PETERSON SWEEPS OPENING DAY FOR BULLRING AT LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA (January 25, 2026) – 2023 Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Late Model champion Jeffrey Peterson kicked off the 2026 Star Nursery Local Racing Series in style on Saturday afternoon, with the Grand Terrace, Calif. native topping both features for NASCAR Late Models. Peterson overcame changing an engine following Friday practice to storm to the pair of victories. Photo by Christopher Vargas
The first 40-lap feature was a back-and-forth battle with 2025 champion Cody Brown. Peterson regained the upper hand on lap 29 to take the curtain raising victory. 2025 Orange Show Speedway champion Mikey Killen finished third. Northern California driver Kenna Mitchell, the 2025 All American Speedway Late Model champion recovered from a lap two incident to finish fourth. Utah’s Kylie Ith finished fifth.
Star Nursery Late Models were inverted by eight for their start of their second NASCAR 40-lap feature. Rookie Donald Witkowski of Long Beach led the 16-car pack with a charging field of drivers behind him. Peterson took advantage of a lap five restart to launch into the lead. The battle for second was hot with Mitchell overhauling Witkowski on lap 14 heading into turn three. Opening race runner-up Brown took over second just two laps later. A late caution evaporated Peterson’s sizeable advantage over Brown. Peterson was undeterred, charging ahead once again to sweep the night. Brown settled for second followed by Killen, Mitchell, and Johnny Spilotro from ninth on the grid.
Defending NASCAR Street Stocks and NASCAR Modifieds champion Kyle Jacks enjoyed a fruitful night of action, claiming the coveted bull trophy in each class to start 2026. Jacks won the newly combined Street Stock and Factory Stock division in wire-to-wire fashion. Dallas Simonette topped Rob Plaffy for the Factory Stock portion of the action.
35-laps of Modified racing served as quick work for Kyle Jacks, leading his brother Sam Jacks throughout the fast-paced affair. Shelby Stroebel visited from Idaho to finished third followed by seventh starting Doug Hamm and Bountiful, Utah’s Eric Rhead.
“That’s as good as it gets man. We’ve got some hot rods that’s for sure. We’ve put a lot of time in the shop and glad to see it pays off. This is a class of gentlemen right here,” Kyle Jacks said.
The youngest drivers in the INEX Bandoleros thrilled the fans with a three-wide duel on the final lap of competition. Casey Piplic of Las Vegas withstood the pressure for the 15-lap feature victory. Austin French of Las Vegas finished second followed by Dylan Mancini in third. French won Friday’s INEX Bandolero feature as well.
Gavin Ray and 2025 Bullring INEX Terrible’s Legends champion Sean Salazar of Albuquerque, New Mexico exchanged the lead back and forth in an exciting 25-lap feature. On lap 18, Ray made a strong maneuver to the inside in turn three to seal the deal. Gavin Ray completed a sweep of the Legends features for the weekend with Salazar finishing in a narrow second place finish. Connor Podloski finished third followed by Tanner Ash and 2025 Bandolero champion Caitlyn Ford in fifth.
Ben Williams held off a challenge from Bory Molina en route to victory in the NASCAR Mini Stocks season opener. Mike McIntyre, Bobby Ozman, and Ceilia Williams made up the balance of the top-five out of a strong field of four cylinder competitors.
