January 31, 2026 | By Jordan DeLucia, ASCS PR

Tyler Courtney goes back-to-back with ASCS at Volusia

BARBERVILLE, Fla.—America’s second Sprint Car race of 2026 gave fans one they’ll remember through the end of the year with multiple lead changes, hard charges and a hectic final 10 laps.

In the end, Tyler Courtney stood above all the others for the second night in-a-row at Volusia Speedway Park after topping the field Thursday night in his first race back in over six months. The 31-year-old Indianapolis native drove from fourth to the lead in the final four circuits around the historic 1/2-mile oval to secure his third career American Sprint Car Series victory as part of the 55th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.

“It was just chaotic,” Courtney said.

Coming from sixth on the starting grid, Courtney made the move on the opening lap to climb to third behind Brian Brown and Cameron Martin. Not long after, Courtney slipped past Brown to take second on Lap 6 and began to hunt down leader Martin, who held a gap of nearly a second-and-a-half at that point.

But before Courtney could make a move for the lead, fourth-starting Cole Macedo’s No. 2C car came to life, ducking underneath Courtney to take third on Lap 16 and sailing around the outside of Martin for the lead two laps later.

For a moment, Courtney’s charge appeared to be stalling in his difficulty getting by Martin. Once he did on Lap 20, Martin battled back to retake third, and on Lap 21, 10th-starting Brock Zearfoss went by both of them into the runner-up spot.

With time running out and the leaders coming up on lapped traffic, Courtney dug deep and found the speed he needed.

“They kinda got caught up behind the lap cars and we were able to sneak by them there,” Courtney said. “[Flagman] was holding up two-to-go, so I just held it wide-open and hope we made it to the end.”

Out of Turn 4 on Lap 23, Courtney sailed around the outside of a lapped car and Zearfoss to retake third. With a burst of speed down the frontstretch, he charged into Turn 1 with a run on Macedo and zoomed past him into the lead out of Turn 2.

“I thought once [Macedo] got the lead with how the track was there, I figured he’d kinda take off with it,” Courtney said. “But what’s the saying, ‘It’s never over ‘til the fat lady sings.’ I just never gave up, put my nose back down and dug deep to put it back here in Victory Lane.”

Courtney led the field to the white flag and back around to collect the checkered and the $3,000 prize with Macedo behind him in second and Zearfoss in third. Martin faded back to fourth while Austin McCarl completed his charge from 14th into the top five.

The most notable charge of the race came from 23rd-starting Brady Bacon in the Chris Dyson Racing No. 20. After electrical issues in his Heat Race, the Oklahoma native transferred in through the Smith Titanium Last Chance Showdown and drove all the way up to eighth by the checkered flag of the Feature.


UP NEXT - The American Sprint Car Series is back in action at Volusia Speedway Park on Saturday, Jan. 31, for its 30-lap, $12,000-to-win finale in the 55th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals.

Grandstand gates will open at 3 p.m. and Hot Laps are scheduled for 4 p.m. Tickets are on sale in advance; click here to purchase.

Where can you watch every American Sprint Car Series race in 2026? Live on DIRTVision.


FRIDAY ASCS NATIONAL RESULTS (43 entries)

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 2. 2C-Cole Macedo[4]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[10]; 4. 4-Cameron Martin[2]; 5. 88W-Austin McCarl[14]; 6. 2-Whit Gastineau[3]; 7. 27-Emerson Axsom[5]; 8. 20-Brady Bacon[23]; 9. 6S-Tyler Clem[8]; 10. 21-Brian Brown[1]; 11. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[12]; 12. 28F-Davie Franek[7]; 13. 44-Chris Martin[9]; 14. 17GP-Hank Davis[11]; 15. 95-Matt Covington[21]; 16. 5K-Danny Sams III[22]; 17. 88R-Ryder Laplante[13]; 18. 32B-Dale Blaney[15]; 19. 45X-Kyler Johnson[16]; 20. 3-Cole Schroeder[17]; 21. 01-Jadan Bowling[24]; 22. 16G-Austyn Gossel[19]; 23. 0-Glenn Styres[20]; 24. 88C-Brogan Carder[18]

Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 2. 5K-Danny Sams III[1]; 3. 20-Brady Bacon[2]; 4. 01-Jadan Bowling[4]; 5. 15-Ryan Turner[5]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman[7]; 7. 5C-DJ Christie[12]; 8. 88-Terry Easum[10]; 9. 6BG-Bryan Gossel[11]; 10. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[6]; 11. 51-Jeremy Kornbau[15]; 12. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[9]; 13. 45-Nick Sheridan[8]; 14. 13M-Brett Moffitt[13]; 15. 77T-Tyeller Powless[17]; 16. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck[16]; 17. 22-Shawn Murray[14]

