OCALA, Fla. — Trey Osborne has experienced just about the widest array of emotions any one person can have at Florida’s Ocala Speedway.
By far, none of those emotions were as good as they were following Wednesday night’s Winter Dirt Games Presented by Yokohama Tire round at the three-eighths-mile dirt track where the tall red head survived through traffic, through fatigue, through a brief airborne flight and through every piece of pressure thrown his way to capture his first USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory.
For you see, the grind to get to this point has taken its toll on the Columbus, Ohio, native. Take into account that Osborne serves as his own chief mechanic, and his notoriously low budget and friendly personality have made him a torch bearer for those who not only dream of making it big in the sport, but to those who dare to put it all on the line in pursuit of their dreams.
Add to it this fact regarding his most recent appearance at Ocala in February 2024. It was then that he vaulted upside down over the turn-three wall, resulting in a broken vertebra in his back, plus a compression fracture in two more vertebrae while shearing off the top of a fourth vertebra.
Furthermore, during his most recent trip to Florida one year ago in 2025, issues with multiple engines resulted in him missing out on a feature transfer spot in all three of his appearances at Volusia and Ocala. To add to the turmoil, a broken quad was the final straw that told him to make the trek back home to the Midwest after participating in just three of the six events, worn out, frustrated, broke down and busted.
Thereafter, the 23-year-old Osborne continued to grind, and on Wednesday night, all he could do was smile. Sometimes the greatest achievements in life defy explanation. For Osborne, this was one of those moments.
“I can’t even explain this,” Osborne admitted. “I know it’s real but it really doesn’t feel real.”
His qualifying effort was strong as he timed in sixth overall. Initially, Osborne thought it to be a poor qualifying effort, especially compared to the first couple of nights. However, that fact soon proved to be the cat’s pajamas as it netted him the pole position for the feature due to the six-car inversion after transferring through his heat race.
Right from the start of the feature, Osborne had his Trey Osborne Racing/Jeff Hill Trailers Sales – Industrial Hydraulics/Triple X/Mopar on rails, jaunting out to a sizable lead in the opening two laps.
His quality start was quickly erased on the second lap when 22nd running Kobe Simpson clipped the turn three wall with his right rear tire, sending Simpson into a wild series of flips.
Saban Bibent (23rd), subbing for J.J. Yeley who was occupied by Daytona 500 obligations, had nowhere to go and collided with Simpson before coming to a halt. Major damage to both cars prematurely ended both drivers’ nights.
After leading the first two laps of his USAC career, Osborne wasn’t anywhere close to being finished. Ten laps in, his lead was a stout 1.5 seconds over Chase Stockon as the front runners began to work lapped traffic.
A stoppage for Ricky Lewis on the 13th lap allowed Osborne to hit the reset button and resume without a lapped car in sight for the time being.
As the race continued, Osborne once again bolted away from Stockon, this time with smoke and steam pouring out of his left side headers. But by the time the leaders encountered the tail end lead lap car of England’s Ryan Harrison, that proved to be Osborne’s bugaboo. Osborne was able to stave off the pressure from the rapidly closing Stockon initially as he sought a path around Harrison. Stockon was able to get his front bumper alongside the left side of Osborne’s car, and his presence was abundantly felt.
On lap 22, calamity nearly ensued at the exit of turn four. Osborne cut under Harrison while Stockon went one lane lower than Osborne, putting the trio three-wide on the front straightaway. Contact between Osborne’s left rear wheel and Stockon’s right rear made Stockon fight to keep his car straight while Osborne became airborne for a moment, while wrestling to regain control on multiple fronts.
“I got really tired there,” Osborne acknowledged. “I need to get a little stronger. I couldn’t even hold the wheel to get past that lapped car but I’m just glad I held on.”
Osborne wasn’t quite out of the woods yet. But three laps later, on lap 25, Osborne cleared Harrison with a turn one slider and created some crucial spacing between himself and Stockon with the laps dwindling down.
That said, with five laps remaining, Gunnar Setser (14th) brought out the yellow flag when he slowed, deleting Osborne’s gap, necessitating a five-lap dash to decide the winner.
