WHEATLAND, MO. (Sept. 19, 2026) - It wasn't Groundhog Day, but for Tanner Thorson and Riley Kreisel a repeat of the previous night meant a reason to celebrate.
Thorson and Kreisel scored emotional feature wins Saturday night at the 16th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway.
Both Thorson, in the High Limit Racing/POWRi 410 Sprints and Kreisel, in the POWRi WAR wingless sprints had connections to the Hockett family that made the celebrations even more special.
The Hockett-McMillin Memorial pays tribute to the legacy of Hockett, from Warsaw, who was a national star in both the winged and non-wing sprint divisions when he lost his life in a shop accident in 2010. Hockett's cousin and crew chief, Daniel McMillin, was killed in an automobile accident in 2006.
JT Nichols, the tire specialist for Thorson's JST Motorsports team was a young cousin when Hockett died and dedicated his pursuit of a spot in the sport to Jesse. Thorson, of Broken Arrow, Okla., said he felt a bit of extra pressure to win it for Nichols after earning a Friday preliminary victory.
"I was on myself hard last night night and this morning like, 'come on, we can do this.' I'm happy for TJ and his family. They're down-to-earth people and really good for the sport.
"TJ has been on me. from day one when this came on the schedule, 'I want to win it, I want to win it.' I said 'we'll win it.'"
Nichols, asked in victory lane what it meant to him, also was emotional. He actually drove one of Hockett's old winged cars to pace the field on the parade lap.
"This is everything," Nichols told Flo Racing's Tony Laporta. "I don't have words to describe it, but this is the race that we wanted to win. I can barely talk. I'm so proud of Tanner."
Thorson earned $25,000 for what he called his biggest winged-car victory. While he earned $26,000 for a recent High Limit Racing third-place at Skagit Speedway, this one clearly meant more.
"It's really cool and it's always really cool to win with High Limit and all the national tours," Thorson said. "High Limit is where it's at."
Brent Marks out-ran fellow front-row starter Giovanni Scelzi and set the early pace with Thorson settling into second by lap three. Thorson grabbed the lead on a lap-five restart after the race's first caution.
A multi-car tangle brought out the red flag on lap nine, with Chase Randall and Kasey Jedrzejek both flipping coming out of turn three. Thorson had a one-second lead at the time.
The race settled in after the restart with Thorson opening a 1.6-second lead by lap 15 as Courtney and Peck battled it out for second. Those two got together on lap 19 with Peck taking the worse of the tangle and having to pull into the infield work area.
Just one lap was completed before a Brady Bacon spin brought out caution No. 4. Thorson was able to stretch out his lead again after the restart, leading by more than a second by lap 22.
Thorson's lead started to shrink with about 10 to go with Courtney closing in on the low side. By lap 30 he was just a couple of car lengths behind the leader with Thorson moving lower on the oval to try and counter his pursuer.
Courtney pulled alongside down the backstretch on lap 34, but Thorson held on and reached the checkers .618 seconds in front of Courtney.
Scelzi was third with Rico Abreu fourth and Marks rounding out the top five.
Thorson said his right-rear tire was caked with mud the last portion of the race and he had a bad vibration, making the car a handful to drive.
"I couldn't see there for the last 15 laps after that yellow because I blew the wheel-cover off," Thorson said. "I had a hard time getting grip because (me car) was shaking so hard. Man, hats off to this team."
Courtney, from Indianapolis, said he just didn't have enough to get around Thorson.
"Hats off to Tanner and his whole team. They've been one of the cars to beat here the last couple of years," Courtney said. "I felt like we had a chance tonight. It just wasn't in the cards."
Courtney also picked up an extra $3,077 for earning the hard-charger award for most cars passed over three nights.
Kreisel grabs WAR win: Riley Kreisel inherited the lead on lap 20 and survived five cautions and a red flag the rest of the way as other contenders fell by the wayside. He ultimately held off Nixa's Wesley Smith to earn the POWRi WAR feature win.
Kreisel prevailed by 1.7 seconds and took home $5,077 with his 15th career WAR victory. The three time series champion, from the same hometown as Hockett, said it's been a long-time goal to win this race and take the trophy back to Hockett's hometown.
"I hate that, because I want to beat those guys to say I did it," Kreisel said of attrition that eliminated several contenders in the second half of the 30-lapper. "But this is so many years of just heartbreak here. Some years we didn't even have speed. Just to have speed here … I'm speechless. This is huge."
