By T.J. Buffenbarger
(January 22, 2026) — The Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is often compared to being the Knoxville Nationals of Australian sprint car racing. Besides being the one race in Australia that draws sprint cars from every part of the country, the format that splits cars into qualifying nights and challenge the best drivers to qualify for the finale on the third night.
While the formats are similar, the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic is very different in how it determines the 24 drivers that main the A-Main on Sunday night.
During the two preliminary nights when half the cars compete on Friday and the other half on Saturday, they also split qualifying on each preliminary night into two flights. Each of those flights earns points for qualifying that count towards their event point total with the fastest qualifier earning 200 points and decreases by two points per position.
The Classic also uses the traditional Australian format of two sets of heat races instead of one as seen at Knoxville. The first set of heats are lined up by the results of the two qualifying flights straight up while the second set of heat races features an eight-car inversion based on qualifying time.
One similarity is how important the heat races are at the Knoxville Nationals and the Classic, but for different reasons. Being the fastest qualifier and heat race winner earns a driver 200 points, but in the heat races the positions decrease by eight points per position rather than two. This makes the heat races at the Classic a great opportunity for drivers to make up ground from a bad qualifying effort with a pair of scoring opportunities instead of one.
After the points are all added up after qualifying and the two sets of heat races, the A, B, and C-Main lineups are determined with the top 20 in points making the preliminary A-Main, 21-36 going to the B-Main, with the remainder going into the C-Main event.
Unlike Knoxville where the drivers that lock into Saturday night are determined by their point total, the top four finishers in the preliminary feature are locked into Sunday’s Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic finale. The drivers that are not locked in earn even points for their finish in the A-Main that help determine their placement in Sunday night’s finale.
Where the Knoxville Nationals finale only has features E-A, the Classic finale on Sunday takes the top 72 drivers in points that are not locked into those first eight starting positions to compete in six more heat races where they earn more points towards their event total. Once those heat races are completed the top eight in points from their preliminary night and Sunday’s heat races earn the 9-16 starting positions in the final with the remaining cars going to the C-Main or a pair of B-Mains.
The C and B-Mains are lined up by points with the pair of B-Mains split between even and odd positions in points. The top four finishers in each race move on to the next event.
The Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic finale is 40 laps for the 24 drivers earning a starting position in the A-Main. The winner takes home a prize of $50,000 and pays $2,000 to start (Australian currency).
Other Classic Week Notes…
• Americans participating at the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic include Carson Macedo, Cole Macedo, T.J. Stutts, Aaron Reutzel, Tim Kaeding, Justin Whittall, Ryan Timms, Xavier Doney, and Hunter Schuerenberg.
Timms will attempt to back up his Knoxville Nationals victory by winning Australia’s biggest sprint car event.
The American driver with the most momentum going into the Classic week might be Cole Macedo. Macedo has shown a lot of speed with HighLine Motorsport since touching down in Western, Australia and won the tune up event for the Classic on Sunday at Premier Speedway.
• On the Australian side, Lachlan McHugh has been on a tear of late collecting four feature victories already during the 2026 calendar year. McHugh has had speed that travels this year in Australia and will be one of the top contenders for the Classic.
• Two drivers that were scheduled to compete at Warrnambool this weekend that will not be in action are Buddy Kofoid and Jamie Veal.
Kofoid is still recovering from an illness he contracted during his trip down under earlier this year while Veal is still suffering some lingering effects from a crash earlier this season and had decided to sit out the Classic week activities.
Notes from around the country….
• Former USAC National Sprint Car Series standout Derek Davidson has a new home in IndyCar for the 2026 season. Davidson is now the Competition Team Manager for Ed Carpenter Racing. Davidson most recently had worked in a variety of positions of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
• The Empire Super Sprints added a date to their 2026 schedule on Friday, June 19th at Mohawk International Raceway.
• The Methanol Meltdown original scheduled for this weekend at Golden Isles Speedway for 410 and 360 sprint cars has been cancelled.
• The entry portal for the Race for the Million Series opened on Tuesday. Some of the drivers that have indicated their intent to compete include Jason Blonde, Jimmy & Anthony McCune, Troy DeCaire, Bobby Santos III, Kody Swanson, Bryan Gossell, Ryan Litt, Jake Trainor, and Mike Ling.
Pavement pounders, a site dedicated to covering pavement sprint car racing, has complied a list based on teams they have been in contact with that have entered the series.