. In fact, they were quite literally perfect by topping Capitol Renegade Qualifying, going fourth-to-first in TJ Forged Heat 1, winning the FK Rod Ends Dash from the pole, and then leading all 25 laps of the Interstate Batteries A-Main for a $12,000 score. For the 20-year-old Oklahoma City, Oklahoma native, it was his 17th overall score of the 2026 season with half-mile wins at iconic venues such as Knoxville, Port Royal, Sedalia, and now Eldora. The win marked his second Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing win this month and the third of his young career. Following Timms for all 25 laps on Friday was outside pole sitter Giovanni Scelzi, who settled for second-place honors in the Chili’s Grill & Bar #77 with his Spire Motorsports boss Jeff Dickerson in the house. With only six series events left in 2026, they’ve cut the gap down to 14pts behind Reutzel/RSR in the battle for a championship runner-up in their first High Limit season. In the third position with his second-career Eldora podium was Tanner Holmes in the Buch Motorsports #13. He and crew chief Sean Strausbaugh continue to click together – earning top-five finishes in California, Washington, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Ohio within the last month. Brady Bacon, after finishing second on Thursday with the USAC Sprint Cars and then qualifying third on Friday with USAC Silver Crown, drove the Vermeer Motorsports #55 to his best effort yet with a P4 finish in High Limit action. He took the final lock-in to Saturday’s Heat Races at the 4-Crown Nationals. Closing out the top-10 at the Night BeFour the Crowns Showdown was Tyler Courtney in the NOS Energy Drink #7BC, Aaron Reutzel in the PowerPlus #87, Rico Abreu in the Carquest Auto Parts #24, Kasey Kahne in the LiUNA #4, Daison Pursley in the NAPA Auto Parts #9, and Chase Randall in the Bush’s Chicken #9R. THE ALL-IN NOTEBOOK (Friday, September 25, 2026)Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, Ohio)The Night BeFour the Crowns Showdown Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps – Tyler Courtney (13.099)Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime (Flight A) – Ryan Timms (13.019)Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime (Flight B) – Tyler Courtney (13.076)TJ Forged Heat One Winner – Ryan TimmsDMI Heat Two Winner – Giovanni ScelziBR Motorsports Heat Three Winner – Cameron SmithRod End Supply Heat Four Winner – Rico AbreuFK Rod Ends Dash Winner – Ryan TimmsWinters Performance B-Main Winner – Kalib HenryDURST Dice Roll Driver – Rico Abreu (7th-to-7th)Jake’s Golf Carts Fastest Lap – Ryan Timms (14.381 on Lap 5)Rod End Supply Hard Charger – Chase Randall +12 (22nd-to-10th)Whiskey Meyers Victory Lane Visitors – Liebig Motorsports #10 (2nd of year)CASM Win Sticker – Ryan Timms (3rd of career)Lap Leader(s) – Ryan Timms 1-25 Interstate Batteries A-Main Results (25 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Timms[1]; 2. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 3. 13-Tanner Holmes[3]; 4. 55-Brady Bacon[4]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 6. 87-Aaron Reutzel[5]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu[7]; 8. 4-Kasey Kahne[11]; 9. 9-Daison Pursley[12]; 10. 9R-Chase Randall[22]; 11. 1A-Cameron Smith[8]; 12. 88W-Austin McCarl[9]; 13. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[14]; 14. 66-Ryan Newton[15]; 15. 26-Justin Peck[13]; 16. 17GP-Kerry Madsen[18]; 17. 101-Kalib Henry[21]; 18. 6-Zach Hampton[23]; 19. 88-Tanner Thorson[24]; 20. 42-Sye Lynch[10]; 21. 28-Jace Park[19]; 22. 17A-Jack Anderson[16]; 23. 71-Parker Price Miller[20]; 24. 19-Brent Marks[25]; 25. 24D-Danny Sams III[17] NEW Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Championship Standings (After 48/54 Races):1. 2,849 pts – Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #24 (Rico Abreu)2. -99 pts – Ridge & Sons Racing #87 (Aaron Reutzel)3. -113 pts – Spire Motorsports #77 (Giovanni Scelzi)4. -238 pts – Clauson-Marshall Racing #7BC (Tyler Courtney)5. -261 pts – Rudeen Racing #26 (Justin Peck)6. -313 pts – Chase Briscoe Racing #19 (Brent Marks)7. -351 pts – JST Motorsports #88 (Tanner Thorson)8. -465 pts – Buch Motorsports #13 (Tanner Holmes)9. -507 pts – Vermeer Motorsports #55 (Brady Bacon)10. -616 pts – Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9 (Daison Pursley)11. -937 pts – CJB Motorsports #5 (Brenham Crouch sub w/ Kasey Jedrzejek)12. -953 pts – Chase Randall Racing #9R (Chase Randall)13. -992 pts – Mosites Lynch Racing #42 (Sye Lynch)14. -1,081 pts – Randerson Racing #24D (Danny Sams III)15. -1,118 pts – Michael Dutcher Motorsports #17GP (Brock Zearfoss) WHAT’S NEXT: The famed 4-Crown Nationals will conclude on Saturday, September 26 with four spectacular open-wheel divisions all competing for $15,000-to-win features at Eldora Speedway. Joining Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing on the docket are the USAC Sprint Cars, USAC Midgets, and USAC Silver Crown. On Sunday, September 27, High Limit heads back to Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway for a rescheduled Driven2SaveLives Sunday Funday marking the finale of the Roto-Rooter Midweek Series. Tickets are available for purchase at HighLimitRacing.com, or you can watch every event live on FloRacing.

