Brogan Carder is using the time available to log as many laps as he can to become one of the top drivers with the American Sprint Car Series.
After competing with the National Tour as a rookie in 2025, the Sioux Falls, SD teenager is using his sophomore year to apply the first-year lessons and the notes gathered through the first half of the 2026 season.
“I think definitely one of the biggest things is that all the tracks we’ve gone back to, I have an idea of how the track’s going to play out,” Carder said. “I can communicate that to my team, and what we have now, one of our guys joined us halfway through last year, so it’s his first time going to these places too.
“The notes weren’t very good because we were struggling to make it out of the (Last Chance Showdown). So this time, we’re testing new things in Hot Laps and Qualifying so we can run better in the Heat race and come Feature time. It’s a mix of things, really.”
Carder has shown an overall improvement throughout the first half of the season. He’s started 14 of 15 Features contested, scored two top-10s – the most he’s scored in a season – and tied his all-time highest ASCS finish at 81 Speedway (eighth).
While the “Dakota Outlaw” is glad that the results show the work his team has poured into the program, he’s looking to form a pattern of consistently racing inside the top-10 and top five each night.
“I can definitely say that I’m not unhappy, but I definitely think they can be better,” Carder said. “I think it’s more so driver mistakes, being on track and the positions I put myself in. I think our results could be a lot better because what shows on film is a lot better than the results on the track.
“Every time we’re on track, I’m still learning things as we go. With the seat time I’ve had, it’s so much more beneficial to see these tracks for a second time because we already have a notebook to build from, so hopefully we can keep up the momentum. I think I just need a little more seat time so I can get a little bit more comfortable than I already am.”
Next on the docket for the 15-year-old is a visit to Dodge City Raceway Park for the Steve King Memorial. While he didn’t make the Feature in his maiden voyage to the Kansas 3/8-mile, Carder enjoyed the experience at the track as he gets the chance to prove himself in the No. 88C Triple X Chassis.
“I liked Dodge a lot when I went there last year,” Carder said. “The results didn’t really show that I did very well, and the notes that we got weren’t very good. Hopefully we can go into this weekend where I can carry our momentum from the earlier races there. I think we can do well and do a lot better than we did last year, make the (Feature) and hopefully compete for a top 10 or top five.”
After Dodge City, he’ll be part of the inaugural ASCS National Tour visits to Worthington Speedway and Viking Speedway as part of the Rock On Trucks Gopher State 360 Sprint Car Challenge.
While the two tracks are brand new to the Series, Carder has prepared for the moment. He visited Worthington three times in 2026, finishing a high of fourth on May 28. Viking will be a first-time experience when the National Tour arrives on Saturday, Aug. 1.
“It’s like a small 3/8-mile, but it’s hard to judge what it’s gonna do because it’s been different the three times we’ve been there,” Carder said. “Having laps before the National Tour comes in is as beneficial as anything else. The first time we went, it didn’t really slick off until the end, then it took rubber the last time we went.
“It’s a tricky track to read because they don’t normally have Sprint Cars on it a whole lot. They’re still trying to get used to prepping it for Sprint Cars and trying to make it a good show for the fans. So hopefully we can get a good run there with the good notes we’ve been able to add.”
Carder’s progression in ASCS has earned him a seventh-place points standing with the second half of the year on the horizon as multiple tracks on the schedule make him optimistic for what is ahead in the campaign.
“I think we have a lot better notes, and I was a lot better in the second half of the season than in the first half,” Carder said. “I think we’ll be able to do a lot better this year because we have good notes that we can base our new setups on. I think the Montana swing, we had a pretty good run at almost every track. We had some unfortunate luck on some of the nights, but I think with our experience, we should be able to run up front this year.”
The South Dakota racer will continue his sophomore season with the ASCS National Tour at Dodge City for the Steve King Memorial on Saturday, July 25.
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
This article was republished with permission from the American Sprint Car Series. The original article can be found here: https://ascsracing.com/news/brogan-carder-improves-in-sophomore-ascs-season-chasing-strong-finish-to-2026/.
0 Comments