As the Battle in Barberville reawakened for the first time since 2023, the stars of Volusia Speedway Park and the Top Gun Sprint Cars took part in a key night towards their championship quests.
Through five Features of 360 Sprint Cars, 604 Late Models, DIRTcar UMP Modifieds, 3/4 Modifieds, and Factory Stocks, it was Jadan Bowling, Colton Lane, Garret Stewart, Zane Oedewaldt, and Tanner Thomas leaving the night as victors at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”
Top Gun Sprint Cars
When Jadan Bowling laid eyes on Volusia Speedway Park for the first time on Saturday, he knew it was the biggest track he had ever faced.
The size of Volusia and his debut with the Top Gun Sprints did not deter the Holden Beach, NC driver from making his presence known at the track by earning his first boot trophy.
Bowling began the 25-lap Feature from sixth place and went to immediate work around the cushion of the 0.5-mile track, which helped him move to fourth place on Lap 2, third on Lap 3, and second on Lap 4 before the first caution of the night flew.
On the restart, Bowling outgunned leader Matt Kurtz to the green flag, which helped him build early momentum to swing by the No. 92 machine to take away the top spot.
Bowling found his pacing around the cushion as other competitors began to find a way towards the front. Among the drivers charging up the field was former event winner Tyler Clem, who drove his No. 6S Smith Racing Sprint Car from a last-place start to move within the podium as 10 laps remained.
While Clem took second place with five laps remaining, he was unable to mount a late-race move to steal the win from Bowling away as the No. 01 won his first Top Gun Sprint Car Feature in his first track start.
“This is awesome,” Bowling said. “We’ve never been to a track this big before, so it’s been a learning curve. Throughout the whole race, I didn’t really get adapted to it until right there at the end. We drove down seven hours last night, switched over everything, been on the phone with Brian Kemenah all day trying to get us dialed in, and that’s the way it worked.”
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 01-Jadan Bowling[6]; 2. 6S-Tyler Clem[18]; 3. 67-Jacob McLain[1]; 4. G6-Brandon Grubaugh[7]; 5. 82-Garrett Green[3]; 6. 92-Matt Kurtz[4]; 7. 16-Tyler Porter[5]; 8. 11K-Joshua Kunstbeck[8]; 9. 00-PJ Reutimann[11]; 10. 88-Sport Allen[13]; 11. 44C-Cheyenne Potter[12]; 12. (DNF) 10X-Joel Charles[9]; 13. (DNF) 20D-Stephen Darvalics[10]; 14. (DNF) 68C-Katlyn Calhoun[14]; 15. (DNF) 26-Jeff Bye[2]; 16. (DNS) 116-Nick Snyder; 17. (DNS) 71-Robbie Smith; 18. (DNS) 83-Hal Wilson
3/4 Modifieds
Colton Lane stays undefeated at the Battle in Barberville.
The Pierson, FL local broke through for his first win at Volusia in 2025 amid a season at Volusia that has seen race-winning pace from Lane that did not end with a trophy in hand.
Lane began the 15-lap Feature from the outside of the front row and emerged as the leader through the opening lap after outrunning polesitter Dustin Peterson as Dalton Hopke attempted to jump the two drivers around the cushion.
Lane built a two-second lead over the first eight laps until the only caution of the Feature flew, which erased his work. On the ensuing restart, Hopke got clear of Peterson to take second place, but did not match Lane’s speed in the second half as the No. 26L crossed the checkered flag by 3.6 seconds over the track title points leader.
The win is Lane’s first points triumph and his second career event win at Volusia Speedway Park as he sits 58 points away from Hopke in the standings.
“I don’t know, really,” Lane said. “I’ve been working at it for a while, had some bad luck, but I wanna thank my sponsors, family, and everybody that helped put this car together.”
