The Left Turn
By: Ron Burt
In USAC D2 Midwest Thunder Midget news, Tyler Nelson won his second straight Championship. The Olathe Kansas racer had 3 feature victories this season defending his title. He had a series-leading 10 top five’s, 13 top ten’s, three fast qualifying times, and seven heat race wins during the 13-race series to defeat Bryce Massingill by a 40-point margin in the final tally.
This year, Nelson quadrupled his career win count from one to four throughout the 2026 campaign. Along the way, he increased his average feature finishing position from 4.5 to 4.3 between 2025 to 2026. His goal coming this season, he wanted to up his game on the racetracks that had the upper hand on him in recent years.
2026 was a dog fight throughout much of the season, the point lead exchanged hands between Nelson, Matt Lux, and Bryce Massingill. However, with his fifth to first run to winning the next to last race in September at Putnamville, IN Lincoln Park Speedway, Nelson vaulted into the point lead for good. He sealed the deal with a solid fifth place result in the October finale at Indiana’s Montpelier Speedway. Nelson became the third driver in the 11-year history of the series to capture consecutive titles: Aaron Leffel (2017, 2018 & 2019) and Jacob Denney (2020 & 2021).
Bryce Massingill finished inside the top three of the standings for the sixth year in a row. He was 3rd with the series in 2021, 2nd in 2022, 2nd in 2023, 1st in 2024, 3rd in 2025, and 2nd in 2026. The all-time winningest driver in series history (23) and a current University of Northwestern Ohio collegiate bowler added five more wins to his total in 2026, all in the latter half of the year. After going winless for 364 straight nights, he was victorious in five of the final eight races. His wins came at Moler (2), Millstream, Circle City, and Montpelier. Massingill also led a series high 96 laps and equaled Nelson as the series leader with 10 top five’s and seven heat race wins.
Matt Lux started the season strong ending up third in the standings with one victory to his credit during the season. His lone win came in the season opener at Indiana’s Montpelier Speedway. Lux made his biggest charge of the season in the series finale at Montpelier, gaining 16 positions after starting 22nd and finishing 6th.
Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out!
