Mat Williamson Moves Closer to Super DIRTcar Big Blcol Mod Big Gator
Photo by Joe Grabianowski
BARBERVILLE, Fla.—One night after earning his first Super DIRTcar Series win of 2026, Mat Williamson took a giant leap toward his third Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator trophy.
The St. Catharines, ON driver passed Matt Sheppard on a Lap 13 restart and never looked back to score his eighth career win Friday at Volusia Speedway Park.
Sheppard took the lead from Justin Stone, the SRI Performance and Stock Car Steel Pole award winner, on the race’s opening lap. However, it wasn’t long before Williamson challenged Sheppard for the lead, as they raced wheel-to-wheel on the backstretch on Lap 1.
“Super Matt” gained the upper hand on Williamson throughout the first 10 laps, holding off the three-time and defending Series champion on the race’s first two restarts using both lanes. But when the caution came out on Lap 12 for Billy VanInwegen, it gave Williamson another shot at his second Feature win of the week.
When the race resumed, Sheppard led the field through Turn 4 at a slow pace, trying to gain an advantage. However, that didn’t deter Williamson, as he powered around the No. 9S in Turn 2 after battling side-by-side through Turn 1.
Williamson quickly pulled away from Sheppard, but still had another challenger to deal with before the race was over. Alex Payne moved into second on Lap 13 and got his own opportunity to wrestle the lead from Williamson after two cautions for Bobby Varin on Lap 20 and Lap 24.
On both restarts, Payne tried the outside in Turns 1 and 2, and the bottom in Turns 3 and 4. But it wasn’t enough to catch “Money Mat,” who went on to earn the $5,000 prize for the second consecutive night.
The victory is Williamson’s 38th career Super DIRTcar Series win, moving him within one triumph of Bob McCreadie for seventh on the all-time wins list.
In Victory Lane, Williamson said he needed to get clean air to have a chance to beat Sheppard for the win.
“We fired off on that restart, and luckily I beat [Sheppard] into (Turn) 1 and got good momentum around him,” Williamson said. I thought I could keep pace with him. I was trying to roll different lines early in the race to see where I was going to be bad, and he was just a little better than I was in (Turns) 1 and 2. In (Turns) 3 and 4, I was waiting for the bottom to come in a little bit more.”
With the victory, Williamson extended his lead in the chase for the Big Gator trophy to 20 points over Payne, who crossed the line second. It’s the Hopewell, NY driver’s second consecutive podium finish after finishing third on Thursday.
“I was able to grab a spot on that (Lap 13) restart and settle in behind the 88,” Payne said. “I tried to run some different lanes, because there was no way I was going to beat him rolling the middle like he was. Overall, it was a solid night, and we’re just gaining and gaining every night.”
Jack Lehner rounded out Friday’s podium, earning his third top five in his last four Super DIRTcar Series starts. The Saratoga Springs, NY driver battled side-by-side with Sheppard for several laps, using both lanes to move into third on Lap 22.
The “Ginga Ninja” said something he tried during his Last Chance Showdown on Thursday helped him toward Friday’s podium finish.
“We knew we didn’t have anything to lose, so we tried some things we hadn’t tried yet,” Lehner said. “And I think that woke up some things that we carried over into today. I feel like we had a stellar racecar and didn’t have to change a whole lot, and just follow the racetrack. And that’s a good feeling as a racecar driver.”
Alex Yankowski finished fourth, earning his first top five of the season, and Justin Haers rounded out the top five after starting 24th.
Here is a look at the Big Gator standings with one night of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals remaining:
Mat Williamson 320
Alex Payne -20
Felix Roy -32
Erick Rudolph -34
Larry Wight -38
For a complete look at the DIRTcar Nationals points standings, CLICK HERE.
