By Greg Soukup
EAGLE, Neb. (Sept. 3, 2026) — Last year’s RaceSaver Nationals was plagued by threats of poor weather. With the forecast worsening as the weekend drew closer, officials decided to run both the Friday and Saturday programs on Friday, leaving the finale for Saturday.
Sadly, as the 27 Sprint Cars were on the track Saturday, a light drizzle began to fall. As the liquid sunshine became actual rain, the cars were pushed off in an attempt to save the racing surface. Mother Nature’s wrath eventually won out, and the call was made to postpone the 2025 finale until the Thursday festivities of the 2026 RaceSaver Nationals.
Well, just 369 days later, the race finally took place Thursday at Eagle Raceway.
Carson Bolden took advantage of his pole starting position to lead lap one, with Joey Danley second, Kevin Ramey third, and 2026 Eagle Raceway track champion Adam Gullion fourth. Ramey got past Danley on lap two to take second, while Gullion moved into third on lap six.
Ethan Barrow slowed on lap 11, bringing out the yellow flag and the Eastep Wheels Choose Cone for a Delaware restart. Bolden continued to lead Gullion, Ramey, and Danley before Stu Snyder used a good restart to jump into third. Johnny Boos stopped coming out of turn four for another caution, and Gullion took his best shot at Bolden on the restart, pulling alongside in turns three and four but unable to make the pass.
Bill Johnson and Trevor Serbus came to a stop in the infield in turn two on lap 21, setting up a single-file restart. Ramey regained fourth before losing the position to former RaceSaver Nationals champion Tyler Drueke on lap 23. Another caution came when Owen Carlson slowed and eventually stopped on the frontstretch with nine laps remaining.
The battle behind Bolden intensified with eight laps to go as Snyder got underneath Gullion for second, only for Gullion to reclaim the spot one circuit later. Snyder and Drueke both passed Gullion with six laps remaining to move into second and third.
Drueke wasn’t finished. He passed Snyder the next lap to grab second and set his sights on Bolden. Gullion worked his way back to third with four circuits remaining, while Bolden now had a former RaceSaver Nationals champion closing in behind him.
But the 16-year-old from Quinlan, Texas, was not to be denied. Bolden held off Drueke over the closing circuits and finally put an end to the 369-day wait, winning the 2025 IMCA Sprint Car RaceSaver Nationals by two-thirds of a second and collecting the $13,000 top prize.
Drueke finished second, Gullion third, and Jake Bubak made a last-lap pass of Snyder to take fourth. Snyder completed the top five.
