FAIRBURY, IL — July 28, 2025 — Some things arrive better late than never. 

Approaching the halfway mark of the 2025 DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, Tyler Nicely only intended to run a couple of tour races to get a feel for his program after a brief absence to go asphalt racing. But then came a path to another championship. 

Though Nicely made an appearance at Farmer City Raceway on Friday night, driving Justin Allgaier’s No. 7, he did not start the Feature. The following night at Highland Speedway, he found immediate comfort behind the wheel of his own No. 5 Elite Chassis with the night’s Feature trophy. 

When the Owensboro, KY native picked up his second victory of the season in the final Hell Tour event at Tennessee’s Clarksville Speedway, he knew what the plans until July 13 entailed. 

“After we won Clarksville, we planned on running some of that next week,” Nicely said. “And then, we clicked off some more (wins) at Spoon River and LaSalle. So, after that, we just put our heads down, kept racing, and trying to win. When we won the points in 2023, that kind of wore me out. So, this year, we’re just out here having fun with my buddies and just trying to win as much as we can.” 

The crew that Nicely brought along included developing younger members from the Blue Grass State with Prairie Dirt ClassicShowdown winner Charlie Mefford and veteran knowledge in Chase Rhinerson, who was alongside Nicely for the first tour championship. 

“We had a little deal happen before we left, and luckily, Charlie was able to come out on the road with me, so super thankful for his parents to let him come out here. We got Carson out here, who we call ‘Deer Meat,’ and he’s been out on the road with us for a little bit when he was younger, but we got him out here. Then, Chase is probably the longest one that’s been on the road with me; he was there in 2023. So, we’re following ‘Terbo’ up and down the road, and just having a good time.” 

When Nicely chased the Summit Modified Nationals title in 2023, his goal was set on racking up enough points to clinch the championship by the season’s end at Fairbury Speedway. With his late start in 2025, Nicely felt no pressure to compete on his shoulders and raced mentally with nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

“Whenever you don’t race for points, obviously the main goal is to win races,” Nicely said. “When you’re racing for points, sometimes you gotta take things a little careful. You don’t put yourself in a bind, or anything like that. Right now, we’ve just been lucky with everything going good and going our way.” 

The reason for Nicely’s absence from the first eight races of the tour was another call for celebration back home, as he and his wife Felicia welcomed their second child, Aston Carter Nicely, on June 18. With her support to travel on the road, the latecomer got to enjoy the Prairie Dirt Classic weekend by sharing the championship experience with the family. 

Nicely was officially crowned the 2025 DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals champion at Fairbury Speedway, locking up the title by entering the PDC weekend with a 67-point lead over Trevor Neville and eight wins in 13 starts. It’s his second title, after scoring his first in 2023, becoming the third driver in Series history to earn multiple DIRTcar Summit Modified Nationals championships – joining Mike Harrison and Nick Hoffman. 

“Once everything got going, it felt good, you just have to ride the wave with this stuff,” Nicely said. “I can’t thank Jim (Greenleaf, with Summit Racing Equipment) and Summit enough for making this deal possible for all of us Modified guys. I always look forward to it.” 

With the time constraints from rain showers during Saturday night’s Prairie Dirt Classic finale, the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Feature makeup will take place on Saturday night, August 30, at the Illinois bullring. 

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App. 

ARTICLE:https://dirtcarsummernationals.com/news/tyler-nicely-celebrates-second-summit-modified-nationals-title-in-pressure-free-environment/

The defending champion puts on a clinic in traffic and takes the checkered flag more than six seconds ahead

WEEDSPORT, NY (July 27, 2025) – People wonder what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object, but what would the result be of the two working together? It probably looks a lot like David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports at Weedsport Speedway.

The two joined forces in 2021 and have effectively owned the New York track. It started with a victory in their first Weedsport trip that season, and they backed it up with another the following year. The next night Gravel started ninth and nearly pulled it off, driving to second. They returned to the top step of the podium in 2023 and stayed on top in 2024. Then that brought us to 2025.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars invaded Weedsport on Sunday for the Empire State Challenge and the only New York stop for the Series this season. This trip proved to be no different as Gravel and the Tod Quiring-owned team dominated once again.

Gravel began the night by setting the fastest time in his Flight of Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying and parlayed that into a Heat Race win. The SPA Technique #1 Redraw put him on the pole of the Toyota Dash, which he also won. All that remained was the Feature.

The green flag waved and Gravel got the early jump, but Cole Macedo didn’t make it easy through the early circuits. He stayed within striking distance, but as the laps clicked away Gravel got stronger and stronger through traffic. The defending Series champion led from flag to flag, and the margin of victory was north of six seconds.

“You just never know,” Gravel said. “The pace gets so slow. They did track work, had the tiller out, and they haven’t done that all night. So, I just didn’t know if the top was going to be the place to be or not. We had a lot of aggressive guys behind us, so you know they were going to try it. I saw Cole (Macedo) in (Turns) 1 and 2 those first couple laps, but other than that I didn’t really see him.”

Gravel already owned the most World of Outlaws triumphs at Weedsport entering the night, and he extended that record with his fifth score. He’s won 33-percent of the Series’ visits to the D-shaped track. His 11th checkered flag of 2025 is the 114th of his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt as he continues to close in on Danny Lasoski’s total of 122 for sixth all-time.

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid took the second spot on Lap 22 and held on to finish runner-up. He was one of many sliding across Turns 1 and 2 to meet the cushion in the center of the corners, and it nearly cost him multiple times as he biked the Roth Motorsports machine up on two wheels. But the Penngrove, CA native managed to keep things under control for his 18th podium of the season.

“Just hit the fence basically,” Kofoid said with a laugh of his line in Turns 1 and 2. “The cushion seems to always kind of build here center off (Turn) 2. The entry to (Turn) 1 is just hard to wrap your head around just because the wall is almost like a square. You have to cut across (Turn) 1 otherwise you kind of get hung out in no man’s land and the wall comes at you. It seems better to just slide across. At least for me and our car it was better to be leaning against something.”

Sheldon Haudenschild took the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 17 from eighth to third to round out the top three and notch his second straight Weedsport podium. He equaled Logan Schuchart for the fifth most podiums this year and now trails him by a manageable 56 markers for the fourth spot in points.

“It was just tough starting eighth,” Haudenschild explained. “The 1A (Ashton Torgerson) ran her down in there and parked it, and I was running about 10th there, so I was happy for that early caution. I just found the top and was able to get a few guys and just get my tires under me and get a little bit of heat in them and be able to move around.”

The brothers Carson Macedo and Cole Macedo completed the top five.

New York’s own Danny Varin wheeled from 19th to 10th to earn the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

Carson Macedo took the Jason Johnson Racing ride to his third Simpson Quick Time of 2025 in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Carson Macedo (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Buddy Kofoid (Real American Beer Heat Two), David Gravel (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Ryan Turner (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to David Gravel.

Gravel also topped the Toyota Dash.

Alex Therrien won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Chris Windom.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to the always exciting I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park in Pevely, MO on Aug. 1-2 for the grueling Ironman 55. The winner of the 55-lap finale takes the title of Ironman and $25,000. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 5. 2C-Cole Macedo[2]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[6]; 7. 15T-Ryan Turner[4]; 8. 18-Emerson Axsom[10]; 9. 38-Zach Sobotka[9]; 10. O1-Danny Varin[19]; 11. 23-Garet Williamson[11]; 12. 17B-Bill Balog[18]; 13. 28-Jordan Poirier[20]; 14. 15-Donny Schatz[14]; 15. 99L-Larry Wight[16]; 16. 79-Jordan Thomas[24]; 17. 99-Skylar Gee[15]; 18. 6-Zach Hampton[25]; 19. 45-Cory Eliason[13]; 20. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 21. 41R-Dalton Rombough[23]; 22. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[22]; 23. 21-Alex Therrien[21]; 24. 7S-Chris Windom[12]; 25. 2X-Dave Axton[17]

CHEVROLET IN NHRA2025 Denso NHRA Sonoma Nationals SONOMA RACEWAY SONOMA, CALIFORNIA TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP | NOTES & QUOTES JULY 27, 2025

Media Resources: Images | Chevrolet Newsroom

Notes: Brittany Force lit up California Wine Country during qualifying in her Monster Energy Chevrolet Top Fuel Dragster for the Sonoma Nationals on Friday night, resetting the world record speed at an astonishing 343.16mph. On Saturday, the multi-generation racer secured her third No. 1 qualifying position of the year and won her first Mission Foods 2Fast/2 Tasty Challenge of the season. On Sunday, Force’s day came to an early end against Top Fuel points leader Shawn Langdon in the first round.

Austin Prock and the Cornwell Tools JFR Chevrolet SS team beat Spencer Hyde off the line and never trailed, going 3.904 seconds at 333.82mph on the way to his fifth Wally of the season. Prock’s 13th career Funny Car victory extends his points lead over John Force Racing teammate Jack Beckman to 140 points. Prock qualified in the fifth spot, utilizing his run of 3.891 seconds at 334.24mph, from the first qualifying run on Friday. He cruised to a first-round victory over veteran Cruz Pedragon before going 3.887 seconds at 335.48mph, the quickest pass of the weekend, beating Paul Lee in the second round. A matchup against top qualifier Matt Hagan was decided by 0.010 seconds after a slight starting line advantage by Prock. Jack Beckman beat Jason Rupert in the first round of eliminations to record his 500th round win, but hopes for an all John Force Racing finale ended when the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant JFR Chevrolet SS just crossed over the center line in the semifinals. Beckman ended Saturday with the third-best qualifying time.Round win #501 came against Hunter Green in the second round. Greg Stanfield bested his son, Aaron, both in Elite Motorsports’ Chevrolets, in a tight final Pro Stock Showdown to take home his first Wally since 2011.

UP NEXT:The 13th round of the 2025 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series takes place August 14-17, 2025 at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota. The 2025 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals can be seen on Sunday, August 17th, starting at 4:30 p.m. ET on FOX. Coverage airs throughout the weekend with FS2, NHRA on FOX and NHRA.tv (subscription), streaming available via AppleTV, Android TV, and Roku devices.

Josh Berry and the No. 21 PPG team needed a few more ounces of fuel to score a top-five finish in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 presented by PPG at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But it wasn’t meant to be as Berry’s tank ran dry on the final lap of a second Overtime run to the finish, and he dropped to 22nd at the checkered flag.Throughout the afternoon at Indy, Berry and the PPG team had both speed and the right strategy. After starting 17th, Berry and the team settled into 16th place, but leapfrogged into the top five by staying on the track during the race’s first caution period, at Lap 18.Already looking to position themselves at the front of the pack later on, the team made a green-flag stop from fifth place with seven laps remaining in the first 50-lap Stage. That dropped them to 32nd at the end of the Stage, but after others pitted, they were back in the top five for the start of Stage Two.Once again, Berry and the PPG team pitted late in the Stage, taking four tires and fuel with seven laps to go.In the third and final Stage, the PPG team was the first to make a green flag stop, at Lap 116 of a scheduled 160. The strategy worked, and with eight of the 160 scheduled laps left to run they were back in the top five.Then came a brief rain shower that sent the race into Overtime and extended the race by eight laps.Berry held fifth place through the first Overtime try and although his fuel supply had dwindled, he and the team had little to lose and lots to gain by making a gamble that the fuel would be enough for another two-lap run to the finish. (A late pit stop would have put them at the back of the lead lap, where he eventually wound up.)But it wasn’t meant to be, so Berry and the Wood Brothers team now turn the focus to Iowa Speedway and next Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350.

SONOMA, CALIF. (July 27, 2025) — It was a quick and consistent weekend for Spencer Hyde, the Canadian driver for Head Racing. He added his second final round and highest ever qualifying position to his already stacked NHRA Rookie of the Year resume at the Denso Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway. In addition to the final round and No. 2 qualifier, Hyde also set a new personal best for speed and accrued bonus points during qualifying.
 
“We had one of the greatest weekends that we could’ve had,” said Hyde. “We made seven really good runs, the most of any other Funny Car out here. We were quickest ET in the second round and Q4, and only smoked the tires once. That’s really awesome.”
 
