The annual Gateway Dirt Dome Nationals Draft Night for the Super Dirt Late Models took place last night on the Flo Racing’s YouTube channel. Event promoters Cody and Emma Sommer selected their team of drivers, where according to the YouTube description “they will go head to head as they select their “Draft” style in multiple rounds. At the conclusion of the race weekend main events, competitors on the Winning Team determined by overall finishes will be entered to win $1,000 in Cash. The losing Team Captain Cody or Emma will receive a Pie to the Face posted LIVE.”
Additionally, the Thursday and Friday lineups were sent out on their Facebook page on Monday night. As the those two days lineups were set, there were three NASCAR drivers that were announced to compete in the 10th anniversary of the Gateway Dirt Nationals.
Current NASCAR Cup Series regular Carson Hocevar, who is a Dome regular, will be back for his fourth appearance. The Cup Series superstar will be racing with Spire Motorsports. Hocevar has made appearances in 2022, 2023, and most recently last year in 2025.
As far as finishes go, he made two A-features in 2022, but DNF’d on the Friday feature with an 18th place finish and DNF’d on the Saturday A-main with a 12th place feature. For 2023, he also had two DNF’s. He competed in the Thursday prelim, but DNF’d in the fifth heat race and then DNF’d again in the Saturday Non Qualifier race, both of which were eight place finishes.
Last year in 2025, he competed in the A-features on both Friday and Saturday and had respectable finishes of 11th on Friday and 10th on Saturday. The Michigan native will look to make the A-main again this year. Hocevar will be racing on the Thursday night prelim.
The next driver that will be making his first Dome appearance is YouTube sensation and ARCA Menards Series driver Cleetus McFarland. It was announced this past August he will attempt to race for event promoter Cody Sommer. McFarland will pilot the No. 13 DRT house late model. The Florida native tested a Super Dirt Late Model at East Lincoln Speedway in Stanley, North Carolina. It’ll be interesting to see how McFarland does in his first Super Dirt Late Model start. Nevertheless, he will definitely bring a lot of fanfare to the event as tickets for the race have been selling out left to right. McFarland will be racing on the Friday night prelim.
Here is a look at what McFarland’s car will look like.
Last but not least, NASCAR Truck Series regular and Kaulig Racing driver Brenden “Butterbean” Queen will also make his first start in the Dome competing in the Thursday portion. Queen has made select starts in recent years with his Super Dirt Late Models competing in a variety of events with different touring series, especially this past season. Like McFarland, Queen will no doubt have the fan base there to support his efforts of trying to make the A-feature on Saturday night.
The 10th annual Gateway Dirt Dome Nationals is scheduled from Thursday, December 3 through Saturday, December 5 and can be seen live on Flo Racing. Tickets remain on sale at the moment and can be purchased here. Speedway Media will have live coverage of each day and a full recap from the each night’s events.