The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway returns on February 21st for the Star Nursery Battle at the Bullring with the SPEARS CARS Tour West and a full slate of INEX and NASCAR championship races. Tickets and info at www.lvmsbullring.com
NASCAR Star Nursery Limited Late Models
A Feature 1 (40 Laps): 1. 51-Jeffrey Peterson[1]; 2. 88X-Cody Brown[3]; 3. 2-Mikey Killen[6]; 4. 12-Kenna Mitchell[2]; 5. 19-Kylie Ith[5]; 6. 22-Kellen Keller[7]; 7. 4-David Quartaro[10]; 8. 20-Donald Witkowski[9]; 9. 77-Johnny Spilotro[8]; 10. 14A-Jacob Anderegg[11]; 11. 88-Donna Gunther[14]; 12. 77J-Chris Jackson[13]; 13. 44-Dave Campoverde[12]; 14. 6-AJ Hintsala[15]; 15. 14-Amilleo Thomson[4]
A Feature 2 (40 Laps): 1. 51-Jeffrey Peterson[8]; 2. 88X-Cody Brown[7]; 3. 2-Mikey Killen[6]; 4. 12-Kenna Mitchell[5]; 5. 77-Johnny Spilotro[9]; 6. 19-Kylie Ith[4]; 7. 77J-Chris Jackson[12]; 8. 20-Donald Witkowski[1]; 9. 22-Kellen Keller[3]; 10. 88-Donna Gunther[11]; 11. 14A-Jacob Anderegg[10]; 12. 6-AJ Hintsala[14]; 13. 44-Dave Campoverde[13]; 14. 14-Amilleo Thomson[15]; 15. (DNS) 4-David Quartaro
NASCAR Modifieds
A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 41-Kyle Jacks[1]; 2. 29-Sam Jacks[2]; 3. 4-Shelby Stroebel[3]; 4. 4X-Doug Hamm[7]; 5. 66-Eric Rhead[6]; 6. 1-Jimmy Petrie[5]; 7. 6-Brian Williams[9]; 8. 24-Ben Williams[10]; 9. 34-Kayli Peterson[4]; 10. 0Z-Scott Ozborn[8]
NASCAR Street Stocks
A Feature 1 (30 Laps): 1. 4-Kyle Jacks[1]; 2. 45-Don Geary[2]; 3. 60-Bill Paddack Jr[3]; 4. 69-Vinny Raucci Sr[4]; 5. 17F-Dallas Simonette[6]; 6. 11F-Rob Pfaffly[7]; 7. 09F-Bobby Schumacher[5]; 8. 97F-Nick Lautenbach[8]
NASCAR Factory Stocks
A Feature 1: 1. 17F-Dallas Simonette[2]; 2. 11F-Rob Pfaffly[3]; 3. 09F-Bobby Schumacher[1]; 4. 97F-Nick Lautenbach[4]
NASCAR Mini Stocks
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 24L-Ben Williams[1]; 2. 71M-Bory Molina[2]; 3. 23-Mike Mc Intyne[3]; 4. 18-Bobby Ozman[4]; 5. 4X-Cecilia Williams[5]; 6. 33-Luis Rivera[8]; 7. 29-Austin Tognotti[9]; 8. 11-Jeff Wahner[7]; 9. 17X-Chris Sandoval[10]; 10. 21-Kaycee Frost[11]; 11. 9-Noah Cobillas[12]; 12. 24-Melissa Lurkins[6]; 13. 18K-Nathan Phillips[13]
INEX Legends
A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 18RP-Gavin Ray[1]; 2. 17SP-Sean Salazar[3]; 3. 68SP-Connor Podloski[5]; 4. 5YL-Tanner Ash[6]; 5. 54SP-Caitlyn Ford[8]; 6. 56SP-Braden Judge[7]; 7. 07P-Jared Torres[2]; 8. 3YL-Brody Glaze[4]; 9. 25M-Ryan Ford[9]
INEX Bandoleros
A Feature 1 (15 Laps): 1. 74-Casey Piplic[1]; 2. 9-Austin French[4]; 3. 17M-Dylan Mancini[2]; 4. 5T-Tucker Webster[6]; 5. 7X-Jeff Connors[3]; 6. 7-Beau Paddack[5]; 7. 25-Hayden Piplic[7]; 8. 11-Auroara Pfaffaly[8]
2026 LVMS Bullring Schedule (Subject to Change)
Feb. 21 – Star Nursery Battle at The Bullring Featuring CARS Tour West with Fireworks Show!
Mar. 7 – NASCAR Night
Mar. 28 – Terrible Herbst Showdown Featuring CARS Tour West
Apr. 11 – NASCAR Night
May 2 – NASCAR Night
Jun. 6 – NASCAR Night
Jun. 20 – NASCAR Night of Fire Championship Finale with Fireworks Show!
NOTE: 2026/27 Schedule kicks off Friday October 2