During qualifying, all four of Hyde’s runs were strong passes, with his best run coming during the second round of qualifying, a 3.865 second, 333.58 mph pass. This run was a new personal best for speed, and is what pushed him to No. 2 qualifier, the highest he has ever qualified for race day. Hyde’s runs during the second and third rounds of qualifying were the second quickest of the round, earning him two bonus points each. During the fourth and final round of qualifying his 3.882 second, 327.98 mph pass was the quickest of the round, the only pass made in the 3.8’s and earned him three bonus points. His seven bonus points total was the most of any other Funny Car team this weekend.

 Spencer Hyde and the Head Inc Funny Car raced to their second final round of the season today at the Sonoma Nationals, photo credit NHRA/National Dragster

“Coming into race day I felt really good, knowing the car was in such a great spot,” said Hyde. “I knew if I just continued to do my best as the driver, we had a really good shot at making it far in competition.”
 
In the first round, Hyde was up against No. 15 qualifier Alexis DeJoria. Even though Hyde had the qualifying advantage, he knew he had to take DeJoria seriously if he had a shot at advancing. The pair was named the Marquee Matchup for Funny Car, which proved to be the right call. DeJoria just barely left on Hyde, but he quickly made up ground and got around her with a 3.870 second, 332.75 mph pass.
 
“You never know what Alexis is capable of, so it felt good to get around her,” said Hyde. “This was the first time we’ve ever raced each other during eliminations, and I have a feeling we have many matchups ahead of us.”
 
The second round of racing was a redo of the Northwest Nationals semi-finals, where Hyde just barely lost to Ron Capps by one-thousandth of a second, in one of the best side-by-side drag races of the season. This time, Hyde successfully got one over the three-time world champion, with a 3.872 second, 333.00 pass – the quickest of the round.
 
Hyde has now earned eligibility in four Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenges this season, by advancing to at least the semi-finals four times in 12 races. He won his first challenge appearance at the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals in Las Vegas and is looking for a repeat performance in a few weeks at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.
 
“It felt so good to get that win over Ron,” said Hyde. “He’s my hero, but I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder after losing to him in such a close race last weekend. And then he knocked me out of my third Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge yesterday. Now we’ll get to do a redo of that as well in a few weeks in Brainerd.”
 
The one and only time this weekend Hyde smoked the tires came during the semifinal round of eliminations. Fortunately, Hyde had a bit of luck on his side. Despite opponent Jack Beckman making it to the finish line first, he crossed the centerline, disqualifying his run, allowing Hyde to advance to the finals.
 
“You never want to win that way, but a round win is still a round win,” said Hyde. “I’m just glad Jack only barely crossed the centerline, so nobody came close to being hurt. Skill is important in this sport, but sometimes being lucky is even more important.”
 
Reigning Funny Car world champion Austin Prock was Hyde’s last opponent of the day, in what was his second final round appearance of the year. Even though Hyde made a solid 3.956 second, 323.35 mph pass, the points leader brought the heat and pulled out a win with a sporty 3.904 second, 333.82 mph run.
 
“You can’t be too upset losing to what I think everybody would consider the best Funny Car team in the world right now. They’re pretty dominant,” said Hyde. “But hey, we’re showing everybody we can hang, so that’s all we can do.”
 
If Hyde had won this weekend, he would have become the first Canadian to win a national event in a professional category since Jeff Arend won in Funny Car at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals in July 2012. He is now looking forward to breaking that streak shortly, with an optimistic outlook for the rest of the season.
 
“I have a lot of confidence at this point in the season,” said Hyde. “The last few races have been really good, and I think this is a good time to get hot, going into the Countdown. We want to try and make a run at a championship, and albeit, it’s going to be tough, but we want to be in the mix. We want to be talked about. Jim (Head) and Dave (Leahy) have got a great handle on this car, as they proved this weekend. And I think I’m driving alright. I have to get those lights to be a little bit quicker to keep up with Prock and them guys, but we’re getting there. We’re happy.”
 
Hyde and the Head Racing team will be back in competition at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on August 14-17 at Brainerd International Raceway. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, August 15 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, August 16. For tickets or more information on the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals visit nhra.com.
 
Qualifying Results
Q1: 3.933 sec, 325.06 mph; Qual. 6
Q2: 3.865 sec, 333.58 mph; Qual. 2
Q3: 3.902 sec, 328.14 mph; Qual. 2
Q4: 3.882 sec, 327.98 mph; Qual. 2
Bonus Points: +7 (second quickest of Q2 and Q3; quickest of Q4)
 
Race Results
 
First Round 
Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Inc. Funny Car, (.098), 3.870 sec, 332.75 mph def. Alexis DeJoria, Los Angeles, Calif., Bandero Café Funny Car, (.095), 3.913 sec, 332.84 mph
 
Second Round
Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Inc. Funny Car, (.093), 3.872 sec, 333.00 mph def. Ron Capps, Carlsbad, Calif., NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, (.090), 3.886 sec, 333.25 mph
 
Semifinal
Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Inc. Funny Car, (.096), 5.235 sec, 146.05 mph def. Jack Beckman, Corona, Calif., PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS, (.082), 4.498 sec, 184.67 mph, crossed centerline
 
Final
Austin Prock, Pittsboro, Ind., Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS, (.070), 3.904 sec, 333.82 mph def. Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Inc. Funny Car, (.096), 3.956 sec, 323.35 mph
 
Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Ten – Funny Car
1. Austin Prock                           1020
2. Matt Hagan                            819
3. Jack Beckman                        815
4. Ron Capps                              782
5. Paul Lee                                  735
6. J.R. Todd                                621
7. Dan Wilkerson                       617
8. Spencer Hyde                        568
9. Bob Tasca III                           534
10. Alexis DeJoria                      533

July 27, 2025 — MONTEREY, CA

• Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou extends his championship lead with incredible eighth victory of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season
• Colton Herta finishes third for Honda at Java House Grand Prix of Monterey from WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
• Fuel saving powers Scott Dixon from 19th on the grid to fifth at the line

It was a familiar sight for fans of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2025 as Alex Palou drove his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to victory lane for the eighth time this year—giving Honda their 12th victory in 14 races in 2025.

Palou started on pole and led 84 of 95 laps in a dominant weekend for the championship-leading driver. The Spaniard holds a 121-point lead in the drivers’ standings as he goes for his third-consecutive title and fourth in just five years.

Palou’s incredible year includes wins at St. Petersburg, Thermal Club, Barber, the Indy GP, the Indianapolis 500, Road America, Iowa and today’s victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Palou shared the podium with two-time winner at Laguna Seca, Colton Herta. Herta finished third in today’s race, matching the Andretti Global driver’s season-high result after also standing on the podium at the Detroit Grand Prix.

Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, drove to fifth after starting 19th on the grid. Dixon was able to use his Honda fuel mileage and an alternate strategy to work his way through the field over the course of the 95-lap event.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong came home eighth, his ninth top-10 finish of 2025, matching his most top-10 finishes in a single season with three races still remaining.

With 12 wins in 14 races, Honda sits 224 points ahead of rival Chevrolet in the manufacturers’ championship fight, 1314-1090.

Java House Grand Prix of Monterey Honda Race Results

1st Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
3rd Colton Herta	Andretti Global Honda
5th Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
8th Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
12th Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
16th Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global Honda
17th Louis Foster-R	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
20th Devlin DeFrancesco	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
23rd Rinus VeeKay	Dale Coyne Racing Honda
24th Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
25th Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global Honda – Not running, mechanical
26th Jacob Abel-R	Dale Coyne Racing Honda – Not running, contact
27th Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda – Not running, contact

R – Rookie

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished first: “Amazing day. Number one! Almost one-two for Honda, but two podium finishes is still great. We had amazing speed all weekend and got our 8th win of the season. I couldn’t have asked for more from this year. I’m ready and hungry for more, of course, but I couldn’t be more proud of everything this #10 team has achieved.”

Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Global Honda) finished third: “Happy overall with that result. That was a really good race, a Honda first and third. We just need to keep going and keep improving and hopefully will be on that top step eventually.”

Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished fifth: “It was a decent day, a little bit frustrating there at the end though. We kind of burned the rears off and that’s what we had been struggling with all day. It was unfortunate that Pato got by in the end. I tried to defend as hard as possible and got myself into a little bit of trouble there. But it was a good day all-in-all. Our #9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was really good. The fuel mileage was key for us to have that consistent speed through the race, and we were able to be out in front of the alternate strategy which worked out pretty well. Kudos to Honda and HRC.”

Mark Crawford (IndyCar Large Project Leader, Honda Racing Corporation USA): “Great day in the office, another win, our 12th win. 12 wins in a single season is our record at Honda with this generation of IndyCar—so we have the rest of the season to improve on that. Congrats to Alex Palou and the Chip Ganassi Racing team for a great weekend and to Colton Herta and Andretti Global for bringing home third place on the podium. Thank you to all of our associates at HRC that have put together the best engine in IndyCar racing this year. We’ll go back to Portland and do it all again.”

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to the West Coast in two weeks’ time for the BitNile.com Grand Prix of Portland August 8-10.

SONOMA, CALIF. (July 27, 2025) — The R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster team led by Josh Hart continues to improve with quicker performance numbers. Today at the Denso Sonoma Nationals Hart raced to another quarterfinal finish keeping a firm hold on his Top Ten position in the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series point standings. Through two days of qualifying leading up to race day Hart’s R+L Carriers Top Fuel team methodically improved posting quicker elapsed time runs and eventually heading into race day as the No. 6 qualified Top Fuel dragster at Sonoma Raceway. His efforts set up another first round match-up with Tony Stewart.
 
Succeeding a tough first round outing in Seattle with Stewart getting the victory Hart reflected on his race weekend. Following a conversation with his wife Brittanie the multi-time winner came into Sonoma with a new attitude.

Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel raced to the quarterfinals at the Sonoma Nationals,
photo credit Krista Zivcic Photography 

“After Seattle my wife said, ‘If it’s not fun and you’re not going to focus you should park it and come home,’ said Hart. “Like usual she was right so thanks to her and all the amazing fans at Sonoma Raceway. I can say it was a fun weekend and I was able to focus heading into the first round.”
 
Hart and Stewart were two of the best drivers in the first round advancing to at least the quarterfinals, almost every national event. In fact, Stewart had never lost in the first round this season. Hart was first off the starting line and Stewart’s streak came to an end as Hart never trailed in the race winning with a 3.746 second pass.
 
In the second round Hart drew 2024 Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta in a tough match up with two of the best leavers in the category. Kalitta was the No. 2 qualifier and Hart knew he needed to be at the top of his game to give the R+L Carriers team their best shot to advance to the semifinals. He was first off the line with a great .054 second reaction time but his 12,000-horsepower R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster overpowered the track and Kalitta made a smooth pass in the lane beside the Ocala, Florida, entrepreneur and owner of Burnyzz Speed Shop.
 
“As a driver you only get control of your attitude and reaction time,” said Hart. “This weekend I did a good job with both. Thank you to our amazing team, all the awesome fans out here and most of all my wife for changing my perspective for this event.”
 
The R+L Carriers Top Fuel team will be back in action at the Lucas Oil Nationals, August 14-17, at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minnesota.
 
Qualifying Results
Q1: 3.760 sec, 331.28 mph; Qual. 6
Q2: 3.737 sec; 328.62 mph; Qual. 6
Q3: 3.704 sec; 331.53 mph; Qual. 6
Q4: 9.411 sec; 82.18 mph; Qual. 6
Bonus points: +1 (3^rd quickest of Q3)
 
Race Results
 
First Round

Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster, (.060), 3.746 sec, 329.26 mph def. Tony Stewart, Columbus, Ind., Mobil1 dragster, (.076), 10.343 sec, 68.96 mph

Second Round

Doug Kalitta, Ypsilanti, Mich., Mac Tools dragster, (.081), 3.719 sec, 336.65 mph def. Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster, (.054), 4.813 sec, 153.30 mph

Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Point Standings – Top Fuel
1. Shawn Langdon                     990
2. Tony Stewart                         942
3. Justin Ashley                          879
4. Doug Kalitta                           869
5. Antron Brown                        779
6. Brittany Force                        738
7. Clay Millican                          615
8. Steve Torrence                      569
9. Josh Hart                               539
10. Shawn Reed                         422
 

SONOMA, CALIF. (July 27, 2025) — For the second race in a row Funny Car driver Buddy Hull experienced the scariest side of professional drag racing. On Saturday during the final qualifying session driving the Jim Dunn Racing Lescure Funny Car Hull was on his way to a solid pass when the motor exploded in front of the second year Funny Car driver. Hull was just along for the ride as the body buckled in spectacular fashion, raced into the sand trap and finally came to rest in the retaining net at the end of Sonoma Raceway. Hull suffered a puncture injury to his left hand that required four stitches, but the former Top Fuel driver escaped serious injury. Hull was bumped out of the qualified field two pairs later when Alexis DeJoria raced into the field, putting Hull and the Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car on the outside of the qualified field in the seventeenth position.
 
