DIRTcar Summer Nationals / Summit Modifieds

SUMNER, IL (July 3, 2026) — It’s been nearly six years since Frank Heckenast Jr. tasted victory with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals. Friday night at Red Hill Raceway, the drought finally came to an end.

Heckenast, of Frankfort, IL, took the lead on Lap 12 of the main event and never looked back, winning by over four seconds at the big, 4/10-mile oval for career win No. 6 during the 40th anniversary season of the Hell Tour.

“Six years, sixth win — that’s a long time,” Heckenast said. “I’ve had a lot of seconds and a lot of thirds; these are just hard to win. People think if they just show up, they’re gonna win one because they’re out on the road or something. It’s not that easy.”

Heckenast took the green flag from the pole with two-time series champion Jason Feger starting to his outside. Feger got the jump on the initial start of the race but a caution for two cars tangling brought a complete restart with no laps completed.

Feger got another good launch on the second try at the start and looked to be in control until things got dicey in lap traffic on Lap 11. Series points leader, Tanner English, had worked his way into second and was challenging for the lead before a caution slowed that charge.

While Feger maintained the lead on the Lap 11 restart, Heckenast made the move on English for second down the backstretch. As the top three crossed the start/finish line to complete Lap 12, Feger slowed dramatically, revealing a flat right-rear tire as the caution was thrown once again.

With Feger in the pits for repairs, Heckenast inherited the lead for the restart with 26 laps left. What came next was domination from the No. 99JR, leading the rest of the distance unchallenged for his first Summer Nationals win since August 2020.

“I got into a little argument with my dad because I thought we needed two or three tenths in the heat there because Babb and Feger showed three more tenths than we did,” Heckenast said. “But the car felt good, steered good. Not sure what tires everyone put on; we didn’t even look. It was one of those nights where we had the phones down and the heads down and went with the feel of our ass and it worked out.”

English finished second, Sam Seawright finished third, Kyle Hardy was fourth, and Clay Stuckey finished sixth. Feger rebounded from the flat tire to finish sixth.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals celebrates July 4 at Highland Speedway in Highland, IL on Saturday.

How can you watch the DIRTcar Summer Nationals? Every race is live on DIRTVision.

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 2. 96-Tanner English[4]; 3. 16S-Sam Seawright[9]; 4. 99-Kyle Hardy[8]; 5. 15-Clay Stuckey[5]; 6. 25-Jason Feger[2]; 7. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[10]; 8. 74-Mitch McGrath[13]; 9. 31M-Tyler Millwood[6]; 10. 17SR-Brody Smith[18]; 11. 82B-Jason Milam[16]; 12. (DNF) 49-Luke Morey[15]; 13. (DNF) K67-Braiden Keller[12]; 14. (DNF) 17W-Lee Williams[11]; 15. (DNF) 81-Logan Mounce[20]; 16. (DNF) 51-Dean Carpenter[7]; 17. (DNF) 17-Jarrett Jones[14]; 18. (DNF) 80-Tucker Chastain[19]; 19. (DNF) 18-Shannon Babb[3]; 20. (DNF) 67-Gregory Carrico[23]; 21. (DNF) LIL91-Carter Schlenk[22]; 22. (DNF) 91-Rusty Schlenk[17]; 23. (DNF) 30-Mark Voigt[21]

Kentucky native Cole Falloway stormed into Illinois’ Red Hill Raceway Friday night and emerged a Feature winner with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals for the first time in 2026.

Falloway, of Owensboro, KY, made the pass for the lead slightly before the halfway point of the main event and never looked back, banking his fourth career Summit Modified Feature win.

Ray Bollinger led the field into Turn 1 before a two-car tangle in Turns 1 and 2 restacked the field for a complete restart.

Bollinger again took control of the race on the second attempt at the start until a Lap 9 red flag for a Christopher Cole tip over brought the race to a stop.

On the restart, Bollinger pulled away once more before slowing briefly in Turn 2, allowing Falloway drive by for the lead down the back stretch on Lap 11.

Falloway extended the advantage out to over five seconds over the remainder of the distance and crossed under the checkered flag for his second DIRTcar UMP Modified win at Red Hill in 2026.

“That red was good because my stuff was running a little hot before that, so it gave it a chance to come back down,” Falloway said. “I was kind of just biding my time behind [Bollinger], seeing where I could make a little bit more speed than he was. I don’t know what happened, he went off the pace, and I got into him a little bit. And then he got back going.”

Bollinger finished second, Zeke McKenzie was third, Levi Kissinger was fourth, and Matthew Baker rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals return to action on July 4 at Highland Speedway in Highland, IL.

How can you watch the Summit Modifieds? Every race is live on DIRTVision.

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 66-Cole Falloway[3]; 2. 77-Ray Bollinger[1]; 3. 24-Zeke McKenzie[4]; 4. 95K-Levi Kissinger[2]; 5. B5-Matthew Baker[6]; 6. 27G-Jason Garver[5]; 7. 37-Everett Bradham[7]; 8. 744-Justin Jones[11]; 9. 91K-Cody Kibby[8]; 10. (DNF) 2X-Wes Harms[15]; 11. (DNF) 7815-Brandon Justus[10]; 12. (DNF) 81C-Christopher Cole[9]; 13. (DNF) 43A-Larry Anderson[14]; 14. (DNF) 81K-Kyle Cole[13]; 15. (DNF) 22-Jordan Borgmann[16]; 16. (DNS) 118-Dustin Atchison