The final race of the 2026 Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Series took place tonight at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Championship points leader Rico Abreu looked to lock up his second consecutive High Limit title since winning it last year. He attempted to clinch it Friday night, but despite finishing in third position, his title nemesis Giovanni Scelzi kept the title fight alive by winning Friday nights race and cut the deficit by nine points, and entered tonight’s race 36 points back. The championship scenario was somewhat simple for Scelzi, as he would’ve had to win in tonight’s finale, however, he would need a miracle, as he would have to have Abreu finish 16th or worse in the final results.
While Scelzi went on to sweep the weekend, it wasn’t enough for him to hold off Abreu, who was able to win his second High Limit championship by finishing in the runner-up position. The title was his first under the Tony Stewart Racing banner.
“Just how my team adapted throughout the season and congratulations to all the teams out here with High Limit Racing, and the commitment they make into these seasons,” Abreu said to Flo Racing when being crowned champion. “I kind of lived this lifestyle and really enjoy it, and how fast paced it is. Hats off to High Limit for doing an amazing job. To bring Tony Stewart Racing to this entity and program, to get them a championship, congratulations to Tony (Stewart). All of his partners. CarQuest, Mike Curb and to inject some of my partners into this program has just been an unbelievable package for us.
“It’s really exciting for all of the racing in the season. My team has done an unbelievable job and being a part of the Tony Stewart Racing organization. The elite level they brought this team to and helped me, and allowed me to learn. I treat this being out on the road like a college education for me. As I learn through my career of Sprint Car racing and how these cars mechanically work. How I adapted throughout my career to drive them. There’s been some incredible people that helped me get to this position.”
For more on Scelzi’s night, see the feature race recap below.
There were 35 Sprint Cars onsite for the championship finale, one more than Friday night.
Feature Race Recap – 30-Laps – $25,000 To Win
Starting on the pole thanks to the help of his dash victory was Scelzi, with Tanner Thorson on the outside pole. Abreu started in the fourth position.
Scelzi shot out like a cannon to maintain the top spot over Thorson to lead Lap 1. The first yellow of the main event flew with 24 laps for Gage Pulkrabek, who was off the pace on the backstretch and pulled his Sprint Car in the infield work area. Pulkrabek’s team was swapping a new ignition box that seemed to be the issue. The green-flag was back in the air with Scelzi leading the way. Abreu passed Thorson on the restart and took over the second position.
With 17 laps to go, Scelzi began closing in on the back of the field, which allowed Abreu to close in at a rapid pace. However, Thorson also closed in on Abreu once again and attempted a pass on him, but was unsuccessful in doing so. With seven laps to go, Abreu nearly took the lead from Scelzi on the backstretch. He briefly took the top spot from Scelzi with two laps to go on the backstretch and stayed side-by-side with him for the final lap before Scelzi ultimately went on to win the race, while Abreu was able to win his second consecutive championship.
“First off, that was really cool of Rico (Abreu) when he cleared me not to move to the bottom,” Scelzi said in his victory lane interview to Flo Racing. “I thought it was over there when he cleared me off of (Turn) 2 and tried driving it as hard as I could, but then he left me a lane, which I thought was cool. Me, him, a lot of guys race as hard as we possibly can, and no one has touched a wheel. To have clean racing like that is very cool for you fans to see.
“I knew the bottom was greasy in the B-main and my heat race, especially. I knew I had to come in at some point. Sometimes this place does that, where the bottom stays greasy all night then you get 24 cars in there and it throws all those crumbs up to the top. I figured I would run the bottom until someone passes me on the top kind of when I rolled out there and the game plan worked. Rico was kind of running off my right-rear like he tried to do in (Turns) 3 and 4 when he passed me, but I caught the lap cars, and couldn’t clear anybody and tried a lane above me, and got really tight. Hats off to Eric (Prutzman, Crew Chief). This car was phenomenal. It’s cool to have Jeff (Dickerson, Team Owner) here and another win in Chili’s homestate.”
Heat Race Recaps – Top Five Transfer – 8 Laps A Piece
Prior to the heat races taking place, there was a Hot Lap and a Flight A/B Qualifying session. Kerry Madsen was the fastest in hot laps with a lap time of 14.645 seconds. Pacing the Flight A qualifying session was Kasey Kahne’s Racing, Daison Pursley, with a time of 13.735 seconds. Roger Crockett was the fastest in Flight B with a time of 13.811 seconds. The overall quickest time went to Pursley following the end of the two qualifying sessions.
Heat 1 – Speaking of Pursley, he was on the pole for the first heat. Austin McCarl took the lead off Turn 2 from Pursley at the start of the heat race after starting on the outside pole. McCarl grabbed the heat victory with Pursley, Scelzi, Rees Moran, and Ashton Torgerson the transfers.
Heat 2 – Brent Marks in the Chase Briscoe Racing entry had the pole for the second heat. The caution came out on the first lap for Austin Mundie, who hit the tractor tire in Turn 3 after contact with Brian Brown and Madsen. This was a complete restart for the heat as second-place starter Brenham Crouch originally took the lead from Marks on the outside lane. Marks went on to secure the heat race win with Crouch, Abreu, Brown, and Tanner Holmes in the top five.
Heat 3 – Crockett had the pole position for the third heat. The yellow flew with four laps to go for Ryan Timms, who was running in the second spot at the time, for his engine expiring. Another yellow was displayed for two cars making contact with each other on the backstretch. It was for J.J. Hickle and Xavier Doney. Hickle received a flat left-rear tire, while Doney had a flat right-rear tire.
Crockett still managed to win the heat race with Tyler Courtney, Sye Lynch, Danny Sams III, and Ayrton Gennetten moving on.
Heat 4 – Last night’s heat race winner, Kasey Kahne, had the top spot for the fourth and final heat. Kahne won the heat race with Chase Randall, Justin Peck, Thorson, and Brady Bacon completing the transfers.
Moving to the dash were McCarl, Crockett, Marks, Kahne, Scelzi, Courtney, Abreu, and Thorson. Scelzi would win the dash to start on the pole in the 30-lap feature.
Landon Crawley won the 12-lap B-Main and was followed by Madsen, Pulkrabek, and Doney the final four moving on to the A-main.
For those who missed the feature, you can watch the highlights below.
Official Race Results Following Night 2 at Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track
- Giovanni Scelzi
- Rico Abreu
- Brent Marks
- Tanner Thorson
- Tyler Courtney
- Austin McCarl
- Chase Randall
- Kasey Kahne
- Tanner Holmes
- Daison Pursley
- Sye Lynch
- Brady Bacon
- Danny Sams III
- Justin Peck
- Brenham Crouch
- Roger Crockett
- Ashton Torgerson
- Xavier Doney
- Kerry Madsen
- Landon Crawley
- Brian Brown
- Ayrton Gennetten
- Rees Moran
- Gage Pulkrabek
Next Up – With the 2026 Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Series season completed, the series will now turn to Sunday night, where they will crown their champion in the annual championship awards ceremony, live on Flo Racing and Flo Racing YouTube. Additionally, the series returns to action at the end of December for exhibition races in Perth, Australia, with the third annual High Limit International from Monday, December 28 – Wednesday, December 30. Those races can also be streamed live on Flo Racing.
