Archive for category: Tyler Ross

Coming off back-to-back top-ten finishes, including a podium, to open the month of March, Tyler Ross was feeling good about the team’s speed and fast start.

As a veteran 410 sprint car racer, Ross knows every day is a new day and nothing in the sport is guaranteed.  You control what you can control and hope that is good enough to produce the results you want.

UPS AND DOWNS

On March 22nd, Ross ventured to Williams Grove Speedway for their season-opener.  An undesirable pill draw put the Lincoln University, PA driver behind the eight ball from the start of the night.  Despite moving forward in the heat, it was only good enough to earn the 19th starting spot for the 25-lap A-main.

Ross worked his way up to 16th by lap ten, but his progress had stalled, and with the daytime surface making passing difficult, he opted to save his equipment.

“We have to make smart choices with our resources.  It’s how the sport is for most teams these days.  It’s just not worth it to put laps on our motor and use up our equipment when we are running mid-pack or worse,” Ross explained.

One week later, Ross unloaded at BAPS Motor Speedway and got back on track.  He timed 5th quickest in his group, moved forward in his heat race, started 13th in the 30-lap A-main, and converted it into an 8th-place finish on a top-dominant surface that saw slide jobs used as the primary means of forward progress.

Ross returned to The Grove to open the month of April, and despite being down a cylinder at times throughout the night, turned in another top-ten finish.  A solid 7th to 4th performance in his heat race put him 11th on the grid for the main event, and his efforts resulted in a 7th-place finish.

The following night, the team was back at Lincoln Speedway, where they had been running very well thus far in 2026.  This night started well enough with a 5th-place heat race performance.  In the feature, Ross had quickly moved from 14th to 10th in the early going when disaster struck.  He was left with nowhere to go when a crash unfolded in front of him.  The damage was limited, thankfully, but it ended his night.

“We were really going good until that incident.  We definitely had a top-ten car…and honestly, I think we were good enough to get to the top five,” Ross lamented.

“We were fortunate to even be here.  Shout out to the guys at Don Ott Racing engines.  We stopped by there today, and they quickly found the cause of last night’s cylinder issue and fixed us up so we could race tonight.”

SUMMING IT UP

The two recent top-ten finishes, bookended by two DNFs, are not what Ross focuses on.  That’s not how Ross Racing measures success.  

“Finishes never tell the whole story.  Our entire team is happy right now because we have had speed and we have been passing cars,” Ross said.

“I’m really looking forward to time trial shows where we have more control of our night.  I think we are going to be just fine.  The podiums and wins will come if we keep doing what we are doing.”

The stats certainly back up Ross’s perspective.  He is +20 positions in heat race and feature finishes combined, in which he has seen the checkered flag thus far in 2026.

LOOKING AHEAD

Ross’s next race will be this weekend at BAPS Motor Speedway when the track hosts 410 sprint cars at 5 pm on Sunday, April 12th.

Fans should follow “Ross Racing 5” on Facebook to keep up with schedule updates and news throughout Tyler’s season!

Three weeks ago at Williams Grove’s National Open, Tyler Ross and Ross Racing solved a challenge that had plagued the team most of the season.  As a result, he scored a 13th-place finish in the prestigious event.  More importantly, it boosted confidence and morale.

Less than one week later, Ross prepared for two more rounds with the World of Outlaws, hoping to continue the newfound momentum.

GAME OF INCHES

The two-race weekend against the PA Posse’s longtime foe, the Outlaws, kicked off on neutral turf at New Egypt Speedway in New Jersey.

After a respectable qualifying run and heat race finish, Ross started 15th in the 30-lap A-main.  

Just a few laps into the race, Ross had surged inside the top ten before it all unraveled.  On an early restart, he hopped the right rear of another car and ended up at the back of the field.

“Our results don’t show the speed we had.  The guys gave me a really good car.  I really feel we had a solid top-ten car if not for the contact on the restart,” a disappointed Ross said.

LEMONADE OUT OF LEMONS

Ross was looking forward to taking on the touring series at his weekly home, Lincoln Speedway in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania.

The Lincoln University, PA driver qualified 11th in his flight, then looked to move forward from his heat race starting spot outside row three.  In close quarters on the start, Ross got a piece of another car’s right rear tire.  It was enough to upset the Bush Auto Group, Fastrak Express Inc., Stateline Truck and Trailer, Stoltzfus Farm Service / Kubota ™️, Betts Garage No.5, and drop him to the back of the field.  Recovering the lost track position proved to be difficult with a narrow racing groove.