Rain, fog cancels qualifying for TF Sport Corvettes and rest of FIA WEC field OYAMA, Shizuoka, Japan (September 26, 2026) – TF Sport’s two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will provisionally start the Six Hours of Fuji in the eighth and 10th positions in the LMGT3 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship after Saturday’s qualifying session was cancelled.

Heavy rain pelted Fuji Speedway throughout the day Saturday, and that plus dense fog spelled the fate for the qualifying and Hyperpole session for both Hypercar and LMGT3. It was a turn of bad luck for TF Sport and its Corvettes as the team showed strong pace in Saturday morning’s rainy final practice session. Instead the field will start in order of fastest combined practice times. The No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey will be the first of the TF entries on the grid. Eastwood was the quickest driver in final practice, and Dempsey was the fastest of the driving trio across the three practice sessions. The LMGT3 Team Championship-leading No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating will start directly behind its sister entry. Both Edgar – who leads the Drivers Championship on his own – and Keating also were quick in Saturday’s session but still will start in points-paying position, just like the No. 34. The TF squad and its Corvettes are looking to make it two in a row at Fuji Speedway and win their third LMGT3 race of the season. Solid results for the No. 33 and No. 34 Corvette GT3s will go a long way toward determining this year’s final championship standings. The Six Hours of Fuji for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 11 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Sunday / 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Live streaming coverage of the race plus timing and scoring is available through a subscription on FIA WEC Plus with additional live streaming on the HBO Max app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans also will provide live streaming audio coverage as well.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-(NO) QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I think it’s a big shame. Both cars seemed really strong in the rain. Ben was really quick. The car felt quick. Nicky and I didn’t get a whole lot of laps. We were trying some things and scrubbing some tires, but it felt like even with minimal laps we were really fast and the car felt easy to drive. It’s a big shame because I think we would have had a strong result. We should start P10 which isn’t too bad. But based on this morning I think we would have had a very good chance fighting for pole or if not that then I expect we would have been in the top-five at least. It’s a shame but nothing we can do about it.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I really wanted to qualify. I’ve yet to put in Hyperpole this season, and I feel like today was my opportunity to do that in the wet because I looked quick in the morning practice in the wet. From a competition perspective, it’s not a terrible result. It looks like we’ll start P10 but second-place in the championship will start on the back row. Third-place will be between the 34 and 33. So as it sits right now, I feel like we’re going to have a decent shot at having a good race. I wanted to qualify but it is what it is.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R (after FP3): “We obviously ended up P1 there. I only had four laps at the end and got in with 10 or 11 minutes to go. With the wet, you’re always chipping away lap by lap especially in practice; you don’t want to overcook it. We had a race in the wet at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago, and the Corvette performed super well so I was confident in what the car can do. It bodes well for this afternoon but to be honest we look good in the dry as well. So I really have no massive preference if it’s wet or dry tomorrow.”