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 26L-Colton Lane[2]; 2. H1-Dalton Hopke[4]; 3. 32P-Jesse Powers[3]; 4. 57-Ethyn Hwan[6]; 5. 51-Dustin Peterson[1]; 6. 188-Josh Panetti[5]; 7. F5-Nathan Rhoades[13]; 8. 5C-Chase Cooke[8]; 9. 21-Dakota Cleland[12]; 10. 9-Logan Malone[7]; 11. 29-Nathyn Hwan[9]; 12. 16-Brian Schrunk[15]; 13. 00-Justin Woodrough[11]; 14. 59H-Samara Hwan[14]; 15. 59-William Inabnett[10]
604 Late Models
Garret Stewart has made it clear that he is no longer the “Modified Guy.”
The Fruitland Park, FL driver found his winning ways at Volusia for the first time in 2025 by leading all 20 laps of the night’s Feature as he directs focus towards completing a track championship comeback.
Stewart flew under the green flag from the Pole Position and endured a Lap 1 battle for the lead from Florida Late Model veteran Ivedent Lloyd as he kept the No. 67 Longhorn Chassis to the bottom of the surface.
When Stewart got clear of Lloyd for the lead on Lap 2, he went to work on building distance on Lloyd through the first half. Stewart held a one-second advantage on Lloyd when lapped traffic began to invade his line, driving his car through multiple lanes to keep the Barry Wright Chassis No. 721 from reeling him in.
Though Lloyd was able to cut the distance to 0.7 seconds with five laps remaining, Lloyd stalled his momentum and struggled to pass the remaining lapped cars behind Stewart. Stewart built back to a 1.2-second gap as he bagged a third career 604 Late Model win at Volusia and moved to second in the title standings.
“I don’t know if it was good or not,” Stewart said. “I just knew we had to get control of the race and kinda see. I was married to the bottom and was trying to make my stuff turn, but I look up and see Ivedent, and he’s a hero. To me, racing with him clean and with respect, I know we could be clean as a whistle. I was just holding on and counting laps.
“My little man over there, he sees all the pictures and trophies from the Modifieds. And he walks around the house ‘Dad, when are we getting another Modified? You used to win a lot more.’ So, we gotta do it in the Late Model for a little bit longer, but I’m pumped to be back up here.”
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 67-Garret Stewart[1]; 2. 721-Ivedent Lloyd[2]; 3. 2-Trynt Lloyd[5]; 4. 31-Tim Swartz[7]; 5. 94-Holden Allen[11]; 6. 23K-Korbin Minchew[4]; 7. 96-Blake Clouser[12]; 8. 5-Dustin Carter[3]; 9. 3K-Kale VanSickle[10]; 10. 44P-Kole Platt[8]; 11. 40B-Kody Jett[18]; 12. 28-Austin Leamon[15]; 13. 75-Sonny Thompson[13]; 14. 71-Davy Cline[14]; 15. 07-David Clegg[9]; 16. 54T-Tuck Trentham[6]; 17. 44K-Troy Kidd[17]; 18. (DNS) 25C-Donnie Chappell; 19. (DNS) 27-Randy Phillips
DIRTcar UMP Modifieds
After six years of anticipation, Zane Oedwaldt can call himself a Feature winner at Volusia.
His win did not come easily as he had to fight against championship contenders Jason Garver and Seth Geary for the night’s victory.
Oedewaldt started the night in third place and followed behind Garver, Joshua Kunstbeck, and Dalton Lanich through the first four laps. The Eustis, FL driver then made progress towards the top three as he passed Kunstbeck for third on Lap 5, then Lanich for second on Lap 8 as Garver paced the field with a three-second advantage.
When the yellow flag was thrown on Lap 9, it gave a second chance for Oedewaldt to create a standoff against the UMP Modifieds points leader for the run to the checkered flag as they stayed within a 0.3-second gap of each other. While Garver stayed at the bottom, Oedewaldt found steam through the middle line that helped him reach Garver’s door with five laps remaining.
