The 2026 Interstate Batteries High Limit Sprint Car Series Championship opened up its season this past week on Thursday through Saturday night. The three-night affair served as a companion to the NASCAR weekend at the big track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. There was no shortage of action, as every night delivered a trio of thrilling finishes. With that in mind, we’ll take a look at what else transpired throughout the season opener at the LVMS Dirt Track.
As previously stated, Thursday night was the season opener for the series and the start of a 65-race schedule for the 20’26 season. There were 37 entries, including some of the top NASCAR stars. This list of drivers included Kyle Larson, NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver Corey Day, and Ty Gibbs, just to name a few.
However, the series also had its full-time stars, including recent defending series champion Rico Abreu, who made his debut driving for Tony Stewart Racing. Abreu spent the last few seasons driving for his family-owned team before announcing last year that he would drive the No. 24 Carquest TSR Sprint Car this season.
Other notables included a new rookie standout, Daison Pursley, who recently moved to Kasey Kahne Racing late last year. Pursley is no stranger to the series as he secured his first career victory last season, picking up a $30,000 check to his credit. The young driver has already made some starts under the KKR banner, recently entering World of Outlaws Sprint Car races at Volusia. He had a decent finish of fifth in the March 1st outing at Volusia.
Another driver to keep an eye on this season is 18-year-old Ryan Timms out of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Timms became the youngest winner last summer with the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars when he claimed the Knoxville Nationals victory at Knoxville, his first under the WoO banner.
One more notable is “Sunshine” Tyler Courtney. Courtney had a vicious wreck last summer at Eldora Speedway when the car flipped and ended up breaking his back in the process. Shortly thereafter, he had surgery but was out the rest of the year. He did not compete in any races until the 2026 season with the ASCS Series and the Outlaw Sprint Car Series. Courtney has already claimed victories at Volusia with the ASCS Series on January 29th and January 30th. He also won the B-feature Thursday night after starting third and transferred to the A feature.
Moving on to the first night of the race weekend, Thursday saw some thrilling action in not only the heat races, but the main feature as well. One of the notable incidents included a flip from NASCAR star Ty Gibbs. In the very first heat race, Gibbs flipped on Lap 1, Turn 1, destroying his Chad Boat Sprint Car in the process. In doing so, he was slated to race in the B-main later that night, but did not race as his car was destroyed.
Abreu claimed the first heat, Brent Marks in heat two, Timms in heat three, and Spire Motorsports driver Giovanni Scelzi claimed heat four.
In the Dash race, which sets the lineup for the feature race, regular Brent Marks won the seven-lap feature over Scelzi, Timms, Tanner Thorson, and Larson, who completed the top five. By winning the dash, Marks started on the pole.
The 25-lap A feature on Thursday night saw the two NASCAR superstars of Larson and Day battle it out for the win. However, they needed to get by Scelzi, Marks, and Thorson in the process, which they both did. It wasn’t quite the easy runaway for Larson as his mentee Day began closing in on him in the final laps. Day took the high side on the last lap of Turns 3 and 4, and nearly got Larson at the line, but was 0.096 seconds short of the victory over Day. The victory was Larson’s 10th career win in the series.
On Thursday night, Larson, Day, Scelzi, Marks, Thorson, Timms, Abreu, Kerry Madsen, James Mcadden, and Aaron Reutzel rounded out the Top 10 finishers.
Moving to Friday, the event saw 35 entries on the list, two down from 37 on Thursday night. In the heat races, Abreu again took the first heat, Madsen the second heat, Courtney won heat three, and Danny Sams III collected the fourth heat race victory.
During the fourth heat race, Brent Marks made contact with Brenham Crouch on the frontstretch and sent Marks spinning around. Trouble also came calling for Timms, who got over the cushion originally and made slight contact with Reutzel in Turn 1, which then sent him to a slowing stop and avoided any further damage.
In the dash race, Reutzel took the victory over second-place Larson, Courtney in third, Day in fourth, and Abreu in fifth. As a result, Reutzel started on the pole in the 25-lap feature.
