Motorsports

From Winner to Champion, Part 4: Execution, evolution and some radio magic

Published

6 months ago

June 5, 2025

Editor’s note: This is the fourth installment in a seven-part series celebrating the 30th anniversary of Jeff Gordon’s first NASCAR Cup Series championship and the first for Hendrick Motorsports in 1995. Join us each Thursday as we relive all the moments and talk to many of the players involved in one of the organization’s and the sport’s most unforgettable and important seasons.

For Jon.

CONCORD, N.C. – February. Daytona Beach, Florida.

Crisp morning breezes are combated by mid-day sun, with enough warmth and light bathing the coast – and a certain 2.5-mile, historic, asphalt loop – to hint at spring on the horizon.

For a race car driver, crew chief, team member or fan, nothing arrives with more promise or hope than Speedweek at Daytona International Speedway.

Of course, back in 1995, it was still, “Speedweeks”, with the biggest discernable difference being more valuable time at the World Center of Racing at a mighty fine time of year to be in eastern Florida.

Armed with a brand-new hot rod – the aerodynamically pioneering Chevrolet Monte Carlo – and coming off of a season that included his first two career wins, Jeff Gordon certainly rolled into Daytona that February with a spring in his step and hope in his heart.

Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet lined up behind Dale Earnhardt (3) and alongside eventual-race-winner, Sterling Marlin (4), prior to the start of the 1995 DAYTONA 500.

“I know we were building momentum, and the confidence was building right along with it and I think early testing of the Monte Carlo showed a lot of promise, so I think we were pretty optimistic,” Gordon told HendrickMotorsports.com ahead of this series.

Optimistic, yes.

Realistic? Well, at least somewhat according to Gordon.

After all, Dale Earnhardt was entering the year fresh off of his record-tying seventh NASCAR Cup Series championship and his fourth in five years. He was seemingly poised to rule stock car racing for the unforeseeable future. And when it came to the crown, he already had an established and formidable pack of chasers, names like Rusty Wallace and Mark Martin. Both drivers had finished in the top three in points in each of the prior two seasons.

REWIND: Jeff Gordon wins inaugural Brickyard 400 in 1994

Undoubtedly, with the aforementioned victories – the 1994 Coca-Cola 600 and the Brickyard 400 – Gordon made strides in his second full-time season. He’d also improved his points standing from 14th to eighth.

But with an established gridlock atop the sport, did Gordon really believe his team was ready for a title push?

“If I had to guess, (crew chief) Ray (Evernham) was probably thinking championship, but I don’t know that I was quite yet,” Gordon admitted. “It’s a big leap to go from where we were to feeling like you’re championship material.”

Jeff Gordon having a chat with seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Richard Petty, at Talladega Superspeedway in 1994.

There were a few key numbers that illustrated the gap Gordon alluded to.

Speed wasn’t an issue. The team had proven that from the jump, winning its Daytona Duel race to open the 1993 season and showcasing it again at two of the biggest events on the ’94 calendar.

If anything stood in the way of the 24 team ascending to the highest echelon of stock car racing it was consistency, or a lack thereof. Between 1993 and 1994, Gordon piled up 14 top-five finishes to go with 25 top 10s. But also, across those same 64 starts, he had as many DNFs as he did lead-lap finishes (21).

RELATED: From Winner to Champion, Part 3: Championship Metal

“If you look back at 1994, they won a couple of big races but they tore up a lot of stuff too. I think they went through 16 rear clips or something like that,” Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte said. “I didn’t think they could’ve gotten that good in that short of a period of time.”

And that seemed to be the prevailing thought as the season was set to open.

Winston Kelley, now the executive director of the NASCAR Hall of Fame, was establishing himself as a voice of the sport with the Motor Racing Network. He’d done all 31 races in 1994.

“Going into it, I don’t know if anyone would’ve had him in the Mount Rushmore of potential candidates in terms of the title, but I would say given the promise they’d shown in 1994, they would’ve been in the conversation,” Kelley told HendrickMotorsports.com. “Maybe top 10 or 12. But would I have thought they’d be in the top three or four or five? Probably not. You had Dale, Mark, Rusty and those guys. Dale Jarrett had started running good too.”

By 1995, Rusty Wallace (left) and Mark Martin (right) had established themselves as the top contenders to Dale Earnhardt’s throne atop the NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Even with the progress the team had shown in ’94, Gordon had still finished second within his own garage. Labonte scored three victories in his debut season at Hendrick Motorsports, powering his way to a seventh-place finish in the points standings.

For Evernham, Labonte’s success only sharpened his desire to hasten his team’s march forward.

“It was almost competitive between the three teams and that in itself drove us,” Evernham said. “You want to be the leader of your pack, so that competitiveness between the three cars actually worked in our advantage.”

RELATED: From Winner to Champion, Part 2: Championship Material

As teams descended on Volusia County that spring, few could’ve guessed that the apple cart was about to be upset. Even fewer would’ve guessed that it would be the 23-year-old driver/37-year-old crew chief combination clad in rainbow-colored uniforms that would upset it.

And that way of thinking likely didn’t change after the DAYTONA 500, either.

It takes time to progress from winner to champion. It also takes time to change the perception of a race team.

The No. 24 crew going to work on Jeff Gordon’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo at Talladega Superspeedway in 1995.

But as the 1995 progressed, Gordon and the 24 team parlayed an explosive but volatile start into a consistent reliance that showed up, along with speed, each and every week at the race track.

Brian Whitesell, now vice president of manufacturing at Hendrick Motorsports, was an engineer and a key car builder on the 24 team that year.

“We had started to bring a little different way of racing that happens even now and every few years, the script changes and you have to continue to adapt,” Whitesell said. “We hit on that with Jeff’s talent and a little different methodology. We did a lot of work to make the cars consistent, which played into the points standings at the time. A lot of the things we did coupled with Jeff’s talent, that’s where we slowly pulled away. Back then it was common to have suspension failures, hub failures, brakes, engines, radiators – there was a myriad of failures and eliminating those one-by-one and piling up points … and then we also had the performance to back that up.”

And for Gordon, it was time to start fulfilling the promise Evernham had seen years prior.

