Brian Shirley Dominates at Sycamore for 44th Career Summer Nationals Win
Photo by Tim Hunt
MAPLE PARK, Ill.—The road hasn’t been easy for Brian Shirley this week, but he was finally able to punch through to DIRTcar Summer Nationals Victory Lane Sunday night at Sycamore Speedway.
Shirley, the four-time Hell Tour champion from Chatham, IL, started his Week 1 campaign on tour with back-to-back DNFs in his first two starts — Friday at Coles County Speedway and again Saturday at Fairbury Speedway.
But Sunday at Sycamore was his night for a rebound, driving the Bob Cullen Racing No. 3s to lead all 30 laps of the Feature for his 44th career Summer Nationals Feature win and fourth in the series’ last six visits to the picturesque dirt track in Maple Park, IL.
“It’s been a tough week at some places we should be able to win at,” Shirley said. “I was really nervous coming into today, knowing that we weren’t going to run next week. So, it’s really awesome to be able to get one and it’s just nice to end the week, as bad as it started, on a good day.”
The Feature began with Shirley immediately charging to the lead from the pole position. Jason Feger fell into second and Clay Stuckey rode in the third position.
Shirley ran the bottom and consistently turned laps that kept Feger behind him. He continued to find traction and momentum down low as Feger blasted the top every corner trying to make a bid for the lead.
“There’s just a lot of grip down there, so you just had to be patient and get the car pointed in the right direction to come off the corner with good speed and not overcharge the corner,” Shirley said.
A caution flag in the final laps restacked the field and put Feger on the leader’s tail, but Shirley was not going to be denied. He held strong on the green-white-checkered finish to bag the win with Feger crossing second, Tanner English third, Stuckey in fourth, and Daniel Adam rounding out the top five.
UP NEXT - The DIRTcar Summer Nationals makes its only trip to Wisconsin with a stop at Wilmot Raceway in Wilmot, WI, on Monday, June 15. Tickets for the event will be sold at the track on race day.
How can you watch the DIRTcar Summer Nationals in 2026? Every race is streamed live on DIRTVision.
DORTCAR LATE MODEL RESULTS (30 entries)
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 3. 96-Tanner English[6]; 4. 15-Clay Stuckey[2]; 5. 75-Daniel Adam[5]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[9]; 7. 09-Michael Leach[10]; 8. 10J-Jordan Bauer[7]; 9. 4G-Bob Gardner[4]; 10. 8-Matthew Larson[11]; 11. 89-Mike Spatola[16]; 12. 87-Jake Rainey[18]; 13. 31M-Tyler Millwood[8]; 14. 3-Dale Markham[15]; 15. 30-Mark Voigt[20]; 16. 17SR-Brody Smith[19]; 17. 05-Tyler Leach[13]; 18. 4D-Doug Tye[17]; 19. 74-Mitch McGrath[12]; 20. 55X-Mike Lofgren[21]; 21. 22M-Sean Mattingly[22]; 22. 42-Chad Finley[14]
Consolation Race (8 Laps): 1. 89-Mike Spatola[2]; 2. 4D-Doug Tye[4]; 3. 87-Jake Rainey[1]; 4. 22M-Sean Mattingly[5]; 5. M27-Mike Provenzano[6]; 6. 03-Dan White[3]; 7. 10P-Paul Parker[8]; 8. 729-Mike Winn[9]; 9. 1M-Mike Mataragas[10]; 10. 15C-Curt Schroeder[13]; 11. 55X-Mike Lofgren[14]; 12. 25R-Luke Robbins[12]; 13. (DNF) 30-Mark Voigt[7]; 14. (DNF) 17SR-Brody Smith[11]; 15. (DNF) 18-John Provenzano[15]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 25-Jason Feger[3]; 2. 4G-Bob Gardner[5]; 3. 10J-Jordan Bauer[1]; 4. 09-Michael Leach[2]; 5. 05-Tyler Leach[4]; 6. 87-Jake Rainey[6]; 7. 4D-Doug Tye[10]; 8. 30-Mark Voigt[8]; 9. 1M-Mike Mataragas[7]; 10. 15C-Curt Schroeder[9]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 75-Daniel Adam[2]; 3. 31M-Tyler Millwood[4]; 4. 8-Matthew Larson[5]; 5. 42-Chad Finley[3]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola[6]; 7. 22M-Sean Mattingly[10]; 8. 10P-Paul Parker[8]; 9. 17SR-Brody Smith[7]; 10. 55X-Mike Lofgren[9]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 15-Clay Stuckey[1]; 2. 96-Tanner English[2]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 4. 74-Mitch McGrath[5]; 5. 3-Dale Markham[4]; 6. 03-Dan White[8]; 7. M27-Mike Provenzano[10]; 8. 729-Mike Winn[9]; 9. 25R-Luke Robbins[7]; 10. 18-John Provenzano[6]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 10J-Jordan Bauer, 14.908[3]; 2. 09-Michael Leach, 14.916[10]; 3. 25-Jason Feger, 14.929[8]; 4. 05-Tyler Leach, 14.961[4]; 5. 4G-Bob Gardner, 15.002[7]; 6. 87-Jake Rainey, 15.016[6]; 7. 1M-Mike Mataragas, 15.207[5]; 8. 30-Mark Voigt, 15.300[2]; 9. 15C-Curt Schroeder, 15.529[1]; 10. 4D-Doug Tye, 15.999[9]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley, 15.182[8]; 2. 75-Daniel Adam, 15.251[5]; 3. 42-Chad Finley, 15.351[4]; 4. 31M-Tyler Millwood, 15.455[6]; 5. 8-Matthew Larson, 15.508[2]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola, 15.523[10]; 7. 17SR-Brody Smith, 15.729[7]; 8. 10P-Paul Parker, 15.935[1]; 9. 55X-Mike Lofgren, 16.334[9]; 10. (DNF) 22M-Sean Mattingly[3]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 15-Clay Stuckey, 15.303[8]; 2. 96-Tanner English, 15.328[7]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr, 15.416[1]; 4. 3-Dale Markham, 15.626[4]; 5. 74-Mitch McGrath, 15.744[2]; 6. 18-John Provenzano, 15.753[9]; 7. 25R-Luke Robbins, 16.009[10]; 8. 03-Dan White, 16.340[6]; 9. 729-Mike Winn, 16.416[3]; 10. (DNS) M27-Mike Provenzano
CURRENT DIRTCAR SUMMER NATIONALS STANDINGS
Points Updated: June 14, 2026
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 96 Tanner English Benton, KY 286 4 0 4 4
2 25 Jason Feger Bloomington, IL 266 -20 4 1 3 4
3 75 Daniel Adam Peru, IL 213 -73 4 0 2 3
4 99JR Frank Heckenast Frankfort, IL 207 -79 4 0 1 3
5 4G Bob Gardner Washington, IL 207 -79 4 0 1 3
6 15 Clay Stuckey Shreveport, LA 204 -82 4 0 1 3
7 09 Michael Leach Sun River, MT 200 -86 4 0 1 3
8 18 Shannon Babb Moweaqua, IL 190 -96 3 2 2 2
9 10J Jordan Bauer St. Jacob, IL 180 -106 4 0 0 2
10 74 Mitch McGrath Waukesha, WI 162 -124 4 0 0 1
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