Aaron Reutzel claimed the opening night with High Limit at Lakeside (Chad Warner Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
Reutzel & Scelzi Both Cut Abreu's Championship Lead with Three Races Left
KANSAS CITY, KANS. (October 9, 2026) - After a longer than usual 12-race drought, Aaron Reutzel finally returned to Whiskey Myers Victory Lane at Lakeside Speedway on Friday night - scoring his 11th Interstate Batteries High limit Racing win of the year in his Ridge & Sons Racing #87.
Earning the pole position with his 15th FK Rod Ends Dash win, Reutzel actually lost the lead off the start as outside pole sitter Daison Pursley led the opening circuit. A Lap 1 caution created a restart, however, and the Texan ripped right back the Oklahoman to start Red River Rivalry weekend on top for the Longhorns.
From there, Reutzel led the remaining 24 laps and dominated for his 18th career win with the series - second-most in series history behind Abreu's 33 victories. It was his first score since August 31 when he topped a Roto-Rooter Midweek Series race at Oregon's Douglas County Dirtrack.
With their win, the Ridge & Sons Racing #87 team moved back into the season-long runner-up spot and sits 89pts behind Rico Abreu and Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing with three races left in the championship chase.
Finishing second behind Reutzel was Daison Pursley aboard the NAPA Racing #9 for his second-straight High Limit podium. His runner-up drive marked a season-best effort in his inaugural campaign with Kasey Kahne Racing.
Rounding out the podium was Giovanni Scelzi aboard the Spire Motorsports, Chili's Grill & Bar #77 for his sixth top-three finish in the last nine races. With that, he joins Reutzel in cutting down the High Limit championship deficit to under 100pts to Rico Abreu and TSR.
Closing out the top-five at Lakeside Speedway was Tanner Holmes in fourth aboard the Buch Motorsports, Jugo Superfoods #13 and Tyler Courtney in fifth with his Clauson-Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #7BC.
Rounding out the top-10 in Friday's Heartland of America Showdown opener was Chase Randall's #9R in sixth, Kasey Kahne's #4 in seventh, Ryan Timms' #10 in eighth, Justin Peck's #26 in ninth, and Brenham Crouch's #5 in tenth.
THE ALL-IN NOTEBOOK (Friday, October 9, 2026)
Lakeside Speedway (Kansas City, Kansas)
Heartland of America Showdown presented by Hasty Bake Charcoal Grills
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps - Aaron Reutzel (14.270)
Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime (Flight A) - Giovanni Scelzi (14.085)
Capitol Custom Trailers QuickTime (Flight B) - Tyler Courtney (14.156)
TJ Forged Heat One Winner - Chase Randall
DMI Heat Two Winner - Aaron Reutzel
BR Motorsports Heat Three Winner - Tanner Holmes
Rod End Supply Heat Four Winner - Rico Abreu
FK Rod Ends Dash Winner - Aaron Reutzel
Winters Performance B-Main Winner - Sye Lynch
DURST Dice Roll Driver - Tyler Courtney (7th-to-5th)
Jake’s Golf Carts Fastest Lap - Aaron Reutzel (14.445 on Lap 5)
Rod End Supply Hard Charger - Brady Bacon +7 (18th-to-11th)
Whiskey Meyers Victory Lane Visitor - Aaron Reutzel (18th of career)
CASM Win Sticker - Ridge & Sons Racing (11th of year)
Lap Leader(s) - Daison Pursley 1; Aaron Reutzel 2-24
Interstate Batteries A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 9-Daison Pursley[2]; 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 4. 13-Tanner Holmes[3]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 6. 9R-Chase Randall[5]; 7. 4-Kasey Kahne[6]; 8. 10-Ryan Timms[10]; 9. 26-Justin Peck[14]; 10. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]; 11. 55-Brady Bacon[18]; 12. 24-Rico Abreu[8]; 13. 45X-Ashton Torgerson[11]; 14. 24D-Danny Sams III[26]; 15. 17GP-Kerry Madsen[19]; 16. 42-Sye Lynch[21]; 17. 27-Carson McCarl[16]; 18. 7SL-Justin Henderson[20]; 19. 88W-Austin McCarl[17]; 20. 5P-Joel Myers Jr[24]; 21. 19-Brent Marks[9]; 22. 28-Jace Park[22]; 23. 88-Tanner Thorson[25]; 24. 44-Chris Martin[23]; 25. 21-Brian Brown[15]; 26. 80P-Jacob Peterson[13]
Winters Performance B Feature (12 Laps): 1. 42-Sye Lynch[2]; 2. 28-Jace Park[4]; 3. 44-Chris Martin[1]; 4. 5P-Joel Myers Jr[6]; 5. 12X-Landon Crawley[10]; 6. 74-Xavier Doney[8]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[7]; 8. 88-Tanner Thorson[9]; 9. 74N-Natalie Doney[3]; 10. 17A-Jack Anderson[5]; 11. 19H-Kaleb Johnson[11]; 12. F1-JJ Hickle[12]; 13. 24D-Danny Sams III[19]; 14. 22M-Rees Moran[13]; 15. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[14]; 16. 14-Landon Muehlberger[17]; 17. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[15]; 18. 15-Kade Higday[16]; 19. 2J-Zach Blurton[18]
