BARBERVILLE, FL (Jan. 31, 2025) — Two races, two wins for Justin Peck and Rudeen Racing in 2025.
Peck, 27, of Monrovia, IN, dominated the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour main event Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park, leading all 25 laps around the 1/2-mile oval for the second consecutive night.
After joining the Washington-based team in October 2024, Peck knew he and the team were going to mesh well and expressed his high confidence going into their first year together. The team, more known for their presence in the national 410 Sprint Car ranks, brought their 360 engines with them to Florida with purpose, and it’s being fulfilled with their second checkered flag in two races.
“That was the goal,” Peck said. “I knew after yesterday we had a really strong package, and if we could just keep it rolling and be consistent, we were gonna be tough to beat.”
Though he was never legitimately challenged for the lead throughout the Feature, Peck said he did not feel as comfortable as he would have liked with his choices late in the race.
“Two nights in-a-row, I’m dialing myself out come the end of the race and getting myself too tight,” Peck said. “Our stuff is really fast, but I think Tyler (Tessemaker, crew chief) and I kinda found a little something there in that Feature that we need to work on. We were trying to make some tweaks, and I think we tweaked the wrong way at some point in that Feature.”
Throughout the week, Peck has faced stiff competition from several fellow 410 Sprint Car regulars, which continued on Friday. TwoC Racing’s newest pilot, Cole Macedo, chased Peck in the closing laps and was ready to make a bid for the lead, but the opportunity never came.
“I felt like my car was better a little bit lower on the track,” Macedo, 24, of Lemoore, CA, said. “I was hoping that Peck would kinda get up in the dirty stuff and spin a little bit, and hopefully I was close enough to pounce, and I just never really was.
“I saw him jump the cushion there in (Turns) 3 and 4 with three (laps) to go, and I smelled blood in the water, but I just never got close enough to be able to pounce.”
On the restarts, Peck remained strong but still had his concerns.
“I knew that my takeoff was really good, like I could grip-up and I could take off really well,” Peck said. “I knew I was gonna be fine in clean air; my worry was in traffic.
Last night, I said that I got my wing too far back late in that race and it hurt me in traffic. Well, I did a good job and thought about it today and didn’t do that. And then we had another restart with six or seven-to-go, and I overthought it and pulled it back too far again, got way too tight and really ruined my last six or seven lap run there.”
While Macedo was unable to get close enough to Peck to make a serious challenge for the lead, he was able to score a runner-up finish — a big confidence boost as he, like Peck, is still in the early stages of meshing with a new team.
“It’s super good to be hot out of the box with TwoC Racing and Wayne (Johnson) and all the guys here,” Macedo said. “For me and Wayne to be meshing this quick is really good, and we’ll have some good momentum going into the whole journey we’re about to start here with the World of Outlaws. I’m excited for it.”
Missouri veteran Brian Brown completed the podium with a drive from 10th on the starting grid up to a third-place finish — his best of the weekend thus far. However, his advancement in position fell short of the race’s Hard Charger honoree — Emerson Axsom.
Axsom, 20, of Franklin, IN, drove from 21st on the grid up to fourth by the checkered flag, completing a 17-car charge up through the field from out of the Smith Titanium Last Chance Showdown. Axsom — Thursday night’s runner-up — blew a right-rear tire in his Heat Race and did not finish. This forced him to come from out the Last Chance race, which he won, setting the stage for a head-turning drive to the front.
“I honestly think we’ve got one of the fastest cars,” Axsom said. “I think we’ve got something for Peck. Last night, we lined up beside him and kinda had a dyno session racetrack. Tonight, we lined up 21st and came to fourth, which is a good run — a really great run, actually, at this place.”
In combined points from both nights, Axsom sits second only to Peck, and the two will likely see each other in the $12,000-to-win finale Saturday night.
“Our stuff’s really good, but we haven’t gotten to line up next to Justin on a technical racetrack,” Axsom said. “Which is where a guy like him thrives, racing all the time. But I like my odds just as much.
