5/12/2026
IRA Interstate Racing Association
Nienhiser Charges to First 2026 IRA Sprint Car Series Victory at Sycamore Speedway
The IRA Sprint Car Series delivered another impressive field of competitors Saturday night at Sycamore Speedway. Logan Julien set the tone early by topping Box3 Media Hot Laps, while Jordan Goldesberry earned the Hi Plains Building Division QuickTime Award during Carbon Safety Technologies Qualifying.
Heat race victories went to Scotty Neitzel in the Fox Lake Harbor & Allstar Performance Heat Race No. 1, Logan Julien in the Maxium Property Services – Behling Racing Equipment Heat Race No. 2, and Brayton Lynch captured Heat Race No. 3 presented by Engler Machine and Tool & DMI in an impressive first appearance at the speedway.
Dash competition saw Logan Julien win Dash No. 1 presented by Optimum Electric Company, securing the pole position for the 30-lap feature aboard the 85J. Brayton Lynch claimed victory in the 5-Star Firearms Dash No. 2, earning the outside front-row starting spot for the main event.
When the green flag dropped on the 30-lap feature, Julien quickly established control of the race while Lynch stayed within striking distance to continue his standout evening. Reigning 2025 series champion Blake Nimee worked his way into the top three as he searched for his first victory of the season. Nimee briefly took over second from Lynch while two-time MOWA Champion Will Armitage charged forward into the top five during the opening stages.
As the race approached the halfway point, Paul Nienhiser entered the battle for the top five and moved past Armitage shortly after lap 10. At halfway, the running order featured Julien, Nimee, Nienhiser, Lynch, and Daum in the top five positions.
Just after midway, Nimee executed a slide job on Julien entering turn four to take over the lead. The move disrupted Julien’s momentum and opened the door for Nienhiser to advance into second. A caution soon followed for contact involving the 9K of Schuett and the 26 of Schlafer in turn one.
Nimee led the field back to green, but Nienhiser continued to pressure the 79 machine for the top spot. Another caution appeared with four laps remaining when the 3N of Neuman would make contact with the wall.
On the restart, Nienhiser found the preferred line around Sycamore Speedway and powered into the lead. Julien capitalized as well, reclaiming second position in the closing laps. Nienhiser remained strong to the checkered flag, securing his first victory of the 2026 season with the Bumper to Bumper Auto Value IRA Sprint Car Series presented by Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.
The series now heads to Wisconsin for a busy weekend of racing action. Competition begins Saturday at Plymouth Dirt Track, with grandstands opening at 4:30 p.m. and racing scheduled for 5:30 p.m. The weekend concludes Sunday at Angell Park Speedway for the track’s season opener. Gates open at 4:00 p.m. with on-track action beginning at 5:00 p.m.
Fans can watch the entire season live on FloRacing.
