Donny Schatz ended a 510-day World of Outlaws winless streak by winning the 35-lap feature at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Alabama. The victory was Schatz’s first with CJB Motorsports and his first at Talladega Short Track, and it gave CJB Motorsports its sixth different winner. It marked the 317th checkered flag of his career, earned across 90 different tracks, and came in his 30th World of Outlaws season after he parted ways with Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian in August 2025.

Schatz qualified second, won his heat and captured the Toyota Dash to start the feature on the pole. He held off early pressure from Bryce Lucius and Sheldon Haudenschild, then navigated traffic to pull away and beat Haudenschild and Michael “Buddy” Kofoid for the win. Schatz credited Chad Clemens and the CJB Motorsports crew for the performance and called the victory ‘getting a monkey off your back.’

Sheldon Haudenschild finished second and Kofoid was third, while Bryce Lucius was fourth and Garet Williamson fifth. Carson Macedo finished seventh and David Gravel 11th, leaving Macedo and Gravel tied atop the championship standings after the event.

Ashton Torgerson’s breakout rookie season with Shark Racing produced his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series podium when the 19-year-old charged from sixth to finish second at Volusia Speedway Park. He moved into second by passing David Gravel, Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild; Torgerson called the result a learning effort as he figured out the track and credited his crew. He signed with Shark Racing last April.

Torgerson’s performance at Volusia capped a strong start to his rookie campaign. He recorded Simpson Quick Time on opening night, posted three top-10s in the first five races at Volusia, earned a win at BAPS Motor Speedway and finished in the top 10 in Eldora Speedway’s Kings Royal. Those results put him atop the early Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year standings presented by Five Star Bodies, leading Scotty Thiel by 40 points.

His rookie season continues this weekend with World of Outlaws stops at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Alabama, and Magnolia Motor Speedway in Columbus, Mississippi.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series stages a Dirty South doubleheader, visiting Talladega Short Track today and Magnolia Motor Speedway on March 7. These are the tour’s only stops in Alabama and Mississippi this season, mark the World of Outlaws’ 14th visit to Talladega and follow a Bike Week swing through Florida.

Both shows are designated First Responder Nights, offering $10 ticket discounts and 20% off merchandise as a community-promotion angle expected to boost fan attendance.

Key driver storylines for the weekend include David Gravel, the series points leader, a two-time World of Outlaws champion with 120 career wins and four straight podiums; he finished fourth at Talladega in 2023 and was runner-up there in 2025, and he won at Magnolia last year. Sheldon Haudenschild and KCP Racing arrive in strong form after Haudenschild led every lap for his 47th World of Outlaws victory at Volusia and has reached the podium in all three of the series’ visits to Magnolia. Nineteen-year-old Ashton Torgerson, who set Quick Time in the season opener and posted seventh- and second-place results during Bike Week, has emerged as a legitimate Rookie of the Year contender. Mechanical trouble and early-season struggles add stakes: Michael “Buddy” Kofoid suffered a mechanical meltdown at Volusia that forced a provisional start and a 27th-place finish, dropping him to fourth in the standings and 46 points behind Gravel, while last year’s Talladega winner Bill Balog has been off pace through the early season and remains outside the top 10 after five races. The doubleheader pairs local promotions with tight championship implications as the series’ brief southeastern run continues.

Anthony Macri’s victory in the Bike Week Jamboree at Volusia Speedway Park underscored an early-season surge: he became the first driver with two World of Outlaws wins in 2026 and, after five races, sits two points shy of points leader David Gravel.

Macri took the lead on Lap 14 and held off a late charge from 19-year-old Ashton Torgerson to claim the win; Torgerson finished second, marking one of Shark Racing’s three top-five results in five starts. David Gravel finished third, recording his fourth consecutive podium, while Carson Macedo and Daryn Pittman finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

Macri, who races for Dillsburg, Pennsylvania-based Macri Motorsports, came to Volusia off a strong Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals showing — the team collected third- and fourth-place finishes and earned a $20,000 victory in the DIRTcar Nationals finale to capture the Big Gator. The Volusia triumph also made Macri the 13th driver to score multiple victories at the track; he credited his crew and a pacing strategy devised with Joe Mooney, saying the team “gave me a badass car” and that they worked to let others “wear their equipment” before making a decisive move.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will return to Volusia Speedway Park for the Bike Week Jamboree on Sunday-Monday, March 1-2, pairing its sprint car race program with Florida’s Bike Week festivities and using the weekend to build fan engagement.

The series opened its campaign with three races at Volusia during the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals in early February and then took a scheduled three-week break. The March 1-2 visit will be the first stop back on the early-season schedule and will mark the start of the tour’s primary stretch; the series will have only three off weekends between that March trip and the season-ending World of Outlaws World Finals Nov. 4-7.