RELATED: Phorm Energy inks multi-year partnership with Hendrick Motorsports

“He captured it the first time he stepped on campus before he was hired. We talked after that and he was like, ‘Man, if you can’t win races and a championship at that place, you can’t do it anywhere. They’ve got everything you can possibly need,'” Gordon recalled. “To hear that from him, someone I had a lot of confidence and trusted in his knowledge … to me, maybe other people didn’t see it or recognize it at that time but all that mattered was the people on the team that we were going to surround ourselves with.

“And I know one thing; it didn’t take long once the season started to feel like this is the year we can get it done.”

‘Magic on the radio’

It’s funny how statistics and results can read three decades removed from the moment.

Just empty numbers on a page, void of context.

For instance, if one were to look up the 1995 DAYTONA 500 today, he/she would find that Gordon finished a nondescript 22nd. Sure, the 61 laps led might arch an eyebrow, but if anything, it would only speak to the inconsistencies that had limited the team through the growing pains of its formative years. A ton of speed with a middling finish.

DAYTONA 500	Race 1
Date:	Feb. 19, 1995
Started:	4th
Finished:	22nd
Laps led:	61
Points earned:	102
Earnings:	$67,915
Points standings:	1. Sterling Marlin 185; 2. Dale Earnhardt 175 (-10); 3. Mark Martin 170 (-15); 4. Ted Musgrave 160 (-25); 5. Dale Jarrett 155 (-30); 5. Michael Waltrip 155 (-30); 7. Steve Grissom 146 (-39); 8. Terry Labonte 142 (-43); 9. Ken Schrader 138 (-47); 10. Morgan Shepherd 134 (-51)

This time around, it wasn’t driver error or mechanical failure that took Gordon out of contention for the win. After spending much of the afternoon as a fixture at the front of the field, a slow pit stop relegated Gordon to the middle of the pack. After making up ground, another miscue on pit road – dropping the jack too early – damaged the 24 car and it never drove the same. Shortly after, with the stretch run approaching, Gordon brushed the wall and had to pit, losing a lap along the way.

It would’ve been easy, even understandable, for a 23-year-old, hungry driver looking for a breakthrough, all while under the pressure of driving for an organization still searching for its first championship, to play the blame game. NASCAR history is littered with radio transmissions of angry voices from inside the cockpit lambasting crew members after miscues.

That’s not what happened on that afternoon in Daytona Beach. What did happen, according to Evernham, was a moment that would loom as large in the 1995 championship chase as any of the seven wins the 24 team would go on to gather.

RELATED: From Winner to Champion, Part 1: ‘One Hot Night’

Jeff Gordon (24) runs second behind eventual-winner, Sterling Marlin (4), in the 1995 DAYTONA 500. Gordon would finish 22nd.

“Instead of Jeff unloading on everybody that day, he said, ‘Look, we had a great day, we had a great car, we’re going to get them next week.’ That was like magic on the radio that day,” Evernham said. “I think everybody stepped up and never wanted to let Jeff Gordon down again.”

“Jeff was always mature beyond his years. For a young guy who had his first chance to win the DAYTONA 500 – and they had a really good car, probably the strongest car in the field along with (eventual winner) Sterling (Marlin), who was always good at Daytona – to pick the crew up says a lot,” Kelley echoed. “I think that chemistry you hear about from everybody, things like that make championships. How people deal with a bad day has more impact than how they celebrate wins.”

Race wins and humbling moments

Gordon and the No. 24 team would get several opportunities to celebrate wins in 1995, and they presented themselves early and often.

If Gordon’s performance throughout the majority of the DAYTONA 500 was a hint of things to come, a dominant performance in a victory at Rockingham Speedway (then North Carolina Motor Speedway) the following week served as confirmation. At least in terms of speed, the No. 24 would be a force in the weeks to come.

Starting from the pole, which would be a staple of the team throughout the mid-to-late 90s as well, Gordon led 329 of 492 laps including the final 83 in holding off Bobby Labonte by 1.19 seconds.

ROCKINGHAM	Race 2
Date:	Feb. 26, 1995
Started:	1st
Finished:	1st
Laps led:	329
Points earned:	185
Earnings:	$167,600
Points standings:	1. Dale Earnhardt 345; 2. Mark Martin 316 (-29); 3. Sterling Marlin 312 (-33); 4. Dale Jarrett 310 (-35); 5. Steve Grissom 296 (-49) 6. Ricky Rudd 289 (-56); 7. Jeff Gordon 287 (-58); 8. Michael Waltrip 267 (-78); 9. Kyle Petty 261 (-84); 10. Ward Burton 256 (-89)

During a postrace interview, pit road reporter Ned Jarrett remarked, “The car was so good, it looked like at times there that you couldn’t back up even if you wanted to.”

For Gordon, gone were the tears and aw, shucks-ness of the Coca-Cola 600 win. Certainly, his third career victory came with joy, but the maturity Gordon had shown in handling adversity at Daytona came through in his television interview as well.

“The new Monte Carlo is an awesome car. I never thought we’d have them like we did today,” Gordon told Jarrett. “The longer we went green the better that thing was. And we had to work on it; it wasn’t that perfect at the beginning. It came to us; the track came to us. Ray Evernham and the Rainbow Warriors, they did a heck of a job.”

But while the team was pushing its speed to new heights, the lows continued to hinder its big-picture process. A week after the win, Gordon was right back on the pole at Richmond Raceway but a mechanical issue took the No. 24 out of the race less than halfway through, resulting in a 36th-place finish.

Jeff Gordon poses with a trophy after winning at Rockingham in the second event of 1995. It was his third career victory.

Meanwhile, Labonte visited victory lane, moving up to fourth in the points standings. Gordon plummeted to 13th.

“The car was strong, the team was strong. I felt like I was just really getting comfortable and confident in knowing what I wanted in the car at all the different tracks,” Gordon said. “Obviously, wins do a lot for you, but it’s a long season. You gain this confidence. It’s, ‘Yeah, we can win every week,’ and then you get knocked down a little bit and you’re like, ‘Woah, hold on, we’re going to have to work really hard at this and it’s not going to come easy.’”

“It was never just, ‘We’re on a stretch that nobody is going to touch us. It just seemed like it was week-to-week of, ‘Man, we’re good.’ We’d get on a streak of winning some races and then there were some humbling moments too.”

But the group kept fighting. A week after Richmond came the first of two dates at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The second would serve as the season finale.

As it turned out, both would be pivotal events on the 1995 schedule for the 24 team.

