Fast Talk presented by MD3 and Five Star Bodies
Fast Talk: Sunshine recap and new-look Speedweeks
With the World of Outlaws Late Model Series rolling with three Sunshine Nationals winner, our weekly roundtable resets winter action in the weekly feature presented by MD3 and Five Star Race Cars Bodies (edited for clarity and length):
What’s your key takeaway from the Sunshine Nationals?
Kevin Kovac, DirtonDirt senior writer: For starters, Volusia Speedway Park, one of the highest-speed tracks in the sport, showed that the sport’s young guns don’t have a stranglehold on the action. The 25-year-old Hudson O’Neal was victorious on Friday, but the other two winners were both double his age: 50-year-old Chris Madden and 51-year-old Tim McCreadie. Dennis Erb Jr. was another fiftysomething who shined with a third-place finish in Saturday’s finale. As someone from the 50-plus age group myself (today’s my 53rd birthday in fact!), it’s nice to see the veterans mixing it up with the youngsters. The combination of eras is one of the things that makes Dirt Late Model racing so great.
Todd Turner, DirtonDirt managing editor: It’s always nice to see some parity. Sure, Hudson O’Neal’s victory makes him the season’s first three-time Super Late Model winner (after his successful Arizona trip), but three winners in three nights is good news for the sport. And looking at the bigger picture, it’s a good start for promoting some WoO title drama with defending champ Bobby Pierce’s rivals getting a solid start. Entertaining winners and a thumbs-up to the newish racing surface.
Kyle McFadden, DirtonDirt staff reporter: As Todd mentioned, three different winners in as many nights kept the season-opening Sunshine Nationals fresh and unpredictable. That alone gives us plenty to chew on coming out of Volusia 1.0. Chris Madden looked as sharp as ever in his Infinity Chassis debut with Wells Motorsports. Hudson O’Neal will try to carry this early momentum into a strong 2026 start on the Lucas Oil tour with SSI Motorsports.Then there’s Tim McCreadie. Does his win Saturday hint at legitimate title contention? Nick Hoffman currently leads the de facto World of Outlaws standings by two points over McCreadie, 11 over Dennis Erb Jr., and 18 over Bobby Pierce, who last year trailed Hoffman by just two points after Volusia 1.0. It’s far too early, but this championship fight may not turn into another Pierce runaway.
Aaron Clay, DirtonDirt weekend editor: Obviously it’s extremely early in the season, but I’m a little worried about Bobby Pierce after the season-opening Sunshine Nationals weekend at Volusia. Granted, Pierce rattled off three top-10 finishes, the most impressive being a 23rd-to-10th charge in Friday’s second round, but it just felt like he didn’t have the speed that we’re accustomed to seeing. This coming one week after winning only the Wild West Shootout finale in Arizona. It’s still way too early to be concerned, especially considering Pierce is currently fifth in the World of Outlaws point standings, but for now, it seems the No. 32 team is shy of its usual dominant ways.
Detail another aspect of the Sunshine Nationals.
Turner: Kevin and I will no doubt tread some of the same ground here, but the expediency of the programs was impressive. Officials made all the right decisions in start times, program order and organization to keep things rolling with the WoO main events completed early each night. (Believe me, I’ve had plenty of post-midnight finishes at Volusia back in the day.) Sometimes the opening nights of such weeks are a we’ll-figure-it-out-as-we-go-along deal, but kudos to everyone who played a part in having the programs, from first to last, humming along with 200ish cars in the pits among three divisions.
McFadden: I’ll agree with Todd on the remarkably efficient programs. Getting all three Super Late Model features wrapped up by 8:40 p.m. is beyond praiseworthy, so hat tip to everyone involved at Volusia Speedway Park and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. I’ll also be honest and say last year’s Sunshine Nationals at Volusia was among the most unpleasant experience at a racetrack I’ve had, largely because of bitter cold temps and late nights. This year was the complete opposite, with temperatures in the 70s and breezier programs, which seemingly made for a far better Sunshine Nationals experience overall.