“I would have liked to have held onto that 16^th spot in the field but there would have been no way for us to race today,” said Hull, one of the most popular drivers on the tour. “This Jim Dunn Racing team has been battling putting this car together after a tough race last week in Seattle. I want to thank Safety Safari for getting me out of the car and I appreciate my safety equipment doing its job. Crashes like that remind you how dangerous this sport is.”
 
Through three rounds of qualifying the Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car made consistent passes. Celebrating their 75^thanniversary this season, Hall of Fame team owner and crew chief Jim Dunn has been steadily working all season. Racing a car adorned in the blue and orange Lescure Mechanical Services livery for the second time this year, and proudly featuring Alo Drinks on the rear wing, Hull was focused on putting on a show for California fans.

 Buddy Hull spent time with the Sonoma fans on Saturday speaking from the NHRA Stage about what to expect at the races, photo credit Innovation Creative Experts

“The fans have been amazing all weekend,” said Hull. “I came to the track today after the accident and so many people have wished me and the team good luck. I will be back out here, and I know the team is working on getting the Funny Car put together.”
 
Saturday night Hull spent some time in the Sonoma Raceway medical center, but he was quickly released and spent the night with his wife, Madi, and son, Maverick. At the track on Sunday Hull’s left hand was bandaged and slightly swollen but Hull spent time in the pits with the Jim Dunn Racing team and also talking with fans who showered the driver with well-wishes.
 
“I hate that I am not racing today but we just simply didn’t have the parts to get back on track even if we would have made the show. I don’t know of many teams that made the west coast swing with enough parts to bounce back from what has happened to us in the past two weeks,” said Hull. I have learned so much driving this Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car and we have just hit a bad stretch, but every team goes through things like this. We are pushing these cars to the limit.”
 
The next scheduled race for Hull and the Jim Dunn Racing team will be back the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals on August 14-17 at Brainerd International Raceway. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, August 15 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, August 16. For tickets or more information on the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals visit nhra.com.
 
Qualifying Results
Q1: 4.244 sec, 288.70 mph; Qual. 13
Q2: 4.096 sec, 290.57 mph; Qual. 15
Q3: 4.119 sec, 292.84 mph; Qual. 16
Q4: 4.096 sec, 317.27 mph; Qual. 17
Bonus Points: 0

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIESJava House Grand Prix Of Monterey2.238-mile, 11-turn road courseMonterey, CaliforniaRace ReportJuly 27 Christian Lundgaard brought the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the runner-up spot to score his fourth podium of the year The first-season Papaya adorned driver led a six Chevrolet powered contingent in the top-10 finishers in today’s 95-lap race around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Weathertech Raceway at Lagua Seca road course for the Java House Grand Prix Of MontereyLundgaard’s finish is Chevrolet’s 22nd podium at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna SecaIt is the second year that an Arrow McLaren Chevrolet has been on the podium Pato O’Ward finished fourth behind the wheel of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to score his fifth consecutive top-five, ninth of the year and 47th of his career, tying him at 40th overallToday’s charge from 24th starting position to sixth in the finishing order, marked Callum Ilott and PREMA Racing’s best finish of the year coming off his eighth at Toronto piloting the No. 90 PREMA Racing ChevroletToday’s run is the fourth top-ten for the team, building consistency with three races in a row one driver scoring a top-tenWill Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, scored the seventh finishing spotl his seventh top-ten of the yearChristian Rasmussen fifth top-ten of the year driving the No. 21 SPLENDA Ed Carpenter Racing ChevroletHis ninth place finish ties his best finish on a road or street courseScott McLaughlin brought the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, to the finish line in 10th place, his seventh top-10 of the seasonNext on the schedule for Chevrolet Motorsports in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland at Portland (Oregon) International Raceway on August 8-10, 2025Tune-in: 3pm (ET)/2pm (CT)/1pm (MT)/noon (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218 Java House Grand Prix Of Monterey Race Results

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES): Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 2nd:“I knew the pit sequences are really key around here, and we went into this race not knowing if it was going to be a primary or alternate tire race. It ended up being a red race, and I can’t thank this team enough. This is the most podiums we’ve ever had in a year, and I’m very proud of the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team.” Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 4th:“I just didn’t feel like I had the performance today. There were cars giving me a lot of pressure from behind. It felt like we extracted the most out of what we had. Congrats to Christian on the podium, and I’m happy for Arrow McLaren with our most podiums we’ve ever had in a season. There are still three races to go. We’re going to keep pushing, but the 10 car just keeps winning.” Callum Ilott, No, 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet finished 6th:“It was a really solid race. We got the strategy right, so the team did an amazing job on that side. Also with the pit stops they have really improved throughout the season and it’s paying off now. We started on the black tires and as a soon as the second yellow came out it opened up the pit window and we switched to the reds. I had really good tyre degradation, and I was able to maintain a good pace. It was a shame I couldn’t quite get past Pato as I think that would have been nice to set me up for the end of the race. But overall really happy with the team and being able to bring the result home.” Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet finished 7th:“I think we end up around the top five if we start on the primary tire. That would have allowed us to run reds to the end but also come in under that second yellow flag. If we are able to pit there for the red tires we run with Dixon and Illot and I think we may have had them on pace. The weekend break comes at a good time for everyone on the Verizon Chevy team because there has been a lot of work going on the last few weeks.” Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Liquid Science Chevrolet finished 9th:“Good race for us today, overall, a good weekend. You know, starting 11th and gaining a couple spots and finishing ninth. Had a really good first stint. And, you know, we were passing people, even on our same strategy. I think we got up to P3 on our strategy, which is very positive. Super good pace on the black tire. We really were strong in the pit lane today, really proud of the boys for that. That was awesome to see. We’re just struggling with a little bit too much deg(radation) on the reds, on the new reds, really. I think my best, my best stint on the reds were my used reds. So, it was weird. I had a lot of oversteer, a lot of understeer in the middle. So just, it was just really, really hard to drive. So unfortunate too, because that kind of made me drop a wheel there out of turn four, which cost us a couple positions. So, it really should have been P7 but it’s still a good day for us. We’re moving forward as a team. We’re getting more consistently up there, fighting for top 10s on a fairly regular basis. So, I’m looking forward to see what we can bring to Portland and super excited for the ovals at the end of the year.” Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet finished 10th:“Not a bad day for XPEL Chevy. I felt like our potential was probably into the top five or top eight, but we still salvaged a top ten. Not everything went our way, but we finished, and it’s nice to get a full race in with the boys. The car was OK. It can be better, but making improvements. Just trying to get a little bit of our mojo back, and we started that this weekend.” Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet finished 11th:“Honestly, it was great to get a solid, fairly stress-free finish this weekend. We’ve had a tough stretch here with DNFs and that has us behind a bit from where we need to be. Everyone on the Astemo Chevy has kept their head down and has put in the work necessary for us to pull out of this valley we’re in currently. Today was a lot about pit and tire strategy and we just came out on the wrong side of that, particularly on our second stint when we were overcut on a primary tire run. That cost us quite a bit of position and we did our best to claw that back before the checkered.” David Malukas, No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Clarience Technologies Chevrolet finished 13th:“For some reason we did not have a race car today. We kind of figured that out after first four or five laps, so we knew it was going to be survival till the end. So just praying and holding on and trying to make it out. Very thankful that we managed to come out with the P 13. There were some crashes at the end that pulled us forward. Obviously need to get our heads down, study on what’s going on with these road courses this year. A lot of work to do.” Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet finished 14th:“Obviously, we hate getting fired into the gravel and doing donuts in the sand on lap one. I am literally covered in dirt, because we got fired into the gravel by someone else, so that was a shame. But somehow, we managed to get out of the gravel, which was awesome. Eventually, we came from last to 14th. So, I honestly was really happy with the car once we got to the last stint. And I think the team, we knew we had a decent car, and to be right up on the gearbox of Malukas, Rahal and Josef (Newgarden), felt good for us. We weren’t going backwards, we were only going forwards, and that’s a good step forward for us. If we didn’t get wrecked at the beginning, maybe we would have been a better day. But I think we definitely salvaged what we could.” Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet finished 15th:“This was a tough weekend all around. We never really found our way. Definitely not what we wanted for a race that Java House is the presenting sponsor of! Everyone did a good job to push through and get everything we could out of it.” Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 18th:“An up and down day for the No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. I led laps for the first time in INDYCAR, but I’m ready for that to translate into a strong result. We had a puncture early on, which shifted our strategy a bit. That set us back, and then we lost some pace later in the race. We’re going to look into what happened there, but I’m confident we can reset and come back strong in Portland.” Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet finished 19th:“That was a bit of a dogfight out there. There’s a lot of chaos, as per usual. I really love this track. The way he races is fun and unique and I think that we had an OK day. We just struggled in the early stints with the black tires, and I think that we stayed on those a little bit too long. The degradation level was just super high this year, compared to other years. It was a new racetrack for us, a new game to play. So, I think that we did a good job to adapt to move forward in the field, Heads up for the next one. I think that Portland, we have a lot more to learn. We have some testing to do, and hopefully that will help us start the weekend a little bit better. Get us a better window, so we can go fight at the front.” Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet finished 21st:“At the start of the race I was pushed wide into the gravel and from there on I just tried to recover as much as I could as it changed our strategy. I was really struggling with the pace of the car though throughout the race which meant I couldn’t gain as many places. I had some moments where I felt like I was going to spin and I was trying to use the tools to help the car balance, but this didn’t seem to help. It seems like we are missing something, so we will work hard to try and figure it out ahead of the next race in Portland.” Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Sexton Properties Chevrolet finished 22nd:“Overall, really long stretch of four weekends in a row, just really happy for it to be over. The only thing that went right were our pit stops. Guys were good in the pits. Otherwise, it was just terrible and unlucky; we finished it off with the same exact streak that we started with. We’ve had pace here and there but we just haven’t been good. And I think we need to sit down and really understand what was wrong over the next week that we have off and come back to Portland really strong.”

