The Gateway Dirt Nationals announced that 130 drivers and their teams will compete at The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri this December 3-5.
66 teams will race on Thursday night while 64 will compete on Friday night for preliminary competition. The Gateway Dirt Nationals format sees a full racing program on both Thursday and Friday night that includes hot laps, qualifying, heat races, B-Mains, and finally a 25-lap feature. The top three finishers in the feature from both nights will lock themselves into the Saturday night main event.
Those who finish in positions fourth through ninth in their respective feature on Thursday and Friday will compete in one of six Qualifier Races on Saturday. Everyone else will go to one of three 12-lap Non-Qualifier races. The Non-Qualifier races will take place at the beginning of Saturday’s program and will see the top two finishers transfer into one of the Qualifier Races.
The Qualifier Races will be 10 laps with the top two transferring into the main event. Those who finish in positions 3rd and 4th will compete in a Last Chance race. Only the winner of the Last Chance race will advance to the main event.
The purse for this year’s event has not yet been announced, but last year the main event paid $70,000 to-win while the preliminary features on Thursday and Friday paid $10,000 to-win.
Thursday Night Preliminary Entry List
- Bobby Pierce
- Tyler Carpenter
- Jason Feger
- Tanner English
- Ashton Winger
- Josh Rice
- Jonathan Davenport
- Shannon Babb
- Ryan Unzicker
- Ryan Gustin
- Mark Whitener
- Steve Sheppard Jr.
- Brian Shirley
- Ethan Dotson
- Jadon Frame
- Trevor Gundaker
- Dallon Murty
- Benji Hicks
- Jimmy Owens
- Jason Jameson
- Trey Mills
- Carson Hocevar
- Mike Harrison
- Chris Simpson
- Jake Little
- Justin Duty
- Jason Welshan
- Rich Bell
- Chad Zobrist
- Sam Seawright
- Carter Schlenk
- Jack Riggs
- Corey DeLancey
- Ryan Montgomery
- Dillon McCowan
- Dylan Thompson
- Patrik Daniel
- Logan Zarin
- Brody Smith
- Clay Stuckey
- Dalton Cook
- Mike Mataragas
- Laela Eisenschenk
- Austin Howes
- Derek Fetter
- Aaron Reutzel
- Mario Gresham
- Scott Bell
- Brenden Queen
- Clay Harris
- Devin Gilpin
- Chris Fetter
- Jonathan Lee
- Adam Wright
- Kyle Steffens
- Nick Corbett
- Zachary Zeitner
- Jonathan Mitchell
- Chevy Boyer
- Miles Cook II
- Tyler Bare
- Manny Falcon Jr.
- Jordan Barbee
- Lance Brasington
- Matt Norman
- Callan Hill
Friday Night Preliminary Entry List
- Brandon Sheppard
- Nick Hoffman
- Ricky Thornton Jr.
- Tyler Erb
- Devin Moran
- Hudson O’Neal
- Mike Spatola
- Gordy Gundaker
- Drake Troutman
- Garrett Alberson
- Dan Ebert
- Dylan Thornton
- Rusty Schlenk
- Kyle Strickler
- Kyle Bronson
- Joseph Joiner
- Brenden Smith
- Tyler Peterson
- Zack Dohm
- Kyle Hammer
- Bob Gardner
- Wil Herrington
- Freddie Carpenter
- Mike Marlar
- Jake Timm
- Myles Moos
- Dave Hess Jr.
- Michael Leach
- Daniel Adam
- Cody Overton
- Amelia Eisenschenk
- Michael Page
- Chris Carpenter
- Jason Riggs
- Luke Morey
- Donny Schatz
- Kyle Hardy
- Cody Bauer
- Evan Koehler
- Jeffrey Ledford
- Charlie Mefford
- Cleetus McFarland
- James Trantina III
- Rick Eckert
- Seth Daniels
- Hayden Cardwell
- Gavin Cowan
- Colin Shipley
- Eli Johnson
- Michael King Jr.
- Joey Tanner
- Jeff Provinzino
- Skylar Marlar
- Tanner Collins
- Waylan Vining
- Dustin Linville
- Troy Morris III
- Devon Morgan
- Rusty Griffaw
- Brody Yarbrough
- Lucas Lowery
- Jonathan Woods
- Timothy Isenberg
- Matt Koch
Some notable absences from the entry list include Jonathan Beason, Brandon Overton, Carson Ferguson, Max Blair and Tim McCreadie.
Beason, a Tulsa Shootout champion, announced back in July that he had been invited to compete, but he needed a ride. It appears that he was unable to secure one.
Tim McCreadie previously competed in the event back in 2018, but has not competed since then. So it’s not a big surprise that he is not there this year. He finished 13th in the main event on Saturday that year.
Brandon Overton competed in the event the last two years. He finished 14th in the Saturday night feature in 2024. He did not make the feature in 2025.
Carson Ferguson raced in the event the past three years, but failed to make the main event each year. He finished 9th in his preliminary feature in 2024.
Blair finished sixth in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points, but he’s never competed in the Dome before.
NEXT: Mark Richards Explains Why He Wants Race Purses More Evenly Spread Throughout The Field


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