Top Storylines Heading into IRP
Top Storylines Heading into IRP
The yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour comes to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park for the Halloween Fest and the season finale of 2026.
Generational Talent, Third 500 Sprint Car Tour Championship
As the yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour heads to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park to wrap up the 2026 season, Kody Swanson will also be looking to wrap up his third Tour Championship. Generational talent is not a term used lightly, especially in the racing community. However, when it comes to Swanson, generational is the only way to explain him. Swanson is an eight time USAC Silver Crown Champion, which is the most in series history. He also leads the historic series with 49 career wins. The next closest competitors in both categories is Bud Kaeding with three championships and Jack Hewitt with 23 wins.
The level of success that Swanson has seen in the Silver Crown Series has translated to his non wing pavement sprint car career as well. Swanson recently won his fourth Little 500 championship in 2026 and is prepared to win his third 500 Sprint Car Tour Championship this Saturday, should everything go his way. Swanson has been the model of consistency since he began competing with the yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour in 2022. That consistency has made him a perennial championship contender and the driver to beat week in and week out.
Age is just a number for 2026 Rookie of the Year Tony McVey
The championship isn’t the only season-long battle set to reach its conclusion at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, as the Brad Hayes Racing Performance Rookie of the Year award will also be decided. Tony McVey enters the season finale leading Olivia Shelbo by 135 points in the standings, with both drivers looking to close out their rookie campaigns on a high note. For McVey, winning the Rookie of the Year award is more than just an acknowledgement of his consistency during the 2026 season, but it also is a testament to how age truly is just a number. The 53 year old native of Waldron, Indiana stood apart from his fellow rookies in terms of his experience coming into the season and a solid 2026 campaign further set him apart as he enters the weekend with a solid lead in the Rookie Standings.
Can Roahrig end 2026 on a positive note after frustrating season
One driver that may be more excited to go to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park this Saturday than anyone else will be Tyler Roahrig. 2026 has been a frustrating year for the 2023 series champion as two incidents at Anderson Speedway derailed his hopes of winning a second championship. After a promising start to the season and a dominating 400 lap performance in the Little 500, an accident on lap 405 removed him from contention and led to a total rebuild of his 2026 car. Roahrig missed the next two races, but came back strong with a win at Berlin Raceway. A loss of power steering in his next start at Anderson Speedway set him back once again.
Roahrig has won five of the six races the 500 Sprint Car Tour has run at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. He is the series all time wins leader and will be looking to close out a frustrating 2026 with another win at IRP. Building momentum for 2027 will be key for Roahrig as well as he will look to put his name firmly back into title conversations next season. A win this weekend will help ease the frustrations from 2026 while also providing a solid building block to work from going into the offseason.
A couple of Sprint Car veterans make first Sprint Car Tour Start of 2026
Two familiar faces will be making their 2026 debuts with the yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour as Kyle Hamilton and Anthony Nocella have joined the grid for the Halloween Fest Season Finale. Hamilton, the 2017 Little 500 Champion, will be driving the #96 Unified Group Services car owned by Ted Slinkard and crew chiefed by Scott Hampton. The same #96 car brought home a 5th place finish in this year’s Little 500 with Mario Clouser behind the wheel, who also brought home the Rookie of the race. The car has long run speed, as proven in the 500, and Hamilton has proven that he can put any car at the front of the pack. The pairing will be one to watch as both groups look to build momentum for 2027.
Nocella last competed in a points earning race with the 500 Sprint Car Tour when the series last visited IRP in October of 2025. In three career starts with the yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint car Tour, Nocella has an average finish of 11th and a best career finish of 6th. The Woburn, Massachusetts native also has three Little 500 starts with a best finish of 19th in 2026. Nocella will make the trip from the east coast to make his first Sprint Car Tour start of the season, and he will attempt to play spoiler and steal a victory in the final event of the year.
Three races in four weeks
For the first time in Tour history, the series will compete three times, at three different facilities, in a months span. The home stretch for the yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour began on September 26th when the series competed at Anderson Speedway. Just a week later, the Tour went North to Toledo Speedway in Toledo, Ohio for an event that was rescheduled from June. Now, after only a week off to recover and rebuild, the series heads to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway park for the season finale.
During this short stretch, drivers have seen two different styles of race tracks and fans have seen two different winners. Although more similar to Toledo Speedway than Anderson Speedway, IRP stands alone with its own uniqueness as the biggest and widest facility the tour has visited this year. With Tyler Roahrig being the most dominant driver at IRP throughout the Tour’s history of competing there, will we see a third different winner in as many races, or can Kody Swanson or Bobby Santos III continue their current hot streaks and finish the year with another win?
Santos rising tide of momentum to finish out 2026
Speaking of Bobby Santos III and the current streak he is on, he might possibly be the one driver with the most momentum on their side right now. In the last two races, Santos has firmly reinserted himself into the championship picture. A battle of attrition at Anderson Speedway saw Santos go to victory lane in a Sprint Car Tour race for the first time since July of 2025. He then followed that victory with a second place finish at Toledo Speedway, missing a second straight victory by .853 seconds. The back to back top three finishes marks the first time Santos has accomplished this feat since the 2023 season.
Santos has never had three consecutive top three finishes and will be looking to secure that career first at IRP this weekend, a track he has had much success at. Coming into this weekend, Santos has four career sprint car victories at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, and also has six career USAC Silver Crown victories at the famed oval. Another win would see him accomplish his best three race run of his career, and see a major point shift at the top of the leaderboard on the final race of 2026.
The 2026 yourBIGplans.com 500 Sprint Car Tour season finale takes place Saturday, October 17, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Indianapolis, Indiana, as part of Halloween Fest, featuring the 500 Sprint Car Tour and All-Star National Pavement Midgets. Pit gates open at 9 a.m., with spectator gates opening at 11:30 a.m. On-track activities include practice and qualifying for both divisions, followed by All-Star Pavement Midget heat races. Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 3 p.m., with the 40-lap 500 Sprint Car Tour feature and 30-lap All-Star Midget feature to follow. General admission tickets are $25 for adults, with children 12 and under admitted free. Pit passes are available for an additional $10 with general admission or for $35 when purchased as a combined pit pass and admission ticket. For tickets and additional event information, visit raceirp.com/thursdaynightthunder.