Jeff Gordon (right) poses with car owner Rick Hendrick and the trophy after winning at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the spring of 1995

ATLANTA
Date:	March 12, 1995
Started:	3rd
Finished:	1st
Laps led:	250
Points earned:	185
Earnings:	$104,950
Points standings:	1. Dale Earnhardt 685; 2. Sterling Marlin 613 (-72); 3. Mark Martin 596 (-89); 4. Terry Labonte 582 (-103); 5. Dale Jarrett 553 (-132); 6. Jeff Gordon 532 (-153); 7. Ricky Rudd 531 (-154); 8. Bobby Labonte 496 (-189); 9. Derrike Cope 491 (-194); 10. Morgan Shepherd 468 (-217)

For the second time in four races, Gordon was able to finish off a dominant day, this time pacing 250 of 328 laps in rolling to victory lane for the fourth time in his career.

But again, the team couldn’t get off the roller coaster.

Race No. 5 came at Darlington Raceway. Gordon collected his third pole of the young season and yet again, had what was likely, the best car, pacing 155 of the first 199 circuits. Yet, Gordon was collected at the front of the field when Bobby Labonte made contact with the lapped car of Randy LaJoie just past the start-finish line on a restart.

REWIND: Ray Evernham pit call sends Jeff Gordon to Coke 600 win in 1994

The beginning of the 1995 proved a couple of things – one, the team had reached a new level in terms of performance capabilities and two, it had as much fight as it did speed.

And that mentality trickled down from driver and crew chief.

“It took a lot of effort to establish that reliability and Jeff’s talent pushed us to operate at his level as well,” Whitesell recalled. “It just kept feeding on itself to continuously improve what we were doing. Every component from a radiator hub to the gears to the transmission, all of those things kept improving to get that consistency to operate the entire vehicle.”

So, when the NASCAR Cup Series marched on to Bristol Motor Speedway the following week, Gordon and the team was ready.

This time, it was 95 laps led and the team’s third win of the season that pointed the No. 24 back in the right direction.

Bristol Motor Speedway
Date:	April 2, 1995
Started:	2nd
Finished:	1st
Laps led:	95
Points earned:	175
Earnings:	$61,625
Points standings:	1. Dale Earnhardt 948; 2. Sterling Marlin 931 (-17); 3. Mark Martin 795 (-153); 4. Jeff Gordon 794 (-154); 5. Terry Labonte 789 (-159); 6. Derrike Cope 770 (-178); 7. Dale Jarrett 752 (-196); 8. Ted Musgrave 733 (-215); 9. Rusty Wallace 730 (-218); 10. Ricky Rudd 725 (-222)

In just six weeks to open 1995, Gordon earned more wins (three) than he had in two full seasons prior. That was the good news.

However, those three victories were paired with three finishes of 22nd or worse. And as good as the wins felt, in the big picture, it added up to a fourth-place points standing, 154 markers behind the leader, Earnhardt.

Yet, despite the bumps in the road, everything felt different. While the results weren’t quite consistent yet, the race-winning speed was, and the 24 bunch was bringing it to the race track every week.

“We won more races in the first six events of that year than we did the first two years of our team, so that was really cool,” Evernham said. “A lot of it was maturity and confidence. Jeff and I had little experience in Cup when we came in and did that. It took us a long time – Jeff figuring out the cars and coming into his own.”

With a win at Bristol Motor Speedway, Jeff Gordon (right) went to victory lane three times in the first six races of the 1995 season.

‘…And then, they showed up’

A funny thing happened after the win at Bristol: Gordon followed it up with another great run, finishing second at North Wilkesboro Speedway. Then came a third-place run at Martinsville Speedway.

Yet another second-place showing at Talladega Superspeedway following that briefly put Gordon in a tie for the points lead with Earnhardt. It would be short lived, Earnhardt responded with a victory at Sonoma Raceway, the only road-course win in his career. Gordon would then finish 33rd in the Coca-Cola 600 after starting on the pole, pushing him back to fourth and 101 markers behind.

History is never recognized in the moment. Even as Gordon continued to display his driving prowess and as Evernham and company continued to crank out fast race cars, few could’ve seen what the rest of 1995, and most of the rest of the decade, would hold.

But with every lap led and with every new race track conquered, the 24 team began to acquire an aura of inevitability. Bad days started to become less frequent and when Gordon wasn’t crashed, he was usually out front.

Jeff Gordon, Ray Evernham and the No. 24 team produced lightning quick race cars all season long in 1995.

Whether he was a preseason favorite or not didn’t much matter by the time the Cup Series headed to Dover Motor Speedway on June 4 of that year for the 12th event of the season. What no one could’ve known, is that a run-of-the-mill sixth-place finish would kickstart the first long run of brilliance in Gordon’s career, one that would turn the 1995 season on its head and push the No. 24 team to the pinnacle of the sport.

Yet, there had been enough signs already. And team owner Rick Hendrick could sense the tide turning for good.

“Jeff had shown flashes – winning the 600 and the Brickyard were huge moments – but we knew the key was consistency,” Hendrick told HendrickMotorsports.com. “Ray had built a team that was incredibly tight-knit. They trusted each other. Jeff was still young, but he was mature beyond his years in the car. You never counted out Dale Earnhardt, but it did feel like a shift was happening.”

REWIND: Jeff Gordon ties Dale Earnhardt on all-time wins list at Phoenix

“I feel like by race 10, it was, ‘OK, we’re starting to see who the players are and we’ve got to get through the summer and really understand it,'” Gordon added. “I was so nervous because we’d never won a championship. I’m sure Ray was feeling a lot of pressure. The whole team was feeling a lot of pressure because Mr. Hendrick had never won a championship at that point. Nobody on the team had ever won a championship and we’re going up against some fierce competitors.”

Speaking of which, they were starting to take notice as well. Even the ones in the same race shop.

“It was obvious (Gordon) was very talented and obviously, he was going to do well,” Labonte said. “To be that young and be as good as he was and when you look at these race tracks, it’s not like he was winning at the same track every weekend. Typically, that takes four or five years in the Cup Series just to gain the experience at different tracks because everything you learned this weekend doesn’t really apply to next weekend.”

Jeff Gordon (24) began to pry the torch from Dale Earnhardt (3) in 1995 en route to his first NASCAR Cup Series title.

Earnhardt, as expected, was in the midst of yet another championship-caliber season. He’d started 1995 with five-consecutive top-four finishes and had a pair of wins and only three showings of worse than sixth place by the conclusion of the Dover race. He led the points standings by 100 tallies and seemed to be more than a third of the way toward a ground-breaking eighth title.