CORVETTE RACING AT FUJI: High Hopes for Double-Points FinishRain, fog cancels qualifying for TF Sport Corvettes and rest of FIA WEC field OYAMA, Shizuoka, Japan (September 26, 2026) – TF Sport’s two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will provisionally start the Six Hours of Fuji in the eighth and 10th positions in the LMGT3 class of the FIA World Endurance Championship after Saturday’s qualifying session was cancelled.

Heavy rain pelted Fuji Speedway throughout the day Saturday, and that plus dense fog spelled the fate for the qualifying and Hyperpole session for both Hypercar and LMGT3. It was a turn of bad luck for TF Sport and its Corvettes as the team showed strong pace in Saturday morning’s rainy final practice session. Instead the field will start in order of fastest combined practice times. The No. 34 Racing Team Turkey by TF Corvette of Charlie Eastwood, Salih Yoluc and Peter Dempsey will be the first of the TF entries on the grid. Eastwood was the quickest driver in final practice, and Dempsey was the fastest of the driving trio across the three practice sessions. The LMGT3 Team Championship-leading No. 33 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Nicky Catsburg, Jonny Edgar and Ben Keating will start directly behind its sister entry. Both Edgar – who leads the Drivers Championship on his own – and Keating also were quick in Saturday’s session but still will start in points-paying position, just like the No. 34. The TF squad and its Corvettes are looking to make it two in a row at Fuji Speedway and win their third LMGT3 race of the season. Solid results for the No. 33 and No. 34 Corvette GT3s will go a long way toward determining this year’s final championship standings. The Six Hours of Fuji for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 11 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Sunday / 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Live streaming coverage of the race plus timing and scoring is available through a subscription on FIA WEC Plus with additional live streaming on the HBO Max app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans also will provide live streaming audio coverage as well.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-(NO) QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

JONNY EDGAR, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I think it’s a big shame. Both cars seemed really strong in the rain. Ben was really quick. The car felt quick. Nicky and I didn’t get a whole lot of laps. We were trying some things and scrubbing some tires, but it felt like even with minimal laps we were really fast and the car felt easy to drive. It’s a big shame because I think we would have had a strong result. We should start P10 which isn’t too bad. But based on this morning I think we would have had a very good chance fighting for pole or if not that then I expect we would have been in the top-five at least. It’s a shame but nothing we can do about it.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I really wanted to qualify. I’ve yet to put in Hyperpole this season, and I feel like today was my opportunity to do that in the wet because I looked quick in the morning practice in the wet. From a competition perspective, it’s not a terrible result. It looks like we’ll start P10 but second-place in the championship will start on the back row. Third-place will be between the 34 and 33. So as it sits right now, I feel like we’re going to have a decent shot at having a good race. I wanted to qualify but it is what it is.”

CHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R (after FP3): “We obviously ended up P1 there. I only had four laps at the end and got in with 10 or 11 minutes to go. With the wet, you’re always chipping away lap by lap especially in practice; you don’t want to overcook it. We had a race in the wet at Silverstone a couple of weeks ago, and the Corvette performed super well so I was confident in what the car can do. It bodes well for this afternoon but to be honest we look good in the dry as well. So I really have no massive preference if it’s wet or dry tomorrow.”

PETER DEMPSEY, NO. 34 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “We’ve had the car in a good window since we got here – both in dry and wet conditions. So I think we’re ready for whatever this place is willing to throw at us. As a team we’ve been strong. We’ll start P8, which is typically around where we’ve started. Hopefully Salih can do a good couple of stints, get the car to the front and try to do something similar to what we did at Interlagos.“You want to perform in the last few races of the year. We wanted to rebound from a pretty tough event at COTA. It’s my first time here. Obviously I’m having to learn another new track. But I’m really enjoying Japan in general and Fuji is phenomenal. The car feels good. Charlie is doing a good job as always and showing us up! We’re just trying to keep up with him.”

PEVELY, MO (September 25, 2026) – The month of September continues to be unforgettable for Nick Hoffman.

He won his first World 100. He announced his his role as the new full-time dirt Late Model driver at Spire Motorsports for 2027. And now, Hoffman is a World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision winner at the track that means more to him than any.

