Darren Smith Stuns Oswego In Super DIRT Week Finale

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

OSWEGO, N.Y. (Oct. 10, 2026) – Who would have ever thought going in that Saturday night’s Billy Whittaker Cars 200, the headliner to Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub, would come down to the final few feet?

Not only was that exactly what happened, but the ultimate race winner came from seemingly nowhere to seal the deal and bank the $54,000 top prize.

Binghamton, N.Y., driver Darren Smith – with a fresh right-rear tire and a full head of steam late – roared from 16th to the lead over the final five laps of Racing’s Biggest Party, igniting the celebration with a thrilling crossover of four-time and defending ‘200’ winner Mat Williamson off the final corner.

Williamson tried to defend Smith by sliding up the racetrack across the nose of the black No. 12, but that got the Buzz Chew Chevrolet No. 88 sideways and allowed Smith to make his car stick as he crossed low.

From there, Smith roared past Williamson and took the checkered flag in front by .314 seconds for not only his first Super DIRT Week victory, but his first Super DIRTcar Series win period in his 89th feature start.

That made for a moment that Smith and his family team will never forget.

“This is one way to win your first series race at the biggest race of the year,” Smith said in victory lane. “We were digging and digging all week. We didn’t have the best car here tonight, but we didn’t give up. It’s a whole team effort. This is awesome.

“I can’t believe I’m standing here after the halfway break. If this is the only race I win, I’m happy with it. Thanks to all you race fans; I hope you enjoyed that.”

Saturday night’s Super DIRT Week finale was, truly, a tale of three acts. The first act came courtesy of polesitter Larry Wight, as Wight darted ahead from the initial green flag and led the opening half virtually unchallenged.

By the time the sixth caution of the race waved on lap 92 – a yellow for the expired engine of Marcus Dinkins that became the five-minute competition break – Wight had paced every one of the first 94 circuits in his red No. 99L and appeared to be the race’s dominant driver.

Appearances were deceiving, however.

Wight’s car quickly faded as the second half unfolded, with Williamson climbing to the fore on lap 106 and dirt modified racing’s two Alexes – Payne and Yankowski – quickly following suit into podium places as Wight eventually faded back outside the top five.

A 76-lap green flag run allowed Matt Sheppard, a 10-time Super DIRTcar Series champion and three-time winner of the ‘200’ – to methodically close in after starting 15th, eventually grabbing second place from Payne after the latter driver clipped the wall coming to 43 to go.

That set the stage for the ‘Mat and Matt Show’ down the stretch, with Sheppard closing to within feet of Williamson’s back bumper several times but unable to make a move past.

Then, chaos began to unfold, started by the shredded right-rear tire on Tanner Van Doren’s car with 30 to go. As it turned out, that was only a harbinger of things to come.

Sheppard slowed with a flat right rear at the 10-to-go signal, forcing him pit-side briefly for fresh rubber and setting the stage for a dramatic dash to the checkered flag.

‘Super Matt’ roared forward around the outside, restarting 20th but cracking the top 10 in just two circuits. By the time yet another yellow waved with five laps left, Sheppard was all the way back into fourth and appeared to be the sudden favorite for victory despite his troubles.

Sheppard paid that off for a moment, needing two restarts to complete the move but eventually soaring from fourth to first on lap 196 before Justin Stone slowed to a crawl to trigger the night’s 11th yellow flag.

At that moment, heartbreak finally struck again for Sheppard, who coasted to a halt out of fuel and could not return. Instead of a fourth ‘200’ victory, Sheppard ended up 23rd in the final rundown.

That misfortune handed the lead back to Williamson at that point, but behind the No. 88, Stone was lined up fourth and quietly looking to steal the glory.

Over the final four laps, Smith did just that, splitting Jimmy Phelps and Yankowski down the backstretch for second and chasing Williamson to the white flag.

After that, he put the No. 12 on the outside of turns three and four on the last lap, before crossing underneath Williamson’s sliding defense to lead only a fraction of the race – but the one fraction that mattered above all else.

It was a rise that Smith didn’t realize could even be possible before Sheppard’s fuel-tank woes struck in the dying moments of the race.

“When Sheppard stopped on the frontstretch, I said, ‘Oh boy, I’m the only one with fresh rubber here,’” Smith said. “Coming to the white flag, I didn’t get a good (Turn) 1 and 2. But then I got a run on the backstretch on Williamson, and then he moved up, and I went underneath him.

“Holy s**t, this is awesome.”

Williamson took a gut-wrenching second-place finish, running out of fuel on the cool-down lap after just missing out on his eighth overall Super DIRT Week victory at Oswego and fifth in big-block competition.

“I knew I was a third-place car at best when those guys took tires,” Williamson said. “Hats off to the whole Jeremy Smith racing team. Darren has been knocking on the door to these big races for a long time, so I wasn’t surprised it was him passing me there. 

“Just tried to keep the tires underneath it and hoped for a podium at the end. When Sheppard went by me, I knew we were going slower because he just took off. I think out of the rubber the car was as good as I could ask it to be.”

Yankowski, who was seeking a weekend sweep after topping the 358 Modified Salute to the Troops 150 on Friday evening, finished third and garnered his 17th straight Super DIRTcar Series top 10.

It leaves his point lead over Williamson at 96 with just five races remaining on the calendar.

Phelps was fourth and French Canadian Felix Roy closed the top five, elevated a position after original fifth-place finisher Mike Maresca was disqualified for being light across the scales.

The finish:

Billy Whittaker Cars 200 (200 laps): 1. 12-Darren Smith [7]; 2. 88-Mat Williamson [8]; 3. 84Y-Alex Yankowski [6]; 4. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [2]; 5. 91-Felix Roy [21]; 6. 83X-Tim Sears Jr. [12]; 7. 44-Stewart Friesen [32]; 8. 25-Erick Rudolph [31]; 9. 2-Jack Lehner [9]; 10. 26-Ryan Godown [17]; 11. 37S-Gary Lindberg [11]; 12. 21A-Peter Britten [14]; 13. 70A-Alex Payne [3]; 14. 28-Michael Trautschold [23]; 15. 99L-Larry Wight [1]; 16. 19-Tim Fuller [4]; 17. 3-Justin Haers [10]; 18. 9-Marc Johnson [24]; 19. 21C-Brian Calabrese [28]; 20. 35-Mike Mahaney [16]; 21. 27-Tanner Van Doren [29]; 22. 15X-Justin Stone [22]; 23. 9S-Matt Sheppard [15]; 24. 49-Billy Dunn [5]; 25. 4-Anthony Perrego [36]; 26. 30-Nicholas Root [18]; 27. 29K-Ryan Krachun [40]; 28. 11-Matt Caprara [27]; 29. 32R-Ronnie Davis III [34]; 30. 9M-Tim McCreadie [19]; 31. 3RS-Dalton Slack [33]; 32. 1-Tyler Dippel [26]; 33. 7M-Paul Mancini [39]; 34. 17-Marcus Dinkins [38]; 35. 29-Garrett Krummert [13]; 36. 35C-Chris Curtis [25]; 37. 92-Andrew Buff [30]; 38. 25P-Michael Parent [35]; 39. 6-Matt Stangle [37]; DQ: 7MM-Michael Maresca [20].