Ross utilized a track provisional to join the field for the 35-lap feature, taking the green flag from the 26th starting spot.  

He wasted no time, racing his way to 16th by lap thirteen.  Ross went on to pass a total of thirteen cars to finish 13th.  It was a stellar recovery from a disappointing start to the night.

“Man, I would have liked to have seen what we would have been able to do with a better starting spot,” a smiling Ross said of the bittersweet finish.

“That was the first time we brought the white car here this year, and I felt extremely comfortable in the feature.”

STRONG FINISH

Ross returned to Lincoln Speedway over the recent weekend for the track’s season finale, dubbed the “Final 50”, and he came out of the gate strong, qualifying 6th quickest and taking his 5th heat race win of the season.

From his 4th row starting spot in the extra-distance main event, Ross held his ground in the back half of the top ten throughout the first half of the race.

Just after the halfway point, Ross fought his way into 6th and continued to press forward, cracking the top five and holding down the position for the final three circuits to secure his 8th top-five and 19th top-ten of the 2025 season.

“I’m very pleased with our night. We were okay in the feature, just couldn’t get going good enough before the rubber came in. The car was good, it’s just tough redrawing a 7 and trying to drive to the front with other fast cars,” Ross commented on his night.

Ross has three races remaining on his 2025 schedule, beginning at BAPS Motor Speedway this Saturday.  The following weekend he will make the short trip to Bridgeport Motorsports Park in NJ for the Dirty Jersey Finale.  The final outing of the year will be November 15th at BAPS.

“I hope we can just keep this going and finish strong with top-fives or podium finishes.  We want to end the year on a high note and start the rebuild for next year with a solid foundation,” Ross said.

Fans can follow Ross Racing on Facebook for the latest schedule updates and other news.

RECENT RESULTS: (starting position in parentheses)

• Date/Location:  October 10, 2025 / New Egypt Speedway, New Egypt, NJ
  • Event:  New Egypt Showdown / World of Outlaws
  • Results:  Qualifying 12th, Heat 5th (4), A-main 18th (15)

• ---

  Date/Location:  October 11, 2025 / Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown, PA

  • Event:  Keystone Showdown / World of Outlaws
  • Results:  Group Qualifying 11th, Heat 11th (6), C-main DNS, A-main 13th (provisional 26)

• ---

  Date/Location:  October 18, 2025 / Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown, PA

  • Event: Final 50
  • Results:  Group Qualifying 6th, Heat 1st (2), A-main 5th (7)

Tyler Ross knows very well that for a sprint car team to be successful, they can never stand still.  A team can never assume that what worked yesterday will work tomorrow.  

The Lincoln University, PA driver closed out August with positive momentum in his Bush Auto Group, Fastrak Express Inc., Stateline Truck and Trailer, Stoltzfus Farm Service/Kubota ™️, Betts Garage No.5 program, but when the team returned in mid-September, they were prepared to implement changes to keep their program moving forward.

SHOCKING 

At Lincoln Speedway’s Weldon Sterner Memorial, Ross rolled out a new shock package.

While there is always a learning curve for any equipment change, this one was certainly good right out of the box.  Ross logged the 6th quickest lap in Flight 2 qualifying and a runner-up finish in his heat race.

Ross started 12th in the A-main and was looking to move forward as he has done so often this season; however, a close encounter with another competitor on the start dropped him back a few positions.  He was never able to fully recover the track position and came home 14th.

“We weren’t as bad as the finish looks,” a positive Ross said.  “I got chopped on the start, and that cost me a few spots.  Everyone is so close, so starts are really important.  When you lose momentum like that, it’s just hard to make up those positions.”

BLACK AND WHITE

The following weekend, Ross unloaded his white-bodied car, a chassis and engine combination better suited for the demands of Williams Grove’s long straightaways.  The car was brand new for 2025 and had only logged a few races earlier this summer.

Ross’s night got rolling with another solid qualifying effort, 6th overall.  He backed it up with another 2nd-place run in his heat race, putting him 9th on the grid for the 25-lap feature.  He moved forward early in the A-main and held the 8th spot at the halfway mark.  In the closing laps, he slipped outside the top ten briefly but was able to battle back to secure a top-ten finish.

