Victory 400 - Victory Motor Speedway - Theresa, WI

Round 14 of 17

March 5, 2026

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.

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Victory 400 Fast Facts

Race date: Thursday, Mar 5

Track: Victory Motor Speedway, a 1.33 mile speedway in Theresa, WI

Race distance: 400 laps

IndySlotCar Website: indyslotcar.com

2025 race winner:  Ev Kamikawa (No. 12 Team PenskeHO Chevrolet-Daboiler)

2025 Firestone P1 Award winner:  John Shea (No. 3 Team PenskeHO Chevrolet-Daboiler)

Single lap record: John Shea – 1.674 seonds

Four-lap qualifying record: John Shea – 6.852 seconds

Race record: Ev Kamikawa – 13 minutes, 19 seconds

YouTube Broadcast: IndySlotCar Channel

At-track schedule (All Times Local/Central Time):

6:00 – Gates open

6:30 – Driver introductions

7:00 – Drivers’ meeting

7:05 – IndySlotCar Series Practice

7:30 – Qualifying for the Firestone P1 Award (single car, four lap total time qualifying)

8:00 – Heat races

8:45 – Victory 400 (400 laps)

IndySlotCar Series Notes:

·         The second running of the Victory 400 brings Mike Lack back to the entry list after missing the previous round, the seven-time champion’s Husarsbilt Cup points lead has shrunk to 37 after Joe Heitz took every point available to him at the Rapids Grand Prix, with just four races left on the calendar, can Heitz deny Lack and eighth title?

·         Ev Kamikawa is the defending race winner, taking the inaugural affair one year ago, it was the third of five victories in 2024-25, the Team PenskeHO driver is looking for his first of the current campaign.

·         Matt Hayek and Dan Margetta are the two oval track winners so far this season, Victory Motor Speedway is the third of four ovals this season, South Shore Superspeedway, host of the 33rd running of the HO Indy 500 will be the other.

·         Dan Margetta leads the Foyt/Mears (Oval track) Award points standings by three over Matt Hayek and 12 ahead of John Wiedemann.

·         STATS WATCH: Joe Heitz scored his third Pole-to-Win victory at Rapids, it’s the first time since 2019-20 that anyone has had that many in a single season, Mike Lack had four and Matt Hayek had three in that season. Ev Kamikawa holds the record with five, set in his Husarsbilt Cup championship season of 1999-00. Heitz moves to 15th on the all-time Firestone P1 Award list, with 12 pole positions, 15th in Heat Wins with 37, moving ahead of his Good Vibes Racing teammate Mike Kristof and 16th in Finals with 50. James Spehert jumps to 36th on the all-time laps list, leaping Corey Galbraith with 1,760 and Pete Dorn moves to 21st on the DNF rankings with his 18th at Rapids, breaking out of a tie with Chris Spehert.