The second night of the 2026 American Iron-Man Late Model Series of the Halloween Nationals was seen on Saturday night at Portsmouth Raceway Park. Night 1 was held on Friday night and was won by Ricky Thornton Jr. when he held off Nick Hoffman in a late race restart following a computer glitch. RTJ carried his momentum into the modified portion of the event after he won that feature as well. The Chandler, Arizona native was looking to sweep the weekend by taking night 2.
RTJ once again won the feature and took night 2, but this time, it was dominating fashion as he started on the outside pole and led every lap to win the 60-lap $50,000 A-main.
“I felt like on the start, Josh (Rice) was in a way better spot, and I was able to kind of roll him through the middle,” RTJ told Flo Racing in victory lane. “I was like, man, I felt like if I can get going here and get to these lap cars, I know I could at least move out and pass a few of them. I was able to do that with the first few lap cars, and then I was able to kind of just get in line.
“I felt like the 100-lappers are always longer, but I feel like the 60-lappers are about as long as the 100-lappers. Hats off to my boys. Obviously, with running the late model and modified, they took on a lot more work this week. Thank you to my sponsors. We’ve ran this thing six nights now, and I’ve won all six. Kind of shows how good our program is. I kind of wish I was at home hanging out with my kids on Halloween, but at least they got to watch Dad on TV. Want to say hey to my mom and dad, I know they’re back at home in Chandler, Arizona watching.”
Feature Race Recap – 60-Laps – $50,000 To Win
Josh Rice started on the pole with RTJ on the outside pole for the feature.
Rice got out to an early lead, but it was RTJ who ultimately took the lead in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 using the high side to lead the first lap. Meanwhile, Tyler Erb got around Rice for the second position a lap later. 10 laps into the 50-lap feature, RTJ kept a sizable lead over second-place Erb while closing in on the back half of the field and lapping them in the process. At Lap 20, RTJ still had the top spot and continued to lap the field.
At the halfway mark, RTJ had the lead over Erb in the second spot by having a half-track advantage. With 10 laps to go, it was RTJ as the leader, Erb second, Rice third, Drake Troutman fourth, and Hoffman the top five. The first caution of the night flew with four laps to go for Jason Jameson, who spun in Turn 2 and eliminated RTJ’s lead dominance.
RTJ led the field back to the restart and once again got out to a tremendous lead. There were no more yellows, and RTJ would go on to win the second night of the Halloween Nationals at Portsmouth Raceway Park.
Heat Race Recaps – Top Three Transfer – 8 Laps A Piece
Before the heat races took place, there was a hot lap and a Flight A/B qualifying session. Hoffman had the quickest time in hot laps with a 14.491 seconds, while Mike Benedum was quickest in Flight A with a time in 14.964 seconds, and Hoffman again having a fast time of 14.876 seconds in Flight B.
Heat 1 – Benedum had the pole for the first heat. However, it was Rice who took home the first heat victory and was followed by Tristan Chamberlain and Eddie Carrier Jr rounding out the top three.
Heat 2 – Troutman was on pole for the second heat. A caution was seen with two laps to go for Breyton Santee being slow on the track. Troutman still won the heat race, with Zach Dohm and Kyle Hardy in the top three.
Heat 3 – Hoffman had the top spot for the third heat. Last night’s race winner RTJ took the lead off the backstretch for a brief moment, but Hoffman regained the lead out of Turn 4. RTJ closed back in on Hoffman with four laps to go and eventually passed Hoffman for the lead off Turn 2 down the back straightaway to win the heat race. Hoffman was second and Jameson third.
Heat 4 – Adam Stricker had the pole for the fourth and final heat. Erb started on the outside pole and took the lead off Turn 4 to lead the first lap. A yellow flew with six laps to go for Derek Fisher spun around in Turn 4. During the caution period, RJ Conley took his car to the pit area for a flat left-rear tire. Replays showed that Conley got in the left-rear of David Webb, likely causing the flat tire.
Erb held on to win the heat race, with Stricker and Dustin Sorensen taking the final transfer spots.
Michael Chilton won the first B-Main, and Seth Daniels claimed the second B-main.
For those who missed the feature, you can watch the highlights below.
Official Race Results Following Night 2 Of the Halloween Nationals at Portsmouth Raceway Park
- Ricky Thornton Jr
- Tyler Erb
- Josh Rice
- Nick Hoffman
- Zach Dohm
- Dustin Sorensen
- Eddie Carrier Jr
- Kyle Hardy
- Colten Burdette
- Mike Benedum
- Levi Yetter
- Rod Conley
- Miles Cook II
- Seth Daniels
- Tristan Chamberlain
- Jason Jameson
- Drake Troutman
- Michael Chilton
- Adam Stricker
- Henry Hornsby