A native of nearby Belleville, IL, Hoffman spent countless nights as a child in the grandstands at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park watching his dad, Darrell, along with all of his other racing heroes.

A move to Mooresville, NC took him away for a few years, but he returned as a teenager to hit the track himself in a DIRTcar UMP Modified. Hoffman won several races on the open-wheel side at Pevely, but ever since he started Late Model racing, a Pevely win has always been high on his to-do list.

Prior to Friday night, his best result in the full-fendered division was a seventh last year with the World of Outlaws. But after winning his Heat Race to start third in the Feature, he knew he had a chance to improve on that. The first two laps were spent racing side-by-side with Tim McCreadie for second, with Hoffman eventually clearing McCreadie off Turn 4 to win that battle.

Two laps later, Hoffman reached the back bumper of race leader Dallon Murty, and he slid up in front of the No. 13 in Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead. From there, Hoffman remained glued to the inside wall in the corners for the rest of the race, driving away from the rest of the field in the process.

Behind Hoffman, things were a whole lot more dicey. World of Outlaws points leader Bobby Pierce struggled for most of the night, resorting to a Last Chance Showdown to earn the 17th spot in the starting order. The “Smooth Operator” didn’t stay there for long, though, as Pierce pounded the Pevely cushion to climb all the way to second with 10 laps remaining. But with a gap of nearly five seconds between himself and Hoffman at that point, it looked like second was as high as he could get – until the caution came out with nine to go.

The final run to the checkered flag was a duel between the top two cars on tour, but Hoffman’s low line won out over Pierce up high. The win was Hoffman’s seventh of the season in World of Outlaws competition, but it snapped an 18-race drought dating back to his $100,000 score at Mansfield Speedway on May 30. Hoffman also moved into a tie with his good friend Jonathan Davenport for 15th on the all-time Series wins list with 18 wins in his career.

“I was going to probably get yelled at by my old man [Darrell] if I let [Pierce] pass me on the top,” Hoffman said. “Earlier, he said, ‘If you’re doing it right, you’re going to knock that spoiler off to win this race tonight.’ I just wanted to prove to him that I can get it done around the bottom. I just gambled on tires, I don’t know what [Pierce] was on, but almost the whole field was on softer stuff than I was. It was kind of a gamble there and it just played out. I had to get to the lead to control the race a little bit. It was throwing dry crumbs across the racetrack where you couldn’t run that middle very well, and I was just gauging myself off them lap cars. A couple guys could get the top rolling, but I remember Trevor Gundaker squirting off the bottom really nice, so I knew I just had to stay committed to that.”

Behind Hoffman and Pierce, McCreadie held on for third to complete the podium ahead of Dennis Erb Jr. in fourth and Jason Feger in fifth.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will be back at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park on Saturday, Sept. 26, for the second half of the King of the Arch. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

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

RACE NOTES:

Aaron Marrant set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Tyler Erb won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Dallon Murty won Heat 1.

Tristan Chamberlain won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Nick Hoffman won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Tim McCreadie won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Bobby Pierce and Ethan Dotson won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Dallon Murty won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Bobby Pierce won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Daulton Wilson won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

Bobby Pierce was the Air National Guard Second-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

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

Jason Feger was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Shannon Babb was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Daulton Wilson was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Tristan Chamberlain was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dallon Murty was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Brent Larson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

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

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[17]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 6. 18-Shannon Babb[6]; 7. 58V-Daulton Wilson[12]; 8. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 9. 11-Gordy Gundaker[9]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[10]; 11. 13-Dallon Murty[1]; 12. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 13. 74X-Ethan Dotson[18]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 15. 1Z-Logan Zarin[11]; 16. 18J-Chase Junghans[13]; 17. 14-Trey Mills[22]; 18. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]; 19. 11G-Trevor Gundaker[20]; 20. 1X-Aaron Marrant[5]; 21. 09-Michael Leach[21]; 22. 55E-Eli Johnson[15]; 23. 11H-Jeff Herzog[19]; 24. 33H-Wil Herrington[16]

Hoffman Gets First I-55 Late Model Win in King of the Arch Opener

PEVELY, MO (September 25, 2026) – The month of September continues to be unforgettable for Nick Hoffman.

He won his first World 100. He announced his his role as the new full-time dirt Late Model driver at Spire Motorsports for 2027. And now, Hoffman is a World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision winner at the track that means more to him than any.

