Robby Sawyer wins at Orange Show Speedway for second straight CARS West Pro Late Model victory

For the second consecutive race in CARS Tour Southwest Pro Late Model competition, Robby Sawyer went to victory lane, winning at Orange Show Speedway on Saturday night.

After starting 10th, Sawyer worked his way through the field throughout the 125-lap race before battling championship leader Kyle Keller in a 10-lap shootout to take the lead and the win.

“I just didn’t have a good qualifying effort,” Sawyer said. “Really was a kick in the gut after qualifying and felt like I let everybody down. I am better in the long run, but I am not a short-run guy and that is one area I am really trying to work on. It’s been hot. It’s been 100 degrees. We’ve been dying out here for two days.”

For Sawyer, patience is something he has been practicing all season long, allowing the race to come to him. Taped to his dashboard is a reminder: “PATIENCE.” On Saturday night, he felt he was able to let that happen.

“I’m really stoked tonight,” Sawyer said. “I put myself behind the eight ball definitely early in the night with qualifying, but once I got to the lead and hit my marks, I was fine. I’ve been working my butt off trying to stay patient and we were the whole race, everybody did their job and I was fortunate enough to bring it home.”

Keller started the night from the pole and led the field to of 12 Pro Late Models to the green, earning two bonus points for sitting on the pole, while Sawyer rolled off from the 10th starting position.

Keller entered the weekend three points ahead of Sawyer for the championship lead, with Jaron Giannini 15 points back as the series entered the eighth race of 10 in the 2026 season.

Keller jumped out to an early lead before the first caution flew on Lap 25 when Kyle Gottula went for a spin off Turn 4 after receiving contact from James Hamlin.

When racing resumed, it was once again Keller who jumped out to the lead, with Giannini now sliding into the second position. The caution would fly two laps later on Lap 27 after John Sereika suffered a right-front tire failure entering Turn 3 and slammed into the outside wall, ending his night early.

The race was then red-flagged for cleanup after Sereika limped his wounded race car back to the pits, dropping oil on the track in the process.

Under the red flag, last year’s race winner Linny White came to the hot pit with mechanical issues and surrendered the fourth position. The team worked to repair the issue and White rejoined the field.

When racing resumed, Keller led the field back to the green flag as the drivers fell into a rhythm.

Further back, both Sawyer and White were on the move as both drivers found themselves inside the top five by Lap 36.

White’s charge continued after passing teammate Jeffrey Peterson on Lap 50 for the fourth position and then shortly thereafter passing Cody Kiemele for third on Lap 54.

Right as White finished passing Giannini for second place, the caution flew once again on Lap 60 when Hamlin spun into the infield down the back straightaway after making contact with the door of Bristol Borneman while racing for the seventh position.

White began his charge for the lead once again and took the top spot on Lap 63, passing Keller and beginning to put distance between himself and the rest of the field.

Meanwhile, Sawyer’s own charge continued as he raced up into the fourth position and set his sights on trying to run down Keller in the tight points race for the championship lead.

After passing Giannini for third, Sawyer began to reel in Keller as Keller’s car began to fade back. On Lap 85, the two championship rivals battled over the second position with Keller unwilling to give up the spot. Sawyer used the bumper to move the Las Vegas native up the track before the pair raced into the third turn side by side, leaning on one another’s doors, with Sawyer completing the pass for second.

On Lap 105, the caution flew once again for the competition caution after the field raced 45 consecutive green-flag laps.

On the restart, Keller chose the outside of the front row and slid right up into the second position behind White, putting Sawyer back to third in a battle with Gottula, who had worked himself back inside the top five after also choosing the outside lane on the restart. Sawyer was able to hold off the challenge and slid into third.

Further back, Giannini was tagged by Kiemele entering Turn 3, but the GMS Racing driver was able to hang onto the car as he now ran fourth.

White grew his advantage to almost two seconds before the final caution of the race flew on Lap 115 after Borneman crashed in Turn 3. A right-front tire failure sent her car into the wall while running sixth, ending a strong night 10 laps early.

Under the caution period, the race took a turn for the worse for White when his car came to a stop down the front straightaway while in the lead. Just 10 laps before the finish, the driver who had worked his way through the field and led much of the second half of the race suddenly found himself powerless and was pushed back to the work area, also ending his night 10 laps prematurely.

White’s issue was Keller’s gain as he inherited the lead and brought the field back to the green flag in a 10-lap shootout, with Sawyer and Giannini both electing to restart on the bottom lane right behind Keller.

As the field went back racing, Gottula once again chose the outside, with he and Sawyer making contact as the two leaned on one another entering Turn 3 before Sawyer was able to clear Gottula for second. In the process, however, it allowed Keller to briefly break away, with Giannini also passing Gottula for third.

On Lap 118, the top three in the championship hunt were all nose to tail as Keller looked to hold them off. On the exit of Turn 2, Sawyer and Keller made contact, with Keller getting loose after a tag from Sawyer, allowing the Bakersfield driver to move underneath Keller down the back straightaway.

The pair raced side by side into Turn 3, with Sawyer taking the top spot with six laps remaining.

Giannini also worked his way past Keller into second and, for the second race in a row, tried to find a way to run down Sawyer for the win.

In the end, Sawyer was able to hold off the charge to collect the victory, with Giannini picking up a third consecutive second-place finish.

“I was fortunate enough to come back second,” Giannini said. “Overall, that’s a plus. It’s all elbows up, so you have to take what you can get and you just have to go for it. I got into (Sawyer) there a little bit in the final laps, we still have two races left to go for points, so I didn’t really want to make any bad blood. So we’ll go to Las Vegas in a few weeks and see what we can do.”

After leading a large part of the race, Keller finished third, with Hamlin and Gottula both making their way back through the field to round out the top five.

RESULTS: CARS Tour West- Pro Late Models
Orange Show Speedway
September 12, 2026

1. Robby Sawyer
2. Jaron Giannini
3. Kyle Keller
4. James Hamlin
5. Kyle Gottula
6. Scott Sanchez
7. Adam Coonfield
8. Cody Kiemele
9. Linny White
10. Bristol Borneman
11. Jeffrey Peterson
12. John Sereika