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceSunday, July 27, 2025Christian LundgaardPress Conference THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up today’s Java House Grand Prix of Monterrey. We are now joined by the second- and third-place finishing drivers. Coming home second, Christian Lundgaard, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet with his second runner-up finish of 2025. Fifth podium here of the season. Fifteen on-track passes. That’s a race high for Christian today in what is now his eighth career podium. Colton Herta also joins us, driver of the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian. Second podium of the season, 20th career podium, and fourth podium here at Laguna Seca. Christian, really one of the stories between you two was the second exchange and the second stint getting out in front of Colton. What was key in that one? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think with the amount of deg that we had, the alternates weren’t — they were lasting from a pace perspective, but again, balance was very tough at the end of stints, and I knew that from my own first stint. Really it was just a very similar race for me compared to Barber. Used the undercut and attack. Obviously it worked. I knew I had to surprise him. So I did it into 11 instead of waiting for the main straights. Always fun racing. Q.  Christian, at the last restart when the last yellow came out, the gap to Palou was only 0.3 seconds. You were thinking then there would be a realistic chance to catch him after the restart? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I mean, yes and no. I would say he had a pace advantage. I was really struggling on the last stint. We were on a used set of alternates that we knew we had to run longer than we’ve run the other two new alternates stints. I knew it was going to be tough, but, I mean, I was just trying to keep it on the track, in all honesty, and stay ahead of Colton. It just made it a lot tougher having to keep Colton behind as well. Q.  Christian, could you kind of go into a little bit more detail on the strategy choice today? You kind of did something different than everybody else. It seemed to work out. CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: You know, I think it was a big question mark going into the race. I think it was one of those weekends where it’s very tough to really decide the strategy because you had to decide it last night right after warmup, which we call cool-down when it’s on Saturday evening. You have all night to sleep on it, and you don’t — I mean, you know already Saturday night what people are going to start on, but you don’t know if it’s going to be a red race. You don’t know if it’s going to be a prime race. And specifically this weekend, with the lack of running we’ve had, not running P2, it’s been extra hard. The 7 car did it last year. Obviously when I wasn’t in the car. They made it work. We were very determined to try to do something different and kind of do something similar. Obviously it worked out today, but we also knew that the undercut would work. I wasn’t quite expecting to be on the used alts at the end. I would much more prefer that to be the second to last stint, you know, have a new set at the end. It’s easy to complain after the fact, but looking at us finishing second from seventh is certainly great. Q.  For the two of you, just kind of describe the difference in feel between a new set of reds and a used set of reds during this race, because that seemed to make a pretty big difference. COLTON HERTA: I think the overall grip is similar. Like when you are on the new or the used, when you get like that third or fourth lap peak, it’s a similar feeling. Then those kind of minor twitches or minor snaps, they happen sooner than the new tires. Really it’s just kind of — the pace just kind of degs evenly, I think, with the new reds, but it’s just below it the whole time after, like, lap four.All those little minor twitches that you hope to feel on lap 10 or lap 12, on the new reds you feel it on, like, lap 6 or lap 7. When you feel that, you think, oh, boy, this could go really wrong. CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I mean, I think it’s very similar, from my point of view. It’s kind of just an offset, right? They do have a memory, in a sense. If you’ve had an understeery or an oversteery balance the first time you run the tires, that’s kind of the balance you’re going to have the second time you run it. I think all of us were more on the oversteery side, and it’s not necessarily a fun track to have oversteer at. Q.  During Rinus VeeKay’s sort of accident in turn 3, the series delayed the caution to give an opportunity for the frontrunners to pit. Do you think that’s the right thing for the series to do, to delay cautions to let everybody pit? Or do you think that’s just the nature of the danger zone, and by staying out you do get penalized for it? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think there are pros and cons to it in a sense. I mean, I was definitely driving around thinking, why is there a car sideways — well, technically backwards going into the corkscrew, and we’re green for two laps? Yes, there’s a local yellow, but if someone isn’t really paying attention, changing a switch on the steering wheel, it can go terribly wrong. The one with VeeKay in turn 3 I think was more fair in a sense because you see him parked in the gravel. You’re not really going to end up there unless you really aren’t paying attention. I think INDYCAR in a sense has been consistent with that. Not necessarily to say that I agree with it, but I do appreciate that they are consistent with it. Q.  Alex has won pretty much the majority of races this year, and you’re having quite a lot of good weekends, a lot of podiums this season, but you can’t really get the upper hand on him. How do you think you can turn it around and he can be beaten? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think what’s very interesting with the 10 car is even though they’re having bad weekends, they still come out ahead, right? That’s what’s super frustrating for all of us. Even if he makes a mistake, the team makes a mistake, they make it up somehow, which I feel like we’re all kind of struggling to do in a sense. They’re there every single time. You have to give them kudos for being that competitive every time, and they’ve raised the bar. I think we’ve all said that before. I thought I had a tremendously good start to the season, and I was still way behind the 10 car in the championship after five races, and I had three podiums. The only difference is he won four out of those. Q.  I know you were pretty unhappy after Friday. How do you think you were able to turn it around this weekend to bring in a pretty strong result? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah, I think it’s very interesting for me. I sat in this very chair with Colton after practice one, and I was probably the least happy driver on the grid leaving practice one. We turned it around somehow without a practice two. The car was really good in qualifying, and we got hurt by a yellow in the Fast 12. That hurt us from advancing into the Firestone Fast Six. In a sense, I think that helped us today. We had two sets of new alternate tires, which I think helped our strategy. Q.  When you are able to take a weekend where you weren’t happy on Friday and deliver this result with a second-place finish, even though you didn’t win the race, how happy are you, and how fulfilled do you feel what you were able to accomplish today? CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: You know, that’s the thing, right? I love coming to Laguna Seca. Obviously I’ve been faster in the past. I got to race here before the pavement, and I raced here with the new pavement. I think it produced very different racing. I think we also remember how big of a chaos 2023 was with, I guess, turn 11 with all the yellows that happened. I wanted to really showcase the racing that this track can produce. I was very frustrated after P1, and we just kept our head in it and focused on trying to make the car better. It’s a very similar situation to what we had in Toronto last weekend. We just weren’t able to turn it around. It kind of feels like a win for us on the 7 car, but we have to do it every single weekend. That’s what the 10 car is doing, and that’s what we need to do better, but I guess that’s what everybody needs to do better.

Chevrolet wins at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 5 1993 – Paul Tracy – Team Penske1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske1989 – Rick Mears – Team Penske1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske Chevrolet poles at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 8 2023 – Felix Rosenqvist – Arrow McLaren2022 – Will Power – Team Penske1993 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Team Penske1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske1989 – Rick Mears – Team Penske1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske1987 – Mario Andretti – Newman Haas Racing Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 22 Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by driver: Mario Andretti (3), Danny Sullivan (3), Al Unser Jr. (3), Michael Andretti (2), Rick Mears (2), Will Power (2), Emerson Fittipaldi (1), Christian Lundgaard (1), Scott McLaughlin (1), Josef Newgarden (1), Bob Rahal (1), Alexander Rossi (1) and Paul Tracy (1)  Chevrolet podiums at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by team: Team Penske (11), Newman Haas Racing (5), Galles Racing (3), Arrow McLaren (2), Rahal Hogan Racing (1) Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca: 567 Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by driver: Danny Sullivan (156), Michael Andretti (86), Mario Andretti (83), Paul Tracy (81), Rick Mears (52), Will Power (29), Pato O’Ward (15), Al Unser Jr. (14), Felix Rosenqvist (11), Nolan Siegel (11), Josef Newgarden (10), Alexander Rossi (10), Emerson Fittipaldi (7), Callum Ilott (1), and Simon Pagenaud (1) Chevrolet laps led at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca by team: Team Penske (332), Newman Haas Racing (169), Arrow McLaren (47), Galles Racing (14), Patrick Racing (4), and Juncos Hollinger Racing (1) Manufacturer History at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca Wins (with competition): 9 – Honda (2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019, 2000, 1997, 1996)5 – Chevrolet (1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988)5 – Cosworth (1987, 1986, 1985, 1984, 1983)4 – Ford (2001, 1999, 1998, 1992)1 – Ilmor (1994)1 – Mercedes (1995)1 – Toyota (2002) Poles (with competition): 8 – Chevrolet (2023, 2021, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987)7 – Honda (2025, 2024, 2021 2019, 2001, 2000, 1996)5 – Ford (1999, 1998, 1997, 1995, 1992)4 – Cosworth (1986, 1985, 1984, 1983)1 – Ilmor (1994)1 – Toyota (2002)

Langdon Continues Top Fuel Points Lead with Semi-final Run

SONOMA, Calif. (July 27, 2025) – Doug Kalitta was victorious in an all-Toyota Top Fuel final at the NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway on Sunday. 

Kalitta posted a time of 3.752 over fellow Toyota Top Fuel dragster Antron Brown in Sunday’s final to earn his first win of the 2025 season. The win marks Toyota’s fifth straight in top fuel and the ninth victory of the season. 

Shawn Langdon continues to lead the Top Fuel point standings after advancing to the semi-finals at Sonoma before being defeated by Brown. Justin Ashley advanced out of round one but was defeated by Brown in the second round. 

In Funny Car, Ron Capps advanced to the second round while J.R. Todd was eliminated in round one. 

Toyota Post-Race Recap

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series 

Sonoma Raceway

NHRA Sonoma Nationals

Race 12 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS  

Name	Car	Final Result	Round-by-Round
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Winner	W (3.703) v. R. August Jr. (3.826) W (3.719) v. J. Hart (4.813) W (3.734) v. Bye W (3.752) v. A. Brown (4.067)
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Runner-up	W (3.718) v. I. Zetterstrom (3.739) W (3.740) v. J. Ashley (3.817) W (4.195) v. S. Langdon (5.322) L (4.067) v. D. Kalitta (3.752)
Shawn Langdon	Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Semi-finals	W (3.688) v. B. Force (3.721) W (8.019) v. Bye L (5.322) v. A. Brown (4.195)
Justin Ashley	SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Second Round	W (3.750) v. C. Millican (3.718) L (3.817) v. A. Brown (3.740)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS  

Name	Car	Final Result	Round-by-Round
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	Second Round	W (3.854) v. C. Green (3.907) L (3.886) v. S. Hyde (3.872)
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	First Round	L (9.262) v. H. Green (3.915)

*= Non-Toyota driver 

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Final Result: Winner

How does it feel to get the win today over Antron Brown?

“It’s exciting. Just really proud of my team here. Connie (Kalitta) is in the crowd. He gives us everything we need. Thanks to Mac Tools and Toyota. Beating Antron (Brown) is always tough. It’s been a while since we made it to the finals so I’m glad we managed to get this win. I just can’t say enough about Alan Johnson and my whole team here. They do one hell of a job.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT JULY 27, 2025

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

·        After a valiant effort to defend his Brickyard 400 title, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports team leaves the “Racing Capital of the World” with a runner-up finish after a double overtime attempt in the crown jewel event. The result marks Larson’s 11th top-five finish in 22 races to continue to lead the series.   ·        Looking for his second crown jewel triumph of the season, Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron led the Bowtie brigade to the green flag of the 2025 Brickyard 400 from the sixth starting position. Byron made a quick climb into the top-five before varying pit strategies began when the first caution of the day flew near the halfway point of the opening stage. Crew Chief, Rudy Fugle, called his driver to pit road for a two-tire stop – keeping the No. 24 Chevrolet team in the top-10 for the restart on Lap 22. Progressively clicking off spots towards the top of the leaderboard, Byron went on to take the first green-white checkered flag in the third position – leading a strong contingency of six Team Chevy drivers to a collection of points in Stage One.  ·        The second 50-lap run at the famed Indiana oval saw another Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet battling for a stage win – reigning Brickyard 400 winner, Kyle Larson. The 32-year-old Elk Grove, California, native was one of five drivers who tallied points in both stages of the race – joined by fellow Team Chevy drivers, William Byron and Carson Hocevar. With Stage Two winner, Ryan Blaney, electing to pit under the stage break, Larson inherited the lead and a front-row starting position to take the green-flag for the final stage en route to the podium finish. 

