MOORESVILLE, N.C. — After two weeks on the sidelines, Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing fires back off this weekend with the first trip to the Midwest this season.
On Friday night, the Hasty Bake Charcoal Grills Kansas City Clash kicks off NASCAR weekend at the nearby Kansas Speedway. It’s the series’ seventh appearance at Lakeside Speedway and an important precursor before the penultimate weekend of the 2026 championship chase comes back here for the Heartland of America Showdown on October 10-11.
On Saturday night, the third annual Diamond Classic takes the High Rollers to “The Diamond of Dirt Tracks” at Lucas Oil Speedway.
The series’ seventh trip to the Wheatland, Mo. facility, it’s another crucial preview of what’s to come later in the season when High Limit sanctions the 17th annual Jesse Hockett / Daniel McMillin Memorial for the first time on September 17-19.
STREAKING SUCCESS
After the eight-race season-opening swing, only two men have finished top-10 in every feature with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing — Tanner Thorson and Giovanni Scelzi. For both of the west coast transplants, it’s the longest streak of their respective High Limit careers.
Thorson, who has a 21-point advantage atop the championship standings, brings the Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88 back to the track as the most recent winner with the series — topping Amarillo’s Route 66 Motor Speedway on March 27.
The Minden, Nev., native will put his eight-race streak to the test on Friday at Lakeside Speedway, where he has yet to finish better than 13th in five attempts at the track.
After chasing his first top-10 in Kansas City, Thorson will certainly be one of the favorites on Saturday when he chases his first sprint car win at Lucas Oil Speedway – where he’s finished second, third, fourth, fourth and eighth in recent races.
Scelzi, who is tied for third in the early-season points (-60), is now the seventh driver in series history to piece together 10 consecutive top-10 finishes — with his streak dating back to last year’s All-In Championship Weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.
Friday’s trip to Lakeside Speedway, a place where “Hot Sauce” owns High Limit and World of Outlaws wins, is perhaps the perfect place to make his maiden victory lane trip in the Spire Motorsports No. 77 – as it’s been 77 races since his last win in March 2025.
WEEKEND WINNERS
A pair of High Rollers spent their off-weekend the best way possible — by winning.
Justin Peck scored his third win of the year last Friday night, topping a weekly show at Williams Grove Speedway. The Rudeen Racing No. 26 team returns to High Limit competition on the heels of their first series podium this year at Amarillo’s Route 66 Motor Speedway.
The second-year pairing owns top-five finishes at both venues on the slate this weekend, a potential launching pad as they eye a move up the standings — currently seventh (-100) in points.
Danny Sams III earned his first victory of the season and the 12th of his 410 career last Friday, storming from eighth for a Gladiator Sprint Tour score at West Virginia’s Ohio Valley Speedway. The Randerson Racing No. 24d returns to tour this week with extra confidence as they eye their first High Limit top-10 of 2026.
CONSISTENCY
When it comes to High Limit at Lakeside Speedway, six-time national champion Brad Sweet has dominated with three wins in six appearances, but he won’t be in the field this weekend.
That leaves the door open for Rico Abreu, Brent Marks and Aaron Reutzel to seize control of the Hasty Bake Grills Kansas City Clash.
Abreu, the reigning champion with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing, will return to Lakeside as the defending winner of this event. In his last five tries at Lakeside, the St. Helena, Calif., native has finished top-10 in each outing.
A much-needed triumph this weekend for the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 24 star would put him alongside Tanner Thorson and Aaron Reutzel as the only multi-time winners thus far in 2026.
Marks, a winner at Lakeside last fall during the Heartland of America Showdown, enters this weekend on a five-race stretch of top 10s at the track. After a bitter middle of March, the Myerstown, Pa. native has picked things up with five-straight top-10s between High Limit, World of Outlaws and PA Posse events.
Reutzel, a former ASCS National Tour winner at the track, has yet to win a 410 show at Lakeside, but the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87 was a contender in all three shows with High Limit last year finishing eighth, second and fourth.
DELIVERING AT THE DIAMOND
Through six trips to Lucas Oil Speedway, only one driver has claimed multiple wins with Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing, and that’s Tyler Courtney.
“Sunshine” has excelled in all five of his attempts at “The Diamond of Dirt Tracks” with finishes of first, second, 16th, second and first. The lone outlier (16th) came following a mechanical issue after he led the opening 11 laps of that race.
His 4.4 average finish is among the best at any track High Limit has contested five-plus features, and he also produced the largest margin of victory in series history (6.166-seconds) at the Wheatland, Mo., facility last summer.
Looking to snap a 34-race winless spell for the Clauson-Marshall Racing No. 7bc with the series, Saturday’s Diamond Classic is just the early-season shot of momentum the Indiana-based team is looking for.
QUALIFYING
To the surprise of nobody, Kerry Madsen and Vermeer Motorsports have quickly established themselves as one of the best qualifying teams on tour with High Limit.
Boasting an average qualifying result of 6.1 in the opening eight nights, “The Mad Man” is only outdone by Aaron Reutzel (4.7) and Rico Abreu (4.9) — the two drivers who are going back-and-forth for the honor of most QuickTimes in series history.
While their early-evening performance is dialed in, crew chief Tye Wolfgang is focused on finding more late-in-the-night speed when feature results are on the line.
ROOKIES ON THE RISE
Both Rayce Rudeen Foundation Rookie of the Year contenders return to Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition this weekend fresh off season-best results in the last series event at Amarillo’s Route 66 Motor Speedway.
For Tanner Holmes, he finished fifth that night to claim his fifth-career top-five finish with the series and first aboard the Buch Motorsports No. 13.
The Jacksonville, Ore., native carried that momentum into bye-week action by claiming another top-five run at Pennsylvania’s BAPS Motor Speedway.
The 21-year-old returns to Lakeside with a top-10 finish from last year under his belt, before making his 410 debut at Lucas Oil on Saturday.
For Hank Davis, he ran up to seventh from 15th at Route 66 for his second top-10 finish with High Limit. The Michael Dutcher Motorsports No. 17GP found more of that speed last weekend when they were contending for a podium run with the World of Outlaws at I-55 before being caught in a late-race wreck.
The Oklahoma 22-year-old is plenty familiar with both tracks this weekend — winning with ASCS at Lakeside and finishing second with POWRi at Lucas Oil last year.
