Dylan Zampa Dominates Season Finale; Robby Sawyer Claims CARS Southwest Pro Late Model Championship at Kern

Dylan Zampa led flag-to-flag Saturday night in the Harvey L. Hall 125 at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway, earning his first SPEARS CARS Tour Southwest Pro Late Model victory of 2026 in the season finale.

“They built me a rocket ship,” Zampa said. “After Colorado, I knew we just needed to fine-tune the car, so we took it back to Preston Peltier’s shop and he looked over the whole thing and got it fixed up for us. I’m just super pumped. It took some time, but the team just kept digging. My dad and I were in the shop working hard on it, making sure it was ready to go. I’m pumped and that’s honestly the only words I have. I’m just super pumped with the way that race went.”

Zampa won the pole earlier in the afternoon and led the field of 14 Pro Late Models to the green flag for the final 125 laps of the SPEARS CARS Tour Southwest Pro Late Model season.

Entering the evening, Robby Sawyer held an 11-point lead over Kyle Keller in the championship standings, with Jaron Giannini also in contention as both Las Vegas natives looked to chase down Sawyer for the title.

Zampa jumped out to the early lead over Giannini, while Keller began losing positions in the opening laps. After starting sixth, Keller fell as far back as ninth while battling Jaiden Reyna and Bobby Hodges.

The Charlie Wilson Motorsports driver briefly found himself in the middle of a three-wide battle before beginning to regain the positions he had lost. On Lap 8, Keller moved past Reyna for seventh.

Meanwhile, Sawyer worked his way into the top five before passing Donald Witkowski for fourth on Lap 16.

Kyle Busch Classic winner Jeremy Doss returned to the seat of the Scott Sanchez-owned No. 24D and began working his way forward. By Lap 20, Doss had moved into the top five after passing Witkowski.

Keller reached Witkowski’s rear bumper in the battle for sixth by Lap 25, but the teenager from Long Beach fought off the challenge while running the outside lane.

The pair continued racing side-by-side for several laps, with Keller working the bottom groove and Witkowski maintaining his momentum up top. On Lap 36, Keller finally got the run he needed off Turn 4 to complete the pass for sixth.

Further up the field, Doss closed in on Sawyer for fourth and completed the pass using the outside lane, dropping the championship leader back to fifth. Keller remained sixth, while Giannini continued running second behind Zampa.

The first caution of the race came on Lap 45 for the scheduled competition break, ending a stretch of 45 consecutive green-flag laps.

Several drivers made their way to the work area for adjustments, including Sawyer, who surrendered fifth position.

When racing resumed, Zampa once again led the field to the green flag, but Giannini challenged on the bottom entering Turn 1. Zampa maintained his momentum on the outside and cleared the GMS Racing driver before the pair reached Turn 3.

Behind the leaders, Sawyer began working his way forward again, passing Witkowski for sixth before drawing alongside Keller in the battle for fifth.

The two drivers, who had spent much of the summer locked in a tight championship battle, raced door-to-door until Sawyer cleared Keller on Lap 50 to return to the top five.

Further up front, Buddy Shepherd began closing the gap to Giannini for second.

Shepherd entered the finale with an opportunity to claim the inaugural Hoosier Tire West Triple Crown Challenge, a three-race championship for car owners contested at Evergreen Speedway, Colorado National Speedway and Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway.

The challenge featured an overall purse of $20,000, with $7,500 going to the championship-winning owner. Entries were required to compete in all three events to remain eligible.

With the Rackley WAR entries of the No. 62 and No. 29 absent from Saturday’s finale, Dick Shepherd, owner of Buddy Shepherd’s No. 22, entered the night holding a four-point advantage over Charlie Wilson, owner of Keller’s No. 12. Steve McGowen, owner of Sawyer’s No. 7, was six points behind, while Spencer Gallagher, owner of Giannini’s No. 23, also remained in contention.

Just as Shepherd reached Giannini, the caution flew again on Lap 52 when Jeffrey Peterson spun exiting Turn 4 and slid into the infield. Peterson avoided damage and was able to continue.

Under the caution, Sawyer once again returned to the work area, but the championship leader’s night was beginning to take a turn for the worse.

With his engine overheating, Sawyer’s crew quickly removed the hood and poured a cooler of ice water directly onto the engine in an attempt to bring the temperature down.

As Sawyer’s crew continued working on the car, the field prepared for another restart.

Zampa once again led the field back to green, but this time Shepherd challenged the No. 29 for the top spot.

Shepherd remained alongside Zampa down the backstretch before Zampa carried his momentum into Turn 3 and cleared Shepherd to retain the lead.

Sawyer eventually returned to the racetrack on the lead lap, although he was nearly half a lap behind the leaders and continued battling engine problems.