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS.     DRIVER 2nd – Kyle Larson9th – Alex Bowman10th – Carson Hocevar Chevrolet’s season statistics with 22 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:  Wins: 9Poles: 10Top-Fives: 45Top 10s: 95Stage Wins: 20

UP NEXT: The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Iowa Speedway with the Iowa Corn 350 Powered by Ethanol on Sunday, August 3, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletSidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One. Finished: 39th I went into turn three and I think I got run into. It was a tough weekend for our No. 1 Busch Light Lime Chevrolet team. It felt the same, balance-wise and grip-wise, as the next couple of cars in front of us and we were just plugging along. We’ll regroup and get ready for Iowa Speedway next weekend.”   Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 38th “Man, I hate it for Get Bioethanol and everyone on this No. 3 team. Our Chevrolet was good and I was happy with the balance. We earned points in the first stage and I felt like we had a car capable of finishing inside the top-10. It was a chain reaction with the field checking up on the restart and there was nothing we could do. Smashed our entire nose in and our day was done.”   Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 2ndWhat would you have done differently on that restart, or did you have anything more?“There’s nothing you can do here (at Indianapolis Motor Speedway) to pass, so no, I don’t really think there was anything I could do differently. I was second gear on the first restart, and honestly, that one worked out a little bit better, but he almost got clear of me down the front stretch. And then on the second restart, he brought the pace down a little bit slower, so I needed to be first gear. It was kind of the same thing with me last year – he had the preferred lane on the inside and it’s really hard to beat that.”   Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 25th “We did the best we could with a tough situation today. We could fire off strong for the first five laps in our zone Chevrolet, then started to lose grip. Thought we would be okay and ran in the top six for the beginning of the race. The field got bunched together on a restart and we ended up with damage that ruined our chances of a decent day. Had we executed the way we needed to execute, we would have been there, but we will keep working together to get to where we need to be.”   Ty Dillon, No. 10 Kaulig Racing ChevroletFinished: 28th OBVIOUSLY, THE RESTART THERE REALLY SEEMED TO HINDER WHAT HAPPENED TODAY. WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM TODAY?“Disappointing obviously, but things like that happen and you can’t predict everything. That has been what has been so cool about this In-Season Challenge for everybody. I just hate that we didn’t get to give them a run for it there. I don’t think they would say as a team that they had the best day either. I think if all things are equal and we don’t knock the nose off on that restart, we are probably sitting in a pretty good position to put some pressure on him and race him out pretty solid. The first-half of the race, we were okay, and then we had a bad run there at the end of Stage One. So, I think we were going to be able to get the car back right and challenge him, but it just didn’t work out that way and it’s disappointing. Something happened where it knocked off all the air duct, and pinched off the air so the motor wouldn’t run down the straightaways. Then you are just kind of riding for the rest of the day.”

FAIRBURY, IL (July 26, 2025) – Since the first time he strapped into a dirt Late Model over 20 years ago, Brian Shirley has dreamed of conquering the Prairie Dirt Classic.

Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway, that dream came true.

The Chatham, IL native has done everything there is to do for a driver born and bred in the “Land of Lincoln.” DIRTcar National championships. DIRTcar Summer Nationals titles. Hundreds of Feature wins. The only thing missing was a win in the state’s biggest race. Nineteen years after his first PDC start, Shirley finally got the job done.

Once he took the checkered flag, Shirley couldn’t even make it to Victory Lane before the party began. Halfway through his cooldown lap, “Squirrel” parked the No. 3S and climbed out on the backstretch to salute the Fairbury faithful.

“It’s so awesome. All these fans, I just appreciate the raw emotion from the fans,” Shirley said. “This is for my wife, she’s in the hospital right now. Luckily, on that day off, I got to go up and see her and spend the night with her before we head off to Wisconsin here.”

Shirley’s night started on the outside of Row 2 behind two of his fellow Illinois gassers, Brandon Sheppard and Bobby Pierce, on the front row. He stayed in the top five early on while both of the top-two starters faded, putting him third behind Hudson O’Neal and Jonathan Davenport after 10 laps. The rain delay led to a bottom-dominant track in the opening laps, but Shirley was one of the first to make the outside work and used it to get by Davenport on Lap 22.

With O’Neal ripping the cushion as well, Shirley had to go back low in his bid for the top spot. He proved to be equally fast through the middle, as Shirley got enough of a run off Turn 4 to get to O’Neal’s inside down the frontstretch and completed the pass in Turn 1 to take command.

The name of the game from that point was restarts – the 100-lap contest was plagued by a flurry of cautions, but Shirley kept the field at bay time and time again. The list of challengers included the likes of Pierce, Davenport and Nick Hoffman – all of whom were involved in a restart pileup with 15 to go.

When the carnage was cleaned up, Shirley and Sheppard were the two primary contenders remaining at the front of the field. Shirley pulled away initially, but Sheppard wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

By the time the white flag was in the air, Sheppard was all over the back bumper of Shirley’s machine. The No. 1 went low and got alongside Shirley down the backstretch, but Shirley blasted off the FALS cushion in Turn 2 to take the upper hand into the final corner. Shirley blocked the slider line in Turns 3 and 4 while Sheppard again dove to the bottom, and Shirley won the drag race to the line to clinch his first World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision win of the year in the biggest event on the schedule.

“Those last couple laps, I could feel ‘B-Shepp’ down there,” Shirley said. “I just kept telling myself to try and stay up on that wheel. I was so nervous to go down there and try because I had just been running that same line for so long. The good Lord was just letting it just come down to one lap.”

Sheppard’s runner-up effort was his sixth podium in the PDC, continuing the hot streak he and Rocket1 Racing have been on over the past four weeks that now includes seven podiums in their last 11 starts.

“Brian did a great job there, he got it out front pretty early and kept it out there like he was supposed to do,” Sheppard said. “Once we got lined out I couldn’t really do much. I was trying every line possible out there but I just couldn’t get close enough to him to throw a slider or anything. I was waiting for him to mess up or something and he didn’t.”

Rounding out the all-Illinois podium was Dennis Erb Jr., who went from ninth to third in the Feature for his best PDC finish since 2016.

“We had a good car all weekend,” Erb said. “Just a little off there at the end of the race, but all in all, just glad the way the night turned out, and we’ll just go on to the next one.”

Hoffman recovered from the late-race incident to finish fourth, while Tim McCreadie advanced 16 spots up to fifth to complete the top five.

RACE NOTES:

Brian Shirley set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Garrett Alberson, Tyler Bruening and Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Brandon Sheppard won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Cody Overton won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Brandon Sheppard won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Nick Hoffman was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Cody Overton was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Daulton Wilson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Jason Jameson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will head to Wilmot Raceway for the first time ever for the Wilmot Late Model Showdown on Monday, July 28. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (100 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[10]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[21]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 7. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 8. 2-Cody Overton[29]; 9. 18D-Daulton Wilson[15]; 10. 111-Max Blair[8]; 11. 96-Tanner English[16]; 12. 12J-Jason Jameson[6]; 13. 6-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 14. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 15. 58-Garrett Alberson[17]; 16. 25F-Jason Feger[11]; 17. 11R-Josh Rice[13]; 18. 19R-Ryan Gustin[23]; 19. 89-Mike Spatola[25]; 20. 1T-Tyler Erb[20]; 21. 16-Tyler Bruening[18]; 22. 24-Ryan Unzicker[27]; 23. 22*-Drake Troutman[24]; 24. 42-Mckay Wenger[22]; 25. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[12]; 26. 74X-Ethan Dotson[28]; 27. 1W-Donny Walden[26]; 28. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[19]; 29. 32S-Chris Simpson[14]

BENTON, MO (July 26, 2025) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. continues to cement his legacy as one of the most accomplished drivers in American Sprint Car Series history with his fifth-straight Feature win Saturday night at Benton Speedway.

The five-time Series champion from Sunnyvale, TX, has tied the national Series record for most consecutive Feature wins, which was originally set in 2005 by four-time Series champion Gary Wright and later tied by Hafertepe in 2017. He’s never been one to get caught up in statistics or record book facts, but the accomplishments he and the Hill’s Racing Team have made in their time together are not lost on him.

“To win five-in-a-row, not a lot of guys can do that, and it’s pretty awesome to be able to do that twice,” Hafertepe said. “To put your name anywhere with Gary Wright is a feat in itself.”

The streak began at the beginning of July, when Hafertepe swept both races of The Big One on Independence Day weekend at Belleville High Banks. A third-straight win came last Friday night at Creek County Speedway before the weekend sweep of Windy Hollow Speedway and Benton. He’s now up to 85 career national Series Feature wins — eight of which have come in 2025 alone — and now leads the championship points standings by 173 points over Blake Hahn.

His win Friday at Windy Hollow was a dominant showing from start-to-finish, but Hafertepe was put through a bit more adversity at Benton. He jumped to the lead in the opening laps but quickly reached lapped traffic, slowing his pace and opening the door for Matt Covington to throw a slidejob on him to take the lead on Lap 8.

Covington led through the halfway point until disaster struck on Lap 17. With heavy lapped traffic in front of him and Hafertepe on his tail, Covington attempted to pass multiple cars in Turns 1–2 and made contact with Kory Bales, sending the No. 95 around and stalling out in Turn 2. This sent Covington to the back of the field and handed the lead to Hafertepe for the next restart.

“I went to slide the 88 car, and the 5 car that was in front of him I thought just peeled off the cushion a little bit — Cody said he was spinning out — and I tapped his left-rear with my right-front and it looped me around,” Covington said. “[Hafertepe] got into me a little bit — luckily just a little bit, didn’t ruin his night too — and it broke my Jacobs ladder.”

Despite the misfortune, Hafertepe had the confidence he would have regained the lead again on his own.

“I didn’t know [Covington] was gonna crash, but I did know that if I bided my time, he’d get in the situation where maybe I could get him back,” Hafertepe said. “With that long of a race, we were only 10–11 laps in, I knew I had time to do what I needed to do to get back by him.”

Meanwhile, a seventh-starting Hahn had made progress on his way up through the field and lined up third behind Rookie of the Year contender Garrett Benson for the restart with 13 laps left. The two immediately engaged in a slidejob battle, but Hahn was able to seal the pass for the runner-up spot on Lap 19 and set his sights on the No. 15H out front.

A restart with 10 laps remaining saw Hahn take a shot at the top spot, throwing a slidejob on Hafertepe in Turns 1–2, which Hafertepe defended with a crossover maneuver and a slidejob of his own in Turns 3–4 to take the lead back before the yellow flag was displayed again. Covington had broken at the rear of the field and was towed off the track, officially scored 19th at the finish.

One final restart gave Hafertepe another shot at playing defense on Hahn, which he did after a bit of game-planning under the caution period.

“[Hahn] was getting to the lead because I had a bad restart,” Hafertepe said. “Once I timed my restart better in (Turns) 3–4, I actually took off early in 3, and I think that kinda sealed it for me. It got me off 4 really nice, and it was smooth sailing from there on out.”

“Sam’s such a smart racer, he wasn’t gonna let that happen again,” Hahn said. “He changed where he took off from in the corner. I still had a good enough start to be able to slide him, but he was moving down, making sure I wasn’t going to be able to make that slider across.”

After the final restart, Hafertepe cruised to the checkered flag untouched, with Hahn in second and Benson in third.

Benson’s third-place run garnered him his first career national Series podium. The result also marked his fifth-straight top-10 finish, helping to push him past fellow Rookie of the Year contender Brady Baker for fifth in the championship points standings. Benson now leads in the Rookie points chase by 14 points over Baker.

2023 Series champion Jason Martin crossed the stripe in fourth, while Austyn Gossel completed the top five.

Hafertepe turned the fastest lap in WEDG High Performance Karts Hot Laps at 14.714 seconds and was also the fastest driver in Qualifying with a lap time of 13.956 seconds.

Heat Races were won by Tucker Boulton (Heat 1), Landon Britt (Heat 2) and Garrett Benson (Heat 3).

Hafertepe was the victor of the Honest Abe Roofing Dash.

UP NEXT

The American Sprint Car Series heads to Knoxville Raceway this Thursday–Saturday, July 31–Aug. 2, for the 35th annual Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank.

Tickets for the event are on sale in advance at KnoxvilleRaceway.com and will also be sold at the track. If you can’t attend, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS (view all results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[7]; 3. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 4. 36-Jason Martin[10]; 5. 16G-Austyn Gossel[3]; 6. 14-Jordon Mallett[9]; 7. 88R-Ryder Laplante[16]; 8. 34-Sterling Cling[8]; 9. 71-Brady Baker[13]; 10. 10-Landon Britt[6]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[12]; 12. 2J-Zach Blurton[11]; 13. 4X-Chase Howard[14]; 14. 44R-Ronny Howard[17]; 15. 5D-Zach Daum[23]; 16. 2-Chase Porter[20]; 17. 88-Terry Easum[19]; 18. 88C-Brogan Carder[18]; 19. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 20. 5-Kory Bales[15]; 21. 7D-Dylan DeJournett[21]; 22. 901-Tucker Boulton[4]; 23. 19P-Brady Parmeley[22]; 24. 3D-Jake Diehl[24]

TULSA, OK – July 26, 2025 – Through the first 12 races of the 2025 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota campaign, Jacob Denney has stood at the top of his car in half of the Features.