Clay: Volusia provided a great racing surface each night and one that widened out by the main event. Sure, the track was wet and hammer-down during much of the preliminary on-track action, creating blistering lap times during solo runs and limited passing during heat races, but overall, the racing was good. There were comers and goers during each night’s feature, including a bottom-friendly surface during Saturday’s finale, which lent itself to podium finishes for Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard and Dennis Erb Jr.. I’m excited to see how that surface continues to perform, especially as we return in a few weeks for the DIRTcar Nationals.
Kovac: Like Todd mentioned, I have to give Volusia manager Tyler Bachman and World Racing Group officials high praise for how well they ran the entire Sunshine Nationals. For starters, they featured the WoO, never allowing the headline class to be silent for long even with more than 150 Crates also in action. I looked back at the inaugural Sunshine Nationals in 2021 and found that the opening night WoO A-main didn’t even take the green flag until after midnight. This weekend every WoO feature ended well before 9 p.m. I’ve always believed that if a track is going to host a car-heavy, multidivision program, they need to make some concessions in the format (like running multiple Crate features rather than typical heat/consolation qualifying) and prioritizing the headliner class. Volusia has done just that, so a hearty pat on the back to them.
What do you look for heading the weekend’s South Georgia Showdown at Needmore, or another upcoming winter events?
McFadden: With many high-profile drivers likely packing up for a brief reset ahead of the Feb. 9-14 DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia, I’m curious to see who steps up and grabs the spotlight. Zack Mitchell appears to be transitioning back to a family-owned operation, so it’ll be interesting to see if he’ll debut his 2026 program in the coming weeks. Mark Whitener showed speed at last year’s Hunt the Front stop at Needmore, so circle him as a contender. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Cory Hedgecock and Donald McIntosh show up as they continue getting acclimated with new teams. And, as always this time of year, the wild card is the weather. Hopefully Mother Nature cooperates so these races can go on as planned.
Clay: As the new-look Speedweeks shifts to Georgia, I’m wondering if Hudson O’Neal’s recent success with the Rumley Engineering ride won’t lure them to any of the upcoming events. O'Neal won last year’s Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series season opener at Needmore Speedway in Norman Park, Ga., the first of now six victories aboard Rumley’s potent Longhorn Chassis. The races aren’t on O’Neal’s publicized schedule, but if they show up, they’ll be among the favorites.
Kovac: All of this next two-weekend, seven-race stretch that includes the HTF tour and Southern All Stars gives me a specific vibe: Who’s gonna be there? We’re now into the extended Speedweeks gap between national touring series action, which creates the unusual situation of wondering which drivers will show up to race. Will all the full-time racers who ran Volusia 1.0 remain down south and enter these extra events or take some time off before jumping back in for Volusia’s DIRTcar Nationals or the Lucas Oil swing? It’ll be interesting to see if Needmore, Swainsboro and Screven feature regional competitors or attract a healthy dose of national teams.
Turner: The HTF bunch gets another crack at Speedweeks after a single event last year at Needmore (2025’s Needmore opener was rained out), and it’ll be a boost this time around to have two weekend races at Needmore followed by an off-day and two more races at Swainsboro (Ga.) Raceway. The HTF races are followed by the next weekend’s Southern All Star action at Screven Motor Speedway in Sylvania, Ga., the first time for back-to-back-back Speedweeks races at three Georgia tracks since 2012 (with Screven and Waycross running on the same night following by a one-off at Golden Isles). Luring national touring drivers may be a challenge, so it’ll be interesting to see how the fields develop.
What are the pros of our new extended Speedweeks that stretches more than six weeks?
Kovac: It provides options for teams. If you want to be away from home in a warmer climate for a month-and-a-half (and have the ability to do that), you can essentially head south for the winter and have plenty of races to run with some breaks to regroup even included. If you want to lengthen your offseason and you’re not a WoO regular, you can hold off on starting your racing until February. It’s always going to be hard for serious racers to skip any early-season, stand-alone events, but at least they can now make their Speedweeks trip less grueling if they’d like to.