And there were others. Sterling Marlin would parlay an opening win in the Great American Race into likely the best season of his career and he was planted in second place behind Earnhardt when the checkered flag waved at Dover. The ever-steady Martin was fourth and putting pressure on Gordon in third.

REWIND: Jeff Gordon wins fifth and final Brickyard 400

But fresh off the win at Sonoma, a sixth place at in the 600 and a fifth at Dover, the mood was still fairly rosy in the No. 3 camp. But Earnhardt’s crew chief Andy Petree, who shared a friendship with Evernham and who’d played a vital part in pairing him with Gordon, could feel the storm brewing.

And the rest of the year would birth what would become one of NASCAR’s greatest and most endearing rivalries.

“We kind of knew it was coming, you just never know when,” Petree said. “I felt confident in the fact that we were going to be more consistent; nobody scored points like Dale did and he had a sense for that old points system. He never threw away points. We felt like we could handle it. Mark Martin and Rusty Wallace had been our biggest competitors, we were probably more looking toward them and how were we going to beat them … And then, they showed up.”

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December 14, 2025

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Larry Larson, Lyle Barnett Secure First Two Invites For 2026 King of The South Invitational

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7 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Earlier this year, Larry Larson put the small-tire world on notice, defeating Lyle Barnett in the final round of the $75,000 King of the South invitational, headlining the Ronnie Buff Memorial weekend at Shadyside Dragway in Shelby, North Carolina.

During the opening day of PRI in Indianapolis, KotS promoter Corey Stamper and Shadyside Dragway co-owner Seth Buff officially extended invitations to both Larson and Barnett for the 2026 edition of the event, taking place May 21-24.

Both drivers accepted, filling the first two spots in the 64-car, invite-only field of cars competing on 28×10.5 non-w slicks for another $75k.

Larson has only gained momentum since his KotS victory back in May, most recently winning the $40,000 True 10.5 N/T class at the Snowbird Outlaw Nationals presented by Motion Raceworks at Bradenton Motorsports Park. It’s been a dream season for the chassis-builder out of Oak Grove, Missouri, who originally made it into Kots earlier this year as an alternate.

“I wasn’t even invited last year,” said Larson. “They had some people drop out and Corey gave me an invite. I just went down there to see if I could learn something.”

Barnett, meanwhile, will be looking for a little bit of payback behind the wheel of the Tommy Youmans-owned “Salvage Title” Mustang. After losing to Larson by a miniscule .004 margin of victory in 2025, Barnett is hoping to go one round further in 2026 at what he deems his hometown track.

“Shadyside is home to me,” Barnett said. “I live 35 minutes from the track. I’ve won a bunch of Corey’s Carolina Cash Days in Beer Money, and when King of the South became a reality, I told him no matter what, I wanted in.

“I’ll be honest, when I rolled into the final against Larry, I thought I had him covered,” Barnett continued. “And I did until about 330 ft., and then I watched that Harts Charger just walk away from me. Larry’s a good friend, and if we can manage to stay away from each other in the early rounds at Shadyside, I’d love to see him late in the race and see if we can duplicate that final round – just swap who gets to hold the trophy.”

In addition to the hugely popular Small-Tire invitational, Stamper is adding something new for 2026 – the $10,000 Knight of the South class, featuring a 16-car invitational on even smaller 26×8.5 slicks.

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KotS looks to once again be one of the biggest events of the year in 2026, building off their 2025 edition that sold out Shadyside and forced the fire marshal to close the gates on Saturday due to a record crowd. Track owners Seth and Zach Buff continue to build on their family’s legacy, giving racers a local “outlaw” feel that can’t be found at larger facilities.

“It means so much to us to have this caliber of drivers at our small track,” said Seth Buff. “It’s so surreal for us. During that weekend, I woke up and said, ‘This is unreal.’ It’s an amazing show they put on, and we appreciate them.”

Invitations will continue going out in the coming weeks. Fans can stay up to date on whether their favorite drivers will make the cut by following Spoold Media on social media outlets.

This story was originally published on December 13, 2025. Drag Illustrated

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NASCAR Cup Series lands one new driver for 2026

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7 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Aside from two backmarker teams in Haas Factory Team and Rick Ware Racing switching back to Chevrolet from Ford, giving the Bowtie twice as many teams as the Blue Oval after a season in which they were both responsible for fielding six organizations, there wasn’t much action in NASCAR Cup Series silly season this year.

The big change was one that many fans saw coming even before the 2025 season actually started, and it revolved around the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.

Though Daniel Suarez had won a race and qualified for the playoffs in 2024, he was entering a contract year, and his overall performance, specifically relative to teammate Ross Chastain, had left a bit to be desired. Trackhouse Racing development driver Connor Zilisch was rumored to be his replacement.

Amid a dominant season in the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports during which he won 10 races, Zilisch was indeed confirmed as Suarez’s replacement, albeit in a renumbered No. 88 Chevrolet.

Connor Zilisch the lone NASCAR Cup Series rookie in 2026

Shane van Gisbergen used the No. 88 in 2025 but is set to use the No. 97 in 2026; the No. 99 is not set to be run by the team.

Suarez landed elsewhere fairly quickly, with Spire Motorsports capitalizing on the opportunity to sign him to replace the struggling Justin Haley behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet.

Haley dropped down to the Truck Series to reunite with Kaulig Racing, the team he was with from 2019 to 2023 across the Xfinity Series and Cup Series, as they prepare to begin their new partnership with Ram Trucks.

Other than that, there were no changes made to the Cup Series driver lineup. It means that in addition to Haley being the only driver to leave the series and Suarez being the only driver to move from Cup team to Cup team from 2025 to 2026, Zilisch is set to be the series’ only new full-time driver in 2026.

It means that he has effectively locked up the Rookie of the Year Award, as long as he simply shows up to the season-opening Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in a couple of months.

Tune in to Fox at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, February 15 for the live broadcast of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season-opening 68th annual Daytona 500 from Daytona International Speedway.

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PRI Featured Products Showcase Award Winners Announced

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7 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Performance Racing Industry presented 22 manufacturers with a Featured Products Showcase Award during the 2025 PRI Show, recognizing the most innovative and cutting-edge advancements powering the racing industry.

