March 21, 2026 | By High Limit Racing PR

Tanner Thorson Breaks Through for First High Limit Win of Year in Arizona

CASA GRANDE, Ariz.—It was only a matter of time until Tanner Thorson and Rod Gross Motorsports collected their first Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing win of the season, and that time finally came on Thursday night at Central Arizona Raceway.

After an outstanding start to the season, highlighted by finishes of 5th-4th-2nd-2nd which propelled him to the early championship lead, the Minden, Nevada finally broke through for his first victory on night two of the Cactus Classic presented by Avanit Windows & Doors.

Starting from the third spot in Thursday's 25-lapper, Thorson had his hands full with Rico Abreu in the opening stages while Aaron Reutzel drove off with the advantage. Once Abreu was fended off and lap traffic became a factor, Thorson immediately roped in Reutzel and cleared him with a slider by Lap 8.

Although he would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the race, fans were treated to a sensational battle as Reutzel, Abreu, and Courtney closely chased him through an intense bout of traffic at the Casa Grande, Arizona oval. It appeared as if a thrilling three-way battle was set to decide things on the final lap before James McFadden brought out the caution and created a green-white-checkered ending.

From there, the Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88 was able to handle the restarts with ease and earned his first ticket to Whiskey Myers Victory Lane this season. He became the 11th driver to reach three High Limit Racing wins and became the fifth different driver in five races to slap a CASM Safety Win Sticker on his tail tank.

Aaron Reutzel settled for a second-place finish after leading the opening seven laps on Friday. It was a strong bounce back for the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87 team after a flip on Thursday night saw them relinquish the points lead to Thorson.

Pulling a last-lap pass on Tyler Courtney, Rico Abreu was able to steal the final podium position in his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Carquest No. 24. The defending High Limit champion has yet to finish worse than seventh through the opening five nights into his partnership with TSR.

Closing out the top-10 on Friday was Tyler Courtney, Brad Sweet, Kerry Madsen, Giovanni Scelzi, Logan Seavey, Justin Peck, and D.J. Netto.

Earning the most event points over Thursday and Friday, the top-three of Tanner Thorson (149), Rico Abreu (145), and Giovanni Scelzi (124) are locked-in to start 4th in Saturday's Heat Races as Central Arizona as if they're the fastest qualifiers in the program. As long as 32+ cars sign-in, Kerry Madsen (122) will also earn that honor to bypass Qualifying and start in a prime spot.


THE ALL-IN NOTEBOOK (3/20/26)
Central Arizona Raceway (Casa Grande, Arizona)

Cactus Classic presented by Avanti Windows & Doors
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps - Rico Abreu (13.449)
Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime Flight A - Brent Marks (13.042)
Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime Flight B - Rico Abreu (13.003)
TJ Forged Heat One Winner - Tyler Courtney
DMI Heat Two Winner - Ryan Timms
BR Motorsports Heat Three Winner - Tanner Thorson
Rod End Supply Heat Four Winner - Giovanni Scelzi
FK Rod Ends Dash Winner - Aaron Reutzel
Winters Performance B-Main Winner - Chase Randall
DURST Dice Roll Driver - Giovanni Scelzi (5th-to-7th)
Jake’s Golf Carts Fastest Lap - Aaron Reutzel (14.210 on Lap 1)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation Rookie of the Race - Hank Davis
Rod End Supply Hard Charger - Brad Sweet +10 (15th-to-5th)
Whiskey Meyers Victory Lane Visitors - Brinton Marvel & TJ Nichols
First to the Sunoco Checkered Flag - Rod Gross Motorsports #88
CASM Win Sticker - Tanner Thorson
Angel Donor Charity - The Good Fight Foundation ($1,500)
Lap Leader(s) - Aaron Reutzel 1-7; Tanner Thorson 8-25


Interstate Batteries A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 5. W-Brad Sweet[15]; 6. 55-Kerry Madsen[6]; 7. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 8. 87X-Logan Seavey[10]; 9. 26-Justin Peck[16]; 10. 88N-DJ Netto[13]; 11. 10-Ryan Timms[7]; 12. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]; 13. 19-Brent Marks[8]; 14. 17GP-Hank Davis[19]; 15. 6-JJ Hickle[24]; 16. 13-Tanner Holmes[9]; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III[14]; 18. 21-James McFadden[18]; 19. 42-Sye Lynch[23]; 20. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[17]; 21. 21P-Robbie Price[22]; 22. 21B-Brian Brown[11]; 23. 9R-Chase Randall[21]; 24. 9-Daison Pursley[20]