Reutzel and Larson led the field to green for the A feature. On the first lap, Larson slid to third and eventually spun in Turns 3 and 4 by himself. No caution was thrown, and he fell back to 18th. With 17 to go, Day made the move on Courtney coming out of Turn 2 and on the backstretch. Race leader Reutzel struggled to get by rookie of the year contender Hank Davis Jr, which allowed Day to get by Reutzel right before entering Turn 3.
However, with 13 laps to go, a caution flew for the first time in the feature for the No. 73 of Hunter Schuerenberg, who was slowly rolling down the frontstretch. At the restart, Courtney lined up on the outside of Day. When the green flag came back out, Courtney moved down and made contact with Reutzel before the start/finish line.
Just a lap later, the 9R of Chase Randall brought out the yellow after his left-rear tire went down. The race went green for a little while and saw a great battle between Reutzel, McFadden, and Courtney until another caution flew with six to go when Justin Sanders had a wrecked racecar in Turn 3. The car was mangled with destroyed tires along with a destroyed wing.
A single-file restart with Day, Reutzel, McFadden, Courtney, and Thorson would be had following the caution flag. Going back green, Day took off and had a hard-charging Reutzel behind him, who gave it all he had. However, Day was able to hang on and win for what was his 12th career victory in the series.
Day, Reutzel, McFadden, Thorson, Courtney, Pursley, Abreu, Austin McCarl, Scelzi, and Larson completed the Top 10 in Friday’s main event.
Note that Carson Hocevar was a special guest in the booth during the Friday broadcast.
Saturday marked the final day of the three-day spectacle.
Before hot laps, Pursley and the No. 9 KKR NAPA Sprint Car needed to make an engine change and did so successfully, especially with the help of Team Owner Kasey Kahne.
Abreu once again took a heat one victory with Sye Lynch claiming heat two, McCarl in heat three, and Reutzel in heat four.
In the fourth and final heat race of the evening, there was a major collision between Schuerenberg and Justin Peck on the front straightaway as the two drivers were battling for the final transfer spot with one lap to go. Schuerenberg briefly came down on Peck and went flipping upside down after touching Peck’s right rear tire. Schuerenberg’s left front tire came off his car and flipped several times before coming to a stop near Turn 1.
As Schuerenberg exited his car, he made his way over to Peck’s car. Immediately, Peck also got out of his car, but by the time Schuerenberg arrived, the High Limit officials stopped the two drivers from further interaction or potential confrontation. Despite the frustration, Schuerenberg was okay after the flip.
During the dash portion of Saturday’s event, Reutzel and Abreu started in the front row. At the end of the seven-lap dash, it was Reutzel who won and would claim the pole position for the A main event.
Once the B main was completed, it wasn’t much longer before the A feature was ready to go. From the drop of the green flag in the 30-lap finale, Reutzel controlled the top spot over Abreu and Day. The first caution flew with 23 laps to go when the 17GP of Hank Davis rolled to a stop in Turns 3 and 4.
Going back to green, Day was in the second position, trying to chase down the race leader, Reutzel. However, he would be passed by Tanner Thorson with 13 laps to go, and Day slipped to third. Unfortunately, not much longer afterward, trouble caught up with Day as his left-rear tire came off his car on the backstretch and he rolled over twice. The cause of the accident was determined to be a broken axle on his No. 14 machine. Day exited the car under his own power.
In the brief stoppage, teams were allowed to refuel the Sprint Cars so they wouldn’t run out of fuel under caution.
It seemed as though the fans would be in store for a great battle for the win between Reutzel, Thorson, and McFadden. Following the late race restart, Thorson threw a big slider on Reutzel in Turns 3 and 4 until another yellow came out with three to go for the No. 88W of McCarl. McCarl came to a stop, with debris everywhere up in the turns.
Even with the late caution, Reutzel held on to win his ninth career High Limit Series victory. Thorson, Abreu, McFadden, Courtney, Larson, Peck, Scelzi, Madsen, and Pursley were the Top 10 following Saturday’s event.
Additional notes include that Christopher Bell was the special guest in the booth during the Saturday broadcast.
At the end of the three-day event at the LVMS Dirt Track, Reutzel is currently leading the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Championship Standings over Thorson by two points.
The Sprint Car Series will stay out west for its next event at Central Arizona Raceway from Thursday, March 19, through Saturday, March 21, live on Flo Racing.