The Featured Products Showcase is the PRI Show’s premier destination for media, buyers, and professionals to discover the latest innovations driving motorsports. More than 400 products vied for top honors from a panel of 12 judges consisting of track operators, sanctioning body representatives, content creators, and media. Each product was evaluated for its breakthrough engineering, influence, and business potential. These standout products represent the technologies and trends that will revolutionize racing performance in 2026.

In addition to voting for their favorite top products, each judge had an opportunity to present one exhibitor with a Judge’s Pick Award, which represented their favorite product displayed in the entire showcase.

PRI Featured Products Showcase Top Product Award Winners

AFCO Performance Group — New Elite Wireless Load Sticks from Longacre
Antigravity Batteries — Antigravity Batteries Re-Start Sodium Battery
ARP — BMW B58 ARP2000 Crank Pulley Bolt Kit
DYME PSI — DYME Hose and Fittings
EPIC Racewear — Custom Trailer Curtains
Flagtronics by Ballenger Motorsports — Flagtronics FT200 / FT-RD / FT-AIO)
FuelTech ECU — FT700 VCU
GZERO Additive — GZERO Additive 43 Series 3D Printer
Harts Turbo — 136mm Hartscharger
Hoosier Racing Tire — TrackAttack Pro
HP Race Brands — HPT F5 Dual Entry Turbine Housing
INTERCOMP — Classic Weigh XBT Scales
Katech Engineering — Katech TrackFlow LS7 & LS3 Billet High-Capacity Scavenge Oil Pump | KAT-A7936
King Engine Bearings — King Racing Top Fuel Connecting Rod Bearings Set For Chrysler V8 Big Block 361CI 383CI – CR 806TFC
Modern Driveline — 94-04 Mustang Stealth In-Dash Hydraulic Clutch Master Cylinder Kit
MOTEC — MoTeC STW195 Steering Wheel
NecksGen — NecksGen REVX
ProCharger Superchargers — LS Air-to-Water intercooled Intake Manifold
Racing Electronics — RE4000 Bluetooth Racing Scanner
Redhorse Performance — RHP-HCM-888-2 Portable Crimp Machine Kit
Sonic Tools USA — Mobile Track Kit
SRI — Ocean Lagoon

Judge’s Pick Award Winners

AFCO Performance Group — New Elite Wireless Load Sticks from Longacre
CSM Performance — Precision Hub Stands–Motorsports
Flagtronics by Ballenger Motorsports — Flagtronics SB-100 LED Signboards
FuelTech ECU — FT700 VCU
HP Race Brands — HPT F5 Dual Entry Turbine Housing
King Engine Bearings — King Racing Top Fuel Connecting Rod Bearings Set For Chrysler V8 Big Block 361CI 383CI – CR 806TFC
Lifeline Fire & Safety Systems — Lifeline Zero Formula Car Cockpit
System (selected by two judges)
Modern Driveline — 94-04 Mustang Stealth In-Dash Hydraulic Clutch Master Cylinder Kit
ProCharger Superchargers — LS Air-to-Water intercooled Intake Manifol
ProCharger Superchargers — F-4X-140-1
Race Winning Brands — Chevrolet Gen V LT Billet CCW Crankshaft

The 2025 PRI Show is taking place Dec. 11-13 in Indianapolis with more than 1,060 exhibitors confirmed, including 161 first-time participants. This overwhelming response underscores the industry’s deep commitment to PRI as the central hub for connecting, innovating, and driving business forward. For more information, visit PerformanceRacing.com.

This story was originally published on December 13, 2025. Drag Illustrated

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Motorsports

Zilisch endures ‘first day of school’ after NASCAR change – Motorsport – Sports

Published

7 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NASCAR’s long-promised evolution toward a louder, faster and more demanding Cup Series continues to brew behind the scenes, with the latest developments taking place under a Trackhouse Racing tent at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Connor Zilisch, one of the sport’s most highly anticipated young talents, ran an offseason test on Friday that served as both a personal milestone and a glimpse into NASCAR’s 2026 future. Zilisch shared the day on social media, captioning it “First day of school,” a fitting description as he prepares for his first full-time Cup Series season.

Zilisch’s neon yellow No. 88 sat on an all-blackout Chevrolet, stripped of sponsors and branding save for the manufacturer logo and a small Zilisch mark on the fender. The test marked Zilisch’s transition from the Xfinity Series, where he delivered a historic season in 2025 that fell just short of a championship, into NASCAR’s top division.

The North Wilkesboro test centered on NASCAR’s plan to increase horsepower to 750 for select tracks in 2026, a response to years of criticism from drivers, teams, and fans who felt the Next Gen era muted driver skill and throttle control.

Officials have already run limited tests, including a July session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with three drivers, but the results were mixed.

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Veteran crew chief Tommy Baldwin said afterward the added power did not move the needle the way many expected, calling it surprising given how long horsepower increases had been touted as the solution. Baldwin still maintained that New Hampshire was the correct venue to evaluate the change, even if the outcome was disappointing.

The Cup Series once pushed close to 900 horsepower during the Gen-6 era before dropping to 750 in 2015, then plunging to 550 in 2019 in an effort to tighten racing. The introduction of the Next Gen car in 2022 increased output to 670 horsepower, but many drivers argued that it was still not enough.

Calls for more power came from stars like Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Ryan Preece, who floated numbers closer to 900 or even 1000 horsepower as the proper fix. NASCAR’s 750-horsepower plan represents a compromise, just like its settlement with 23XIRacing and Front Row Motorsports after nine days in court.

NASCAR president Steve O’Donnell confirmed that 750 horsepower will be used at a wide range of tracks in 2026. Those venues include road courses like Circuit of The Americas, Watkins Glen, Sonoma, and the Charlotte Roval, as well as short tracks and intermediates such as Martinsville, Bristol, Darlington, Dover, Richmond, Iowa, Gateway, Nashville, and North Wilkesboro.

Officials are also working closely with Goodyear to improve tire falloff, another long-standing demand from drivers, as higher speeds place greater emphasis on managing wear and grip.

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2025 USAC Champs & Award Winners Share Spotlight at 70th USAC Night of Champions – Speedway Digest

Published

8 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The United States Auto Club (USAC) honored its champions and special award recipients on Friday evening, December 12, during the 70th Annual USAC Night of Champions at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in downtown Indianapolis.