In Open Wheel Mania at Tulsa Speedway, the Galloway, OH, pilot took his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) crew to Victory Lane for the sixth time in a race similar to his triumph at Arrowhead Speedway on Friday.

Gavin Miller and Chase McDermand set the front row for the opening start, with Denney passing McDermand for second place on the top side of the track as Miller solidified his place with the lead on the bottom lane.

When the first caution waved on Lap 6, Denney took advantage of Miller’s No. 97 SoundGear LynK Chassis on the restart by sliding under him for the lead through Turns 3-4.

While Denney commanded the pace, Cannon McIntosh passed McDermand for third place on the restart, then passed Miller on Lap 10 for second place as he placed full focus on his KKM teammate.

On Lap 13, McIntosh slid Denney through Turns 1-2 to take the lead. However, Denney kept Bixby, OK, native in his crosshairs as he dived under him with momentum off of Turn 2 to retake the lead.

When the final yellow flag was displayed with two laps remaining, Denney got the jump against McIntosh to the throttle as the No. 67 JBL Audio Toyota sped away from the field to cross the twin checkered flags as a Series Feature winner.

“I was really trying to make laps tick when I got to the lead,” Denney said. “Caleb said I had a pretty good lead, so I just kept trying to do what I was doing. I went in there too soft the first restart when Cannon was behind me, I let him slide me, I ran the outside of it, then he slipped me the next time I went down, and he cleared me. 

“I turned it all the way up as far as I could go and as hard I could drive it the rest of the race. So, I knew I had the car to do it, I just couldn’t be the one to let it go. That’s a testament to Caleb, Tanner, and Grant for giving me a great piece every night.”

McIntosh took his second consecutive podium finish of the weekend to leave the two-race swing in his home state.

“I’m not too sure,” McIntosh said regarding what he needed to do to win. “It was a good effort from this KKM crew. Thanks to Beau, Phil, and Spencer, Chucky, everyone that makes this happen. Gotta thank the Lord above for putting me in this position, just didn’t do enough today to get it done.”

Miller finished the night in third place, giving the Allentown, PA driver his eighth Series podium in the 

“It wasn’t really about playing defense there,” Miller said. “Just about doing better on my part to try and get away from them. Just struggled in (Turns) 1-2, and I felt good in (Turns) 3-4, I think I just needed to run a little bit better of a race on my part.”

As the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets enter the second half of the season, Denney extended the Series points to 133 points over Miller, with McIntosh two markers behind for second place.

Recap Notes:

Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Colton Robinson

Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Chase McDermand

CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Jacob Denney

TJ Forged Heat 3 Winner: Andrew Felker

Last Chance Showdown Winner: Brecken Reese

High-Point Driver: Colton Robinson

Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger Award: Brecken Reese (+9)

Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Caiden Warren

Up Next: The biggest event of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota awaits as they join forces with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at the Ironman 55 at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park on Friday-Saturday, Aug. 1-2.

IRONMAN 55 TICKETS

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 67-Jacob Denney[4]; 2. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[7]; 3. 97-Gavin Miller[1]; 4. 9U-Kameron Key[5]; 5. 15D-Andrew Deal[9]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[2]; 7. 11A-Andrew Felker[3]; 8. 00-Brecken Reese[17]; 9. 67K-Colton Robinson[6]; 10. 56E-Tyler Edwards[13]; 11. 72-Alex Karpowicz[16]; 12. 7P-Trent Way[12]; 13. 17-Emilio Hoover[10]; 14. 7D-Michelle Decker[11]; 15. 7R-KJ Snow[20]; 16. 12W-Caiden Warren[22]; 17. 19U-Pierce Urbanosky[21]; 18. 94-Hayden Wise[15]; 19. 98K-Brandon Carr[18]; 20. 7-Shannon McQueen[8]; 21. 21-Matt Sherrell[14]; 22. 5U-Michael Faccinto[19]

CONCORD, NC (July 22, 2025) – The last weekend in July can only mean one thing – the Prairie Dirt Classic has arrived.

The dirt Late Model world is set to converge on Fairbury, IL once again for the signature event on the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision schedule. Four Showdown Features will be run on Friday to set the lineups for Saturday, which culminates with the 100-lap main event paying $50,000 to the victor. That doesn’t include the $500 awarded to the leader of each lap, meaning a driver could walk away with a six-figure paycheck if they can stay out front wire-to-wire.

There won’t be much time for partying afterwards, as the Series will return to action less than 48 hours after the winner makes the ceremonial drive to the Bank of Pontiac. The inaugural visit to Wilmot Raceway goes down on Monday, July 28, featuring a 40-lap, $12,000-to-win, Feature for The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet.

The World of Outlaws will be joined at Fairbury by the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals in their season finale, while the Wilmot program will also include Modifieds and Street Stocks.

Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:

FINALLY GOT ONE: The storylines surrounding Bobby Pierce at the PDC have always revolved around one question – how will he lose it this year?

After 11 failed attempts to win his home state’s biggest race, the “Smooth Operator” finally got it done in 2024 in spectacular fashion. With one trip to the bank under his belt, the goal has shifted towards becoming the sixth multi-time Prairie Dirt Classic champion.

While last year was Pierce’s first triumph in Fairbury’s biggest event, it was far from his first time finding success at the bullring. He had finished on the podium on four previous occasions, won three Friday Showdown Features, and gone to Victory Lane at the track with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, MARS Late Model Championship, American Late Model Series and more.

Pierce still has four more PDC victories left to go to catch his father, Bob Pierce – whose five victories have him tied with Billy Moyer for the most in event history – and he plans on getting one step closer this weekend.

OH SO CLOSE: Coming out on the losing end of last year’s thriller was Nick Hoffman, who led 79 laps before the biggest win of his career slipped through his fingers on the final lap.

Hoffman’s four World of Outlaws wins on the year have him in the discussion of best Late Model drivers in the country without a crown jewel to their name, but that’s a list he’d love to remove his name from this weekend. He’ll be in contention if he can match his pace from the past few years – in four Late Model PDC appearances, Hoffman has three Showdown top fives and two top 10s in the 100-lapper.

Much like he has at most tracks in the “Land of Lincoln,” Hoffman has also left Fairbury with the trophy plenty of times in DIRTcar UMP Modified competition. He’s a two-time PDC champion on the Modified side, highlighting his list of seven DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals wins at the track.

FORMER CHAMPS: In addition to Pierce, two other Outlaws know what it takes to win the PDC and are hungry to taste victory once again.

Dennis Erb Jr. took the checkers in 2004 in the middle of 13-straight top 10s in the event between 1997 and 2010. Fairbury hasn’t been as kind to him in recent years though, as the Carpentersville, IL native has recorded only one top 10 since 2019. Erb has been on the upswing as of late, as a third-place run at Sharon Speedway was his fourth podium in the last seven World of Outlaws races.

Ten years after Erb took the win, Tim McCreadie came out on top in 2014. McCreadie’s two-decade Late Model career has only included seven PDC appearances, and that win still stands as his most recent top five. “T-Mac” will look to turn his Fairbury luck around with momentum on his side, as he spent his off weekend from the World of Outlaws tour scoring a home-state victory in the Pete Loretto Memorial at Freedom Motorsports Park in Delevan, NY.

Other former PDC champions planning to race this weekend include Shannon Babb (2002, 2006, 2013), Jason Feger (2012), Jonathan Davenport (2015), Brandon Sheppard (2017, 2019, 2022) and Ricky Thornton Jr. (2023).

FIRST TIME FEELING: Everyone else in the field has their eyes set on turning their Fairbury dreams into reality this weekend.

Chatham, IL’s Brian Shirley has done everything there is to do in Midwestern Late Model racing except hoist the trophy at the PDC. The five-time DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion has earned four of his 43 Hell Tour wins at Fairbury, including this year’s visit last month. He also swept the FALS Frenzy weekend with MARS in October, bringing his total to three wins in his last five Fairbury starts.

Ryan Gustin has won one of the Showdown Features at the PDC in three of the last four years and has finished top five twice on Saturday. The No. 19R has been back in form as of late with four top fives in the last five races, and there’s nowhere Gustin would rather snap a 17-race winless streak than in the biggest event on the schedule.

Dustin Sorensen put together an impressive Fairbury debut last season, finishing fourth in his Showdown Feature to lock into the PDC in his first attempt. He’ll be looking to improve on his 22nd-place run on Saturday and continue his recent uptick in performance – he’s made four of the last five Redraws and finished 10th and 11th last time out at Sharon.

WILMOT RUNDOWN: The only first-time addition to the World of Outlaws schedule in 2025 comes on Monday with the inaugural Wilmot Late Model Showdown.

The biggest fendered race in track history will see many competitors make their Wilmot Raceway debut, but there are a few drivers with limited experience at the 1/3-mile. Erb, Gustin, Shirley, Drake Troutman, Jake Timm and Brent Larson were all in attendance at last month’s Summer Nationals event, and Troutman came out on top for his second of three Hell Tour wins this year.

Pierce has four Summer Nationals starts at Wilmot, and he won the most recent one in 2016. Tanner English is the only other Outlaw who has been to Wilmot before, finishing eighth with the Summer Nationals in 2014.

WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday-Saturday, July 25-26, at Fairbury Speedway in Fairbury, IL
Monday, July 28, at Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, WI

CURRENT POINT STANDINGS:
1. Bobby Pierce (3550 points)
2. Nick Hoffman (-92)
3. Ryan Gustin (-132)
4. Drake Troutman (-230)
5. Tim McCreadie (-274)
6. Dennis Erb Jr. (-294)
7. Brian Shirley (-344)
8. Ethan Dotson (-372)
9. Tanner English (-382)
10. Cody Overton (-402)

FEATURE WINNERS (12):
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 7
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 4
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 3
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 2
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 2
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 1
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 1
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 1
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 1

HEAT RACE WINNERS (32):
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 19
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 11
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 10
Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 8
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 7
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 5
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 4
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 4
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 4
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 3
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 3
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 3
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 3
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 3
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 3
Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – 3
Dustin Sorensen – Rochester, MN – 3
Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 2
Jason Feger – Bloomington, IL – 2
Jake Timm – Winona, MN – 2
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 2
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – 1
Garrett Smith – Madison, GA – 1
Zack Mitchell – Enoree, SC – 1
Cory Hedgecock – Loudon, TN – 1
Cade Dillard – Robeline, LA – 1
Aaron Marrant – Richmond, MO – 1
Mike Harrison – Highland, IL – 1
Chris Simpson – Oxford, IA – 1
Jared Miley – Pittsburgh, PA – 1
Dennis Erb Jr. – Carpentersville, IL – 1

LANDA PRESSURE WASHERS LAST CHANCE SHOWDOWN WINNERS (29):
Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – 4
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 4
Dustin Sorensen – Rochester, MN – 3
Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 3
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 3
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 3
Michael Leach – Sun River, MT – 2
Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 2
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 2
Shannon Babb – Moweaqua, IL – 2
Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 2
Jake Timm – Winona, MN – 2
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 1
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – 1
Jackson Hise – Ocala, FL – 1
Trey Mills – St. Augustine, FL – 1
Austin Smith – Cedartown, GA – 1
Mckay Wenger – Fairbury, IL – 1
Cade Dillard – Robeline, LA – 1
Gregg Satterlee – Indiana, PA – 1
Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – 1
Kayden Clatt – Edina, MO – 1
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 1
Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – 1
Derrick Stewart – Ainsworth, IA – 1
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 1
Jared Miley – Pittsburgh, PA – 1

PODIUM FINISHERS (24):
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 15
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 9
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 7
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 5
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 5
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 4
Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 4
Dennis Erb Jr. – Carpentersville, IL – 4
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 3
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 2
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 2
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 2
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 2
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Zack Mitchell – Enoree, SC – 1
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 1
Dustin Sorensen – Rochester, MN – 1
Mike Harrison – Highland, IL – 1
Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – 1
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 1

FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGERS (17):
Dennis Erb Jr. – Carpentersville, IL – 3
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 3
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 3
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 2
Dustin Sorensen – Rochester, MN – 2
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 2
Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 1
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 1
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 1
Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 1
Jake Timm – Winona, MN – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Brent Larson – Lake Elmo, MN – 1
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 1

