CONCORD, N.C. — Alex Yankowski main goal for 2026 is simple. Win the Super DIRTcar Series championship.
That motivation is fueled by his second-place finish to Mat Williamson in 2025, after leading the points standings throughout the first half of the season. And even though it’s only been six weeks since 2025 ended, he’s wasted no time preparing for next year, whether it’s building engines at S.Y. Murray Performance, or working on his No. 84y Big Block Modified.
“The amount of hours in the shop have been a lot,” Yankowski said. “I did 15 and a half hours in the shop yesterday, and probably on track to do 12 more. Stuff like that, just keeping everything moving. And I got some really good guys that enable that. I got help first shift and second shift, and my girlfriend, Chesnee, puts up with it. It’s tough. The engine shop is so tricky, and this is our busy season, but we also need to prep the race cars, too.
“That time balance is a really tough thing, but I don’t want to feel like I could’ve done more.”
The Covington Township, Pa., driver hopes to get off to a similar start to 2025, where he won the Big Gator Championship trophy at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals before earning four second-place finishes in the first six points-paying races of the season.
However, he said a mid-season slump came at the worst time of the year, right when Williamson and Buzz Chew Racing were building momentum.
“In the middle of the summer, we just kind of had a bad funk for about a month,” Yankowski said. “We had a lot of brand-new parts breaking and stuff of that nature, and it kind of killed the championship run. I think that’s where the Buzz Chew 88 team with Spot and Mat did a really good job. By the time I had some misfortune, those guys really turned it up.
“That’s a real strong team that fueled me into this winter, and I’m making sure I don’t get outworked at all.”
While part failures contributed to that slump, those came during a stretch where Yankowski was learning. He ran at four straight venues he’d never been to before – Autodrome Drummond, Brockville Ontario Speedway, Sharon Speedway, and Ransomville Speedway.
After that stretch, he battled back to earn 10 top 10s in the season’s final 11 races, including a victory at Can-Am Speedway in the R.D. Hutchinson Memorial. While it may seem that the win was just a normal victory, it was anything but for the 22-year-old driver.
Even though he drove for four different teams throughout the season, his September win was the first he earned with his own equipment—a significant moment in his career.
“That win was just so big,” Yankowski said. “All these people that I’ve driven for, they’ve done their fair share of helping me. Half the time, we don’t have a primary sponsor. To go out there and win a Super DIRTcar Series race with 100 percent cost on the line, and to get $7,500 to go right back in the racing checking account was pretty special.
“I’ve won some big races but never really done with something 125 percent of my own.”
While the chase for the series championship begins in March, the hunt for another Big Gator Championship begins in February during the 55th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park, Feb. 11-14. Yankowski will again pilot the Millman’s NAPA Auto Parts No. 84y in his quest for more gator trophies.
“I love Volusia,” Yankowski said. “Volusia is just something special. Something like a Charlotte. Volusia and Charlotte are the two most ‘Man, this is awesome,’ type feels of the year. Oswego is great, but being there with the Late Models at Volusia, and being with the late models and sprint cars at Charlotte, you can’t replicate that.”
