Brandon Carr won Saturday afternoon’s $18,000-to-win IHRA 225 at Pulaski County Motorsports Park in the inaugural race for the IHRA Stock Car Series Pro Late Model division.
New series owner Darryl Cuttell, who purchased IHRA in December 2024, announced in November that the sanctioning body would expand into oval racing with the launch of the IHRA Stock Car Series, featuring Pro Late Model and Late Model Sportsman divisions beginning in 2026 and a season purse of $2,000,000.
The Sheffield, England driver led the majority of the 100-lap feature en route to the victory at the 0.4-mile Virginia track.
“It’s just a relief,” Carr said to Speed Sport 1. “I made a few mistakes on the restarts, so that’s why I need to work on. The car was amazing. It was just cruising, and I knew if I don’t make any mistakes on the restart, I would bring it home.”
The win came in just Carr’s second career asphalt start and his first in the discipline in two years.
“It feels great,” Carr said. “Just to be able to get back in the Late Model, the last time I ran in one was two years ago. So to jump between dirt and asphalt, I’d say it’s good.”
Nick Loden won the pole and led the field of 16 drivers to green. Carr immediately charged to the lead off Turn 4 on the opening lap, dropping Loden to second.
The first caution of the afternoon flew on Lap 14 after Tristian Barnes lost an engine in Turn 3. Johnathon Hornimon spun in the oil and crashed into the outside wall, ending both drivers’ days early and bringing out the event’s first red flag for cleanup.
On the restart, JP Crabtree started on the outside of the front row and took the lead from Carr. By Lap 23, Carr reclaimed the top spot.
The second caution came out on Lap 47 after Rod Butcher spun in Turn 4.
On the ensuing restart, a stack-up on the bottom line saw Butcher drive into the back of Ryan Herbert, lifting the rear of Herbert’s car onto Butcher’s hood, sending Herbert into the inside wall near the start-finish line, bringing out the second red flag for cleanup, ending their days prematurely.
Herbert walked over to Butcher’s car and was none too pleased with Butcher afterward.
“We were going back green and all of a sudden my rear end is like six feet higher,” Herbert said. “He said he was dragging the brake while he was on the gas. Of course, he is apologetic, but we still had so many laps of the race left to run. That was a brand new race car, we thrashed all week to get it ready. I think it’s just unacceptable.”
When the race resumed, Carr and Crabtree once again battled for the lead. The two raced side by side for several laps and leaned on each other as Crabtree briefly took the lead away.
Carr reclaimed the lead by Lap 57 and never surrendered it.
The final caution of the race came on Lap 71 when Billy Hayes spun off Turn 4 and backed into the inside wall.
On the final restart, Carr pulled away from the field, while Crabtree had to fend off Loden for the second. On Lap 88, Loden passed Crabtree for the runner-up position where he ultimately finished.
For Loden, the second-place run was a strong rebound after mechanical issues hampered his team in Friday’s practice.
“It was a fun race, we didn’t tear anything up,” Loden said. “I had fun, the car was really good. We had some mechanical issues yesterday and we got about 30 laps of practice total in that car. We just needed a little bit more.”
Crabtree settled for third place after working on the car all weekend to put together a podium result.
“Yeah, it was fun,” Crabtree said. “It was a pretty clean race with a little bit of rubbing there, with the kind of money that’s on the line here, why not rub a little bit? My hats off to all my guys, we worked on a car all weekend long, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Jeremy Williams and Martin Nesbitt rounded out the rest of the top five.
IHRA Pro Late Models- IHRA 225
Pulaski County Motorsports Park
March 21, 2026
- Brandon Carr
- Nick Loden
- JP Crabtree
- Jeremy Williams
- Martin Nesbitt
- Taylor Hull
- Toni Breidinger
- Bobby Resuse
- Toro Rodriguez
- Mark Day
- Billy Hayes
- Ryan Herbert
- Rod Butcher
- Joshua Hornimon
- Avery Demland
- Jessica Cann