Pole-starting Rylan Gray set the early pace over third-starting Jack Wagner with Kreisel needing only three laps to move from sixth to third.
Gray and Wagner were side by side by lap 11 and Wagner slid around Gray for the lead on lap 12. Wagner quickly expanded his lead to 1.8 seconds at the halfway mark on lap 15 with Kreisel third and Ricky Lewis fourth.
The leaders sliced through traffic before the first caution flew on lap 18 as Lewis shredded a tire and came to a stop, wiping out Wagner's 1.2-second lead on Gray.
The restart saw Gray, Thursday's prelim feature winner, enter too hot into turn one, jumping the cushion and hitting the wall. Meanwhile, Wagner headed to the pits under caution and returned to the rear of the field.
Issues by Gray and Wagner put Kreisel to the lead with 12 laps remaining. But mayhem continued on the next attempt at a restart as top-10 running Justin Zimmerman, Mario Clouser, Bryson Smith and Cooper Sullivan were involved in a turn-four tangle.
Just three laps were completed before another caution for debris on the front stretch. That erased Kreisel's 2.5-second lead over Wesley Smith with nine to go.
Kreisel had a two-second lead when caution again flew on lap 27 for a Brett Combs spin in turn two. That left a three-lap shootout for the win with Smith, Wyatt Burks, Tom Curran and a rallying Wagner were in the top five.
One lap was completed before the fourth-running Jack Wagner took the wildest ride of the night, flipping his car in turn three. Wagner climbed from the car and was OK, waving to the fans.
Kreisel drove away over the final two laps, nearly two seconds in front of Smith. Burks was third with Curran fourth and Zimmerman fifth.
"There were so many years and I thought we would never win this deal," Kreisel said. "We never gave up, that's for sure. We always left here thinking 'what do we need to do?' We made like two changes to our entire program and it just lit the light for us."
Smith's runner-up finish nailed down the wingless season championship, something of a consolation prize for the former winner of the event.
"It's been a tough week for us. We've been plugging away," Smith said. "We were just a little too stiff on corner entry. The track was really fast tonight. It was so fast around the top we just needed to be a little freer getting in.
"But I'll take a second due to attrition there. The top 10 car are capable of winning here. We've all been the same speed all week and Riley either found another gear or we dropped anchor a little bit."
16th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial (Saturday's unofficial results)
Interstate Batteries High Limit/POWRi 410 Sprints
A Feature - 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[6]; 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[8]; 5. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 6. 1X-Scott Bogucki[5]; 7. 13-Tanner Holmes[10]; 8. 66-Ryan Newton[23]; 9. 87-Aaron Reutzel[9]; 10. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[14]; 11. 24D-Danny Sams III[7]; 12. 45X-Ashton Torgerson[19]; 13. 42-Sye Lynch[21]; 14. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[20]; 15. 55-Brady Bacon[12]; 16. 26-Justin Peck[4]; 17. 9R-Chase Randall[15]; 18. 31-Scotty Thiel[16]; 19. 74-Xavier Doney[22]; 20. 40-Howard Moore[17]; 21. 57-Cam Sorrels[18]; 22. 11-Roger Crockett[13]; 23. 22M-Rees Moran[24]; 24. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[11]