USAC NATIONAL DRIVER & ENTRANT CHAMPIONS

Silver Crown Driver Champion: Justin Grant

Silver Crown Entrant Champion: Hemelgarn Racing

Despite five broken metatarsals, torn ligaments and three screws, even a broken left foot couldn’t stop Justin Grant on the way to his second career USAC Silver Crown National Championship in 2025. The Ione, California native jumped out to the early point lead by way of back-to-back springtime victories on the pavement of Ohio’s Toledo Speedway and on the dirt of Kansas’ Belleville High Banks, which set a record for the quickest race run in Silver Crown history.

A sprint car crash in late summer put it all in jeopardy. But quick work by crew chief Dennis LaCava saved the season with his unique design that allowed Grant’s brake foot to work again. Post-injury, Grant’s average finish was third throughout the final four races to lock up the series title, his first since 2020. Zero DNFs, along with 13 top-tens in 13 starts spearheaded by Grant, also provided the second entrant title for car owner Ron Hemelgarn.

Every season has its hurdles in some form or fashion, but Grant’s 2025 title may very well have been both his most challenging, and his most rewarding.

AMSOIL National Sprint Car Champion Driver: Kyle Cummins

Richard Hoffman AMSOIL National Sprint Entrant Champion: Petty Performance Racing

Just two years ago, Kyle Cummins was ready to hang up the helmet. But after Jerry Petty made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, the Princeton, Indiana driver’s landscape changed, and ultimately led him to a historical USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season in 2025.

By the numbers, Cummins was the most dominant USAC National Sprint Car champion ever. He led the points for all 49 events and his final point margin of 386 was the largest in series history. Cummins’s 38 top-fives and 44 top-tens are both new single season series records. Furthermore, with 10 wins and 13 seconds, Cummins’ 23 top-twos in 2025 surpassed the all-time mark. Cummins’ 13 runner-up results are also a new record.

His 22 top-tens to start the season are, you guessed it, a brand new series record. In his quest, Cummins’ average finish was a staggering 4.5. In just its second year, Petty Performance Racing is a first-time USAC entrant titlist. It’s been a long time coming, and at age 38, and in his 23rd season of sprint car racing, Kyle Cummins is finally a USAC champ.

NOS Energy Drink National Midget Driver Champion: Cannon McIntosh

NOS Energy Drink National Midget Entrant Champion: Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports

One year after finishing as the runner-up, Cannon McIntosh climbed to the top of USAC’s NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship in 2025, and resilience was at the forefront. Case in point. The first of the Bixby, Oklahoma racer’s series leading five wins came on Belleville weekend. After a spin on night one, he roared back from 22nd to fifth! One night later, he bounced back with a victory.

At IMS, he flipped wildly in his heat race, then dusted himself off to win the semi. Starting 19th in the feature, he made the biggest charge of the year to become the first multi-time BC39 winner in back-to-back fashion. Down the stretch, McIntosh erased a 106 point deficit by reeling off Mid-America Midget Week victories at Sweet Springs and Jefferson County, while adding another W late in the year at Merced. It all cemented his first USAC crown and provided Keith Kunz his record-extending 13th USAC National Midget entrant title. For Curb-Agajanian, their latest entrant title is their 11th. If there’s anything you could count on in 2025, it was to not count Cannon out.

USAC NATIONAL DRIVER & ENTRANT RUNNERS-UP

Silver Crown Runner-Up Driver: C.J. Leary

Silver Crown Runner-Up Entrant: Team Arizona-Petty-Rossi Racing

C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Indiana) returned to USAC Silver Crown victory lane in 2025, winning on the pavement of IRP for his first series win since 2022. This particular triumph was also the first for a DRC chassis on pavement since 2006! On Labor Day weekend, he and his Team Arizona-Petty-Rossi crew took a dip in the infield lake at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds after both parties won their first ever race on a dirt mile. Also for driver and crew, it’s their best career USAC Silver Crown points finish in what was this combo’s first year racing together.

AMSOIL National Sprint Car Runner-Up Driver: Mitchel Moles

AMSOIL National Runner-Up Entrant: Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports

Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, California) finished a career best second in points for Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, winning once by 21 hundredths of a second over Kyle Cummins during September’s Fall Brawl at Indiana’s Paragon Speedway. The photo finish proved to be the closest finish of the USAC season and also erased his 61-race winless streak with the series. Furthermore, Moles led all drivers with 15 fast qualifying times, tying Kevin Thomas Jr.’s 2018 mark for the most quick times in a single season with the series. His 22 top-fives and 41 top-tens were also personal bests.

NOS Energy Drink National Midget Runner-Up Driver: Justin Grant

NOS Energy Drink National Midget Runner-Up Entrant: CB Industries

Justin Grant (Ione, California) led the points longer than any other driver on the circuit, topping the standings for 12 races throughout the first half of the season with the CB Industries team. To go along with his three fast qualifying times, he won three times, including April’s Kokomo Grand Prix, then won again in his next outing at Kansas’ Belleville Short Track. He then scored the opening night of the BC39 at The Dirt Track at IMS en route to a runner-up points finish for the third time in his career after also doing so in 2022 and 2023.

USAC NATIONAL 3RD PLACE DRIVERS & ENTRANTS

Silver Crown 3rd Place Driver: Matt Westfall

Silver Crown 3rd Place Entrant: 4 Kings Racing

Nearly a quarter century after his series debut, veteran wheelman Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) finished a career best third in the 2025 champ car standings. Starting all 13 feature events for 4 Kings Racing, he compiled a pair of top-five finishes, including a fourth at Salt City and a runner-up result on the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, leading the opening eight laps of the grueling 100-miler. He was also the only driver to score a front row starting spot for both of the dirt mile races in 2025 at Springfield and Du Quoin.

AMSOIL National Sprint Car 3rd Place Driver: Logan Seavey

AMSOIL National Sprint Car 3rd Place Entrant: Abacus Racing

With nine triumphs to his credit in 2025, Logan Seavey (Sutter, California) and Abacus Racing captured some of the most lucrative events on the schedule, including $10,000 at Volusia and Red Hill, another $20,000 at Tri-State’s Haubstadt Hustler, $30,000 at Lawrenceburg’s Fall Nationals and more than $52,000 in the season-ending Western World Championships weekend at Central Arizona, in which they swept both nights. They also added scores at Lincoln Park, Lawrenceburg and Bloomington during the summer months as Seavey ranked first among all drivers with 249 feature laps led.