“We’re still battling brake issues with this car, so I’ll take 10th.  Anxious to see what we can do with this car when we can get past that issue,” Ross shared.

“We are planning to run this car with High Limit at Bridgeport this weekend, as well as here at the National Open.”

Ross closed out this past weekend with a stop at BAPS Motor Speedway for the Kevin Gobrecht Classic.  This time, he was strapped into his black-bodied No.5. 

The night got off to a rough start with a poor qualifying lap, putting Ross deep in the starting lineup for his heat race.  An 8th-place finish in that qualifying race translated to starting 20th in the A-main.

Ross saved his best for last.  He charged from his 10th-row starting spot to finish 12th and earn the Hard Charger Award for the event.

“We knew changing our shock program was going to be a learning curve, but we still felt the need to make a change to try to be a bit better,” Ross explained.

“It might not have been the ideal time to do it this late in the season with a lot of big races happening,  but I’m confident we will figure it out. It’s only been a few races with them, and there are things we have done well and not so well. We just have to keep digging.”

Fans can follow Ross Racing on Facebook for the latest schedule updates and other news.

RECENT RESULTS: (starting position in parentheses)

• Date/Location:  September 12, 2025 / Williams Grove Speedway, Abbottstown, PA
  • Event:  Billy Kimmel Memorial
  • Results:  Qualifying 14th, Heat 7th (5), A-main 17th (20)

• ---

  Date/Location:  September 13, 2025 / Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown, PA

  • Event:  Weldon Sterner Memorial
  • Results:  Flight 2 Qualifying 6th, Heat 2nd (2), A-main 14th (12)

• ---

  Date/Location:  September 19, 2025 / Williams Grove Speedway, Abbottstown, PA

  • Event: Kevin Gobrecht Challenge
  • Results:  Qualifying 6th, Heat 2nd (1), A-main 10th (9)

• ---

  Date/Location:  September 20, 2025 / BAPS Motor Speedway, Abbottstown, PA

  • Event:  Kevin Gobrecht Classic
  • Results:  Group Qualifying 9th, Heat 8th (9), A-main 12th (20)

Tyler Ross has had good speed over the past month, and it has shown in his results.  This past weekend, he had to work a little harder at the end of the night to offset some early challenges.

BATTLING BACK

Friday night at Williams Grove, Ross put the blame on himself for a poor time trial result.

“I had a good car, but I made mistakes during qualifying that put us behind, then I didn’t get a good start in the heat, so that cost us too,” Ross shared.

Ross was able to put that behind him and make the most of the night, passing eight cars in the 25-lap main event to bring home a 13th-place finish in the Bush Auto Group, Fastrak Express Inc., Stateline Truck and Trailer, Stoltzfus Farm Service/Kubota ™️, Betts Garage No.5.

Saturday night, Ross headed to Lincoln Speedway, where he was coming off a heat race win and a top-five feature finish in his last outing, not to mention a runner-up finish the week before that.

The night didn’t get off to the start he was hoping for.  An incident with three laps to go in his heat race stalled any momentum Ross had going, relegating him to a 6th place finish and ultimately an 18th place starting spot deep in the A-main field.

For the second night in a row, Ross did everything he could to battle back and make the most of the night for his team.  He picked off 6 cars to finish 12th at the end of 30 laps.

DECISIONS

Ross has unloaded two different cars throughout the season, one black and one white.  Fans may be wondering why the Lincoln University, PA-based team has been switching.

While the black car has been in the team’s arsenal all season, the white car first hit the track just over a month ago.  The white car was new from top to bottom, including the engine, when it debuted.

“We’re switching mainly due to motor combinations.  The black car has just been really good at Lincoln, so we’re just going to continue to run that there.  We’re still fighting little gremlins with the new (white) car, but we’re working at it to get it as comfortable as the black car,” Ross explained.

STRETCH RUN

As is the case every year in Central Pennsylvania, there are a lot of big races coming up as the season enters its final months.  Thus far, Ross has raced the majority of his laps at Lincoln Speedway, also dabbling at Williams Grove and BAPS Motor Speedways.

“We’re probably going to hit Lincoln the rest of the year because they will mostly, if not all, be time trial shows.  We will also run all of the BAPS (Motor Speedway) races for sure,” Ross said.