FK Rod Ends Dash (7 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 2. 9-Daison Pursley[2]; 3. 13-Tanner Holmes[4]; 4. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 5. 9R-Chase Randall[5]; 6. 4-Kasey Kahne[6]; 7. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[8]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu[7]
TJ Forged Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 9R-Chase Randall[1]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[2]; 3. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 4. 80P-Jacob Peterson[3]; 5. 88W-Austin McCarl[6]; 6. 74N-Natalie Doney[8]; 7. 17A-Jack Anderson[5]; 8. 88-Tanner Thorson[9]; 9. 22M-Rees Moran[7]; 10. 14-Landon Muehlberger[10]
DMI Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel[4]; 2. 9-Daison Pursley[1]; 3. 45X-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 5. 17GP-Kerry Madsen[8]; 6. 44-Chris Martin[3]; 7. 22-Riley Goodno[9]; 8. 19H-Kaleb Johnson[10]; 9. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[7]; 10. 24D-Danny Sams III[6]
BR Motorsports Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 13-Tanner Holmes[1]; 2. 10-Ryan Timms[2]; 3. 26-Justin Peck[3]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 5. 55-Brady Bacon[5]; 6. 42-Sye Lynch[6]; 7. 5P-Joel Myers Jr[8]; 8. 12X-Landon Crawley[7]; 9. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[9]; 10. 2J-Zach Blurton[10]
Rod End Supply Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 2. 5-Brenham Crouch[1]; 3. 4-Kasey Kahne[4]; 4. 27-Carson McCarl[2]; 5. 7SL-Justin Henderson[5]; 6. 28-Jace Park[6]; 7. 74-Xavier Doney[8]; 8. F1-JJ Hickle[9]; 9. 15-Kade Higday[7]
Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 77-Giovanni Scelzi, 14.085[14]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 14.127[6]; 3. 9R-Chase Randall, 14.215[1]; 4. 9-Daison Pursley, 14.225[11]; 5. 19-Brent Marks, 14.267[10]; 6. 21-Brian Brown, 14.352[4]; 7. 80P-Jacob Peterson, 14.400[3]; 8. 44-Chris Martin, 14.420[5]; 9. 17A-Jack Anderson, 14.453[16]; 10. 45X-Ashton Torgerson, 14.490[19]; 11. 88W-Austin McCarl, 14.519[8]; 12. 24D-Danny Sams III, 14.624[20]; 13. 22M-Rees Moran, 14.628[18]; 14. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 14.671[2]; 15. 74N-Natalie Doney, 14.713[7]; 16. 17GP-Kerry Madsen, 14.728[9]; 17. 88-Tanner Thorson, 14.729[17]; 18. 22-Riley Goodno, 14.764[13]; 19. 14-Landon Muehlberger, 14.771[12]; 20. 19H-Kaleb Johnson, 15.049[15]
Capital Custom Trailers Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney, 14.156[8]; 2. 4-Kasey Kahne, 14.269[14]; 3. 13-Tanner Holmes, 14.329[19]; 4. 5-Brenham Crouch, 14.353[4]; 5. 10-Ryan Timms, 14.400[10]; 6. 27-Carson McCarl, 14.405[12]; 7. 26-Justin Peck, 14.424[16]; 8. 24-Rico Abreu, 14.493[17]; 9. 55-Brady Bacon, 14.515[5]; 10. 7SL-Justin Henderson, 14.520[9]; 11. 42-Sye Lynch, 14.583[15]; 12. 28-Jace Park, 14.585[11]; 13. 12X-Landon Crawley, 14.714[6]; 14. 15-Kade Higday, 14.758[2]; 15. 5P-Joel Myers Jr, 14.768[3]; 16. 74-Xavier Doney, 14.836[18]; 17. G5-Gage Pulkrabek, 14.905[1]; 18. F1-JJ Hickle, 14.945[13]; 19. 2J-Zach Blurton, 55:55.555[7]
NEW Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing Championship Standings (After 51/54 Races):
3,032 pts – Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #24 (Rico Abreu)
-89 pts - Ridge & Sons Racing #87 (Aaron Reutzel)
-97 pts – Spire Motorsports #77 (Giovanni Scelzi)
-254 pts – Clauson-Marshall Racing #7BC (Tyler Courtney)
-275 pts – Rudeen Racing #26 (Justin Peck)
-375 pts – Chase Briscoe Racing #19 (Brent Marks)
-413 pts – JST Motorsports #88 (Tanner Thorson)
-459 pts – Buch Motorsports #13 (Tanner Holmes)
-558 pts – Vermeer Motorsports #55 (Brady Bacon)
-632 pts – Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9 (Daison Pursley)
-948 pts – Chase Randall Racing #9R (Chase Randall)
-953 pts – CJB Motorsports #5 (Brenham Crouch))
-1,038 pts – Mosites Lynch Racing #42 (Sye Lynch)
-1,143 pts – Randerson Racing #24D (Danny Sams III)
-1,208 pts – Michael Dutcher Motorsports #17GP (Kerry Madsen)
WHAT’S NEXT: A strong 39-car field will return to Kansas City's Lakeside Speedway on Saturday, October 10 for the finale of the Heartland of America Showdown presented by Hasty Bake Charcoal Grills. After that, Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing heads for Fort Worth's Texas Motor Speedway on Friday and Saturday, October 16-17 for the All-In Championship Weekend. Tickets are available for purchase at HighLimitRacing.com, or you can watch every event live on FloRacing.
Article Credit: Brian Walker