Tanner Holmes shared his perspective and thoughts on the scary front stretch wreck that occurred at Lakeside Speedway during High Limit Racing competition on Saturday night.
On a restart with 23 laps to go, Aaron Reutzel, who was in the 7th position, darted to the outside of the track in order to get a huge run. After Holmes went up to the top of the track down the straightaway, Reutzel drove down the middle and then slid him into turn 1. It was not a clean slider as Reutzel’s right rear made contact with Holmes’ left front. Nevertheless, he completed the pass. However, it would be all for naught as the caution flag would come back out for Kaleb Johnson before the lap was completed.
On the next restart, Reutzel made the same move. He darted to the outside again, but this time, he did not move back down to the middle and tried to drive around Holmes. However, Holmes moved up the track just as Reutzel had gotten to his outside. The two made contact and it sent Reutzel’s car spinning like a helicopter up into the air. As he got airborne, Myers Jr. had nowhere to go and drove underneath Reutzel resulting in a huge impact. That sent Myer’s car tumbling down the front stretch and into the entry of the corner. He then got slammed into by Chris Martin. That sent Myers into another set of flips and rolls while Martin also went rolling up the top of the track. Myers ended up upside after the impact from Martin.
The wreck also involved Justin Henderson, Kerry Madsen, Rico Abreu, Ryan Timms, Brent Marks, and Justin Peck.
🚨 All drivers are out of their cars and okay after a HORRIBLE crash in the @HighLimitRacing feature at @Lakeside_Spdwy!
#HighLimitRacing | October 9-10 | Live on FloRacing 📺 https://t.co/bImMHdqg1c
— FloRacing (@FloRacing) October 11, 2026
Holmes shared his thoughts following his fourth place finish in a video post to Facebook. First, he addressed the initial restart on lap 23 that was reset following the incident with Johnson.
He said, “I got in the cushion a little bit weird. But still the 87 (Reutzel) slid across and I got on the brakes as quick as I could ’cause it was coming at me. So I lifted. We hit. I think [Tyler] Courtney might’ve got by. … Cars kinda went everywhere ’cause everyone was fighting to get to the top lane grip. If you start on the inside, you were trying to shoot across or if you start on the top like you’re just trying to get your momentum built up. … I was just lucky I made it out of there.”
Next, he broke down the restart where the wreck occurred, “Single file restart. We’re kinda timing it. We’re kinda timing it. [Giovannia Scelzi’s] bringing us down through the middle of 3 and 4 and he’s obviously going to restart on the bottom. So I’m following. I take off. I go down the front stretch and I’m purely racing off what’s in front of me.”
“Gio’s obviously, probably going to go to the top,” he continued. “Brady [Bacon] and Daison [Pursley], I felt like they were going to maybe not go to the top because it’s hard for Brady, who is like in second, to follow in the dirty air of the lead car sometimes. So is he going to try and slide Gio, is he going to run the bottom? And then with Daison knowing that he’s going to go do something, I’m like maybe he’s going—. I could just tell that both of them might move and we’re going to make split second decisions basically at the end of the straightaway depending on what the other guys were doing.”
“So, myself, I was like, ‘Man, this might be an opportunity for me to commit to the top. And if I can get a run on these guys as they all start racing each other maybe that’s my chance.’ Because once we all get spread out, man, it was tough to run someone down. Anyway, take off. And I’m going up the straightaway and I’m like committing. Like, ‘Hey, I’m going to the top.’ I knew right about before the flag stand I’m going.”
“Well sure enough I get to the flag stand and I feel a car hit. I feel like something, ‘Okay, that was weird.’ And I bounce and slam down. Right rear starts—. Right away my thought is do I have a right rear flat, something’s wrong with the suspension because any time you slam the back of the car you could break something: rear arm, or you twist the torsion bars a little bit, or the shocks. You just don’t know. ”
“And, obviously, right away under red I realized they’re hauling a bunch of cars off,” Holmes said. “Obviously, a crash just occurred. Obviously, in the moment I had no idea what everything looked like. I got out of the car and was able to watch it.”
After watching the replay, he said, “My thoughts, just to be upfront, obviously, it’s a really unfortunate deal. No one ever wants to see that many cars tore up, no one wants to see anyone potentially hurt. … You never want to see that. Lakeside, we’re going way too fast, man, to have a big crash and have stuff get tore up, and tear up good race cars.”
Holmes then shared if he would have done anything different, “There is zero I would have done different. I really believe that. I stayed in line on the start. I fired with the guys. There’s no way I could’ve done the whole—. The father back in the pack you are — to just break down the restart situations — the more you have the opportunity to kind of do what the 87 did. You can time it, jump out of line, get that line. Me being closer to the front, just even two cars, we were working our way down the track. I had to fire, stay in line, and I was driving off the three cars in front of me.”
“Just one of those deals,” Holmes continued. “I understand what the 87 was trying to do. He was trying to get a run. And you’re trying to take advantage of the restart because it’s really hard to pass once we all get moving at Lakeside. Just one of those things that I think it’s just kinda the risks you take that way. And sometimes it works. We know guys have done it before, obviously, This isn’t the first time.”
“From my point of view, there was literally nothing I could have done different. I felt like I did exactly what I needed to do as my spot running fourth and that is what it is. Unfortunate deal.”
He later concluded, “I don’t think there’s any intent from anyone. No one wants to see anything like that. Everyone has to look at it from their own point of view, but my point of view, there was just nothing I could’ve done different. Crazy to think that I fired off on the restart and I like, obviously, not expecting a car above me. It is what it is. Just part of it. You do this sport long enough, I’ve been on the right end like that and I’ve also been in the wrong end in situations. You chalk it up and we move on to the next one.”
Holmes and High Limit Racing are back in action for the season finale doubleheader at Texas Motor Speedway this upcoming weekend on October 16-17. Holmes is currently 8th in the championship chase, 403 points behind Rico Abreu. While a championship is out of reach for his rookie year, he is within striking distance of Tanner Thorson for 7th place. He is just 24 points behind Thorson. Brent Marks in 6th place is also just 50 points ahead of him.
Marks is going to be tough to track down as the largest point swing one can get in a single race is 57 points (77 points for winning and 20 show-up points for drivers that don’t qualify for the A-Main). Thorson is within reach, but even he might be tough to pass if both drivers continue to perform the way they have since September. Thorson has averaged a 9th place finish while Holmes has averaged a 5.71. So, if Thorson has two 9th place finishes at Texas while Holmes has two 5th place finishes, Thorson would still best Holmes by 8 points.
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