SIMPSON RACING PRODUCTS QUICK TIMES (12):
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 5
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 4
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 3
Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 3
Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – 3
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 1
Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – 1
Tanner English – Benton, KY – 1
Tyler Millwood – Kingston, GA – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 1
Cade Dillard – Robeline, LA – 1

BILSTEIN POLE AWARDS (17):
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 4
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 3
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 2
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 2
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 2
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 1
Jason Feger – Bloomington, IL – 1
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Cory Hedgecock – Loudon, TN – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 1
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 1
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 1
Cade Dillard – Robeline, LA – 1
Mike Harrison – Highland, IL – 1
Tyler Bruening – Marshalltown, IA – 1
Dennis Erb Jr. – Carpentersville, IL – 1

FEATURE LAP LEADERS (21):
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 348
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 141
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 95
Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 81
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 69
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 82
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 50
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 44
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 41
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 30
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 27
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 25
Mike Harrison – Highland, IL – 21
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 18
Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 15
Cory Hedgecock – Loudon, TN – 13
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 11
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 8
Dennis Erb Jr. – Carpentersville, IL – 6
Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – 2
Brian Shirley – Chatham IL – 1

2025 WORLD OF OUTLAWS REAL AMERICAN BEER LATE MODEL SERIES PRESENTED BY DIRTVISION SCHEDULE & WINNERS
Friday, Jan. 24 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Ryan Gustin (1)
Saturday, Jan. 25 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Garrett Alberson (1)
Thursday, Feb. 13 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Garrett Alberson (2)
Friday, Feb. 14 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Devin Moran (1)
Saturday, Feb. 15 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Jonathan Davenport (1)
Friday, Mar. 14 / Smoky Mountain Speedway / Maryville, TN / Bobby Pierce (1)
Friday, Mar. 21 / Swainsboro Raceway / Swainsboro, GA / Bobby Pierce (2)
Saturday, Mar. 22 / Swainsboro Raceway / Swainsboro, GA / Ryan Gustin (2)
Thursday, Apr. 10 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL (Practice)
Friday, Apr. 11 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL / Ethan Dotson (1)
Saturday, Apr. 12 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL / Brandon Sheppard (1)
Saturday, Apr. 26 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL / Bobby Pierce (3)
Friday, May 2 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI / Tyler Erb (1)
Saturday, May 3 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI / Nick Hoffman (1)
Thursday, May 15 / Raceway 7 / Conneaut, OH / Tim McCreadie (1)
Saturday, May 17 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA / Bobby Pierce (4)
Sunday, May 18 / Bedford Speedway / Bedford, PA / Tim McCreadie (2)
Friday, June 20 / I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park / Pevely, MO / Bobby Pierce (5)
Saturday, June 21 / I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park / Pevely, MO / Drake Troutman (1)
Friday, June 27 / River Cities Speedway / Grand Forks, ND / Nick Hoffman (2)
Saturday, June 28 / Norman County Raceway / Ada, MN / Nick Hoffman (3)
Sunday, June 29 / Nodak Speedway / Minot, ND / Tim McCreadie (3)
Thursday, July 3 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN / Bobby Pierce (6)
Friday, July 4 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN / Nick Hoffman (4)
Friday, July 11 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH / Bobby Pierce (7)
Saturday, July 12 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH / Mike Marlar (1)
Friday, July 25 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Saturday, July 26 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Monday, July 28 / Wilmot Raceway / Wilmot, WI
Thursday, July 31 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Friday, Aug. 1 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Saturday, Aug. 2 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Wednesday, Aug. 13 / Highland Speedway / Highland, IL
Thursday, Aug. 14 / Spoon River Speedway / Lewistown, IL
Friday, Aug. 15 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Saturday, Aug. 16 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Friday, Aug. 22 / Arrowhead Speedway / Colcord, OK
Saturday, Aug. 23 / Arrowhead Speedway / Colcord, OK
Friday, Sept. 12 / Needmore Speedway / Norman Park, GA
Saturday, Sept. 13 / Senoia Raceway / Senoia, GA
Friday, Sept. 26 / Tri-City Speedway / Granite City, IL
Saturday, Sept. 27 / Tri-City Speedway / Granite City, IL
Friday, Oct. 3 / Humboldt Speedway / Humboldt, KS
Saturday, Oct. 4 / 81 Speedway / Wichita, KS
Friday, Oct. 10 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Saturday, Oct. 11 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Wednesday, Nov. 5 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Thursday, Nov. 6 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Friday, Nov. 7 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Saturday, Nov. 8 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC

The World of Outlaws are ready to take on four races in five days at three tracks

YORK HAVEN, PA (July 22, 2025) – The busiest stretch of the 2025 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season rolls on.

This week’s agenda features four races in five nights at three tracks in two states. It begins with the second 2025 chapter of the sport’s fiercest rivalry. The Greatest Show on Dirt invades Pennsylvania where the PA Posse await to protect the porch. The first battle takes place at York Haven, PA’s BAPS Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 23 for the Bricker’s Bash.

A day off will follow BAPS before the focus belongs to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA for the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals on July 25-26. The winner of the finale will bag bragging rights and bank $20,000.

The scene then shifts to the only “Empire State” stop of 2025 as the tour heads north to New York for a Sunday matinee at Weedsport Speedway on July 27. It’ll mark the 15th ever World of Outlaws appearance at the uniquely shaped track. Before 410 Sprint Cars come to town Sunday, New Yorkers can enjoy the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds on Saturday, July 26.

It’s going to be another jam-packed week for The Greatest Show on Dirt.

BUY BAPS TICKETS HERE
BUY WILLIAMS GROVE TICKETS HERE
BUY WEEDSPORT TICKETS HERE

WATCH LIVE ON DIRTVision

Let’s look at the week’s top storylines:

KNOTTED UP: The World of Outlaws and PA Posse are knotted up at a win apiece after a pair of races in 2025.

The rivalry was rekindled at Lincoln Speedway’s Gettysburg Clash back in May. Michael “Buddy” Kofoid drew first blood for the World of Outlaws as the Penngrove, CA native held off Posse representative Chase Dietz.

Williams Grove was the site of the next battle, and the Posse got one back as Dillsburg, PA’s Anthony Macri won to keep the Morgan Cup in the “Keystone State.”

For the full-time World of Outlaws competitors, they’re looking for their third straight year of supremacy in PA. The Posse have hopes of gaining the upper hand for the first time since 2022. One area where the Posse do currently hold the advantage is podiums as they’ve tallied four compared to two for the World of Outlaws this season.

GRAVEL’S GROOVE: History along with his 2025 speed says David Gravel will certainly be among the favorites this week to bring bragging rights to the World of Outlaws.

First, he’s the only driver expected to be in the pit area with a Series victory at BAPS. Gravel topped a 2023 thriller when The Greatest Show on Dirt returned for the first time since 1992 when Stevie Smith won one for the Posse in Al Hamilton’s famed No. 77.

Williams Grove is home to the most success on Gravel’s résumé. He’s a nine-time Feature winner with the Series at the historic 1/2-mile dirt track, most recently topping last year’s Summer Nationals with Big Game Motorsports for his 100th career victory.

The defending champion is already up to 10 checkered flags in 2025 aboard Tod Quiring’s No. 2.

PA CONQUERER: Over the last couple of decades, there’s been one man on the World of Outlaws roster that’s made a habit out of beating the Posse, and his name is Donny Schatz.

No state is responsible for more of Schatz’s wins than Pennsylvania as he’s topped 36 races in the “Keystone State.” A whopping 21 of those have come at Williams Grove alone, including seven during the Summer Nationals. Only Steve Kinser’s tally of 38 Williams Grove triumphs with the World of Outlaws eclipse Schatz.

Schatz’s BAPS experience is limited to just two starts aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 15. He debuted at BAPS with a 12th in 2023 before improving to eighth a year ago.

WILLIAMS GROVE WINNERS: Gravel and Schatz may stand out among the 2025 World of Outlaws roster heading into Pennsylvania, but several other full-timers have enjoyed trips to Victory Lane at Williams Grove.

Jason Johnson Racing pilot Carson Macedo boasts four scores at the Mechanicsburg, PA track, most notably taking a pair of National Open titles (2021 and 2024).

The trio of Sheldon Haudenschild, Logan Schuchart, and Buddy Kofoid have all won once at the 1/2 mile in World of Outlaws competition.

United States Auto Club (USAC) Triple Crown champion Chris Windom has excelled without wings at Williams Grove, winning with both USAC Silver Crown (2016) and USAC National Sprint Cars (2018).

EMPIRE STATE OF MIND: Two men have dominated much of the Series history at Weedsport, and to no surprise, it’s the same two listed above with so much Pennsylvania success.

Donny Schatz and David Gravel have combined to win seven of the last eight visits to the D-shaped track. Schatz claimed trips in 2015 and 2016 before returning to Victory Lane in 2021. It’s been Gravel’s domain more recently as he’s topped four of the last five to become the World of Outlaws’ winningest driver at Weedsport.

While they may be the favorites, many talented wheelmen capable of besting them will be looking to do just that. Carson Macedo has been on the podium in his last two Weedsport races with the Jason Johnson Racing team, and he won an All Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC) race there in 2018 aboard Joe Gaerte’s No. 3G. Sheldon Haudenschild is a two-time runner-up at Weedsport, including last year’s visit.

FROM THRONE TO PORCH: Pennsylvania will be especially excited to welcome Anthony Macri back to the porch this week.

The Dillsburg, PA native is fresh off pushing the Posse to one of the sport’s most coveted positions – atop the Kings Royalthrone. Macri led all 40 laps around Eldora Speedway to claim the crown jewel and bank $200,000.

Now, it’s time for Macri to head back to familiar territory and defend home turf. He’s a four-time BAPS winner, including topping a 2023 PA Speedweek visit. His most recent triumph at the York Haven, PA track came last year on April 28. Macri’s Williams Grove résumé boasts 13 checkered flags including a trio already in 2025. The most recent of those was when he beat the World of Outlaws in May for the Morgan Cup.

MORE POSSE POWER: Macri won’t be the only representative capable of protecting the porch this week.

York, PA’s Chase Dietz has been stout all season with the Stehman Motorsports team to the tune of four wins and 16 podiums. A trio of those top threes have come at BAPS, and last year he set Simpson Quick Time at his home track when the World of Outlaws visited. Dietz owns four Williams Grove victories and podiumed there last year at the National Open prelim.

Danny Dietrich and the Gary Kauffman Racing crew have found plenty of speed in 2025 that has helped them win three of their five BAPS appearances this season, with the other two leading to podium finishes. A pair of Dietrich’s five career victories with The Greatest Show on Dirt happened at Williams Grove, and he’s currently 12th on the track’s all-time win list.

No mention of the Posse is complete without Lance Dewease. The Fayetteville, PA legend’s 116 Williams Grove wins are by far the most in track history, and the most recent of those came this year on June 6.

Last July was when Liverpool, PA’s T.J. Stutts stunned the Sprint Car world by beating the World of Outlaws at Williams Grove, and he’ll look to replicate that summer magic this week.

These four, along with fellow Pennsylvanians including Troy Wagaman Jr. (Hanover, PA), Freddie Rahmer (Salfordville, PA), Cameron Smith (Spring Grove, PA), Dylan Norris (Hanover, PA), and many more are expected to be in action this week.

BARBERVILLE, FL (July 22, 2025) – Labor Day Weekend at Volusia Speedway Park has gotten even bigger for drivers and fans. 

The three-day Labor Day Classic, Aug. 29-31, will now feature the “Fab 5” every night and a nearly $50,000 overall purse for the weekend. 

Fans will get to see the 604 Late Models, 602 Late Models, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, 3/4 Modifieds, and Factory Stocks every night, starting with a test and tune on Friday before two straight nights of Feature action on Saturday and Sunday.  

Saturday and Sunday’s events will count toward the track championship, and drivers will see the stakes raised on Sunday with a 44% increase to the overall purse from Saturday to Sunday. There will be more money on the line for the winners and increased payouts spread throughout the fields. 

There will also be a bonus for drivers after Friday’s practice – which goes from 6 to 9 p.m. – as Allen Plumbing has stepped in to help present a Pit Party with food and refreshments for drivers and teams. 

