The Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track concluded their 2025 racing season on Saturday night, November 8th with night number two of the Deuces Wild weekend which featured the POWRi 410 Sprints, the Revival Series for Late Models and the USRA ARMS Series for Modifieds.
It was another gorgeous night in November for dirt track racing in the Lone Star state with temperatures in the eighties during the day before a strong cold front plowed through the area, bringing lots of wind and falling temperatures. Nevertheless, a good sized crowd was on hand in the cavernous grandstand to watch the racing program while the pit area was again bursting with race cars as strong fields were on hand in all three classes.
Eight new Modifieds and a pair of Sprint Cars were added to the entry list on Saturday, producing an impressive field of seventy three of the Modifieds and a total of one hundred and sixty two cars this weekend.
The Saturday night program would be an exact duplicate of the Friday night show with the exception that the Sprints were split into a pair of B Features instead of the one Jeff Broeg sized one that was run on Friday night.
The very late concluding program on Friday was a considerable source of discussion on Saturday with, I'm told, several meeting held over the topic. Unfortunately, in my personal opinion, the results were not what I would have hoped for in change. Yes, the show was moved up about an hour and the running order was changed so that Sprint feature was completed before the Modified and Late Model B Features were held as obviously management felt the Sprints to be the biggest part of the program.
Still there were many folks that never saw the last part of the show and while some many have made the choice to leave after the Sprints were done, lots of folks left because it simply got too late. Despite lobbying efforts to the contrary, hot laps were again held for all three classes and that took a full hour to complete with all the cars on hand plus the Sprints all having to be push started. Time trials were again held for all three classes and that is also a time consuming process, no matter how well organized the event might be on this fairly large track.
This event reminds me of a mini Charlotte with the variety of classes racing and we know that Charlotte went to a separate night for qualifying only so that the other race nights didn't last so long. I'm not saying that this is needed here but something must be done to shorten up the total length of the show.
The track was considerably drier than it had been on Friday night and it did race wider in the corners but that also created an issue with the surface rubbering up. While there was never a need for track maintenance on Friday, the track was ripped and watered three times on Saturday night and still the last two feature races were run off with a considerable rubbered up surface that affected the racing.
Drivers that ran strong on Friday night started out that same way on Saturday with Aaron Reutzel turning quick time in the Sprint Cars while Cade Dillard doubled up again, being quickest in both the Modifieds and the Late Models. The format was the same as on Friday with the Sprints running passing points after inverting four in each heat while the Mods and Late Models ran everything straight up from qualifying. After the conclusion of the qualifying races, the scenario for repeats was strong and for the most part that is how it played out.
Reutzel started on the pole for the Sprint feature and he would eventually lead all twenty five laps to take the win for the second straight night. He did not dominate quite as strongly as he had on Friday but his lead was still considerable at the finish.
Saturday night's race did have a couple minor yellows which allowed the field to stay closer to Reutzel but also eliminated much of the worry with lapped traffic that he had to deal with on Friday night. Austin McCarl made a nice show as he came from the third row and after the best battle of the race when he fought with Ian Madsen for second, secured that spot to the end.
He was mad afterward, blaming the slower cars for getting in his way and preventing an attack on Reutzel but is seemed doubtful that he had anything for Reutzel. Brenham Crouch, Madsen and Joe B. Miller completed the top five.
The lone upset of the weekend was in the Modifieds and that prevented Dillard from pulling off two complete sweeps of the weekend. By Modified feature time the track was in full rubbered up fashion and passing was going to be tough with everyone pretty much hugging the low groove. Reese Solander got the jump on Sean Gaddis to take the early lead with Dillard, who had redrew the second row, quickly taking over second.
The race was then on, with just one late race yellow after that to slow the action. Solander was fast no doubt and while Dillard tried every thing he could, he simply wasn't able to execute a pass on the quick running Solander. Dillard tried moving up the track and running the top side along with different routes, but the inside was just that much faster and getting out of the rubber produced no more speed.
And Solander drove a smart race as he was both fast and never slipped out of that rubber lane. Lapped traffic was minimal but difficult and the move of the race was when Solander got past Wyatt Gaggero at the back of the pack which gave him a comfort level over Dillard. Chris Hennigan started and finished third with Tyler Wolff and Gaddis next in line.
With the hour late, there would be no more track prep and the Late Models also had to navigate a rubbered up racing surface. This wasn't a problem though for Dillard, who started on the pole and led from start to finish.
Bad luck struck early as Shane Hebert, scheduled to start on the outside pole, scratched from the event and this moved Morgan Bagley up beside Dillard. Dillard was not as strong as on Friday night and Bagley actually raced him side by side on the opening lap before the rubber gave Dillard an inside boost into the lead.
After that, Dillard led the rest of the way although Bagley did stay fairly close. In fact, on the last corner Bagley went for broke, driving it deep into the fourth corner. However, his Don Garlits like burn out as he slipped out of the rubber really slowed him down and Terry Phillips slipped past him on the inside to steal the second spot. Phillips, driving the Mann Motorsports car out of Arkansas, has promised that he will be doing more Late Model racing in 2026. Tyler Wolff got his second straight fourth place finish with Tyler Kuykendahl next in line. Only four drivers failed to finish this race and all were on the lead lap.
One notable statistic from the weekend showed that there was not a single pass for the lead on either night, meaning all six feature races were led from start to finish by a driver. I'm not so sure that is an indictment of the track as much as it is of the format used. And once again, it was a late night with the final checkered waving just before 1 am.
Overall though, it was an enjoyable weekend of racing. The weather was great, the facility excellent and the car counts were spectacular, giving me the opportunity to see drivers compete that I would never otherwise get the chance to. With this racing seemingly successful, I'm thinking that POWRi and ARMS will consider this a great way to wind up their seasons in future years with the time element thing the one "elephant in the room" to be addressed.
Thanks goes out to Talin Turner and the entire POWRi staff along with Trenton Berry and his group from the ARMS series for their help and for presenting this spectacular show.
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