Brownstown Speedway

Notes: Jameson logs another runner-up finish

August 23, 2026, 10:09 am

By Bryan Ault

DirtonDirt contributing writer

Jason Jameson (12) and Carson Ferguson (93) at Brownstown. (Ryan Roberts)

BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (Aug. 22) – It’s been a season full of agonizing second-place runs for Jason Jameson. His showing in Saturday night’s Hall of Fame Classic at Brownstown Speedway was the latest example.

While the Lawrenceburg, Ind., driver was able to draw close to his JRR Motorsports teammate Josh Rice of Crittenden, Ky., for the final two circuits of the 50-lap feature , he couldn’t complete a pass. Rice was able to stay in the track’s lower groove despite being pinned behind two lapped cars and completed a $20,000 sweep of the Northern Allstars doubleheader weekend. | RaceWire

Jameson settled for a runner-up finish, his seventh such result in 2026 according to the JRR Motorsports website.

“The lapped cars played into it at the end,” Jameson said. “They were slowing (Rice) down a little bit. I just switched my lane to run around that bottom and I found a little bit of speed, I guess, getting in so I didn’t slip so much. It slowed him down a little bit, but he knew what to do. He just moved right down where he knew no one would slide him.

“It is what it is. It’s another second-place, so we’ll go on, I guess.”

Jameson wasn’t piloting the machine that he tumbled with Trevor Landrum while battling for a transfer spot in the Sunoco North-South 100 two weeks ago at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky. That Longhorn Chassis, which was new to Jameson last year, was completely totaled.

“When you smash the cage down on them like that, they’re junk,” Jameson said of the wreck that damaged the halo of the car. “Some people go their whole career and get away with not ever having to crash like that, but then, I feel like I’m always in the middle of it and it ain’t my fault.”

The Longhorn he raced at Brownstown was actually the one Rice drove throughout his rookie season on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series before the national-touring JRR Motorsports team made the switch to a Rocket Chassis for the North-South 100, which Rice won in dramatic fashion.

“It's the one Josh gave up on,” Jameson said with a wry grin. “It’s all right. They’re all the same. It’s just a matter of what kind of help you get from the people that build them, make them, whatever. The people that make them, they want to help you.”

Tire choice played a big factor in the two JRR Motorsports drivers being able to overtake Carson Ferguson of Lincolnton, N.C., at the halfway point. Like Rice, Jameson selected a harder compound, and Jameson passed Rice for second on lap six and appeared to be making a run at Ferguson before Rice reclaimed the runner-up spot on lap 20 and went on to overtake Ferguson for good on lap 25.

“It was so black already out there with the heat races,” Jameson said, adding that he’ll finish out the season with the Northern Allstars Series (he’s leading the points standings) and a couple of other select events close to home. “I don’t know how you could go soft. I’ve been beat here by soft tires.”

Ferguson misreads track

For the first 25 laps of Saturday’s race at the quarter-mile oval, it appeared Carson Ferguson was on his way to putting his Don and Gina Bradsher-owned No. 93 machine in victory lane. A win would have given Paylor Motorsports its first checkered flag at the southern Indiana track since Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., won the Jackson 100 in 2022.

A soft tire selection, though, doomed Ferguson’s chances of reaching the winner’s stage, allowing Rice to pass his fellow Lucas Oil Series regular for the lead at the race’s halfway point. Ferguson settled for a third-place finish.

“Their tires started going and mine quit going,” said Ferguson, who opted for three 2-compound tires and a 3 on the right-rear. “Kind of frustrating, just not reading the track right there.”

Ferguson, who made the trip to Brownstown hoping to improve on his fourth-place run at last year’s Jackson 100, was expecting some track prep ahead of the 50-lapper. It’s something Brownstown tends to do during sanctioned events, especially with three support classes on the undercard. Instead, following the track’s Hall of Fame induction ceremonies, the Northern Allstars feature was called to staging immediately after consolation races, taking Ferguson by surprise.

“I don’t know if they were running behind or what, but they kind of rushed us out there, which was fine,” Ferguson said. “I still thought (the tires) would be fine. I don’t know, just misread the track, but nothing to hang our head. We had good speed early, which was finally good to have here, and had speed when the tires were still under me, We’ve just got to make a better tire (choice).”

Smith rebounds

One national touring driver who bounced back after a disappointing showing in Friday’s Northern Allstars show at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, Ind., was Brenden Smith, the 21-year-old from Dade City, Fla., who competes with Rice and Ferguson on the Lucas Oil tour.

“It's stiff competition,” Smith said. “You know, I got my ass whooped last night. I did all I could do. I felt like I was running around at the Dome. It was just cowboyed up, you know, and them guys, it’s stiff competition for sure. Obviously, you got Rice, he’s a local to here, and we race against him every weekend now. Jameson, you know, he’s real tough to beat. So guys like that, you know, you come to this area, you’re going to have to deal with them for sure.”

Starting fifth, Smith improved one spot to finish fourth. He felt stronger as the 50-lap feature progressed and his run has him excited to compete in the track’s century grind in September.

“I feel like they started the racetrack started pretty wet tonight, and I feel like it’ll probably be that way whenever we come here with Lucas too (for the Jackson 100),” Smith said. “It’ll probably start pretty wet, but it dried out quick because we started at 6 o’clock, so it’s kind of daylight still whenever we’re qualifying and heat racing. I feel like the way the racetrack changed throughout the night, it’ll probably be just about like that for the 100-lapper. Hopefully it’s just like that because we were pretty good there from lap 40 to 50.

“I didn’t feel really that great at the very beginning,” he added. “I feel like I couldn’t really leave off the bottom like I wanted to, so I was kind of having to really open my exit up and kind of leaving that brown on the straightaway. But there at the end, I feel like I could open my entry and just drive off the brown on the bottom. And I think that’s what you kind of have to do here, especially whenever you’re racing in traffic.”