NOS Energy Drink National Midget 3rd Place Driver: Kevin Thomas Jr.

NOS Energy Drink National Midget 3rd Place Entrant: 4 Kings Racing

Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Alabama) equaled his career best finish in the USAC National Midget standings a full decade after also finishing third in 2015. He tied champion Cannon McIntosh for the series lead with 19 top-ten results and ranked among the top echelon in the series with 10 top-fives. His best performances came via four runner-up finishes at Circle City, Bloomington and twice at Eldora. He also accrued the most heat race victories of the season as well, amassing eight with 4 Kings Racing, a newcomer to USAC which has quickly became an instant contender.

USAC INDIVIDUAL & SPECIAL AWARDS

Roger McCluskey Award: Jerry Petty

This award recognizes an individual who exemplifies the standards of excellence in the sport of auto racing so astutely represented by Roger McCluskey throughout his career as a USAC driver and official. Jerry Petty has gone above and beyond in all facets of the sport. With Avanti Windows & Doors, he’s the title sponsor of both the USAC CRA Sprint Car and USAC Western States Midget series. He sponsors marquee USAC events such as the BC39 and the Corn Belt Clash and has served a pivotal role in revitalizing the Western World Championships. He’s annually supported USAC’s Hall of Fame and has developed a program to assist up-and-coming young drivers in quarter midget racing. Oh yeah, he also fields teams in USAC’s Silver Crown, Sprint Car and Midget divisions. This past season, his team achieved the unprecedented feat of capturing both the USAC National and CRA Sprint Car titles in the same season.

Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Champion: Justin Grant

Although his left foot was shattered, battered and tattered for the second half of the season, Justin Grant (Ione, California) managed to pull through it all to earn the most points across USAC’s three national divisions. Before the end of April, he set a new record by winning in all three series quicker than any driver in series history. Despite leading all drivers with 16 USAC national victories in 2025, this was easily the most challenging. He was the only driver to finish inside the top-five in points for all three divisions, taking 1st in Silver Crown, 2nd in Midgets and 5th in Sprint Cars. He’s now the first five-time titlist of the Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship.

Johnny Capels “Golden Greek” USAC Chief Mechanic of the Year: Dennis LaCava

Dennis LaCava has a knack for making racecars quick. A former midget racer himself, he was crucial to Hemelgarn Racing’s success with Buddy Lazier’s 1996 Indianapolis 500 win and the 2000 Indy Racing League championship, as well as Justin Grant’s two USAC Silver Crown titles. This year may very well have been among his finest achievements. In a little over a week after Grant broke his foot, he engineered a device that clamped around Grant’s cast to alleviate the load off his braking foot. In the ensuing four races with the device, Grant didn’t miss a beat and never finished outside the top-four, allowing them to win the USAC Silver Crown championship.

Dick Jordan Award of Excellence: Barb Hellyer

Barb Hellyer has given to the sport of auto racing her entire life. She was a longtime USAC field official, and over the years, served within the club as a schedule coordinator, chief serial scorer and registrar for the sprint car, midget and Silver Crown divisions as well as Indy Car and Mini Indy. In recent years, Hellyer has been instrumental through her work with USAC RaceAid, the Indiana Racing Memorial Association, Indy 500 Oldtimers Club, USAC Hall of Fame and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, of which she is the one and only woman inductee. Few people knew Dick Jordan like Barb Hellyer did. Perhaps no one worked alongside USAC’s longtime publicist more often than Barb did for nearly half a century. Throughout it all, her professionalism, drive, values and fairness have been at the forefront of her work, just as Dick Jordan always demonstrated. That makes her a perfect fit as this year’s recipient of the Dick Jordan Award of Excellence.

Jason Leffler Award: Tom & Laurie Sertich

For more than three decades, Tom and Laurie Sertich’s Moose-mobile was a familiar sight up and down the west coast. In recent years, they’ve kept on racing as they made the journey to the Midwest. Determination and perseverance drive them, and racing is in their blood. So much so that even their first date was at a racetrack! With their friendly demeanor, and the best cookies in the pits, they are always among the main attractions at the racetrack. This past July, they realized a dream when Chase Stockon drove their car to its first USAC National Sprint Car victory at Terre Haute. Among their peers, this was undoubtedly the most popular USAC victory in a long, long time. Fittingly, Chase was a recipient of this award in 2019, and tonight, this husband and wife will add their names to the list in recognition of their intense appreciation of the sport’s history, their professionalism and their outstanding representation of USAC.

Lee Kunzman True Grit Award: Justin Grant

Courage. Resolve. Passion and perseverance. These are some of the attributes that define the word “grit.” It’s the strength of a person’s character that shines through when faced with overcoming dire obstacles. Lee Kunzman went face-to-face with many hurdles, but through it all, he determined that none of it was going to stand in his way. In pursuing your passion and goals, you’ve got do whatever it takes and stamp out any naysaying along the way. Lee was, without a doubt, one of the tough guys. And there’s no more deserving recipient of this inaugural award than the man who defied the odds to not only race again so soon, but to keep on winning in the face of pain and adversity.

Race Organizer of the Year: Doug Lockwood

When the chips are down, Doug Lockwood steps up. When faced with a Central Valley monsoon in 2024, he never gave in and got California’s Merced Speedway in shape not only for one USAC National Midget show, but he stepped in and added a second show on the same day. When another track canceled this past November, on short notice, he added a second night to his USAC National Midget program. And despite adverse conditions the night before the event when many would’ve thrown in the towel, he was on the grader getting the track race ready. He doesn’t do it for the glory. He does it to give racers a place to race.

Parallax Group Passing Master: Kale Drake

Kale Drake (Collinsville, Oklahoma) set a brand new record by passing 242 cars in feature events throughout the season across all three USAC national divisions, surpassing the former single season record of 230 set by Justin Grant in 2021. He did his work in 60 feature starts, passing an average of more than four cars per start. In fact, he was the Rod End Supply Hard Charger 10 times! No other driver had more than four! The best of the bunch was a 23rd to 5th run in the sprint car in April at Lincoln Park Speedway. It’s super special to have him here today, and in 2025, he’s the USAC National Parallax Group Passing Master champion.