Photo by HW Designs
410 Sprints - Winged 22 Entries
A Feature 30 Laps | 00:19:29.059
- 9X-Paul Nienhiser[5]; 2. 85J-Logan Julien[1]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 4. 99D-Zach Daum[7]; 5. 29L-Brayton Lynch[2]; 6. 25T-Travis Arenz[10]; 7. 2W-Scott Neitzel[8]; 8. 25-Danny Schlafer[15]; 9. 7A-Will Armitage[9]; 10. 96-Jake Blackhurst[11]; 11. 37-Bryce Norris[3]; 12. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[6]; 13. 99-Tyler Brabant[14]; 14. 68-Dave Uttech[12]; 15. 24-Scott Conger[18]; 16. 26-Cody Schlafer[20]; 17. 9-Tommy Colburn[16]; 18. 21H-TJ Haddy[21]; 19. (DNF) 3N-Jake Neuman[13]; 20. (DNF) 9K-Kyle Schuett[22]; 21. (DNF) 09-Clayton Rossmann[19]; 22. (DNF) 4K-Kris Spitz[17]
Dash 1 4 Laps | 00:01:03.313
- 85J-Logan Julien[1]; 2. 37-Bryce Norris[3]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[5]; 4. 99D-Zach Daum[4]; 5. 7A-Will Armitage[2]
Dash 2 4 Laps | 00:01:04.156
- 29L-Brayton Lynch[1]; 2. 79-Blake Nimee[4]; 3. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[3]; 4. 2W-Scott Neitzel[2]; 5. 25T-Travis Arenz[5]
Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:01:58.592
- 2W-Scott Neitzel[1]; 2. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[4]; 3. 79-Blake Nimee[3]; 4. 25T-Travis Arenz[2]; 5. 25-Danny Schlafer[6]; 6. 4K-Kris Spitz[5]; 7. 09-Clayton Rossmann[7]; 8. (DNS) 9K-Kyle Schuett
Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:01:59.587
- 85J-Logan Julien[2]; 2. 37-Bryce Norris[4]; 3. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[3]; 4. 3N-Jake Neuman[6]; 5. 99-Tyler Brabant[5]; 6. 9-Tommy Colburn[1]; 7. 26-Cody Schlafer[7]
Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:02:04.447
- 29L-Brayton Lynch[1]; 2. 7A-Will Armitage[3]; 3. 96-Jake Blackhurst[5]; 4. 68-Dave Uttech[2]; 5. 99D-Zach Daum[4]; 6. 24-Scott Conger[6]; 7. 21H-TJ Haddy[7]
Qualifying | 00:20:00.556
- 65-Jordan Goldesberry, 13.449[1]; 2. 37-Bryce Norris, 13.674[2]; 3. 99D-Zach Daum, 14.028[9]; 4. 79-Blake Nimee, 14.047[11]; 5. 9X-Paul Nienhiser, 14.058[16]; 6. 7A-Will Armitage, 14.097[20]; 7. 25T-Travis Arenz, 14.122[3]; 8. 85J-Logan Julien, 14.240[22]; 9. 68-Dave Uttech, 14.351[8]; 10. 2W-Scott Neitzel, 14.369[13]; 11. 9-Tommy Colburn, 14.386[6]; 12. 29L-Brayton Lynch, 14.399[5]; 13. 4K-Kris Spitz, 14.440[7]; 14. 99-Tyler Brabant, 14.521[4]; 15. 96-Jake Blackhurst, 14.597[14]; 16. 25-Danny Schlafer, 14.626[15]; 17. 3N-Jake Neuman, 14.753[19]; 18. 24-Scott Conger, 14.774[10]; 19. 09-Clayton Rossmann, 15.001[12]; 20. 26-Cody Schlafer, 15.424[21]; 21. 21H-TJ Haddy, 15.786[18]; 22. 9K-Kyle Schuett[17]
Hot Laps | 00:00:28.844
- 85J-Logan Julien[22]; 2. 37-Bryce Norris[2]; 3. 7A-Will Armitage[20]; 4. 9X-Paul Nienhiser[16]; 5. 65-Jordan Goldesberry[1]; 6. 9-Tommy Colburn[6]; 7. 29L-Brayton Lynch[5]; 8. 99D-Zach Daum[9]; 9. 9K-Kyle Schuett[17]; 10. 79-Blake Nimee[11]; 11. 68-Dave Uttech[8]; 12. 25-Danny Schlafer[15]; 13. 2W-Scott Neitzel[13]; 14. 09-Clayton Rossmann[12]; 15. 3N-Jake Neuman[19]; 16. 26-Cody Schlafer[21]; 17. 25T-Travis Arenz[3]; 18. 96-Jake Blackhurst[14]; 19. 99-Tyler Brabant[4]; 20. 21H-TJ Haddy[18]; 21. 4K-Kris Spitz[7]; 22. 24-Scott Conger[10]
Article Credit: Madeline Ruh
Submitted By: Madeline Schultz
