After Friday’s cancellation of the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Series, the series headed west to North Dakota to visit Dacotah Speedway for their third stop of the week. Aaron Reutzel scored his seventh career victory in the 2026 season.
“I think I just caught lap cars at a bad time,” Reutzel told Flo Racing. “I knew they were slowing me up. I had guys coming back on the track and getting up over the cushion. You know, they just kept making mistakes in front of me, over and over. I kind of figured, I was really getting slowed up, and I knew the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 was going to come in. Clean laps is what took. When Brent (Marks) got by me, I finally got some clean lap back and was able to run the top hard like I had been.
“I think his (Brent Marks) middle went away on him in (Turn) 2. I just needed lap cars to quit making mistakes in front of me. That’s what was killing me. Our car was great tonight. I think the four or last five races, I’ve been beating myself with the car getting too tight. Not just doing simple stuff, you know, just trying to get too trick. Tonight, I went back to the basics of what has been good. Yeah, we were really good tonight. It would’ve been nice to see a little bit more of a bottom, just to kind of move around. I’m okay with a cushion like that. It’s fun, but, man, just another great team effort and overall night. Unloading quick time and getting into the dash, just another great night.”
NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson has won the past three consecutive races this past week on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday night. While dominant in the series throughout the week, Larson is not competing in tonight’s race due to his Cup Series adventures in Michigan, which almost guarantees a new race winner.
24 Sprint Cars were checked in prior to heat races, and the start time of engine heat was pushed back to 7 p.m./local due to high temperatures.
A tight season-long championship points battle continues into tonight with series veterans Reutzel and Rico Abreu battling back and forth. Following Thursday’s event, Reutzel retook over the points lead from Abreu by one point. Giovanni Scelzi sits third, 35 points back in the Spire Motorsports entry.
Series regular, Hank Davis, announced on his Facebook page today that he wouldn’t be competing in tonight’s due to a family matter, as his wife went into labor and gave birth to a new child. With Davis out, another series regular, Ayrton Gennetten would be filling in instead.
There were three heat races with all cars transferring due to the low car count. In the first heat race, the race went green briefly before the caution flew immediately due to the pace truck not getting off the track in time. Danny Sams III got a great start on Abreu at the drop of the green. Sams III held on to win the first heat race, followed by Abreu, Reutzel, Justin Peck, Gennetten, Gage Pulkrabek, Greg Nikitenko, and Ace Bodenhamer rounded the eight place finishers.
For the second heat, Brent Marks won the heat race. Tanner Thorson was second, Sye Lynch third, Brenham Crouch fourth, Kerry Madsen fifth, Mark Dobmeier sixth, Colton Young seventh, and Tyler Hewitt eighth.
In the third and final heat race, Tanner Holmes got the victory. Tyler Courtney was second, Daison Pursley third, Chase Randall fourth, Scelzi fifth, Jade Hastings sixth, Weston Olson seventh, and Todd Mickelson eighth.
For the dash feature, it was Sams III, Reutzel, Marks, Lynch, Holmes, and Pursley who qualified for the potential pole position. Reutzel won the race to claim the pole. Afterward, it was Lynch, Pursley, Marks, Holmes, and Sams III.
The feature consisted of 30 laps with Reutzel and Lynch on the front row. After the green flag flew, it was Reutzel who held the lead. Lynch, Marks, Pursley, and Thorson were in the top five. The first caution of the night fell at 24 laps to go, which could’ve been for debris. For the restart, it was Reutzel, Lynch, Marks, Pursley, and Thorson again rounding out the top five. The race resumed with 24 laps to go with Reutzel jumping out in front of the leaders. Marks, however, moved up to the second position, passing Lynch. At 15 laps to go, Thorson went to fourth after passing Pursley.
In the meantime, Marks closed in on the race leader, Reutzel. Marks threw a slider and passed Reutzel with 11 laps to go, and took the lead from Reutzel. At eight laps to go, Reutzel began closing the lead gap back down to Marks. Reutzel had a short slider and took the lead with six laps to go. From there, it looked as though Reutzel and his No. 87 Ridge and Sons team were going to take the victory over Marks.
However, a late-race caution flew with two laps to go for the No. 24D of Sams III, who came to a stop on the backstretch as the leaders were coming to the checkered flag. Prior to the last restart, Scelzi gained nine positions after starting 15th and was placed sixth in the running order. With two laps to go, it was Reutzel, Marks, Thorson, Abreu, and Tyler Courtney the top five.
Marks tried throwing a slider for the race lead, but ultimately came up short. Reutzel would prevail and ultimately come home with the victory by 0.991 seconds over Marks. Thorson, Abreu, and Courtney rounded out your top five. Afterward, it was Holmes, Scelzi, Pursley, Randall, and Lynch the Top 10.
After holding off Marks, Reutzel remained focused and still had the top spot.
“I told myself to calm the hell down and quit being stupid,” he said to Flo Racing. “I bout crashed over there twice, just trying to get back them. You know, the one time, I had a run, I really just leaned on it and really just let it hang out. I thought, I was coming into the grandstands for a second. I finally got it under control, and finally, I just said just ‘calm down.’ I feel like, we had a good enough car to get them back. I just calmed down and make sure not to make mistakes. If you could get off of (Turn) 2 and not get bobbled up, you gain so much straightaway speed. Just trying to keep myself calm. You know, racing for points as well. I can’t get them back, settle for second because we had a really shitty stretch here. So, I need to start getting some points back on these guys.”
Following the race, Reutzel now leads Abreu by 13 points in the season long championship points standings and by 53 points over Scelzi.
Official Race Results Following Dacotah Speedway
- Aaron Reutzel
- Brent Marks
- Tanner Thorson
- Rico Abreu
- Tyler Courtney
- Tanner Holmes
- Giovanni Scelzi
- Daison Pursley
- Chase Randall
- Sye Lynch
- Brenham Crouch
- Kerry Madsen
- Justin Peck
- Mark Dobmeier
- Ayrton Gennetten
- Weston Olson
- Greg Nikitenko
- Danny Sams III
- Colton Young
- Jade Hastings
- Gage Pulkrabek
- Todd Mickelson
- Tyler Hewitt
- Ace Bodenhamer
Up Next – The next race for the Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Series is scheduled for Tuesday night, June 9 at Eagle Raceway, live on Flo Racing.
