The high-intensity world of 410 sprint car racing brought some of the best drivers in the world to Arizona, alongside two spectacular nights of racing. One night still remains in the 2026 High Limit Racing Cactus Classic at Central Arizona Raceway as the weekend finale takes center stage on Saturday night.
Thursday’s opening night belonged to defending series champion and fan favorite, Rico Abreu, who delivered his first win with Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing in just their fourth start together. A race full of chaos saw contenders like inaugural series champion Brad Sweet as well as James McFadden fall out of contention. Abreu found himself in a duel with a high-tempo Tanner Thorson,ripping the lead away after a restart. Abreu’s victory marked his 26th win with High Limit Racing, extending his lead as the series all-time wins leader. Thorson settled for second with Daison Pursley charging from 10th to round out the podium.
If Thursday was Abreu’s statement with Tony Stewart, Friday was Thorson’s breakthrough evening.
After knocking on the door all season as the only driver to finish in the top five in all five races to start the season, Thorson finally kicked it down. Starting third, he tracked down early leader Aaron Reutzel and slid around Reutzel in traffic by Lap 8. From there, the Rod Gross Motorsports driver sailed away and executed on a late restart to secure his first win of the year. Reutzel retained the second position, while Abreu added another strong finish, slipping past Tyler Courtney on the final lap to grab third.
Earning the most event points over Thursday and Friday, the top three of Tanner Thorson (149 points), Rico Abreu (145), and Giovanni Scelzi (124) are locked in to start 4th in each of Saturday’s Heat Races if they’re the fastest qualifiers in the program. As long as 32 or more cars sign-in to tonight’s finale, Kerry Madsen (122) will also earn that honor to bypass Qualifying and start in a prime spot.
The weekend has ran alongside NHRA in Chandler at Firebird Motorsports Park for the Arizona Nationals. A slew of NHRA drag racers have made the trip to Casa Grande to support 410 sprint car racing and many sprint car drivers plan to support the drag races during Sunday’s final rounds.
The final night of the High Limit Racing Sprint Cars at Central Arizona Raceway takes the green flag on Saturday. Gates open at 4:00 pm with racing beginning at 7:30 pm. The next stop for High Limit Racing will be New Mexico’s Vado Speedway Park on Tuesday, March 24, as the series will race live on national television on FS1 for the first time in 2026.
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Devon Henry
Arizona native, Devon Henry, joined the Sports360AZ crew in 2018 after graduating from Arizona State's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Devon has avidly partaken in coverage of the Arizona high school sports scene since 2013 and has covered NASCAR and INDYCAR at Phoenix Raceway since 2017. Devon is also a play-by-play announcer, calling over a dozen different sports and hundreds of events.