Ashton Winger issued a response after the MARS Tour disqualified his win during the FALS Frenzy at Fairbury Speedway during the series finale after a failed tire test.

In a penalty report, the series stated, “A tire sample was taken at the conclusion of the feature event and sent into an independent laboratory for testing of chemically altering substances, just as the tour does nightly as a routine procedure. The test revealed that the tire did not meet the benchmarks provided by Hoosier Racing Tire. Following these results, additional testing was done on sample ‘B’ that was taken on the same night, from the same tire in question, and the chemical analysis confirmed the same findings as sample ‘A’ did.”

Given the failed tire test, the series fined Winger $12,000, which is what he earned from initially winning the race. It also added in $50 in contingency money, $200 for the tire analysis fee, and $125 for the overnight shipment of sample “B” to the lab. He also forfeited all points from the night and will be suspended for the first five events of the 2026. Additionally, he’s been put on probation for the entire 2026 season.

Winger responded to the report and shared his side of the story writing on Facebook, “I received a call this morning, and was informed that my right rear tire from the Saturday feature at the Fals Frenzy came back dirty. When I received the call, I was dumbfounded. While I know I joke around a lot, myself, and our entire team have always tried to play by the rules and race within the boundaries and guidelines set and race as fair as the guidelines set. I buy my tires from one source and one source only and those tires are cut, buffed, siped, and wrapped by one person on my team and then put in the trailer and put on throughout the night as we need them how the track changes.”

Winger then revealed he had failed a tire test at Magnolia earlier in the year as well, “I also received a call about two months ago that I had a left rear tire, completely different compound, different corner come back dirty after a feature at Magnolia hence why I was not at the Clash at the Mag a month later. Once again, dumbfounded, whenever I first received a call.”

Next, he expressed frustration at the lack of an appeals process, “But in all honesty to shed some light on it, there is literally nothing you can do as far as an appeal process. It pretty much boils down to just somebody saying you’re out and there is nothing you can do to clear your name. No other lab, no lie detector, nothing.”

From there, Winger made it clear he was not trying to “bash a series, bash a lab, or bash a person;” however, he called for “common sense” and elaborated a little bit more on why he was dumbfounded especially after the first disqualification at Magnolia, “hen I was thrown out from Magnolia, we had won the weekend before and everything came back fine, after magnolia I had won a race of pretty high caliber in my opinion and was sampled numerous times throughout the night and everything came back fine. I’m not sure how things can go good, good, bad, good, good, bad and in all actuality, maybe it’s not for me to understand and that’s fine.”

“I’m not on here to argue. I’m not on here to go back-and-forth with people in the comments,” he continued. “People are going to think whatever they want to think and that is fine. I just wanted to get on here and say what happened from my point of view before other people started making up random stories. I hope that in all of this, this never happens to anybody else because I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy, because it truly is a helpless feeling to know that you have not done anything and have people come in and say you’re out and there is nothing you can do.”

“Whether you love me, whether you hate me I come just as I am. I call it how it is and I appreciate everybody for all they have done for me and anyone who has a hand in helping me get to where I am lucky to be. Just to emphasize, I’m not bashing anyone, any lab, or any series, I believe in handling things behind closed doors until we know all of the facts. It’s just really confusing,” he concluded.

Winger is not the only driver to express frustration about tire penalties. Infamously, Bobby Pierce denied any wrongdoing after the World of Outlaws ruled that one of his tires taken at Volusia Speedway Park last year failed a tire test.

Like Winger, Pierce expressed frustration with an inability to know all the information or even challenge it. He wrote, “I have no idea what the lab results truly were or what the graphs look like. I have had no explanations. The public should be able to know what is going on. But especially me! I’ve been tossed into the corner and made a non-priority from my friends at World Racing Group.”

Pierce added, “Hundreds of racers have reached out to me with how they’ve been through the same thing. Wrongly accused & nobody cares, but how do we band together to stop this? I remember when it wasn’t myself in this situation. It was easy to feel as if someone was cheating, & to agree with their penalties. Because yeah some do cheat.”

He then went on to blame Blue Ridge Laboratories in North Carolina as well as Hoosier, “It all comes back to a similar lab. A similar tire company. A similar trend. And some of us are really paying the price for something we didn’t do. If you win enough races & get your tires sampled a lot, your time is coming too. We gotta hold these places accountable & do a better job. I should get a second or third test from different labs. We need more up to date benchmarks! WoO should keep any tire in question for future appeals.”

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