B Feature - 1. 42-Sye Lynch[4]; 2. 74-Xavier Doney[1]; 3. 66-Ryan Newton[5]; 4. 22M-Rees Moran[6]; 5. 9-Daison Pursley[3]; 6. 19H-Hank Davis[11]; 7. 51B-Joe B Miller[9]; 8. 12X-Landon Crawley[2]; 9. 91-Garrett Benson[7]; 10. B8-John Barnard[12]; 11. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[10]; 12. 2-Gage Montgomery[8]; 13. 14-Landon Muehlberger[19]; 14. 88C-Brogan Carder[15]; 15. 74N-Natalie Doney[14]; 16. 15-Jack Potter[18]; 17. 98P-Miles Paulus[17]; 18. 75-Tyler Blank[16]; 19. 21-Brian Brown[13]
dirt track racing advertisement
Qualifier 1 - 1. 1X-Scott Bogucki[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett[3]; 4. 40-Howard Moore[4]; 5. 9-Daison Pursley[6]; 6. 91-Garrett Benson[8]; 7. 17GP-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 8. 12X-Landon Crawley[5]; 9. 98P-Miles Paulus[9]
Qualifier 2 - 1. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 2. 13-Tanner Holmes[1]; 3. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[3]; 4. 57-Cam Sorrels[4]; 5. 42-Sye Lynch[5]; 6. 2-Gage Montgomery[6]; 7. 19H-Hank Davis[7]; 8. 74N-Natalie Doney[8]; 9. 15-Jack Potter[9]
Qualifier 3 - 1. 24D-Danny Sams III[1]; 2. 5-Kasey Jedrzejek[2]; 3. 9R-Chase Randall[3]; 4. 45X-Ashton Torgerson[4]; 5. 66-Ryan Newton[5]; 6. 51B-Joe B Miller[6]; 7. B8-John Barnard[8]; 8. 88C-Brogan Carder[7]; 9. 14-Landon Muehlberger[9]
Qualifier 4 - 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[1]; 2. 55-Brady Bacon[2]; 3. 31-Scotty Thiel[5]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 5. 22M-Rees Moran[6]; 6. 74-Xavier Doney[3]; 7. 21-Brian Brown[7]; 8. 75-Tyler Blank[8]
POWRi WAR Sprints
A Feature - 1. 91-Riley Kreisel[6]; 2. 44-Wesley Smith[7]; 3. 11W-Wyatt Burks[5]; 4. 11X-Tom Curran[14]; 5. 1Z-Justin Zimmerman[2]; 6. 33-Bryson Smith[11]; 7. 2-Luke Howard[22]; 8. 98P-Ryan Padgett[16]; 9. 6K-Jake Kouba[19]; 10. 27-Justin Johnson[23]; 11. 13-Chase Howard[21]; 12. 76-Edison Aldrich[18]; 13. 00-Nathan Schank[20]; 14. 73-Samuel Wagner[13]; 15. 99-Jarrett Weyant[24]; 16. 77-Jack Wagner[3]; 17. 1-Rylan Gray[1]; 18. 97-Cam Schafer[10]; 19. 24LCR-Brett Combs[25]; 20. 00W-Noah Whitehouse[15]; 21. 41-Ricky Lewis[9]; 22. 6-Mario Clouser[4]; 23. 79F-Cooper Sullivan[17]; 24. 11-James Lyerla[12]; 25. 34-RJ Miller[8]
LCQ 1 - 1. 41-Ricky Lewis[1]; 2. 33-Bryson Smith[3]; 3. 73-Samuel Wagner[4]; 4. 00W-Noah Whitehouse[10]; 5. 79F-Cooper Sullivan[6]; 6. 6K-Jake Kouba[5]; 7. 13-Chase Howard[2]; 8. 27-Justin Johnson[7]; 9. 24LCR-Brett Combs[9]; 10. (DNS) 33X-Justin Patocka; 11. (DNS) 6W-Isaac Chapple
LCQ 2 - 1. 97-Cam Schafer[1]; 2. 11-James Lyerla[4]; 3. 11X-Tom Curran[2]; 4. 98P-Ryan Padgett[7]; 5. 76-Edison Aldrich[3]; 6. 00-Nathan Schank[5]; 7. 2-Luke Howard[6]; 8. 99-Jarrett Weyant[8]; 9. (DNS) 52-Dean Bowers; 10. (DNS) 21K-Kobe Simpson; 11. (DNS) B52-Blake Bowers
USRA Nationals next: The Summit USRA Nationals is next at Lucas Oil Speedway, beginning with a Test and Tune on Sept. 29 for all participating classes. That's followed by four consecutive nights of racing, Sept. 30-Oct. 3.
For event information, including more info on tickets and camping for any event at Lucas Oil Speedway, contact Admissions Director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or by email at Nmcmillan@lucasoilspeedway.com.
CONTACT:
Casey Shuman
Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager
Office: (417) 282-5984
Email: CShuman@lucasoilspeedway.com
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Lucas Oil Speedway is located at Highways 83 and 54 in Wheatland, Missouri. A campground with shower and bathroom facilities is available. With its entrance located just outside the pit gate, this sprawling scenic camping facility will continue to enhance the racing experience.
For ticket and camping information and everything about the Show-Me 100 event, visit www.LucasOilSpeedway.com for all the information and detailed directions to the speedway or call the Track Hotline at (417) 282-5984.
