(January 27, 2026) — After racing indoors in Tulsa and early mornings watching sprint car circle ovals in Australia and New Zealand racing returns outdoors in the United States this weekend with the ASCS National Tour kicking off their 2026 campaign at Volusia Speedway Park.
Here are some of the storylines we will be following as the 360 sprint cars kick off Florida Speedweeks for the sprint cars.
Can Justin Peck repeat his sweep of last year’s weekend at Volusia?
In his debut for Rudeen Racing for the 2025 season Peck showed speed that was very impressive at Volusia Speedway Park scoring three feature wins and leading all but the first 15 laps of all three A-Main events.
Rudeen and Peck could use the momentum from Volusia as those wins accounted for 60% of his win total for 2025. Peck has been winless since his High Limit Racing series victory on May 31st at Butler Motor Speedway and has not cracked the top five in a feature event since October 18th.
Brian Brown and Tyler Courtney return to action…
After a lengthy time out of the seat of a sprint car Brian Brown and Tyler Courtney will return to action this week at Volusia Speedway Park.
Courtney has been out since July 17th after suffering serious injuries in a crash at Eldora Speedway during the Joker’s Jackpot. Courtney has been working hard away from the racetrack on rehabilitation to get back to the point of being cleared to compete.
Brown was injured at the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway on August 23rd after slamming into the backstretch wall. Brown did try to compete on September 4th at Port Royal Speedway but opted to sit out after his wrist still did not feel right while in the car and sought further treatment.
Brown was particularly strong during the Volusia 360 sprint car races last season with two podiums in three races.
Courtney and Brown will take advantage of the extra laps at Volusia to get back into racing shape before 410 sprint car competition begins the following week.
Can a ASCS National Tour driver score a podium during the three races at Volusia?
While the ASCS National Tour kicks off at Volusia Speedway Park in February is great for fans, it is a daunting task for the drivers that follow the entire tour. 360 drivers from all over the United States and Canada converge on Volusia to get a jump on their seasons at home, and produces what is arguably the toughest 360 field in the country next to the 360 Knoxville Nationals.
In 2025 Sam Hafertepe was the only ASCS driver to finish on the podium in three nights of competition with a third-place finish during the Thursday night program.
Can Cole Macedo carry momentum from Australia to the United States?
Cole Macedo is coming off a strong visit to Australia where he scored a pair of feature victories over the past month and half and was in the lead of the biggest sprint car race in Australia, the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, when a pair of lapped cars tangling took out four of the top five cars at that point in the running order of the feature event.
Macedo is driving with a lot of confidence right now, but the wings, tires, and tracks are considerably different in Australia than they are in the United States. Over the first several weeks of the season, including this weekend at Volusia, will be interesting to see if that carries over to the United States.
Other notes…
• While a lot of the attention was on Aaron Reutzel for his second victory in the Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic, the victory was car owner Luch Monte’s eighth victory at the Classic as a car owner. Reutzel joins James McFadden, Steve lines, Kyle Hirst, Donny Schatz, and Danny Lasoski as drivers who have won the Classic for Monte.
• The Australian Sprintcar title is taking place Friday and Saturday night at Borderline Speedway in Mt. Gambier, South Australia. The likely favorite going into the weekend is Lachlan McHugh, who won the previous two visits for sprint cars at Borderline on December 28th and January 22nd and is the leading feature winner in sprint car racing so far this calendar year with five victories to his credit. James McFadden, the defending Australian
Sprintcar Title winner, is also entered for this weekend at Mt. Gambier to defend his title. Other top Australian drivers entered for the weekend include Dayne Kingshott, Brock Hallett, and Jock Goodyer.
Fans may note there are no Americans on the entry list because the title is only for Australian born drivers.
• Kalib Henry announced Sunday he would return to the Racers for Life #101 car to defend his point championship with the All Star Circuit of Champions for 2026. Henry had five feature wins in 2025, including a victory at Hartford Motor Speedway during his first race back from a massive crash at Attica Raceway Park at the Brad Doty Classic.
• The United States Auto Club made some rule changes for 2026 that were announced on Monday. The section that caught my eye involved the work area. Teams can now only visit the work area once per event and receive guaranteed time, and provision starters do not get any guaranteed time in the work area at all.
• Michigan Area Racing Connection broke the news Monday that Tim Shaffer would drive for Michigan based Williams Motorsports for 2026. Shaffer will debut in the Williams #01 entry February 13th during a USCS event at Hendry County Speedway. Shaffer drove for Mike Dutcher for a majority of the 2025 season.
• Overnight the last minute split between DGRD and Kaleb Johnson took place on the eve of Florida Speedweeks. Statements put out by Johnson and Team DGRD confirmed the split. Johnson, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, picked up four feature victories during the 2025 season.