C-Main (8 Laps): 1. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck[4]; 2. 77T-Tyeller Powless[2]; 3. 126-Autumn Criste[6]; 4. 11H-Rodney Huband[1]; 5. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[7]; 6. 10X-Joel Charles[8]; 7. 68C-Katlyn Calhoun[5]; 8. (DNS) 20C-Tyler Porter

Dash (5 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 2. 4-Cameron Martin[1]; 3. 2-Whit Gastineau[3]; 4. 2C-Cole Macedo[9]; 5. 27-Emerson Axsom[6]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 7. 28F-Davie Franek[8]; 8. 6S-Tyler Clem[4]; 9. 44-Chris Martin[5]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 6S-Tyler Clem[1]; 2. 28F-Davie Franek[2]; 3. 88W-Austin McCarl[3]; 4. 88C-Brogan Carder[7]; 5. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[8]; 6. 20-Brady Bacon[4]; 7. 6BG-Bryan Gossel[5]; 8. 11H-Rodney Huband[6]; 9. 10X-Joel Charles[9]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 27-Emerson Axsom[4]; 2. 17GP-Hank Davis[1]; 3. 88R-Ryder Laplante[2]; 4. 3-Cole Schroeder[3]; 5. 01-Jadan Bowling[8]; 6. 45-Nick Sheridan[7]; 7. 5C-DJ Christie[5]; 8. 77T-Tyeller Powless[6]; 9. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 4. 44-Chris Martin[4]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 7. 13M-Brett Moffitt[7]; 8. 20C-Tyler Porter[8]; 9. 126-Autumn Criste[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau[1]; 2. 4-Cameron Martin[4]; 3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]; 4. 16G-Austyn Gossel[5]; 5. 15-Ryan Turner[7]; 6. 88-Terry Easum[6]; 7. 22-Shawn Murray[2]; 8. 68C-Katlyn Calhoun[8]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Cole Macedo[2]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]; 3. 32B-Dale Blaney[3]; 4. 0-Glenn Styres[7]; 5. 5K-Danny Sams III[4]; 6. 5-Ryder McCutcheon[5]; 7. 51-Jeremy Kornbau[6]; 8. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck[8]

Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 20-Brady Bacon, 00:14.487[8]; 2. 6S-Tyler Clem, 00:14.536[3]; 3. 28F-Davie Franek, 00:14.568[1]; 4. 88W-Austin McCarl, 00:14.602[6]; 5. 6BG-Bryan Gossel, 00:14.744[4]; 6. 11H-Rodney Huband, 00:14.880[2]; 7. 88C-Brogan Carder, 00:14.906[9]; 8. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 00:15.241[5]; 9. 10X-Joel Charles, 00:15.617[7]

Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 27-Emerson Axsom, 00:14.454[1]; 2. 17GP-Hank Davis, 00:14.512[9]; 3. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:14.582[4]; 4. 3-Cole Schroeder, 00:14.767[2]; 5. 5C-DJ Christie, 00:14.870[7]; 6. 77T-Tyeller Powless, 00:14.893[6]; 7. 45-Nick Sheridan, 00:15.000[5]; 8. 01-Jadan Bowling, 00:15.080[8]; 9. 44C-Cheyenne Potter, 00:15.469[3]

Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Martin, 00:14.046[4]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:14.154[3]; 3. 21-Brian Brown, 00:14.325[8]; 4. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:14.488[5]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman, 00:14.617[2]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, 00:14.712[6]; 7. 13M-Brett Moffitt, 00:14.880[7]; 8. 20C-Tyler Porter, 00:15.205[9]; 9. 126-Autumn Criste, 00:15.347[1]

Qualifying 4 (2 Laps): 1. 4-Cameron Martin, 00:14.436[8]; 2. 2-Whit Gastineau, 00:14.786[1]; 3. 22-Shawn Murray, 00:14.930[2]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:14.954[5]; 5. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:14.984[3]; 6. 88-Terry Easum, 00:15.046[6]; 7. 15-Ryan Turner, 00:15.200[4]; 8. 68C-Katlyn Calhoun, 00:16.458[7]

Qualifying 5 (2 Laps): 1. 5K-Danny Sams III, 00:14.384[8]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 00:14.428[1]; 3. 2C-Cole Macedo, 00:14.509[4]; 4. 32B-Dale Blaney, 00:14.915[2]; 5. 5-Ryder McCutcheon, 00:15.012[6]; 6. 51-Jeremy Kornbau, 00:15.097[7]; 7. 0-Glenn Styres, 00:15.255[3]; 8. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck, 00:15.268[5]