After flipping upside down and losing the championship points lead the night before, Aaron Reutzel and the Ridge and Sons No. 87 team rebounded to a thrilling win at Butler Speedway Saturday night.
32 Sprint Cars were signed in for the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing race at Butler Speedway. Third consecutive year in a row since 2024 that the series has raced here.
Friday night’s winner, Rico Abreu, came into the race as the new championship points leader by 15 points after the previous championship leader, Aaron Reutzel, wrecked out last night following contact with Tanner Thorson in the A-main.
Fan favorite, Tyler Courtney, better known as “Sunshine,” has had great success at this track. He won the All Stars event back in 2023, got on the High Limit podium in 2024, and secured a top-five finish in 2025.
There were four heat races with the top five transferring to the A-main. In the first heat race, Tanner Holmes took the checkered flag with Zach Devault, Giovanni Scelzi, Brent Marks, and Hank Davis rounding out the five transfers. Courtney took the second heat with Rico Abreu, Parker Price-Miller, Sye Lynch, and Darren Dryden, the top five. For the third heat, Danny Sams III brought home the checkers with Brenham Crouch, Chase Randall, Daison Pursley, and Aaron Reutzel.
Finally, in the fourth and final heat race, Justin Peck won with Thorson, Kerry Madsen, Darin Naida, and Brad Lamberson transferring to the finale.
Going to the seven-lap dash were Holmes, Marks, Courtney, Lynch, Sams III, Reutzel, Peck, and Thorson to determine the pole position for the 30-lap A-main. The dash winner went to Thorson, who would start on the pole with Reutzel, Courtney, Marks, and Lynch rounding out the top five.
Following the dash event, the series went straight into the 12-lap B-main, and was won by Jason Blonde. Blonde was followed by Max Stambaugh, Dustin Daggett, and Thomas Schinderle, who would all make up the final few spots in the A feature.
Ironically enough, the front row was made up of Thorson and Reutzel. The same two drivers who made contact with each other on Friday night. Those two led the field to green down into Turn 1 to begin the feature. Thorson took the lead away from Reutzel on the backstretch on Lap 1, as the green flag flew. However, Reutzel made up ground and passed Thorson back on the backstretch with 25 laps to go, momentarily.
Thorson took the lead back from Reutzel right before the start/finish line, and therefore never technically lost the lead. Shortly thereafter, Courtney passed Reutzel for second and set his sights on the race leader, Reutzel. The lap cars began holding up the leader, Thorson, which allowed Courtney to close in rapidly.
At 12 laps to go, the race leader, Thorson, broke on the fronstretch allowing Reutzel to take the lead. Despite Thorson breaking, there was no caution, and Reutzel took the lead with Marks and Courtney rounding out the top three. Despite not being able to get around the lap cars, Reutzel was able to hold on and take home his sixth win of the 2026 season.
“That’s just my team I have behind me,” Reutzel said to Flo Racing in victory lane. “It was a long day. Last night junked everything. My motor, front end, rear end, engine plate. We had the car down to the chassis and rebuilt it. It was just a long day. It’s just a true testament to this team. We put our heads down and went back to work, and it paid off.
“It’s awesome. No one can say we lucked into that one tonight. We got into (Turn) 3 and passed Tanner (Thorson). I made a mistake, got back by Sunshine (Tyler Courtney) and ran Tanner back down. I don’t know what happened to him, but tonight, our team was just that good. This win is for them. They busted their asses today for sure and got us back where we needed to be. Like I said, it’s a true testament to this team that we’ve been doing it all year. They proved themselves today, that’s for damn sure.”
To note, the victory was Reutzel’s 13th career High Limit Racing and retook the championship points standings from Abreu.
Marks came home in the runner-up spot after starting in the fourth position.
“I know we didn’t win the race, but it sure as hell feels like we did,” Marks said to Flo Racing. “After our season so far, this feels like a win to us. This was a great night. I didn’t get that great of a dash draw, but we went from seventh to fourth there and made up some ground. These races are about starting in that vicinity of the front row, there, and just kind of hanging around, and letting the race work out.
“I felt like we did that and got held up with some lap cars there a little bit. I had a decent shot there at Aaron (Reutzel), one point in the race. The lap cars just didn’t work in my favor there. It would’ve been great to give it a shot. We were right there and in the hunt. The track had literally no grip to it. Really dirty and dusty. We had a great night and just proud of this team.”
Tyler Courtney rounded out the podium finishers in the third spot.
“I think we were a little bit better than what we finished,” Courtney told Flo Racing. “We were fading there at the end, and Aaron definitely had the car to beat. I felt like we were really good there out front and just started fading there. To be on the podium here and to be disappointed about third and fifth last night is a change of pace from where we had been the past couple of months.
“Excited that our Nos Energy Drink, Spire Motorsports car is heading in the right direction and we’ll just build on this podium, and keep going. We were in contention with running with the 87 (Aaron Reutzel) and the 88 (Tanner Thorson) at the beginning of the race. Those are the two best guys on tour all season, and Aaron has been badass everywhere. To be on pace with them, I felt like, with most of the features, that’s a huge step in the right direction and we’ll just keep building on it.
Official Race Results Following Butler Speedway
- Aaron Reutzel
- Brent Marks
- Tyler Courtney
- Sye Lynch
- Zane DeVault
- Justin Peck
- Tanner Holmes
- Danny Sams III
- Chase Randall
- Brenham Crouch
- Rico Abreu
- Giovanni Scelzi
- Kerry Madsen
- Daison Purlsey
- Darin Naida
- Parker Price-Miller
- Hank Davis
- Darren Dryden
- Brad Lamberson
- Thomas Schinderle
- Jason Blonde
- Tanner Thorson
- Dustin Daggett
- Max Stambaugh
Up Next – The High Limit Racing Series takes a night off before returning to action on Monday night at Davenport Speedway, live on Flo Racing.