National Most Improved Driver: Hayden Reinbold

Hayden Reinbold (Gilbert, Arizona) improved by leaps and bounds throughout the 2025 season. In his sixth year of USAC National Midget racing, he surpassed his total combined output from his first five years in a single season! He became a first-time winner in September at Eldora in what was his 101st career series start, which occurred on the very same night he also earned his first career fast qualifying time. On the USAC National Sprint Car front, he clicked off five top-fives with a best finish of second at Lincoln Park. He’s the first Arizonan to be named USAC’s National Most Improved Driver since Jerry Coons Jr. in 2001.

National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year: Gunnar Setser

Gunnar Setser (Columbus, Indiana) prevailed in the closest Rookie of the Year battle in USAC National Sprint Car history! This driver collected a pair of top-five finishes and a best result of fifth at Knoxville and Circle City to finish 10th in the overall standings. At the age of 16, he became the third youngest top Rookie in series history. Over the past calendar year, he’s been the Hoosier Auto Racing Fans, POWRi Midget and Chili Bowl Rookie of the Year. Now, he’s the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year for 2025 by a mere four point margin over Hayden Reinbold.

Bob Stroud National Midget Rookie of the Year: Steven Snyder Jr.

Throughout the past 70 years of USAC competition, racers from Maryland have been few and far between. In 2025, Steven Snyder Jr. (Rising Sun, Maryland) waved the Maryland flag proudly by ranking eighth in series points after accruing six top-fives in 23 starts, finishing a best of second during the Kokomo Grand Prix and Placerville’s Hangtown 100. Furthermore, he led six laps at Eldora’s 4-Crown Nationals and added a fast qualifying time at Merced. He’s the first driver from the Old Line State to appear in the USAC National Midget standings, and now, he’s the first driver from the state to earn USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year honors.

Silver Crown Rookie of the Year: Jake Trainor

Focusing solely on asphalt, pavement specialist Jake Trainor (Medway, Massachusetts) started six races in 2025 en route to a 19th place finish in the overall series standings. In doing so, he became the first Bay Stater to collect a top Rookie distinction in any of USAC’s three national divisions. He’s also the first pavement only competitor to corral champ car’s Rookie award since Derek Bischak in 2019. His fifth place run during the Hoosier Hundred at IRP was the best among all series Rookies on the trail, and he got it done after climbing 11 spots from his 16th place starting position to earn the USAC Silver Crown Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year.

REGIONAL SPRINT & MIDGET SERIES

USAC’s regional sprint car and midget divisions span from coast-to-coast with 8 different states hosting a total of 61 events in 2025 with a pair of first-time titlists and a duo from each of the coasts who return to the stage again tonight.

Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Driver Champion: R.J. Johnson

Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Entrant Champions: Petty Performance Racing

A pair of victories in successive fashion at Perris coupled with six fast qualifying times made R.J. Johnson (Laveen, Arizona) just the third back-to-back champ in USAC CRA’s 22-year history following Mike Spencer and Damion Gardner. Impressively, his consecutive titles have come with two different teams! He was the mark of consistency, bagging nine straight top-fives and 14 top-fives in a 15-race span between April and October to cement the crown. Overall, it’s his seventh career USAC driving championship, and for the first time, Petty Performance Racing is USAC CRA’s entrant titlist.

IMT East Coast Sprint Car Driver Champion: Steven Drevicki

Once again, the top step on the east coast belongs to Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pennsylvania). This year, he won three times at Delaware International, Port Royal and Williams Grove. He led 73 laps while snagging 11 top-fives in 13 starts. Taking over the point lead during the fifth round of the season in June, he raced away to an 81-point margin by season’s end. Behind the scenes, he serves as the Vice President of the series, but on this stage, he stands front and center as a five-time champion of the USAC Innovative Machine Technology East Coast Sprint Car Series Presented by Baer Den Farms.

Avanti Windows & Doors Western States Midget Driver Champion: Caden Sarale

Avanti Windows & Doors Western States Midget Entrant Champion: Six8 Motorsports

Caden Sarale (Stockton, California) never once broke stride in pursuit of his first USAC driving championship. Throughout the 10-race season, he never finished worse than fourth. Along the way, he earned three victories at Santa Maria, Ventura and Plaza Park, plus nine podiums while leading a series high 114 laps in his own No. 32.

Meanwhile, Six8 Motorsports had a record breaking year with its sixth career series championship, surpassing the legendary Zarounian Motorsports! Utilizing drivers T.J. Smith and Kaleb Montgomery, this car amassed the most total points.

Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget Driver Champion: Tyler Nelson

Originally, Tyler Nelson (Olathe, Kansas) assumed his hopes and dreams for a championship were dashed. While holding onto a 14-point lead, a pre-planned family vacation was going to force him to miss the final three races of the season. However, Mother Nature came to the rescue one weekend, and on the following weekend, it turned into a sequel of Planes, Trains & Automobiles to get him from a cruise ship in Florida by morning to Indiana’s Montpelier Speedway by night. With a single victory at Millstream and 11 top-tens in 11 starts, he’s a first time USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget champ in 2025.

SNOWMOBILE RACING

International Snowmobile Racing Driver of the Year: Emil Harr

Emil Harr is anything but ordinary. Raised in rural Sweden, he dreamed of one day racing in the United States against the sport’s best. In time, not only did he get the chance to race against the best. He got to beat the best. He made an immediate impression on the sport upon his arrival, and this year, raised the bar even higher. This season, he successfully defended his Pro Class title on the AMSOIL Championship Snocross National Tour, collecting eight wins and 12 podiums in the 2024–2025 season alone.

NASCAR YOUTH SERIES .25 MIDGET CHAMPIONS

The Petty Performance Edge 2025 champions are Ryker Summer and Leighton Rose.

Nascar Youth Multiple Champions

SENIOR ANIMAL DIRT & FORMULA MOD DIRT CHAMPION: Liam Ballard

SENIOR HONDA PAVEMENT & LIGHT WORLD FORMULA PAVEMENT CHAMPION: Kelby Eilen

JUNIOR HONDA DIRT & JUNIOR HONDA PAVEMENT CHAMPION: Nash Greenfield

HEAVY WORLD FORMULA PAVEMENT & FORMULA MOD PAVEMENT CHAMPION: Kedryn Evenson

HEAVY 160 PAVEMENT & UNRESTRICTED ANIMAL PAVEMENT CHAMPION: Easton Loomis

Nascar Youth Pavement Champions

LIGHT 160 CHAMPION: Edison Carter

JUNIOR ANIMAL CHAMPION: Lucas Coulter

HEAVY HONDA CHAMPION: Trevor Jones