On Lap 54, the fight for second intensified as Shepherd, Giannini and Doss briefly went three-wide. Shepherd held the position, but Giannini continued applying pressure while Doss watched from a close fourth.

Giannini finally completed the pass off Turn 2 on Lap 62, reclaiming second and dropping Shepherd to third.

For Sawyer, the engine problems continued to get worse.

On Lap 74, Sawyer’s night came to an end as his engine finally let go, forcing him to limp back to the work area. The championship leader was now left watching the remainder of the race from the infield.

After entering the race with an 11-point advantage over Keller, Sawyer now had to rely on the finishing positions of his championship rivals to preserve his lead.

With Sawyer ultimately classified 12th, Keller’s only path to the championship was to win the race.

Meanwhile, Zampa continued to control the race at the front of the field.

Doss had worked his way onto Shepherd’s rear bumper and began challenging for third on Lap 93. Shepherd maintained his momentum through the middle groove while Doss worked the bottom, but Shepherd was able to hold him off for the time being.

After dealing with lapped traffic and taking a moment to cool his tires, Doss mounted another challenge on Lap 101. This time, he completed the pass on Shepherd to move into third.

Zampa continued stretching his advantage over Giannini, building a lead of approximately five seconds as the laps wound down.

With eight laps remaining, Zampa caught Keller and put the championship contender a lap down, dealing another blow to Keller’s hopes of overtaking Sawyer in the standings.

With nobody able to mount a challenge in the closing laps, Zampa crossed the finish line with a commanding advantage over Giannini, completing a dominant performance in which he led all 125 laps.

Giannini finished second for the fifth consecutive race and sixth time overall in 2026, closing the season third in the championship standings.

“If we were just fortunate enough to finish some of those races, I think we would have been in a different scenario coming into this weekend,” Giannini said. “We either finished second or we wrecked out this year. We’ve had fast racecars. We began to fight some gremlins or something going on with the motor there at the end. Overall, the car is still in one piece and it’s a second-place finish.”

Despite the frustration of coming up short of victory on multiple occasions, Giannini pointed to the progress his team made throughout the season as it continued developing its Pro Late Model program.

“Throughout the season, we were finally getting a better baseline on our setups,” Giannini said. “We know what we’ve got to have when we show up to the racetrack. We’re still new to racing the Pro Late Models on the West side, so it’s building the notebook, and we’ve definitely learned a lot.”

Doss earned his second consecutive podium finish in third, followed by Shepherd in fourth and Keller in fifth.

Keller’s fifth-place finish was not enough to overcome Sawyer’s advantage, allowing Sawyer to claim the 2026 SPEARS CARS Tour Southwest Pro Late Model championship despite his engine failure.

Sawyer, whose racing background was primarily in IMCA dirt modifieds, secured the title after a season in which consistency proved just as important as his two victories.

“That’s got a pretty good ring to it,” Sawyer said. “It’s definitely not the way I wanted to end the evening, being towed to victory lane. However, it’s our first DNF all year, and consistency is what championships are built on. I had two wins on the season, and it’s really cool.”

For Sawyer, winning a championship on asphalt also meant approaching the season differently than he had throughout his dirt racing career.

“I’ve never been a points guy by any means,” Sawyer said. “I know in the pavement world, points are huge. As far as where I come from, on dirt, you don’t really care about points because you can be leading the points in one place and go race somewhere else because it pays more money to win.”

Sawyer also credited the people who helped him throughout the season as he continued gaining experience racing on asphalt.

“To come from the dirt, I’ve just made sure I’m getting better every time I race on asphalt,” Sawyer said. “To have the solid support that I’ve had throughout the year, wherever we go, there’s always people willing to help. I feel like this one right here is for a bunch of people, not just myself.”

Sawyer finished the championship four points ahead of Keller, with Giannini seven points behind the champion.

Shepherd’s fourth-place finish also secured the inaugural Hoosier Tire West Triple Crown Challenge championship for the Dick Shepherd-owned No. 22, finishing seven points ahead of Charlie Wilson’s No. 12 and earning the team the $7,500 championship prize.

“We were consistent for all three races and finished inside the top five tonight,” Shepherd said. “We were alright tonight. The car made a big swing and we’re not really sure why. I can’t really thank everyone enough. The guys were great this weekend. They worked their butts off and we had fun. That was the main goal this weekend.”

RACE RESULTS: CARS Tour Southwest Pro Late Models- Harvey L. Hall 125
Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway
October 17, 2026

1. Dylan Zampa
2. Jaron Giannini
3. Jeremy Doss
4. Buddy Shepherd
5. Kyle Keller
6. Jeffrey Peterson
7. Donald Witkowski
8. Jaiden Reyna
9. Bristol Borneman
10. Brad Clarke
11. Adam Coonfield
12. Robby Sawyer
13. Bobby Hodges
14. James Hamlin