By Jordan DeLucia
CONCORD, NC (Dec. 15, 2025) — Regional racing has long been a part of the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) brand, featuring the best-of-the-best in multiple areas across the Midwest, Southwest and Great Plains.
Five champions of their respective regions were crowned in 2025. Three of which are returning champions — Adam Trimble, Kelly Miller, Sean McClelland — and two clinched their first crowns — Bryan Gossel, Jake Brashier.
From March to November, these weekend warriors ruled the local dirt tracks and earned their own piece of ASCS history.
Here are the 2025 American Sprint Car Series regional champions:
Western Plains Region — Bryan Gossel
For the first time in his career, Bryan Gossel is an ASCS regional champion.
The 49-year-old from Windsor, CO, made his Sprint Car debut in 1999 and has since split time racing on both dirt and asphalt. He’s been a competitor in multiple ASCS events every year, and in 2025 decided to chase the ASCS Western Plains Region schedule.
But that was never the plan at first.
“It was awesome. Kind of surreal, in a way,” Gossel said. “I didn’t really even know I was points racing until the promoter called me and asked, ‘Are you coming to the next race?’ and I said, ‘Ah, I don’t know.’ He said I was leading the points, and I was like, ‘I am?’ I didn’t even know.
“I was like, well shoot, we better give it a whirl. And we did.”
Gossel, father of national Series regular Austyn Gossel, ended his season with two Feature wins — one of which came at nearby El Paso County Raceway in Calhan, CO. The 1/4-mile oval was the site of one of the most special wins in his career on May 3, where Bryan scored the win, Austyn ran third, and runner-up was Sprint Car Hall-of-Famer Sammy Swindell, piloting a third Gossel Racing entry.
“I would have never even dreamed that. It was so cool,” Gossel said. “The promoter had been after us to have Sammy run our cars for quite a while, and we just never had enough equipment at the same time to do it. I had gotten to know him a little bit better the last couple years racing with him.
“We were like, ‘Yup, we can do it.’ It was awesome. Sammy is such an incredible person and so nice.”
Northern Plains Region — Adam Trimble
After securing his first ASCS championship with the Western Plains Region last year, Adam Trimble has now topped regional action two years in-a-row as king of the Northern Plains Region in 2025.
The 37-year-old from Pueblo, CO, dominated the region this year, winning three of the nine races and posted top-five finishes in five of them. A big bright spot for he and Matejka-Heffner Racing came in a sweep of Northern Plains action at Wyoming’s Sweetwater Speedway in June, winning both Friday and Saturday’s main events.
While he admits their season was not perfect, Trimble and the team forged their way through mechanical issues mid-season and brought home another 360 Sprint Car points title.
“There were just some odd things that seemed to happen this year that, collectively, between the three of us, haven’t happened in any of our careers,” Trimble said. “So, it felt like a struggle, but looking back at it, we’re like, ‘Man, this was still actually a really successful season.’ We felt like we worked hard at it and just kept things going.”
Trimble has now spent two seasons racing under car owners Mark Matejka and Jeff Heffner. The Denver-based team also went to Victory Lane in Midget competition at El Paso County Raceway in September and are already looking forward to another year of partnership in 2026.
“It doesn’t matter if we’re winning or if we’re losing, DNF-ing, whatever the case is — they are working as hard as they possibly can to make the cars as fast as we can get,” Trimble said. “It’s hard to even think that we had DNFs with as hard as those guys work, really. But DNFs, wins, it doesn’t matter. They keep their heads down, and they keep going. It paid off for us.”
Hurricane Area Super Sprints — Jake Brashier
The second new regional champion to ASCS in 2025 is Jake Brashier — king of the ASCS Hurricane Area Super Sprints.
The 39-year-old from Denham Springs, LA, scored five top-fives and 11 top-10s in 12 starts to top all drivers in both categories.
