Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Breakdown of Lucas Oil's expected roster for 2026
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series kicks off its 2026 campaign Thursday-Saturday at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla., sending the national tour into a season that features a new-look, post-Daytona 500 Georgia-Florida Speedweeks and return to a traditional points format to determine the $250,000 champion. The Big Four playoff system of the last three years is gone, but a lucrative late-season incentive dubbed the Big River Steel Bonus Program presented by ARP will offer an additional $275,000 for a separate points race that includes the final five Saturday-night events on the schedule.
Our 2026 Lucas Oil Series primer takes a look at the drivers most likely to hit the road with the tour and assesses the best and worst case scenarios for each of them (drivers listed alphabetically):
Garrett Alberson
Hometown: Las Cruces, N.M.
Age: 36
Team: Roberts Motorsports
Series history: Fifth year on tour (matched career-best sixth in points in ’25; Rookie of the Year in ’22; four career victories)
Best case: The ever-improving driver takes another step forward, securing a top-five finish in the points standings amid a season in which he doubles his career victory total with the tour and grabs a career-high payday.
Worst case: Alberson fails to establish a new career highs with his victory total and points finish.
Notable: Alberson recorded 21 top-five finishes on the series in 2025, nearly matching his career of 22 such placings entering the season.
Max Blair
Hometown: Centerville, Pa.
Age: 36
Team: Centerline Motorsports
Series history: Third year on tour (career-best ninth in points in 2023 and ’24; Rookie of the Year in ’23)
Best case: Back with the Lucas Oil Series after a move to World of Outlaws action that lasted half of the 2025 season, Blair breaks through for his first full-field feature win on the circuit — perhaps a huge one in his backyard in Lernerville Speedway’s Firecracker 100? — and improves upon his ninth-place finish in the points standings in his two previous runs with the series.
Worst case: Struggling to gain traction midway through the season, Blair decides for the second straight year to drop off a national tour and spend the remainder of the campaign maintaining an indepdnent schedule.
Notable: Blair is still looking for his first full-field triumph in 130 career Lucas Oil Series starts, but he does own a semifeature checkered flag on June 23, 2023, at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Pa. He’s finished as high as second on four occasions, most recently in last October’s Pittsburgher 100 finale at Pittsburgh’s Pennsylvania Motor Speedway in Imperial, Pa.
Kyle Bronson
Hometown: Brandon, Fla.
Age: 35
Team: Kyle Bronson Motorsports
Series history: Fifth year on tour (career-best sixth in points in 2021; five career victories)
Best case: Returning to the Lucas Oil circuit for the first time since 2021, Bronson snaps his five-year absence from victory lane on the tour and secures a points results at the back half of the top 10.
Worst case: The struggles that prompted Bronson to abandon a WoO chase early in the 2025 season continue this season and he moves to a pick-and-choose schedule for the second half of the campaign.
Notable: Bronson’s last Lucas Oil triumph was the richest of his career: the $53,000 Silver Dollar Nationals on July 24, 2021, at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. He’s winless in his last 92 series starts with just 12 top-five finishes over that span.
Freddie Carpenter
Hometown: Parkersburg, W.Va.
Age: 55
Team: Freddie Carpenter Racing
Series history: Rookie
Best case: Living out a life-long dream, Carpenter completes the entire schedule and logs a couple top-10s along the way.
Worst case: The grind becomes too much on his team’s pocketbook and he is forced to leave the trail before midseason.
Notable: Carpenter has entered at least one Lucas Oil event in every year since its birth in 2004 as the NARA DirtCar Series under director Spencer Wilson. His lone top-10 in 27 A-main starts is seventh in a 2022 split-field feature at Muskingum County Speedway in Zanesville, Ohio.
Dan Ebert
Hometown: Lake Shore, Minn.
Age: 38
Team: Collins Brothers Towing
Series history: Second year on tour (12th in 2025 points standings)
Best case: Demonstrating continued improvement in his second year as a full-time Dirt Late Model driver after moving up from open-wheel modified action, Ebert scores his first podium finish among some half-dozen top-five finishes. He rises to a 10th-place finish in the points standings.