RACE NOTES:
JAM Performance Fastest Hot Lap Award: Justin Stone
Billy Whittaker Cars and Trux Quick Time Award: Felix Roy
Bicknell Racing Products Heat Race 1 Winner: Felix Roy
DIG Race Products Heat Race 2 Winner: Alex Payne
Wix Filters Heat Race 3 Winner: Mat Williamson
The Greatest Store on Dirt.com Heat Race 4 Winner: Peter Britten
SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award Winner: Justin Stone
Behrent’s Performance Wearhouse One Lap to Go: Mat Williamson
UP NEXT: The Super DIRTcar Series returns to Volusia Speedway Park on Saturday, Feb. 14, for the final night of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Drivers will battle in a 50-lap Feature paying $7,500-to-win. Joining the Beasts of the Northeast are the World of Outlaws Late Models presented by DIRTVision.
For tickets, visit DIRTcarNationals.com.
Where can you watch every World of Outlaws race? Live on DIRTVision.
SUPER DIRTCAR SERIES RESULTS (46 entries)
Friday, Febriary 13, 2026
DIRTcar Nationals Night 3 (30 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[3]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne[6]; 3. 2-Jack Lehner[7]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[4]; 5. 3-Justin Haers[24]; 6. 9S-Matt Sheppard[2]; 7. 25-Erick Rudolph[25]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[8]; 9. 91-Felix Roy[5]; 10. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[12]; 11. 12-Darren Smith[9]; 12. 165-Rex King Jr[21]; 13. 99L-Larry Wight[11]; 14. 20-Rick Laubach[19]; 15. 5H-Amy Holland[26]; 16. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[18]; 17. 16-Louden Reimert[15]; 18. 10C-Danny Creeden[14]; 19. 15X-Justin Stone[1]; 20. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[23]; 21. 6-Matt Stangle[22]; 22. 11T-Jeff Taylor[10]; 23. 11-Matt Caprara[16]; 24. (DNF) 18V-Bobby Varin[13]; 25. (DNF) 17-Marcus Dinkins[27]; 26. (DNF) 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[17]; 27. (DNF) 33-Eddie Strada[20]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 165-Rex King Jr[2]; 2. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[4]; 3. 25-Erick Rudolph[1]; 4. 28-Michael Trautschold[5]; 5. 5H-Amy Holland[6]; 6. 58-Mike Gular[8]; 7. 8-Rich Scagliotta[12]; 8. 61L-Donovan Lussier[7]; 9. 18$-Sean Beardsley[10]; 10. 444-Russell Morseman IV[13]; 11. 92S-Dexter Stacey[3]; 12. (DNS) 70-Duane Howard; 13. (DNS) 35C-Chris Curtis
Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Matt Stangle[1]; 2. 3-Justin Haers[3]; 3. 30-HJ Bunting[2]; 4. 22M-Richard Murtaugh[6]; 5. 92-Andrew Buff[5]; 6. 0-Glenn Styres[7]; 7. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[4]; 8. 17-Marcus Dinkins[8]; 9. 48T-Dave Rauscher[10]; 10. 14S-Brian Swarthout[9]; 11. 8M-Macey Adamik[11]; 12. 66W-Wallace Stacey[12]; 13. (DNS) 13-Steve Davis
Bicknell Racing Products Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 91-Felix Roy[1]; 2. 15X-Justin Stone[3]; 3. 12-Darren Smith[2]; 4. 18V-Bobby Varin[5]; 5. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[9]; 6. 25-Erick Rudolph[7]; 7. 92S-Dexter Stacey[6]; 8. 28-Michael Trautschold[10]; 9. 61L-Donovan Lussier[4]; 10. 70-Duane Howard[12]; 11. 35C-Chris Curtis[8]; 12. 444-Russell Morseman IV[11]