“I’d like to line up next to the 26 car when it gets slick and technical. We gave ourselves a chance to do that tomorrow for 12 grand.”
UP NEXT
The ASCS National Tour continues action at Volusia Saturday, February 1, in the final race day for the Tour as part of the 54th DIRTcar Nationals, with a $12,000 grand prize up for grabs in the main event. A Big Gator points champion will also be crowned in Victory Lane.
Tickets for DIRTcar Nationals are on sale by clicking here and will also be available at the gate upon arrival. If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 2C-Cole Macedo[3]; 3. 21-Brian Brown[10]; 4. 27A-Emerson Axsom[21]; 5. 48-Danny Dietrich[2]; 6. 13P-Daison Pursley[4]; 7. 51T-Scotty Thiel[7]; 8. 44-Chris Martin[8]; 9. 20-Brady Bacon[11]; 10. 4-Cameron Martin[12]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]; 12. 6S-Tyler Clem[18]; 13. 52-Blake Hahn[9]; 14. 88M-Austin McCarl[6]; 15. 2J-Zach Blurton[14]; 16. 95-Matt Covington[22]; 17. 24M-Danny Martin Jr[17]; 18. 34-Sterling Cling[16]; 19. 28F-Davie Franek[20]; 20. 71-Brady Baker[19]; 21. 6G-Bryan Gossel[24]; 22. 77T-Tyeller Powless[23]; 23. 16TH-Kevin Newton[15]; 24. 20D-Danny Sams III[13]
Smith TI LCS (12 Laps): 1. 27A-Emerson Axsom[1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 3. 77T-Tyeller Powless[2]; 4. 6G-Bryan Gossel[3]; 5. 2-Whit Gastineau[12]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres[4]; 7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 8. G6-Brandon Grubaugh[8]; 9. 36-Jason Martin[9]; 10. G5-Gunnar Setser[7]; 11. 16H-Hank Davis[10]; 12. 63-Josh Weller[14]; 13. 5H-Robbie Price[11]; 14. 88J-Joey Amantea[13]; 15. 96-Brandon Sampson[20]; 16. 13-Elijah Gile[16]; 17. 12S-Adyn Schmidt[22]; 18. 16G-Austyn Gossel[19]; 19. 88R-Ryder Laplante[23]; 20. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck[21]; 21. 51-Jon Brennfleck[15]; 22. 938-Bradley Fezard[17]; 23. (DNS) UK97-Ryan Harrison
C-Main (8 Laps): 1. 12S-Adyn Schmidt[2]; 2. 88R-Ryder Laplante[3]; 3. 27M-Austin Martin[1]; 4. 10X-Joel Charles[4]; 5. 61-William Hull[7]; 6. 88C-Brogan Carder[8]; 7. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[10]; 8. 25C-John Crowder[9]; 9. 4P-Chase Moran[5]; 10. 14BW-Brett Wright[6]
Dash (5 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[2]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[1]; 3. 2C-Cole Macedo[3]; 4. 13P-Daison Pursley[4]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]; 6. 88M-Austin McCarl[6]; 7. 51T-Scotty Thiel[8]; 8. 44-Chris Martin[7]; 9. 52-Blake Hahn[9]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 3. 88M-Austin McCarl[4]; 4. 24M-Danny Martin Jr[3]; 5. 6G-Bryan Gossel[8]; 6. G6-Brandon Grubaugh[6]; 7. 77T-Tyeller Powless[5]; 8. 938-Bradley Fezard[7]; 9. 27M-Austin Martin[9]; 10. 14BW-Brett Wright[10]; 11. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[11]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 2. 4-Cameron Martin[3]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton[2]; 4. 13P-Daison Pursley[4]; 5. 0-Glenn Styres[6]; 6. 36-Jason Martin[5]; 7. 88J-Joey Amantea[9]; 8. UK97-Ryan Harrison[7]; 9. 12S-Adyn Schmidt[8]; 10. 61-William Hull[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 2. 