By Ray Cunningham
Springfield, Missouri (April 25, 2026)………Ricky Lewis’ last lap pass netted him the victory in a spectacular USAC MRA Sprint Car season opener on Saturday night at Missouri’s Springfield Raceway.
Twenty-seven cars had checked into the pits at Springfield with drivers hailing from eight different states to compete in the inaugural Aubren Dudley Memorial, paying $4,000 to win and $400 to start.
Wesley Smith from nearby Nixa, Missouri took quick time in hot laps/time trials, turning in a run of 12.157 seconds. Interestingly enough, Oxnard, California’s Lewis was not able to take a time, setting the stage for his wild drive in the 25-lap feature, coming from 14th on the grid to the eventual win.
Racing in the four heats was fast and furious as Lone Jack, Missouri’s Jack Wagner took the first heat in the JHR 77. Luke Howard, from Overland Park, Kansas, came home first in the second heat, driving the Lewis 2. Lewis, after posting no time, had to start scratch in heat race number three, but charged from seventh to first for the victory. Chris Parkinson of Gladstone, Missouri raced to the win in the fourth and final heat.
With a storm blowing in on the radar, a quick decision was made by track officials to scrap intermission, and subsequently the semi-feature for USAC MRA, which meant that all cars were now eligible to run the main event.
Twenty-six of the 27 cars in attendance made the call for the feature sponsored by All Metal Recycling. With $4,000 on the line for first place, and the bragging rights that come with winning the first ever USAC MRA feature and the first ever Aubren Dudley Memorial, the racing was truly spectacular. And it wasn’t just for the win, but throughout the 26-car starting lineup as several drivers looking like they had a legitimate shot at victory.
Early on, positions were swapped at an amazing rate at the head of the pack, while Lewis steadily worked his way to the front, eventually taking the lead. But the old adage, “it ain’t over till it’s over,” certainly applied to this one!
After a late race caution, Lewis was penalized two spots for taking off too early on the restart and was docked two positions. This moved Wesley Smith to the lead and Cromwell to second place. Smith took off like a man possessed, but coming out of turn four, he slipped off the cushion, giving the lead to Cromwell, which also moved Lewis up to second. As they came down for the white flag, Cromwell was in first, Lewis second, and Smith third.
But Lewis was gaining, and then pulled off a massive slide job going into turn three that stuck. Lewis beat Cromwell to the line by about a car length, with Smith in third, Wyatt Burks in fourth, and Jack Wagner fighting his way up to fifth following a right rear tire going down earlier in the feature, which sent him to the back for the restart that followed.
Chase Howard, Bryson Smith, Kobe Simpson, Chris Parkinson, and Justin Johnson completed the top 10 finishers in that order.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: April 25, 2026 – Springfield Raceway – Springfield, Missouri – Aubren Dudley Memorial
FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Wesley Smith, 44, Smith-12.157; 2. Jack Wagner, 77, Hockett-12.422; 3. Justin Johnson, 27, Johnson-12.521; 4. Tyler Kent, 7, Kent-13.358; 5. Junior Parkinson, 93, Weld-13.482; 6. Mark Lane, 33L, Lane-NT; 7. Samuel Wagner, 73, Wagner-NT.
SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Bryson Smith, 33, Smith-12.548; 2. Luke Howard, 2, Howard-12.656; 3. Blake Bowers, 52, Bowers-12.704; 4. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-12.778; 5. Ronny Howard, 44H, Howard-13.704; 6. Kyle Gorham, 18K, Gorham-14.219; 7. Lance Silvers, 7x, Silvers-14.321.
THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-12.317; 2. Tom Curran, 11x, Curran-12.661; 3. Tyler Burton, 03, Burton-12.999; 4. James Turnbull, 11T, Turnbull-13.980; 5. Jared McCarty, 44m, McCarty-15.262; 6. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-NT; 7. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-NT.
FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Chase Howard, 13, Howard-12.387; 2. Braydon Cromwell, 4, Cromwell-12.605; 3. Chris Parkinson, 65, Parkinson-12.737; 4. Jake Kouba, 6, Kouba-12.926; 5. Tim Kent, 79, Kent-13.301; 6. Jesse Bebee, 45, Bebee-14.138.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jack Wagner (3), 2. Wesley Smith (4), 3. Samuel Wagner (7), 4. Justin Johnson (2), 5. Tyler Kent (1), 6. Junior Parkinson (5), 7. Mark Lane. NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Luke Howard (4), 2. Bryson Smith (3), 3. Dakota Earls (1), 4. Blake Bowers (2), 5. Ronny Howard (5), 6. Lance Silvers (7), 7. Kyle Gorham (6). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (7), 2. Wyatt Burks (4), 3. Kobe Simpson (6), 4. Tyler Burton (2), 5. James Turnbull (1), 6. Jared McCarty (5), 7. Tom Curran (3). NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Parkinson (2), 2. Chase Howard (4), 3. Braydon Cromwell (3), 4. Jake Kouba (1), 5. Tim Kent (5), 6. Jesse Bebee (6). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (14), 2. Braydon Cromwell (8), 3. Wesley Smith (1), 4. Wyatt Burks (6), 5. Jack Wagner (5), 6. Chase Howard (3), 7. Bryson Smith (4), 8. Kobe Simpson (19), 9. Justin Johnson (9), 10. Chris Parkinson (7), 11. Samuel Wagner (18), 12. Tyler Burton (12), 13. Jake Kouba (13), 14. Tim Kent (20), 15. Blake Bowers (10), 16. Jared McCarty (23), 17. Tyler Kent (16), 18. Junior Parkinson (22), 19. Lance Silvers (25), 20. Mark Lane (27), 21. Kyle Gorham (26), 22. Luke Howard (2), 23. Dakota Earls (11), 24. Ronny Howard (21), 25. Jesse Bebee (24), 26. James Turnbull (17), 27. Tom Curran. NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Wesley Smith, Laps 2-3 Luke Howard, Laps 4-13 Jack Wagner, Laps 14-17 Ricky Lewis, Laps 18-19 Wesley Smith, Laps 20-24 Braydon Cromwell, Lap 25 Ricky Lewis.
USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Ricky Lewis-150, 2-Braydon Cromwell-145, 3-Wesley Smith-143, 4-Wyatt Burks-141, 5-Jack Wagner-139, 6-Chase Howard-137, 7-Bryson Smith-135, 8-Kobe Simpson-133, 9-Justin Johnson-131, 10-Chris Parkinson-129.
NEXT USAC WHOLESALE BATTERIES MIDWEST RACING ASSOCIATION SPRINT CAR SERIES RACE: May 9, 2026 – Red Hill Raceway – Sumner, Illinois – Non-Points Special Event