Winters Performance B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 9R-Chase Randall[1]; 2. 21P-Robbie Price[4]; 3. 42-Sye Lynch[6]; 4. 6-JJ Hickle[3]; 5. 34-Sterling Cling[9]; 6. 15-Nick Parker[8]; 7. 4-Tuesday Scearce[12]; 8. 45X-Don Grable[10]; 9. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[5]; 10. 3-Cole Schroeder[11]; 11. 8-Jake Helsel[2]; 12. 73-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]

FK Rod Ends Dash (7 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 3. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 5. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[6]; 6. 55-Kerry Madsen[7]; 7. 10-Ryan Timms[8]; 8. 19-Brent Marks[5]

TJ Forged Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]; 2. 13-Tanner Holmes[2]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[3]; 4. 19-Brent Marks[4]; 5. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[5]; 6. 9R-Chase Randall[6]; 7. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[8]; 8. 34-Sterling Cling[7]

DMI Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[2]; 2. 21B-Brian Brown[1]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 4. W-Brad Sweet[3]; 5. 17GP-Hank Davis[5]; 6. 6-JJ Hickle[6]; 7. 73-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; 8. 3-Cole Schroeder[8]

BR Motorsports Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 10-Ryan Timms[2]; 2. 87X-Logan Seavey[1]; 3. 24D-Danny Sams III[3]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 5. 21-James McFadden[5]; 6. 21P-Robbie Price[7]; 7. 15-Nick Parker[8]; 8. 8-Jake Helsel[6]

Rod End Supply Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 2. 5-Brenham Crouch[2]; 3. 26-Justin Peck[3]; 4. 55-Kerry Madsen[4]; 5. 9-Daison Pursley[5]; 6. 42-Sye Lynch[6]; 7. 45X-Don Grable[8]; 8. 4-Tuesday Scearce[7]

Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks, 13.042[16]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.074[1]; 3. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 13.234[5]; 4. 21B-Brian Brown, 13.236[10]; 5. 13-Tanner Holmes, 13.298[7]; 6. 88-Tanner Thorson, 13.310[13]; 7. 88N-DJ Netto, 13.315[12]; 8. W-Brad Sweet, 13.319[3]; 9. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr, 13.372[4]; 10. 17GP-Hank Davis, 13.372[9]; 11. 9R-Chase Randall, 13.416[6]; 12. 6-JJ Hickle, 13.433[15]; 13. 34-Sterling Cling, 13.453[2]; 14. 73-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.633[11]; 15. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 13.662[14]; 16. 3-Cole Schroeder, 13.700[8]

Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.003[1]; 2. 55-Kerry Madsen, 13.145[14]; 3. 87X-Logan Seavey, 13.162[4]; 4. 77-Giovanni Scelzi, 13.195[10]; 5. 10-Ryan Timms, 13.226[11]; 6. 5-Brenham Crouch, 13.242[12]; 7. 24D-Danny Sams III, 13.242[7]; 8. 26-Justin Peck, 13.281[5]; 9. 21-James McFadden, 13.295[6]; 10. 9-Daison Pursley, 13.306[2]; 11. 8-Jake Helsel, 13.457[15]; 12. 42-Sye Lynch, 13.464[8]; 13. 21P-Robbie Price, 13.560[13]; 14. 4-Tuesday Scearce, 13.644[16]; 15. 15-Nick Parker, 13.681[9]; 16. 45X-Don Grable, 14.051[3]


NEW Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Championship Standings (After 5/64 Races):

1. Tanner Thorson - Rod Gross Motorsports #88 (349 pts... -)
2. Rico Abreu - Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #24 (331 pts... -18)
3. Aaron Reutzel - Ridge & Sons Racing #87 (309 pts... -40)
4. Giovanni Scelzi - Spire Motorsports #77 (304 pts... -45)
5. Tyler Courtney - Clauson-Marshall Racing #7BC (283 pts... -66)
6. Kerry Madsen - Vermeer Motorsports #55 (279 pts... -70)
7. Justin Peck - Rudeen Racing #26 (259 pts... -90)
8. Daison Purlsey - Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9 (256 pts... -93)
9. Tanner Holmes - Buch Motorsports #13 (239 pts... -110)
10. Brent Marks - Brent Marks Racing #19 (225 pts... -124)
11. Sye Lynch - Mosites Lynch Racing #42 (203 pts... -146)
12. Brenham Crouch - CJB Motorsports (203 pts... -146)
13. Hank Davis - Michael Dutcher Motorsports #17GP (183 pts... -166)
14. Danny Sams III - Randerson Racing #24D (181 pts... -168)
15. Chase Randall - Chase Randall Racing #9R (175 pts... -174)

WHAT’S NEXT: Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing will wrap up the second-annual Cactus Classic presented by Avanti Windows & Doors on Saturday, March 21 at Central Arizona Raceway. Tickets are available for purchase at HighLimitRacing.com, or you can watch every lap live on FloRacing.