By T.J. Buffenbarger
(July 24, 2026) — After a night of seemingly non-stop action with the Great Lakes Super Sprints at I-96 Speedway, here are my takeaways from one of the best nights of racing I’ve witnessed at the 3/8-mile oval in Lake Odessa, Michigan in recent memory.
• Youth was served on Friday night at I-96 Speedway after Dustin Daggett’s cut right rear tire ended what was shaping up to be setting up a duel between one of the greatest sprint car drivers the state of Michigan has ever produced and a pair of young stars in Darin Naida and Zane Devault into a thrilling battle between the pair of young stars.
After taking their lumps racing against the best in the world for four nights at Eldora Speedway during Kings Royal weekend, Naida and Devault got to show off their continued development by exchanging slide jobs through slower traffic for the victory on Saturday at I-96.
The race was a great showcase of the development of Naida and Devault over the past several years. Both have gone out and competed against the best competition and at times got beaten up by them, which is a right of passage with young sprint car drivers.
When nights like Friday’s $5,000 GLSS program at I-96 come up and drivers like Naida and Devault drop it to race it’s a great barometer for their development. Both Naida and Devault continue to improve and along with Daggett were the class of the field Friday at I-96 during that main event.
The performance they put on exchanging slide jobs through slower traffic will be a feature that is talked about in Michigan racing circles for quite a while.
• Since reconfiguring to its permanent 3/8-mile configuration I-96 Speedway with track prep guru Walt Wisnewski has produced exceptional racing surfaces. At times though they are so fickle about track maintenance that we end up with features that are hammer down around the top.
Friday night not as much work was done before the feature and it produced a feature that I could only describe as a “certified banger”.
Slick to an actual curb on the top of the racetrack that was just technical enough to be useable but with some skill behind the driver’s seat, this allowed the bottom and even the middle to be viable at times throughout the 25-lap affair.
That surface produced the best feature event I’ve seen at I-96 Speedway since Gregg Dalman and Max Stambaugh had a side-by-side throwdown as the under card for an All Star Circuit of Champions program in 2022.
It wasn’t just the feature that was thrilling as the second heat race was jam packed with action (I have the photos of two and three wide racing to prove it) while the B-Main had a tremendous three car race between Dalman, Kelsey Ivy, and Chase Ridenour.
Hopefully we will see that same surface when the All Star Circuit of Champions return in about a month at I-96.
• Max Stambugh chipped away at Chase Dunham’s lead Friday night at I-96 Speedway with a third-place finish, taking the lead in the Michigan point standings and closing within 19 points of tour point lead Chase Dunham.
Dunham ran a methodical race to hang onto that advantage, but Stambaugh appears to be hitting his stride down the stretch. While Stambaugh has made GLSS his personal playground when it comes to championships in recent years, Dunham is quietly putting himself in position to make this point race interesting. I don’t see either of these drivers making a big mistake the rest of the season.
Baring any kind of major catastrophe for either drive the point battle between them is going to be fun to watch over the next month and a half.