Dale McDowell will return to the Sunshine Nationals to kick off 2026 at Volusia Speedway Park.

The World of Outlaws Late Models made the announcement in a post to Facebook, “Mac Daddy is locked in for Sunshine Nats. Dale McDowell is set to open his 2026 season at Volusia Speedway Park Jan. 22-24!”

On top of the World of Outlaws Late Models announcement on Facebook, McDowell’s MyRacePass profile also indicates he will be at Volusia Speedway Park for practice night on January 21st for the 10th Annual Sunshine Nationals.

The announcement comes as a little bit of a surprise as McDowell told StockCarReport.com during the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte that he was not planning on competing during Speedweeks. He said, “I think we’re going to do about the same thing. Don’t think we’ll race any through Speedweeks as of right now.”

However, McDowell has competed in Speedweeks the last few years. This past year he competed in the 81J with Riggs Motorsports in the Sunhsine Nationals where he finished 9th and 11th in B-Mains.

In 2024, he competed in his iconic 17M and finished 7th in the first night and then 29th in the second night with the World of Outlaws. In 2023, he was also in his Shane McDowell Racing 17M. He finished 6th and 16th in the DIRTcar portion of the Sunshine Nationals and then 6th and 25th with the World of Outlaws.

In 2022, McDowell won the first night with the World of Outlaws and was second in night two. McDowell was strong to start in 2021 starting on the pole, but unfortunately DNF’d and finished 22nd in the opening night race. After a rain out for night two, he finished 9th in the second and final race.

McDowell’s win in 2022 makes him one of just 8 drivers who have won a Sunshine Nationals feature since 2021. The other winners include: Kyle Bronson, Kyle Strickler, Ashton Winger, Devin Moran, Hudson O’Neal, and this past year’s winners Ryan Gustin and Garrett Alberson.

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