It didn’t last long, however, as a wild scramble on the front straight ensued as Jadon Rogers slowed with a mechanical issue. Robert Ballou was caught up in the melee and he too found some air before landing on all fours and stopping in turn one. Justin Grant also was involved.
No more disruptions followed for the final four laps as Osborne kept his foot in it and finished off a monumental night, crossing the line 0.965 seconds ahead to become the first first-time USAC National Sprint Car winner since Carson Garrett in July 2025 at Indiana’s Lincoln Park Speedway.
Chase Stockon finished a distant second with Logan Seavey third, Kyle Cummins fourth and Jake Swanson fifth.
In just his 23rd series start, Osborne surpassed his previous best career USAC National Sprint Car finish of eighth at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July 2025.
His victory proved to be among the most popular in quite some time among the throng of fans on hand who threw their arms up in unison as he rounded turn four for the final time.
“I don’t even try to have fans or anything like that,” Osborne explained. “I’m just myself and I appreciate everyone who supports me. This is awesome. I can’t even believe this.”
The respect from Osborne’s fellow racers was paramount as well.
“It’s always cool to see somebody get their first USAC national win,” Stockon stated. “Trey was the class of the field tonight and that was very cool to see.”
“That’s really, really cool for Trey, his team and his family and whoever helps him on his race car,” Seavey added. “I know it’s a big effort for those guys to be here and I’m happy for them.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Ocala Speedway, Ocala, Florida, Feb. 11, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.675; 2. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-14.720; 3. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.728; 4. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.751; 5. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.767; 6. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-14.855; 7. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-14.889; 8. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.965; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.966; 10. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.969; 11. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.988; 12. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.016; 13. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-15.023; 14. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-15.041; 15. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.065; 16. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-15.142; 17. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-15.169; 18. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-15.267; 19. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-15.353; 20. Saban Bibent, 3J, Horn-15.388; 21. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-15.389; 22. Chelby Hinton, 2B, 2B Racing-15.390; 23. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-15.495; 24. Chase Howard, 13, Howard-16.161; 25. Ryan Harrison, 97UK, Harrison-16.228; 26. Greg Mitchell, 001, Mitchell-17.005.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (2), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (6), 4. Jake Swanson (5), 5. Tom Harris (1), 6. Ricky Lewis (7), 7. Chelby Hinton (8), 8. Hayden Reinbold (3), 9. Ryan Harrison (9). 2:05.466
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 2. Harley Burns (2), 3. Mitchel Moles (4), 4. Gunnar Setser (3), 5. Chase Stockon (5), 6. Jadon Rogers (6), 7. Saban Bibent (7), 8. Kobe Simpson (8), 9. Greg Mitchell (9). 2:07.173
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Logan Calderwood (1), 3. Robert Ballou (4), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Trey Osborne (5), 7. Cale Coons (7), 8. Chase Howard (8). 2:03.056
FIVE STAR RACE CAR BODIES SEMI: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Saban Bibent (2), 2. Hayden Reinbold (1), 3. Chelby Hinton (4), 4. Cale Coons (3), 5. Kobe Simpson (5), 6. Ryan Harrison (7), 7. Chase Howard (6), 8. Greg Mitchell (8). 2:40.853
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Trey Osborne (1), 2. Chase Stockon (2), 3. Logan Seavey (4), 4. Kyle Cummins (6), 5. Jake Swanson (3), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 7. C.J. Leary (8), 8. Brady Bacon (10), 9. Briggs Danner (7), 10. Mitchel Moles (11), 11. Tom Harris (16), 12. Harley Burns (15), 13. Logan Calderwood (17), 14. Chelby Hinton (21), 15. Hayden Reinbold (20), 16. Cale Coons (22), 17. Justin Grant (14), 18. Jadon Rogers (5), 19. Robert Ballou (12), 20. Gunnar Setser (13), 21. Ryan Harrison (24), 22. Ricky Lewis (18), 23. Kobe Simpson (23), 24. Saban Bibent (19). NT