Worst case: Unable to shake the growing pains that come with his new motorsports discipline, Ebert fails to significantly increase his top-five finishes total nor his points finish from 2025.
Notable: Ebert, a former snowmobile racer who medaled at the ESPN-aired Winter X Games in 2009, enjoyed his best Lucas Oil weekend of 2025 at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark., finishing fourth in both a preliminary feature and the headline Topless 100.
Carson Ferguson
Hometown: Lincolnton, N.C.
Age: 25
Team: Paylor Motorsports
Series history: Third year on tour (career-best ninth in points in 2025)
Best case: The young driver hits his stride in ’26, reaching victory lane for the first time on the national tour, doubling his top-five output of four from a year ago and climbing one more spot higher with his points result.
Worst case: A checkered flag remains elusive as he goes winless on the series and doesn’t improve in the points standings.
Notable: Ferguson ended the ’26 Lucas Oil season with four consecutive top-10 finishes, including fourth in the Jackson 100, sixth in the Pittsburgher 100 finale and eighth in the Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Clay Harris
Hometown: Jupiter, Fla.
Age: 24
Team: Clay Harris Racing
Series history: Third year on tour (matched 2024’s finish of 13th in points in 2025)
Best case: Harris becomes a Lucas Oil winner for the first time — in front of his home-state crowd with a Speedweeks victory at Ocala Speedway — and carries the momentum through a season that sees him earn five top-five finishes and finish 10th in the points race.
Worst case: With results not matching his expectations in Year 3 as a national tour, Harris decides to pull back to a special-event schedule at midseason to gain more experience running up front in regional races in anticipation for ’27.
Notable: Harris’s two top-five finishes on the series in ’25 were third-place runs that came in preliminary action for crown jewel events: the opening A-main of the Show-Me 100 weekend and a semifeature for August’s Topless 100.
Cory Hedgecock
Hometown: Loudon, Tenn.
Age: 33
Team: Billy Hicks Racing
Series history: Rookie
Best case: Transferring his regional success to the national level, Hedgecock grabs a checkered flag to join the select group of drivers with victories on both the Lucas Oil and WoO series. He also earns Rookie of the Year honors, giving car owner Billy Hicks the top Lucas Oil rookie for the second straight year after guiding Donald McIntosh to the honors in 2025.
Worst case: Hedgecock is unable to capture a win or match Hicks’s 10th-place finish in the ’25 points standings with McIntosh.
Notable: A two-time winner on the WoO circuit — in 2018 and ’23 at 411 Motor Speedway in Seymour, Tenn. — Hedgecock has five top-five finishes in 27 career Lucas Oil feature starts. His best result is second in 2020, also on familiar turf at 411.
Daniel Hilsabeck
Hometown: Adel, Iowa
Age: 35
Team: Daniel Hilsabeck Racing
Series history: Second year on tour (11th in points in 2025)
Best case: Improving in his second full season as a national touring driver — his first, with the WoO in 2024, was cut short by a dislocated left wrist he suffered in a June wreck at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway — Hilsabeck records the first top-five finishes of his Lucas Oil career and matches his ’25 points result.
Worst case: Hilsabeck struggles to find the success he’s hoping for as he remains in search of a top-five run and doesn’t duplicate his 11th-place finish in the points standings.
Notable: Hilsabeck registered five top-10 finishes on last year’s Lucas Oil Series, but his career-best result remains the sixth-place run he had in a 2024 Knoxville Late Model Nationals preliminary feature.
Cory Lawler
Hometown: Hanover, Pa.
Age: 24
Team: Lawler Racing
Series history: Third year on tour (career-best 14th in points in 2025)
Best case: Lawler’s uptick reaches a milestone when he cracks the top-10 in a feature for the first time and duplicates the effort at least twice more. He grinds out another year on the road and places a career-best 13th in the standings.
Worst case: The financial realities of pursuing a national tour for a third straight year without significant success force Lawler and his family-owned team to step back and regroup with a regional schedule.
Notable: Lawler travels the circuit alongside his father Pancho, a veteran racer and speed shop owner. He improved his career-best Lucas Oil finish by five spots in 2025, claiming a pair of 11th-place results in full-field features at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway and Atomic Speedway in Alma, Ohio.