A native of nearby Belleville, IL, Hoffman spent countless nights as a child in the grandstands at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park watching his dad, Darrell, along with all of his other racing heroes.

A move to Mooresville, NC took him away for a few years, but he returned as a teenager to hit the track himself in a DIRTcar UMP Modified. Hoffman won several races on the open-wheel side at Pevely, but ever since he started Late Model racing, a Pevely win has always been high on his to-do list.

Prior to Friday night, his best result in the full-fendered division was a seventh last year with the World of Outlaws. But after winning his Heat Race to start third in the Feature, he knew he had a chance to improve on that. The first two laps were spent racing side-by-side with Tim McCreadie for second, with Hoffman eventually clearing McCreadie off Turn 4 to win that battle.

Two laps later, Hoffman reached the back bumper of race leader Dallon Murty, and he slid up in front of the No. 13 in Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead. From there, Hoffman remained glued to the inside wall in the corners for the rest of the race, driving away from the rest of the field in the process.

Behind Hoffman, things were a whole lot more dicey. World of Outlaws points leader Bobby Pierce struggled for most of the night, resorting to a Last Chance Showdown to earn the 17th spot in the starting order. The “Smooth Operator” didn’t stay there for long, though, as Pierce pounded the Pevely cushion to climb all the way to second with 10 laps remaining. But with a gap of nearly five seconds between himself and Hoffman at that point, it looked like second was as high as he could get – until the caution came out with nine to go.

The final run to the checkered flag was a duel between the top two cars on tour, but Hoffman’s low line won out over Pierce up high. The win was Hoffman’s seventh of the season in World of Outlaws competition, but it snapped an 18-race drought dating back to his $100,000 score at Mansfield Speedway on May 30. Hoffman also moved into a tie with his good friend Jonathan Davenport for 15th on the all-time Series wins list with 18 wins in his career.

“I was going to probably get yelled at by my old man [Darrell] if I let [Pierce] pass me on the top,” Hoffman said. “Earlier, he said, ‘If you’re doing it right, you’re going to knock that spoiler off to win this race tonight.’ I just wanted to prove to him that I can get it done around the bottom. I just gambled on tires, I don’t know what [Pierce] was on, but almost the whole field was on softer stuff than I was. It was kind of a gamble there and it just played out. I had to get to the lead to control the race a little bit. It was throwing dry crumbs across the racetrack where you couldn’t run that middle very well, and I was just gauging myself off them lap cars. A couple guys could get the top rolling, but I remember Trevor Gundaker squirting off the bottom really nice, so I knew I just had to stay committed to that.”

Behind Hoffman and Pierce, McCreadie held on for third to complete the podium ahead of Dennis Erb Jr. in fourth and Jason Feger in fifth.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will be back at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park on Saturday, Sept. 26, for the second half of the King of the Arch. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

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

RACE NOTES:

Aaron Marrant set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Tyler Erb won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Dallon Murty won Heat 1.

Tristan Chamberlain won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Nick Hoffman won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Tim McCreadie won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Bobby Pierce and Ethan Dotson won the Last Chance Showdowns.

Dallon Murty won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Bobby Pierce won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Daulton Wilson won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

Bobby Pierce was the Air National Guard Second-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.

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

Jason Feger was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Shannon Babb was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Daulton Wilson was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.

Tristan Chamberlain was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Dallon Murty was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.

Brent Larson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.

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

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[17]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[7]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 6. 18-Shannon Babb[6]; 7. 58V-Daulton Wilson[12]; 8. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 9. 11-Gordy Gundaker[9]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[10]; 11. 13-Dallon Murty[1]; 12. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 13. 74X-Ethan Dotson[18]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 15. 1Z-Logan Zarin[11]; 16. 18J-Chase Junghans[13]; 17. 14-Trey Mills[22]; 18. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]; 19. 11G-Trevor Gundaker[20]; 20. 1X-Aaron Marrant[5]; 21. 09-Michael Leach[21]; 22. 55E-Eli Johnson[15]; 23. 11H-Jeff Herzog[19]; 24. 33H-Wil Herrington[16]

ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/hoffman-gets-first-i-55-late-model-win-in-king-of-the-arch-opener/