Clay: Speaking selfishly, as someone who works in the industry, I’m still happy that we have a little bit of time off between most Speedweeks events, especially in January. I feel like the schedule was much more condensed in past years, with hardly any time between races, but it’s nice to have a bit of a reset and some time off. Obviously, time will tell if having the time between events ultimately ends up being a positive for Speedweeks, but I’m certainly enjoying a little bit of time to catch my breath before this weekend’s races in Georgia.
McFadden: The biggest benefit is flexibility. An extended Speedweeks gives racers and teams more options in how they map out their schedules. Under the previous format, there was almost an obligation to start at Volusia 1.0 out of fear of falling behind or missing out on opportunities to keep up with fellow competitors. With Speedweeks condensed into a roughly three-week window, it made sense for teams to commit fully while they were down South. Now, teams can be more selective. It also spreads the spotlight more evenly, elevating tracks like Swainsboro, Screven and Hendry County into the Speedweeks rotation, along with an expanded weekend at Needmore. Variety in this instance could be beneficial for this new-look Speedweeks.
Turner: At least for race teams, promoters and other interested parties, more purse money, more races (30 feature nights!), more options, more tracks and more everything. More isn’t always better (see my next answer below), but with one of the longtime centerpieces of Speedweeks closing in 2024 — Tampa’s East Bay Raceway Park, of course — there wasn’t a plug-and-play solution. The Lucas Oil Series tired of cold-weather pre-Daytona 500 races and ripped the Band-Aid off with post-NASCAR weekend action, and here we are. Are there more benefits to the new arrangement? This will likely be a good question this time next year.
And what are the cons of the new-look Speedweeks?
Turner: We’re missing the tight-knit vibe of Speedweeks with back-to-back weeks at East Bay and Volusia, sure-fire vacation weeks for fans and fields often featuring the sport’s best drivers. With the Speedweeks core ripped out, everything’s disjointed with significant breaks between races, a schedule stretching from January to March and conflicting national touring races for the first time since 2019 (something not entirely uncommon to Speedweeks). Again, East Bay’s closure sent everyone back to the drawing board, and at least for now, this is what we’ve got. Is it really Speedweeks? That’s debatable. Perhaps we’re evolving toward something that’s better in years to come, but it’s hard to imagine recapturing the glory days of Speedweeks (whenever you think that was).
McFadden: Let’s be honest, with East Bay gone, the Speedweeks we fell in love with isn’t coming back, and that’s something the sport has to come to terms with. Stretching the schedule from mid-January into early March fragments the slate, especially with the Lucas Oil and World of Outlaws tours going head-to-head on Feb. 20–21. Under the old Speedweeks format, every event felt like a big race with crown jewel-level competition nightly. Those were truly can’t-miss events. Now the new Speedweeks doesn’t naturally stimulate that vital importance for each stop. As a result, the crown jewel-type gravity isn’t there from start to finish, and there’s a real possibility Speedweeks no longer routinely delivers can’t-miss events it once did.
Kovac: The whole stretch is simply too long to really have that special feel and aura of Speedweeks as we’ve always known it. I understand “Speedweeks” had already sort of morphed away from its traditional concept — short-track satellite shows leading up to the Daytona 500 — as Daytona’s activities shrank from a two-week extravaganza at the big track to basically just a few days with most of the races run at night, so long-held patterns faded. But now, with the compact two-week, three-weekend Speedweeks a thing of the past, it’s a brand new deal that seems more like extended stretches of regular-season racing and makes it more difficult for racers and fans to take vacation time and hit as many races as they have in the past.
Clay: I was surprised to discover this year’s Sunshine Nationals had 13 fewer cars entered than last year’s three-day event, especially with the expected wintry storm that swept across much of the Southeastern part of the country. I was reminded that, with several days between Speedweeks events and with the upcoming scheduling conflict between both national tours, it made sense. In past years, guys would be sticking around to run the start of both national schedules, some having not yet decided which tour to follow. So it’s possible fewer cars will be entered in some events.