Dillon McCowan
Hometown: Urbana, Mo.
Age: 22
Team: Dillon McCowan Racing
Series history: Rookie
Best case: The red-headed youngster from the open-wheel modified ranks makes some noise in his first full season of national touring, scoring a podium finish and several top-fives as he challenges for Rookie of the Year honors.
Worst case: McCowan’s second attempt at a national tour — he started 2025 planning to follow the WoO circuit — fizzles out by midseason and he looks to the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, among other series, to gain more lap time.
Notable: McCowan enters his first campaign with the Lucas Oil Series owning five top-10 finishes in 26 career feature starts. His first two came in his debut weekend with the tour: sixth-place finishes during the 2023 Show-Me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., one in the first preliminary feature and the other in the 100-lap finale.
Devin Moran
Hometown: Dresden, Ohio
Age: 31
Team: Double Down Motorsports
Series history: Sixth year on tour (champion in 2025; 22 career victories)
Best case: Moran ascends even higher in the Dirt Late Model hierarchy, backing up his 2025 championship season with a second straight Lucas Oil Series title. He reaches double-figures in wins for the first time and eliminates any doubt about his ’25 crown earned in the Lucas Oil Series playoff system as he comes out on top in the tour’s return to a traditional season-long points format.
Worst case: Moran can’t quite duplicate his ’25 success as his win total slips (from eight) and he falls short of back-to-back championships.
Notable: With a second straight Lucas Oil title, Moran would become the sixth driver to accomplish the feat, joining Earl Pearson Jr., Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport and Tim McCreadie.
Hudson O’Neal
Hometown: Martinsville, Ind.
Age: 25
Team: SSI Motorsports
Series history: Eighth year on tour (fourth in points in 2025; champion in ’23; 31 career wins)
Best case: Roaring back after a poor Chase performance in ’25 left him fourth in the final standings, O’Neal enjoys the most prolific season of his career, reaching double-figures in victories for the first time with several crown jewel triumphs and a second championship topping his campaign.
Worst case: O’Neal doesn’t reach the 10-victory mark nor win the championship, leaving him disappointed that he was unable to reach the highest level with veteran crew chief Jason Durham overseeing his effort for the entire season after last year joining SSI Motorsports following Speedweeks.
Notable: Despite not turning 26 until Sept. 5, O’Neal, entering his eighth full-time season on the Lucas Oil Series, is the most veteran competitor on the national tour.
Brandon Overton
Hometown: Evans, Ga.
Age: 34
Team: Riggs Motorsports
Series history: Third year on tour (seventh in in 2024; career-best sixth in points in ’23; 17 career victories)
Best case: Proving his hot early start at Speedweeks was a sign of things to come, Overton flashes his strength on a national tour like never before, flirting with a double-figure win total and capturing his first Lucas Oil Series championship in a points battle that goes down to the final race.
Worst case: Overton improves dramatically from his single-victory ’25 campaign and places among the top-five in the final standings, but he lacks that little extra consistency to stay in the championship hunt to the end.
Notable: Overton has won at least one Lucas Oil Series feature every year since 2017 with the exception of ’19.
Josh Rice
Hometown: Crittenden, Ky.
Age: 27
Team: JRR Motorsports
Series history: Rookie (two career victories)
Best case: Rice’s long-awaited opportunity to go racing full-time hits its stride quickly with veteran crew chief Randall Edwards leading his effort. He wins multiple races — topped by a victory in Florence Speedway’s North-South 100 that sets off a raucous post-race scene at his home track — and finishes inside the top-10 in the points standings while also claiming Rookie of the Year honors.
Worst case: The hard knocks that come with traveling a national tour for the first time don’t avoid Rice, who goes winless and loses Rookie of the Year to Cory Hedgecock.
Notable: Rice has made 54 feature starts on the Lucas Oil Series since 2015 and has a respectable performance record showing two victories (in 2021 and ’22 at Florence), 12 top-five and 24 top-10 finishes.
Ross Robinson
Hometown: Georgetown, Del.