20-Brady Bacon[1]; 3. 16TH-Kevin Newton[2]; 4. 6S-Tyler Clem[3]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[9]; 6. 16H-Hank Davis[5]; 7. 63-Josh Weller[6]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante[7]; 10. 88C-Brogan Carder[10]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 51T-Scotty Thiel[1]; 2. 20D-Danny Sams III[3]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 4. 71-Brady Baker[7]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 6. 5H-Robbie Price[8]; 7. 51-Jon Brennfleck[6]; 8. 96-Brandon Sampson[9]; 9. 10X-Joel Charles[10]; 10. 27A-Emerson Axsom[4]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Cole Macedo[1]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 3. 34-Sterling Cling[2]; 4. 28F-Davie Franek[5]; 5. G5-Gunnar Setser[3]; 6. 2-Whit Gastineau[6]; 7. 13-Elijah Gile[9]; 8. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck[7]; 9. 4P-Chase Moran[8]; 10. (DNS) 25C-John Crowder
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 88M-Austin McCarl, 00:14.206[4]; 2. 26-Justin Peck, 00:14.259[8]; 3. 21-Brian Brown, 00:14.291[2]; 4. 24M-Danny Martin Jr, 00:14.709[1]; 5. 77T-Tyeller Powless, 00:14.739[9]; 6. G6-Brandon Grubaugh, 00:14.740; 7. 938-Bradley Fezard, 00:14.755[10]; 8. 6G-Bryan Gossel, 00:14.790[6]; 9. 27M-Austin Martin, 00:14.917[7]; 10. 14BW-Brett Wright, 00:15.274[5]; 11. 44C-Cheyenne Potter, 00:15.760[3]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 13P-Daison Pursley, 00:14.234[1]; 2. 44-Chris Martin, 00:14.432[7]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:14.623[3]; 4. 4-Cameron Martin, 00:14.736[5]; 5. 36-Jason Martin, 00:14.746[9]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres, 00:14.803[8]; 7. UK97-Ryan Harrison, 00:14.868[4]; 8. 12S-Adyn Schmidt, 00:15.003[10]; 9. 88J-Joey Amantea, 00:15.025[6]; 10. 61-William Hull, 00:15.151[2]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:14.490[2]; 2. 20-Brady Bacon, 00:14.580[1]; 3. 16TH-Kevin Newton, 00:14.708[4]; 4. 6S-Tyler Clem, 00:14.762[3]; 5. 16H-Hank Davis, 00:14.821[8]; 6. 63-Josh Weller, 00:14.830[5]; 7. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:14.904[6]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:14.911[9]; 9. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:14.993[7]; 10. 88C-Brogan Carder, 00:15.734[10]
Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 27A-Emerson Axsom, 00:14.451[3]; 2. 51T-Scotty Thiel, 00:14.605[4]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:14.711[2]; 4. 20D-Danny Sams III, 00:14.840[6]; 5. 95-Matt Covington, 00:14.870[5]; 6. 51-Jon Brennfleck, 00:14.882[1]; 7. 71-Brady Baker, 00:15.013[10]; 8. 5H-Robbie Price, 00:15.213[8]; 9. 96-Brandon Sampson, 00:15.260[9]; 10. 10X-Joel Charles, 00:16.160[7]
Qualifying 5 (2 Laps): 1. 48-Danny Dietrich, 00:14.799[3]; 2. 2C-Cole Macedo, 00:14.858[5]; 3. 34-Sterling Cling, 00:14.929[2]; 4. G5-Gunnar Setser, 00:14.974[9]; 5. 28F-Davie Franek, 00:15.028[7]; 6. 2-Whit Gastineau, 00:15.143[1]; 7. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck, 00:15.245[8]; 8. 4P-Chase Moran, 00:15.281[4]; 9. 13-Elijah Gile, 00:15.282[10]; 10. 25C-John Crowder, 00:16.778[6]