“It was great for us. My goal was to make as many top-fives as I could, and I did a lot better than I had done previously,” Brashier said. “I learned a lot of stuff and made progress.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Brashier will take on a more integral role in the operations of the Hurricane Area Super Sprints as co-owner of the organization with former Series champion Lane Whittington. The two broke the news they had purchased the group in November, marking the start of a new era in southern Sprint Car racing.
The two racers are eager to get to work next year in their new managerial roles and already have plans in place to ensure the prosperity of the Series while they continue their own careers on the track.
“I couldn’t do it by myself, and I didn’t want to see it go away, which is what it looked like it was about to do,” Brashier said. “So, I talked to Lane and told him if we get the money to purchase it, he (said) he’d be willing to help do everything.
“Hopefully, we can get more Sprint Car racing in this area, more places to race at, and make it better for the racers and fans and tracks. We like racing, number one. There’s no politics or anything like that. No ulterior motives, we just want to race.”
Frontier Region — Kelly Miller
For the second consecutive year, the ASCS Frontier Region championship lands north of the border into the shop of Kelly Miller.
The 34-year-old from Lethbridge, AB, Canada, dominated the circuit in 2025, topping the region with eight Feature wins, 14 top fives and 16 top 10s in 18 Feature starts. No other driver had more than two wins in Frontier Region action.
Four of his eight Frontier wins came in back-to-back fashion, starting with the sweep of a two-day event at Big Sky Speedway in May and a second weekend sweep at fellow Montana oval Gallatin Speedway and Big Sky in September.
In the end, Miller held a gap of 301 points in the standings over runner-up Trever Kirkland to seal his third ASCS regional championship in two years after topping both the Frontier and Northern Plains Regions in 2024.
“This year, we definitely had some pretty good numbers to show for it,” Miller said. “Overall, we did continue to improve from last year and the year before that as well. Outside of the Frontier Region, we did manage to pick up some speed at Knoxville and through our little West Coast Speedweek as well. Everything is all building in the right direction, for sure.”
Considering the six wins he put together in Northern Plains Region action last year, Miller’s last two seasons have been among the most successful of his career.
“I think it’s just a matter of just repeating on a good notebook from the year before and building off speed that we currently have,” Miller said. “Not trying to reinvent the wheel, but just trying to make our program better in the long run when it comes to DNFs and being a smart driver. It all comes with time and experience. It’s all coming together now, I think it just took a few years.”
Sooner Region — Sean McClelland
With the clinching of his sixth points title, Sean McClelland adds some cushion to the record he holds for most ASCS Sooner Region championships all-time.
The 51-year-old from Tulsa, OK, debuted with the region in 2002 and won his first Sooner championship in 2005. Since then, he’s collected 24 Feature wins — most of any driver — and subsequent championships in 2010, 2019, 2020, and 2022.
McClelland’s 2025 championship came on the back of one win, four top fives and six top 10s in nine Feature starts. His lone victory came at Creek County Speedway in September, continuing the strong partnership he’s forged with his crew and car owner Robert McLain.
“It’s good for Robert, Gage, Gavin, and Darren — they’ve supported me all year,” McClelland said. “It’s good to win a championship for them. It’s all about them, and it’s all for them. I’ve won them before, but they haven’t, and it’s good for them. I can’t thank them enough for allowing me to drive this race car.”
ARTICLE: https://ascsracing.com/news/we-the-kings-five-ascs-regional-champions-crowned-after-2025-season/
PHOTO CREDIT: Emily Schwanke
FAN 101: https://ascsracing.com/about/
The American Sprint Car Series was founded in 1992, comprised of regional races primarily in the Southwest region. It then went national in 1993 and has become the premier 360 Sprint Car Series in the country, while still sanctioning nine regional series that include 360 Sprint Cars, 410 Sprint Cars and Non-Wing Sprint Cars. ASCS is supported by DIRTVision, Hoosier Racing Tire, Honest Abe Roofing, Intercomp, Racing Electronics, Real American Beer (Official Beer), Smith Titanium, SIS Insurance, WEDG High Performance Karts, and VP Racing.