Roahrig Ends Season On High Note, Swanson Clinches Third Title
Roahrig Ends Season On High Note, Swanson Clinches Third Title
Tyler Roahrig found himself back in Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park victory lane for the sixth time in seven races at the facility Saturday afternoon to conclude the 2026 yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour season, but this one may have been the toughest one since the first one in August 2022.
The 2023 series champion started on the front row after setting fast time in qualifying, but fell into second at the start after Kody Swanson was able to get the jump on him. Following a restart halfway through the 40 lap event, he lost the lead to Swanson once again. Both times, Roahrig was able to work his way past the now three-time champion over several laps and went on to win his second race of the season.
His first win at IRP came in the series’ second visit to the .686-mile track in August 2022 when he passed Billy Wease in the final corner to steal the win. He hasn’t lost a 500 Tour race there since.
“Kody made me look pretty bad on the initial start and the restart there.” Roahrig said on the RacingAmerica.TV broadcast. “It was good, clean, hard racing with him. It was a good race for us.”
Kody Swanson and team after winning his Third 500 Sprint Car Tour Championship - Koty Geyer Photo
It’s been a trying year for Roahrig and team on the Sprint Car side. An accident at the Little 500 put him out of 500 Tour competition for three months as repairs were made to the car. He won at Berlin in his return in late August and added a top-five at Toledo two weeks ago.
After all that, the winningest driver in series history ends the season on a high note.
“We’ve had steering issues ever since we tangled with a car four laps down at the Little 500. It’s been kind of a grueling year for us. Even today, we battled a few things and I made one change before the race and it really came to life.”
All Kody Swanson needed to do was take the green flag to clinch the 2026 yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour championship, his third in the five year history of the series. He did so and ended the season with a second-place effort after leading laps throughout the race.
He won three races during the year, coming at the Glen Niebel Classic at Anderson, Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial at Salem, and two weeks ago at Toledo. He also won the Little 500 back in May, becoming the first driver to win the Little 500 and 500 Sprint Car Tour championship in the same season.
Swanson ran the opener and the Little 500 for Doran Racing before jumping in the Nick Bohanon No.33 for the rest of the season. He never finished off the podium in any of the seven races.
“It sure feels great to put a full year together like that but it doesn’t happen if you don’t have a great group of people behind you. It really started out with another partnership with Doran Racing running the Glen Niebel Classic and getting ready for the Little 500,” Swanson said. “We picked it up with these guys (Bohanon) from June on. We never finished worse than third and we got a few wins there in the middle. I sure appreciate the effort they put in all year long to give us a chance to come out and try to compete.”
“It’s a little bittersweet today. Tyler and his team do a great job, they put it on us again and what a great racer that can race me that clean even after the double file restart where I was able to get the lead back.”
Jackson Macenko ended a runner-up season in the points standings with a third-place finish. 2025 series champion Dakoda Armstrong finished fourth, while Northeast invader Anthony Nocella scored his first-career top-five finish.
Lucas Oil IRP Results
1. Tyler Roahrig
2. Kody Swanson
3. Jackson Macenko
4. Dakoda Armstrong
5. Anthony Nocella
6. Tim Creech
7. Brian Vaughn
8. Derek Bischak
9. Rob Keesling
10. Olivia Shelbo
11. Kyle O’Gara
12. Donnie Adams Jr
13. Bobby Santos III
14. Nathan Byrd
15. Billy Wease
16. Brady Allum
17. Justin Harper
18. Tony McVey
19. Kyle Hamilton