Their battle gave room for reigning track champ Seth Geary to join the mix as his No. 7G Longhorn Chassis found speed with a slide job line to assist him in catching the back bumper of Oedewaldt.
When the white flag flew, the three drivers split into differing lines to try and leave the final set of turns as the night’s winner. Geary went to the bottom while Garver used the middle line, forcing Oedewaldt to the cushion as Geary got clear of Garver on the bottom. However, Oedewaldt carried more speed exiting the corner, which helped him outrun Geary for his first career Volusia triumph.
“Man, they all ran a good race, and I knew Seth would be coming,” Oedewaldt said. “But man, I wasn’t gonna give it up on the last lap and just let him go. So, we got a little body damage, but it’s so special to be here. This is the first night out on a brand new car, I got to thank David and Kyle. They gave me an awesome piece, they talked to me on the phone, and I didn’t change the car all night long. It’s just wonderful to be here.”
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[3]; 2. 7G-Seth Geary[6]; 3. 27G-Jason Garver[2]; 4. 80-Paul Shead[11]; 5. 66-Joshua Kunstbeck[5]; 6. 07-Eric Moon[7]; 7. 00B-Buzzie Reutimann[9]; 8. 99-Wade Olmsted[8]; 9. 23-Kevin Dugger[12]; 10. 5-Jerome Dippel[10]; 11. 3D-Makayla Tyrrell[13]; 12. 20-Kyle Wiggins[15]; 13. 34-Rob Giffen[14]; 14. 1P-Mike Phillips[17]; 15. 11P-Charlie Phillips[18]; 16. 60-Jim Manka[4]; 17. 51-Dalton Lanich[1]; 18. 05-Jamie Sullivan[16]
Factory Stocks
While Patrick Thomas is deep in the chase for a track title against Jason Garver, his son, Tanner, aimed to outshine the Factory Stocks field on Saturday night.
In the final night of driving the red Morgan Speed Shop No. 1T before he hands it off to Patrick, the Eustis, FL teenager drove the machine to a flag-to-flag victory around the “World’s Fastest Half Mile.”
While he was at the top for every lap, he was tested for the lead by Garver, who kept Thomas within a half-second’s distance throughout the 20-lap Feature. Though the No. 01 Factory Stock kept Thomas within his crosshairs, his attempts at trying a different line did not help him gain ground on the leader.
In the final five laps, Garver made it to the back bumper of Thomas and attempted to slide him up from the bottom lane. Thomas kept an equal defense against Garver by keeping his Factory Stock glued to the bottom as he picked up his first division win since the Drifter’s Riverfront Bar & Grill Showdown in 2023.
“I was running the slider line for the first two or three laps,” Thomas said. “My girlfriend and Tim Swartz were pointing me to the bottom, so after that, I never left the bottom. (Jason) always races me clean. That was a great race. I was trying, I was really working.”
Feature (15 Laps): 1. 1T-Tanner Thomas[2]; 2. 01-Jason Garver[3]; 3. 119-Joe Belkey[7]; 4. 23-Willy The Kid Cuddy[4]; 5. 5-Blake Clouser[5]; 6. 111-Patrick Thomas[9]; 7. 00-Shaun Daugharty[6]; 8. 69-Derrick Wood[1]; 9. 20-Justin Reynolds[14]; 10. 38-David Dowling[10]; 11. 17K-Chris Meyer[11]; 12. 118S-Donald Springer[12]; 13. (DNF) 82D-Larry Masters[8]; 14. (DNF) 44-Dexter Rodriguez[13]; 15. (DNS) 21M-Mayson Mossow; 16. (DNS) 41-Barry Sheffield; 17. (DNS) 06-David Showers Jr
Up Next: Volusia Speedway Park’s penultimate points event of the 2025 season is next for the “Fab 5” as the Fall Classic awaits on Saturday night, October 26. Gates will open at 4:00 p.m., and Hot Laps will begin at 6:00 p.m..
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.