In addition, fans can get social with Lucas Oil Speedway by following @LucasSpeedway on X, clicking "Like" at www.facebook.com/LucasOilSpeedway, on www.youtube.com/LucasOilSpeedway and on Lucas Oil Speedway's TikTok.
Complete Lucas Oil Speedway event information, archived race recaps, previews and driver features, along with ticket information and schedules can be found by visiting LucasOilSpeedway.com.
About Lucas Oil Speedway
Lucas Oil Speedway is considered by fans, drivers and industry insiders to be one of the top racing facilities in the nation. Located in Wheatland, Mo., approximately an hour from Springfield and just an hour and a half from the Kansas City metro area, the "Diamond of Dirt Tracks" lives up to its title.
Twenty-One VIP Luxury Suites, HD Jumbo-Tron Screen, Stadium Style Musco Sports Lighting, a Bose Sound System, Go-Kart Slick Track, The Diamond Bar, Track Treasures Gift Shop, the best track food in the country and paved pits are a few of the spectacular amenities setting the Diamond of Dirt apart. This year marks the 12th season for the Liquid Quarter Mile Drag Racing Lake, "Lake Lucas." New for 2017 was all-purpose built Off Road facility featuring a host of regional events.
Lucas Oil Speedway's dirt oval track plays host to some of the largest and most-popular events in the Midwest with national and regional touring series appearing frequently including: The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, United States Modified Touring Series and the High Limit Sprint Racing Series, POWRi Sprint Cars and POWRi WAR Sprints.
In addition to the special events, the Lucas Oil Speedway Weekly Racing Series features the Late Models, USRA Modifieds, USRA Stock Cars, USRA B-Mods and Super Stocks.
2026 Official Lucas Oil Speedway Marketing Partners
Bill Roberts Chevrolet
"The Official Truck" of Lucas Oil Speedway
Iconic Apparel
"The Official Merchandise Provider of Lucas Oil Speedway"
Lucas Oil Products
"The Official Oil" of Lucas Oil Speedway
Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr. Pepper
"The Official Soft Drink" of Lucas Oil Speedway
Rugged Radios
"The Official 2-Way Communications Provider" of Lucas Oil Speedway
Summit Racing Equipment
"The Official Sponsor" of Lucas Oil Speedway
Sunoco Race Fuels
"The Official Fuel" of Lucas Oil Speedway
2026 Lucas Oil Speedway Supporters Include:
Ace Doran Hauling & Rigging, Alliance Sport Marketing, Arctic Food Equipment, Berry Tractor and Equipment Co., Big Adventure RV, Bill Roberts Chevrolet, Bolivar Auto Sales & Detailing, Bolivar Farmers Exchange-MFA, Boubin Tire/American Racer, Bridal Cave, Candlelight Creations-Dick's Wild Root Horseradish, Casey's, Citizens Memorial Healthcare, City Magnet, Clear Creek Golf Cars, Clearlight Inn, Eagle Machine, Eibach Springs, Encounter Ministry Inc., Fast Shafts, FSE Fire Systems, Fast Shafts by Axle Exchange, Foley Equipment-Cat Rental Store, Golden Valley Memorial Healthcare, Heart of America Beverate, Henry's Towing Service, Heritage Tractor, Hermitage Lumber, HICKAMO Country Store, Hobbytime Motorsports, Iconic Apparel, In the Garden of Eden, Kluhsman Racing Components, Lucas Cattle Company, MD3, Midwest Sheet Metal, Miller Welding, Missouri Eagle, MyRacePass, OakStar Bank, O'Bannon Bank, O'Reilly Auto Parts, Outerwears Performance Products, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr. Pepper, Ozarks Community Health Center, PEM, Pitts Homes, Pitts Realty, Pitts Cattle, RACEceiver, RacinDirt.com, RCR Designs, Real Racing Wheels, Rod End Supply, Rugged Radios, Ryan E. Murphy Law Firm LLC, SBU Athletics, Safety Kleen, Scott Furniture, Sidetrack RV Park, SMSI, Southwest Electric Cooperative, Southwest Septic, Summit Racing Equipment, Sunoco Race Fuels, Super 8 Bolivar Mo., Super Splash, USA Bassin, US Army Corps of Engineers-Pomme de Terre, VAG - Veterans Golfers Assoc., Vietti Marketing Group, WacoBill.com, Wheatland Motel, White's Marine Center, Wieland, Woods Supermarkets.
