Rist Returns to Victory at Victory

Theresa, WI -- For the first time in three and a half years, Steve Rist rolled in to victory lane at Victory Motor Speedway. The FAST driver sped to the lead early and collected his third career win at the Victory 400 ahead of John Wiedemann, Mike Kristof and Bill Black.

Wiedemann put his FAST II: The Castaways Chevrolet-Daboiler on the pole during single-car total-time qualifying, safely ahead of Kristof, who had a set a time earlier in qualifying that hadn't been challenged until the defending Husarsbilt Cup champion took to the track and early on in the four lap run that the speed was plenty to take the Firestone P1 Award for the second time in the 2025-26 campaign.  Chris Spehert is often fast on the ovals and put his #28 Fresh Connect Honda-Daboiler on the second row, lined up with hometown hero John Shea and his Pennzoil #3 Team PenskeHO Chevrolet ahead of Bill Black, the only CBD Racing entrant at the mile and a third oval.

A random draw grouped Kristof with current points lead Mike Lack, who struggled eighth in qualifying, Lack's FAST teammate Dean Strom and Spehert Global's James Spehert. Kristof's Good Vibes Racing #20 continued to show its speed through the opening laps and gapped the field by ten laps by half way, however, as traffic became an issue heading towards the finish Strom began to eat into the lead giving Kristof a scare, while Lack could only try to stay in contract with the leaders. As Strom tried to push to catch Kristof he lost the handle a couple times too many and the vibes were good for Kristof as he secured his fourth final four appearance of the season, his most in four seasons.

The second heat looked to be wide open from the beginning, with the quickest of the bunch in qualifying, Shea, Black and two Spehert Global teammates Chris Spehert and Dan Margetta. It was Black, Spehert and Shea who battled early on, while Margetta struggled with handling. Chris sat just a handful of laps behind Black and midway, but Shea's home track knowledge helped nearly erase the eight lap gap to Spehert, but as Black's #7 Chevrolet-Daboiler cruised off to victory, Margetta became a trivia question as his #27 Chevolet sailed over the turn three wall and out of the race, the first DNF at Victory Motor Speedway. Spehert held off Shea as they finished eighth and ninth, respectively, for the event, Margetta twelfth.

The final heat saw pole winner Wiedemann, with the closest championship pursuer to Lack, Joe Heitz, defending race winner Ev Kamikawa and Rist. The pace was furious early on, with Wiedemann ripping off fast lap after fast lap and more laps than any of the other heat winners in a half, even Rist's second place total was higher than all but Kristof at half time. As the second half ran down, Rist found a burst of speed, while Wiedemann pushed hard to keep the #8 FAST Honda-Daboiler behind him. In the last few seconds it became a close thing, as Wiedemann's #45 Droplight just help off his former FAST teammate, but would have to face Rist again in the final. Heitz complained of a lack of speed in his Good Vibes Racing #21, but scored just enough laps to finish sixth for the night ahead of Lack scored seventh, knocking two points off of the lead down to 35 with three races left to run.

The final was expected to be as fast as the third heat race had been, with the top two in qualifying, Wiedemann and Kristof, with Rist who nearly chased Wiedemann down in the heat and Bill Black a top five qualifier. Early on it was Rist and Wiedemann setting the pace, Black still in touch five laps back, Kristof struggled on the outside lanes. Rist's lead grew at the midpoint and then the FAST II: The Castaways team struggled on pit lane with a 30-second stop that gave Wiedemann a larger struggle to catch the #8. Wiedemann wasn't the pole-sitter for nothing and grabbed back large chunks of laps in the second half to close within nine laps after being down into the double digits. Meanwhile, Kristof chased down Black to score another podium spot. Rist would hold on for his third career victory on his fifth final appearance of the season, leapfrogging from seventh in the championship to fifth, just four points over Kristof. 

Rist is the seventh different winner of the 2025-26 season, with three events still to run, there may be more. Meanwhile questions over Mike Lack's ability to appear in the next round of the championship, March Madness, may bring us a photo finish as we get to the end of the season.

See the complete box score and photos

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