Age: 35
Team: Dutchstar Motorsports
Series history: Fourth year on tour (dropped off series in ’25; career-best 10th in points in ’22)
Best case: Bouncing back after a rough start to ’25 pushed him off the tour and to a regional schedule, Robinson has the stars align at his hometown’s Georgetown Speedway for his first-ever victory on the series. He finds consistency and matches his career-best finish in the points standings.
Worst case: Robinson experiences the same struggles as he did in 2025, prompting him to return to regional racing.
Notable: Robinson tallied a career-high five top-five finishes on the tour in 2024 but failed to finish better than seventh in 17 feature starts last year.
Brandon Sheppard
Hometown: New Berlin, Ill.
Age: 33
Team: Rocket1 Racing
Series history: Fifth year on tour (fifth in points in 2025; career-best second in points in ’22; 32 career victories)
Best case: Sheppard’s breakout Speedweeks win at Volusia Speedway Park fuels a season reminiscent of his best with the Rocket Chassis house car team. He pushes for a double-figure win total, sprinkles in crown jewel victories and captures the points title to become the fourth driver in history with both Lucas Oil and WoO championships, joining Scott Bloomquist, Josh Richards and Tim McCreadie.
Worst case: The magic just isn’t there for the whole season as Sheppard enjoys hot streaks and surpasses his 2025 win total of three (including one semifeature) on the tour but can’t improve on his fifth-place points finish from a year ago.
Notable: Ranked ninth on the all-time Lucas Oil win list with 32 victories, Sheppard is the winningest driver in series history who hasn’t claimed a points championship.
Brian Shirley
Hometown: Chatham, Ill.
Age: 44
Team: Bob Cullen Racing
Series history: First year on tour
Best case: Racing regularly with the Lucas Oil Series for the first time after five previous seasons of national touring on the WoO side, Shirley finally emerges victorious in a Lucas Oil feature and flirts with a top-five finish in the points standings.
Worst case: The engine trouble that struck him in his first two pre-Lucas Oil shows during Speedweeks signals a black cloud of bad luck that plagues him throughout 2026, keeping him out of victory lane and leaving him with a points finish at the back end of the top 10.
Notable: Shirley, who joins Freddie Carpenter as the only drivers over the age of 40 planning to run the full Lucas Oil Series, has entered at least one Lucas Oil Series race every year since its birth in 2004 but has never won in 193 career feature starts. He has eight runner-up finishes, most recently in the 2024 Knoxville Late Model Nationals finale.
Brenden Smith
Hometown: Dade City, Fla.
Age: 20
Team: JCM Motorsports
Series history: Second year on tour (dropped off early in 2025; 15th in points in 2024)
Best case: Partnered with Alabama-based JCM Motorsports after running family-owned equipment in his two previous years of full-time Super Late Model racing, Smith comes back to national touring after moving to regional action in ’25 and shows decided improvement. He logs his first top-five finishes on the series and just misses a top-10 points finish.
Worst case: A rough first few months of ’26 leads Smith and his new team to drop off the national tour and refocus on regional competition and selected national specials.
Notable: The lone top-10 Lucas Oil finish of Smith’s career was a ninth on July 19, 2024, at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D. He didn’t place better than 14th in 10 feature starts last year.
Ricky Thornton Jr.
Hometown: Chandler, Ariz.
Age: 34
Team: SSI Motorsports
Series history: Sixth year on tour (second in points in 2025; champion in 2024; Rookie of the Year in ’21; 49 career victories)
Best case: Anxious to prove his superiority racing under a traditional season-long points format, Thornton tears through the schedule with over a dozen victories as he runs away with his second career points title. He adds $100,000 to his $250,000 championship take by winning the Big River Steel Bonus program that incorporates the final five Saturday events of the season in a miniseries points battle for the top-five drivers in the overall standings entering the stretch.
Worst case: Thornton’s streak of consecutive double-figure victory seasons ends at three and he doesn’t finish inside the top-three in the points standings.
Notable: Thornton won four times in first three tours of duty on the Lucas Oil Series. He’s captured a combined 45 full-field features over the past three seasons.
