DIRTcar Summer Nationals / Summit Modifieds

As the DIRTcar Summer Nationals begins to wind down in the home stretch, Tanner English is still bringing the heat.

The Benton, KY-racer led the final 28 laps of the main event Thursday night at Butler Motor Speedway to get his tenth career Hell Tour triumph and his fourth win of the summer. 2026 has been a summer that has seen him finish in the top 10 every start he’s made thus far on tour except one, showing just how dominant a force English has been in 2026.

“It’s just amazing when things start falling your way, they just fall your way. It’s been a great year, and I can’t thank everybody enough,” English said. “I think we pretty much got the national deal wrapped up since Jason (Feger) is gone, which is a big weight off my shoulders. We still got work to do and we’re just going to try to win every race from here on it, that’s the goal. Now I feel like we can try some stuff and get out of our comfort zone to get even better.”

Michigan native Chad Finley led the field to green in the 30-lap main event with points leader English on the outside of the front row. Finley got a good start on the initial green flag and led the opening lap of the Summer Nationals’ seventh appearance at Butler.

English found the bottom lane was clear and showed the nose to Finley as the No. 42 washed high exiting Turn 4. Finley and English drag raced to the line and English led by only .012 seconds over Finley on Lap 2.

English nailed the bottom once more as Finley struggled to find traction on the top in Turns 1 and 2, which allowed English to pull away on Lap 3. Finley began to backtrack a bit as Ryan Unzicker found some traction on the top side of the speedway and moved around Finley down the back stretch to take second place.

Unzicker began to close English’s gap in lap traffic on Lap 10 as he continued to make the top work around Butler. But English was consistent on the bottom, maintaining space between himself and Unzicker over the next 20 laps as he drove the field back around to collect his fourth checkered flag in the last nine races on the Hell Tour.

“I dreaded every car I got to because it was pretty bottom dominant, but I kind of surprised myself a few times when I’d go to the outside and I’d get right around them,” English said. “The slower cars were keeping a really good pace and were hard to pass. It was just really dirty and there was nothing much outside the bottom. I was counting laps and looking for that white flag.”

Unzicker finished second, Finley finished third, Frank Heckenast Jr. rebounded after a broken rear end last night to finish fourth, and Luke Morey rounded out the top five.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals heads to Crystal Motor Speedway in Crystal, MI, on Thursday, July 9. Tickets will be sold at the track on race day.

How can you watch every DIRTcar Summer Nationals race if you can’t be at the track? Every race is broadcasted live on DIRTVision.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 96-Tanner English[2]; 2. 24-Ryan Unzicker[6]; 3. 42-Chad Finley[1]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 5. 49-Luke Morey[5]; 6. 16S-Sam Seawright[12]; 7. 89-Mike Spatola[9]; 8. LIL91-Carter Schlenk[4]; 9. 6M-Dona Marcoullier[8]; 10. 41-Mike Vandermark Jr[11]; 11. 27-Eric Spangler[7]; 12. 19M-Carter Murday[10]; 13. 21B-Rich Bell[14]; 14. 18-Chase Burda[16]; 15. 32-Chad Roush[13]; 16. 4-Travis Stemler[17]; 17. 74-Mitch McGrath[19]; 18. 07-Rylee Knoll[15]; 19. 30-Mark Voigt[22]; 20. 46-Colin Shipley[18]; 21. 15-Austin Harnick[21]; 22. 1*-Kyle Moore[20]

David Stremme had gone his whole career without winning with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals before this week. After 25 laps around Butler Motor Speedway, he’s now won two-in-a-row.

Stremme, of Mifflintown, PA, made it back-to-back victories with the Summit Modifieds Friday night after first going to Victory Lane Thursday at I-96 Speedway. The 49-year-old led every circuit around the 3/8-mile oval of Butler, continuing to spearhead his self-built Lethal Chassis company and carry the brand’s name into Victory Lane.

“We just keep working, I mean everyone. All of our customers, our partners, we all just keep working at it,” Stremme said. “Probably a month ago, we started on a new package and this all has to do with everyone involved. The guys at the shop, our friends, everybody that plays a part in it. They’re not easy, so we’ll keep after it.”

Stremme and Indiana native Dillon Nusbaum led the field to green, and it was Stremme who got the jump on the outside lane of the speedway in Turn 4 to lead the opening lap.

Stremme then hit lap traffic on Lap 8 and vacated the bottom lane that was working so well for him. However, a restart on Lap 10 gave the No. 35 a clear track and his preferred bottom lane back.

Stremme continued to be patient over the final 15 laps, surviving an additional restart and leading the field back around to the checkered flag unchallenged to seal the victory.

“I knew I had to be aggressive with Dillon (Nusbaum) — this is his home track and he runs good here. I knew I had to give it everything right at the beginning. It was a way different mentality because last night you didn’t know where they were running and tonight you knew if you carried speed on the bottom, everything was good. We’ve had a lot of fun the last couple days.”

Nusbaum finished second, Tyler Spalding was third, Zeke McKenzie was fourth, and Mike McKinnney finished fifth.

UP NEXT

The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds head to Crystal Motor Speedway in Crystal, MI, on Friday, July 9.

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

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 35-David Stremme[2]; 2. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[1]; 3. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[5]; 4. 24-Zeke McKenzie[3]; 5. 96M-Mike McKinney[4]; 6. 14-Dalton Lane[7]; 7. 5CS-Curt Spalding[6]; 8. B5-Matthew Baker[8]; 9. 45-Robby Henderson[9]; 10. 65-Todd Sherman[10]; 11. 8C-Corey Bevard[11]; 12. 9R-Garrett Rons[13]; 13. 5D-David VanGuilder[15]; 14. 82-Brennan Sherman[18]; 15. T23-John Toppozini[12]; 16. 17J-Jarrod Klay[16]; 17. 1A-Andrew Hollister[14]; 18. 18B-Bradley Inman[17]; 19. 84-Brandon Beeching[22]; 20. 11-Tyler Morehouse[19]; 21. 14S-Terry Sroufe[20]; 22. 41-Connor Stetler[21]