“The ‘Fab 5’ has become a staple of Volusia Speedway Park throughout the 2025 season, so we’re excited to have all five divisions be the main attraction all weekend,” said Tyler Bachman, track general manager. “I’m grateful to Allen Plumbing for helping us create a Pit Party to give back to the drivers and teams that have supported Volusia all year. Between that and the increased purse, we’re excited to continue building the Labor Day Classic weekend into a marquee event for drivers and fans.” 

Labor Day Classic To-Win Amounts: 

Saturday: 

604 Late Models: $1,500 

602 Late Models: $1,000 

DIRTcar UMP Modifieds: $1,000 

Factory Stocks: $500 

3/4 Modifieds: $300 

Sunday: 

604 Late Models: $2,500 

602 Late Models: $1,500 

DIRTcar UMP Modifieds: $1,500 

Factory Stocks: $750 

3/4 Modifieds: $500 

For more information about the Labor Day Classic, CLICK HERE. 

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App. 

(7/21/25 – Andrew Kunas) Santa Maria, CA … -The “Cooler Weather Tour” continues for the NARC King of the West 410 sprint car series this Saturday, July 26th, when the series makes its annual visit to Santa Maria Speedway for the “Showdown at Santa Maria.”

Santa Maria Speedway, for most of its history that goes back to 1964, has been a regular stop for sprint cars, winged and non-wing. The track had faced closure a couple of times over the years, but recently got back up and running again and in 2024 it returned to the NARC schedule after a three-year absence.

Last year’s NARC event saw a wild finish in which Justyn Cox tangled with a slower car and flipped upside down on the final lap, costing him a victory. Chase Johnson took advantage and picked up his fourth career NARC win. He was joined on the podium by Kaleb Montgomery and Gauge Garcia, a pair of drivers worth keeping an eye on this Saturday.

Montgomery is still hunting for his first NARC victory but has shown flashes at times. Montgomery, who lives just up the road from Santa Maria Speedway in Templeton, has turned in strong runs this season, including finishing fifth and sixth respectively during last weekend’s Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway. Finishing runner-up at Santa Maria last year and having won the USAC/CRA non-wing race at the same track in May, Montgomery could see this Saturday’s race as the one where he gets his first NARC win.

Garcia, from Lemoore, is also still searching for a NARC win. He and the Paso Robles-based Keller Motorsports No. 2k team have fought motor problems throughout the season, but have performed well in several main events, often passing many cars and on four occasions this season Garcia earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger award.

Before last year’s return to Santa Maria, the last NARC race at Santa Maria Speedway was in 2021, and it was Benicia’s Billy Aton who scored his first NARC victory that night.

Saturday’s event is part of NARC’s “Cooler Weather Tour,” as some have called it, the current stretch of events for the series happening at tracks along the California coast, where race teams and fans can expect more comfortable temperatures while it is typically very hot in the California interior.

WHO ELSE TO WATCH

Harrisburg, Oregon’s Tyler Thompson has quietly put together a very solid and consistent season as he chases the NARC Rookie of the Year award aboard the Main Motorsports No. 35km. In 15 regular NARC events (not counting the special format seeing inverted main event fields at Skagit Speedway’s Super Dirt Cup in June), Thompson recorded ten Top 10 finishes in those races, many of which had been at tracks he hadn’t seen before. His best run was a third place finish on May 16th at Ocean Speedway, and in that race Thompson briefly challenged eventual race winner Justin Sanders for the lead. Thompson sits third overall in the points and has twice posted quick time in Automotive Racing Products Qualifying, twice won a heat race and twice earned the hard charger nod. Many have recently begun looking at Thompson as another driver due to make a big breakthrough in 410 sprint car competition.

Former NARC champion D.J. Netto of Hanford, twice a winner this season and second in the points entering the weekend, along with 2005 NARC champion Sean Becker from Oroville, and 2019 series king Bud Kaeding from Campbell will fill out a stellar line-up of competitors.  Others expected to compete include Fresno drivers Caeden Steele and Mariah Ede, Dominic Gorden from Clovis, Kansas driver Jace Park, Hollister’s Ryan Bernal, and many others.

FAN INFO

Santa Maria Speedway is located at 1900 Hutton Road, right off of Hwy 101, in Nipomo, just north of Santa Maria itself. Tickets are $30 for adults, $28 for seniors 65+, military and students ages 11 to 17. Kids 10 and under are free. Front gates open at 4:00 p.m. with racing scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. Also scheduled to race are IMCA Racesaver sprints, BCRA lightning sprints and dwarf cars.

ABOUT NARC

The Northern Auto Racing Club is the premier 410 winged sprint car series in the western United States. Since 1960, the traveling organization has thrilled fans at dirt tracks up and down the West Coast and crowned a “King of the West” champion. For more information on the NARC 410 sprint car series, including race results, points standings, and upcoming events, go to www.narc410.com.  You can also follow on various social media platforms.

The NARC 410 Sprint Car Racing Series is also sponsored by Hoosier Racing Tires and Floracing.com. Associate sponsors include Automotive Racing Products (ARP), Beacon Wealth Strategies, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bullet Impressions, Jim Allen Promotions, Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash, Mettec Titanium, MyRacePass, Red Rose Transportation, Tarlton & Son, Wedg High Performance Karts, Williams Roofing, and Winters Performance Products.

2025 NARC 410 SPRINT CARS SERIES

(AFTER 18 EVENTS IN 27-RACE SERIES – 7/21/25)

1. Justin Sanders, Aromas – 2312
2. DJ Netto, Hanford – 2292
3. Tyler Thompson, Harrisburg, OR (R) – 2279
4. Sean Becker, Roseville – 2268
5. Bud Kaeding, Campbell – 2262
6. Dominic Gorden, Clovis – 2241
7. Gauge Garcia, Lemoore – 2186
8. Mariah Ede, Fresno (R) – 2136
9. Caeden Steele, Fresno – 2081
10. Dominic Scelzi, Fresno – 2020
11. Tanner Holmes, Jacksonville, OR – 1760
12. Landon Brooks, Rio Oso – 1742
13. Billy Aton, Benicia – 1634
14. Nick Parker, Tucson, AX – 1584
15. Shane Golobic, Fremont – 1521
16. John Clark, Windsor – 1471
17. Max Mittry, Redding – 1437
18. Jess Schlotfeldt, Arlington, WA – 1215
19. Tim Kaeding, San Jose – 1068
20. Dylan Bloomfield, Oakley – 1064

Upcoming Events

July 26 – Santa Maria Speedway – Nipomo, CA
August 2 – Ocean Speedway – Watsonville, CA (65th Johnny Key Classic)
August 30 – Calistoga Speedway – Calistoga, CA (Louie Vermeil Classic – Night 1)
August 31 – Calistoga Speedway – Calistoga, CA (Louie Vermeil Classic – Night 2)
September 6 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, CA

NARC 2025 Winners

March 8 – D.J. Netto at Stockton Dirt Track (Salute to Leroy Van Connett)
April 12 – Justin Sanders at Silver Dollar Speedway (Mini Gold Cup)
May 10 – D.J. Netto at Antioch Speedway (Contra Costa County Clash)
May 16 – Justin Sanders at Ocean Speedway
May 17 – Tanner Holmes (Race 1) & Caeden Steele (Race 2) at Thunderbowl Raceway (Morrie Williams Memorial)
May 31 – Dominic Gorden at Placerville Speedway (Dave Bradway Jr Memorial)
June 7 – Justin Sanders at Silver Dollar Speedway (David Tarter Memorial)
June 11 – James McFadden at Southern Oregon Speedway
June 12 – James McFadden at Douglas County Dirt Track
June 13 – Jesse Schlotfeldt at Cottage Grove Speedway
June 14 – James McFadden at Willamette Speedway
June 15 – James McFadden at Grays Harbor Raceway (Timber Cup)
June 19 – Levi Klatt at Skagit Speedway (Super Dirt Cup – Night 1)
June 20 – Justin Sanders at Skagit Speedway (Super Dirt Cup – Night 2)
June 21 – Trey Starks at Skagit Speedway (Super Dirt Cup finale)
July 12 – Tim Kaeding at Petaluma Speedway (Dave Lindt Memorial)
July 18 – Justin Sanders at Ocean Speedway (Howard Kaeding Classic – Night 1)
July 19 – Justin Sanders at Ocean Speedway (Howard Kaeding Classic – Night 2)

Inside Line Promotions – FRESNO, Calif. (July 21, 2025) – Dominic Scelzi is competing in the Northwest this week for the second month in a row.

Scelzi is tackling the final six nights of the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek presented by the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.

The races are Monday at Douglas County Dirt Track in Roseburg, Ore.; Tuesday at Coos Bay Speedway in Coos Bay, Ore.; Wednesday at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.; Friday and Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., during the Fred Brownfield 360 Nationals presented by Bob’s Burgers & Brew; and Sunday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash.

“We’re very excited to return to the Northwest this week to race in Oregon and Washington leading up to the 360 Nationals at Skagit,” he said. “We had a really good Speedweek in the Northwest last month and are aiming to be just as competitive this week.”

Scelzi finished second at Southern Oregon Speedway in White City, Ore., on June 11; third at Douglas County Dirt Track on June 12; fifth at Cottage Grove Speedway on June 13; second at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, Ore., on June 14; and third at Grays Harbor Raceway on June 15 leading into the Jim Raper Memorial Super Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway that weekend.

That stout week of competition led to Scelzi finishing second in the Fastest Five Days in Motorsports standings during the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series Speedweek.

“It was a great week when not only did we showcase speed, we had consistency,” Scelzi said. “I’m eager for this week’s races in Oregon and Washington. We’ve won at some of these tracks and had good outings at every one of them. Hopefully we’ll unload fast and be consistent all week so that we can contend for wins.”

SEASON STATS –

32 races, 1 win, 12 top fives, 22 top 10s, 27 top 15s, 28 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Monday at Douglas County Dirt Track in Roseburg, Ore.; Tuesday at Coos Bay Speedway in Coos Bay, Ore.; Wednesday at Cottage Grove Speedway in Cottage Grove, Ore.; Friday and Saturday at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash., for the Fred Brownfield 360 Nationals presented by Bob’s Burgers & Brew and Sunday at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., during the Western Sprint Tour Speedweek presented by the Sprint Car Challenge Tour

Jul 21, 2025 | Featured, Megan Meyer, Rachel Meyer

The Meyer sisters are back for more IHRA drag racing this weekend, July 26–27. Following their impressive performance at the season-opening IHRA Nitro Outlaw Series race in Columbus, Megan and Rachel Meyer are set to take on Round 2 at Milan Dragway, an iconic drag strip that has been a part of Detroit’s car culture since 1964.

The two will once again pilot their A/Fuel dragsters in side-by-side qualifying on Friday with Q1 scheduled for 3:00 PM and Q2 at 7:00 PM. Eliminations begin Saturday at 1:30 PM, with the top 8 teams in Top Alcohol Dragster competing down the quarter-mile strip.

Last race in Columbus, Megan made the quickest and fastest pass of the entire event in Q1 with a 5.23 at 274 mph, and both sisters won their first-round matchups on race day, but tricky conditions after a heavy rain storm led to tire smoke in round two for both. Now, the goal is clear: build on that momentum and push for a deeper run in Milan.

“From talking to a lot of other teams who have been there, they mentioned how nice of a track it is,” said Rachel Meyer. “So I’m excited to check it out for the first time and hopefully get our cars back into the 5.30s range or better. We’ve got a great team and a great tune-up, it’s just about reading the track and putting it all together.”

“This is my first time racing at Milan too,” said Megan Meyer. “I loved getting back into the car in Columbus and now that I’ve got that race under my belt again, I’m ready to go rounds. We’re using what we learned last time to dial everything in and hopefully get both cars in the finals!”

The sisters will continue to represent GUNK, Maxima Racing Oils, and NGK Spark Plugs throughout the series, and fans can expect more live on-track content, high-speed sibling rivalry, and all the chaos the outlaw nitro scene promises by tuning into Speed Sport each day.