World of Outlaws staff will be active in local Bike Week events surrounding the Volusia weekend, including giveaways at Saturday’s DeLand Bike Rally. Driver Brock Zearfoss will display his car and trailer at Bike Week events and will sign autographs and pose for photos with fans. Across the season the tour plans more than 80 races at over 40 tracks spanning 22 U.S. states and one Canadian province.

Bobby Pierce won the World of Outlaws Late Model Series feature at Hendry County Motorsports Park in Clewiston, Fla., earning his 43rd World of Outlaws Late Model career victory to pass Billy Moyer into fifth on the series’ all-time wins list. It was Pierce’s first WoO Late Model win of 2026 and his first Series victory since August 2025. The triumph came in the WoO Late Model Series’ debut at Hendry County.

Drake Troutman earned the pole and led the early laps before Pierce drove past him in a side-by-side move on lap 8 and built a margin of more than five seconds in the scheduled 40-lap feature.

A late-race incident saw Tyler Erb spin with five laps remaining, which brought out a caution and set up a restart. Pierce protected the cushion and held off Ethan Dotson for the win. Dotson finished second, Daulton Wilson third, Troutman fourth, and Nick Hoffman rounded out the top five. Dotson, Wilson, and Troutman each recorded season-best WoO finishes. The series is scheduled to return to Hendry County for the 60-lap Swamp Cabbage 100 finale.

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid, 24, returned to form after a serious off‑season illness that began while he was training and competing in Australia. He suffered a severe parasitic infection that inflamed his appendix and small bowel, required hospitalization and caused pronounced lethargy, headaches, nausea and notable weight loss; the illness nearly required surgery. One report did not provide a specific diagnosis, while other accounts said the infection was likely contracted in Australia. Kofoid has since regained weight and fitness, easing concerns about lingering effects.

Recovered and racing for Roth Motorsports, the driver who joined Dennis and Teresa Roth’s team in mid‑2023 quickly showed speed at the season opener at Volusia Speedway Park: he won the half‑mile on the second night and charged from 21st to fourth in the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator, nearly capturing that win. Those early results left Kofoid tied with two‑time defending champion David Gravel atop the standings. His crew of Dylan Buswell, Nate Knotts and Gage Tyra has been part of that rebound.

Kofoid arrived in 2026 with strong recent form — he finished fourth in his rookie World of Outlaws campaign and was runner‑up in 2025 — and said his focus is on winning the Outlaws title and becoming the Roths’ first Outlaw champion. He acknowledged stiff competition from the likes of David Gravel, Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz, Logan Schuchart and Sheldon Haudenschild as he heads into a March stretch that includes Volusia’s Bike Week Jamboree (March 1–2), Talladega Short Track (March 6) and Magnolia Motor Speedway (March 7).

Brandon Sheppard won the 2026 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season opener at the Wieland Winter Nationals at All-Tech Raceway, charging from sixth to take the lead on lap 16 and never looking back. Sheppard said his team’s setup work and a precautionary motor change helped the effort, and he protected the bottom-to-middle groove to secure the victory. The win was his 36th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and his first series triumph since Aug. 15 at Batesville Motor Speedway, setting Sheppard and his team off to a strong start in the 2026 season.

Defending series champion Devin Moran moved into second on lap 30 and pressured Sheppard in the closing laps, finishing 0.544 seconds behind. Hudson O’Neal, the pole-sitter, slipped as far back as sixth before rallying to finish third, while Brandon Overton led the opening 15 laps before fading to fourth.

Carson Ferguson climbed from 19th to fifth and earned the Hoker Trucking Hard Charger recognition. Clay Harris struck the turn-two wall on lap 29 and was forced out of the race.

Mat Williamson captured his third Big Gator Championship at the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia, tying Larry Wight’s all-time record and giving him his third Big Gator title in four years.

Driving for Buzz Chew Racing, Williamson opened the four-race Nationals with a fourth-place finish, won the next two features, and closed the miniseries with two wins and four top-five results. He entered the final night with a 20-point cushion over challenger Alex Payne and needed only a 12th-place finish to clinch the title.

The team credited week-long reliability, including no DNFs, and an effective restart strategy amid volatile cautions, noting the emphasis on avoiding DNFs and major mechanical problems after losing a championship by three points in 2025 because of a flat tire. The Big Gator victory came three months after Williamson secured his third Super DIRTcar Series championship and gives Buzz Chew Racing momentum heading into the championship season opener, the Delaware Diamond at Georgetown Speedway on March 28. The team said it will undertake heavy preparation for the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at Oswego from October 5–10 and plans to prioritize that event as a season objective.