DIG Race Products Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 70A-Alex Payne[1]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[4]; 3. 11T-Jeff Taylor[2]; 4. 10C-Danny Creeden[5]; 5. 32R-Ronnie Davis III[6]; 6. 165-Rex King Jr[7]; 7. 1-Billy Pauch Jr[10]; 8. 5H-Amy Holland[3]; 9. 58-Mike Gular[9]; 10. 18$-Sean Beardsley[11]; 11. 8-Rich Scagliotta[8]
WiX Filters Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[4]; 3. 99L-Larry Wight[5]; 4. 16-Louden Reimert[3]; 5. 20-Rick Laubach[2]; 6. 6-Matt Stangle[8]; 7. 3-Justin Haers[6]; 8. 92-Andrew Buff[7]; 9. 0-Glenn Styres[9]; 10. 14S-Brian Swarthout[11]; 11. 8M-Macey Adamik[10]; 12. (DNS) 13-Steve Davis
Greatest Store On DIRT Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 21A-Peter Britten[2]; 2. 2-Jack Lehner[1]; 3. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[3]; 4. 11-Matt Caprara[5]; 5. 33-Eddie Strada[4]; 6. 30-HJ Bunting[8]; 7. 21M-Bob Mcgannon[7]; 8. 22M-Richard Murtaugh[6]; 9. 17-Marcus Dinkins[11]; 10. 48T-Dave Rauscher[10]; 11. 66W-Wallace Stacey[9]
Group A Qualifying: 1. 91-Felix Roy, 17.136[6]; 2. 70A-Alex Payne, 17.259[11]; 3. 12-Darren Smith, 17.276[1]; 4. 11T-Jeff Taylor, 17.287[21]; 5. 15X-Justin Stone, 17.350[12]; 6. 5H-Amy Holland, 17.386[7]; 7. 61L-Donovan Lussier, 17.400[2]; 8. 9S-Matt Sheppard, 17.415[23]; 9. 18V-Bobby Varin, 17.439[17]; 10. 10C-Danny Creeden, 17.518[3]; 11. 92S-Dexter Stacey, 17.564[14]; 12. 32R-Ronnie Davis III, 17.574[19]; 13. 25-Erick Rudolph, 17.648[9]; 14. 165-Rex King Jr, 17.677[8]; 15. 35C-Chris Curtis, 17.730[4]; 16. 8-Rich Scagliotta, 17.762[5]; 17. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr, 17.777[18]; 18. 58-Mike Gular, 17.779[10]; 19. 28-Michael Trautschold, 17.804[13]; 20. 1-Billy Pauch Jr, 17.832[16]; 21. 444-Russell Morseman IV, 17.847[20]; 22. 18$-Sean Beardsley, 17.962[22]; 23. 70-Duane Howard, 18.060[15]
Group B Qualifying: 1. 88-Mat Williamson, 17.461[14]; 2. 2-Jack Lehner, 17.472[18]; 3. 20-Rick Laubach, 17.499[3]; 4. 21A-Peter Britten, 17.523[1]; 5. 16-Louden Reimert, 17.549[19]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps, 17.613[21]; 7. 84Y-Alex Yankowski, 17.615[22]; 8. 33-Eddie Strada, 17.651[12]; 9. 99L-Larry Wight, 17.701[2]; 10. 11-Matt Caprara, 17.704[13]; 11. 3-Justin Haers, 17.776[16]; 12. 22M-Richard Murtaugh, 17.839[15]; 13. 92-Andrew Buff, 17.889[11]; 14. 21M-Bob Mcgannon, 17.895[4]; 15. 6-Matt Stangle, 17.934[7]; 16. 30-HJ Bunting, 17.992[6]; 17. 0-Glenn Styres, 18.266[8]; 18. 66W-Wallace Stacey, 18.539[9]; 19. 8M-Macey Adamik, 18.571[20]; 20. 48T-Dave Rauscher, 18.595[5]; 21. 14S-Brian Swarthout, 18.608[10]; 22. 17-Marcus Dinkins, 18.608[17]; 23. 13-Steve Davis, 18.608[23]
Land Of Legends Raceway Redraw Order: 1. 15X-Justin Stone[5]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[6]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson[3]; 4. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[7]; 5. 91-Felix Roy[1]; 6. 70A-Alex Payne[2]; 7. 2-Jack Lehner[8]; 8. 21A-Peter Britten[4]
Our Partners
.png)