“We’re going to continue to get to the (Williams) Grove when we can and possibly run the National Open.  We will make that decision closer to that time.  We plan to run the High Limit Racing shows at Bridgeport Motorsports Park (NJ) and Path Valley Speedway (PA), as well as the World of Outlaw show at New Egypt Speedway (NJ).  Obviously, things can change, but that’s what we’re thinking at the moment.”

RECENT RESULTS: (starting position in parentheses)

• Date/Location:  August 9, 2025 / Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown, PA
  • Results:  Qualifying 8th, Heat 1st (1), A-main 5th (3)
• Date/Location:  August 15, 2025 / Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA
  • Results:  Group Qualifying 6th, Heat 7th (6), A-main 13th (21)
• Date/Location:  August 16, 2025 / Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown, PA
  • Results:  Heat 6th (6), A-main 12th (18)

Fans can follow Ross Racing on Facebook for the latest schedule updates and other news.

After the 2025 edition of Pennsylvania Speedweek wrapped up for Tyler Ross and team, the speed they found at the end of the series continued into the second half of the month. Running only a few more races to round out the month, Ross showed good speed and proof that what they were chasing with the new race car during Speedweek, was starting to come around.

For kinks still being worked out on the brand new car, the 5 team had a good end to the month of July. Picking back up at Williams Grove Speedway on July 18th, Tyler was able to add another top 10 finish to the 2025 resume, finishing in the 10th position. Not only was this a good result, it showed the team had found something at the Mechanicsburg ½ mile, as it was the first top 10 at Williams Grove all season.

The next night shifted over to the Lincoln Speedway. Again, Tyler and the 5 car showed speed and the ability to run up towards the front. With a strong 6th-3rd run in his heat, followed up by a 9th-5th run in the feature, Ross was happy with how the car was performing. “We’re still figuring out the new car and motor program, but we’re not far off at all.” This finish would mark Tyler’s 3rd top 5 finish of the season and his third top 10 in a row. Consistency was starting to find the Lincoln University driver, and his team. “The team is just working really hard to find speed and I see it paying off,” stated Ross. He went on to mention that “just racing more is always a big help.” This was his 25th race of the season and he seemed to be finding his stride and a little more confidence in his equipment.

A big test would come just a few days later, as the World of Outlaws came to the BAPS Motor Speedway. The beginning of the night went well for the team, as Tyler was able to post a strong qualifying effort and put himself on the pole of his heat. A slight miscalculation on the start of the heat dropped Ross back a row, as he got called for a jump. “That’s on me,” said Tyler, “I didn’t realize they moved the line further off turn four, and I went where we usually do.” Even with some adversity, he was able to secure a transfer spot in the heat and would roll off 19th in the feature. At the end of the 30-lap feature, Ross would end up 18th.

When asked about something that was brought up by a fellow competitor on the broadcast in regards to restarts, Ross was in agreement that there were some games being played. “I think the Outlaws could be a little more consistent with their jump calls throughout the night,” mentioned Ross. “Being in the mid-pack on restarts, it was pretty wild back there. I think it caught all us locals off on restarts because it’s not something we’re used to.” Many drivers were either making moves before the green came out and jumping rows, or losing spots due to being moved out of the way. “I told my guys, I felt like I passed 20 cars in the race and only improved one spot.”

All in all, still a successful night to be able to compete and show speed against some of the toughest competition in the country. “The whole pace of a race is different with those guys, and it doesn’t matter if you’re up front or in the back, you gotta go.” Even though the streak of top tens had come to an end, this did mark the first World of Outlaws show Ross had qualified for in 2025. A great improvement from previous efforts and proof that the car and driver had found something.

The team would take the weekend off and not compete at the Williams Grove Summer Nationals, due to a prior commitment for the driver. Future race plans are still to be determined, but wherever the 5 car unloads next, it seems that they will be in contention for good results and maybe even the checkered flag.

RECENT RESULTS: (starting position in parenthesis)

• Date/Location:  July 4, 2025 / Williams Grove Speedway, Mechanicsburg, PA
• Results:  Qualifying 11th, Heat 4th (4), A-main 10th (11)

• Date/Location:  June 28, 2025 / Lincoln Speedway, Abbottstown, PA
• Results:  Heat 3rd (6), A-main 5th (9th)

• Date/Location:  July 23, 2025 / BAPS Motor Speedway, York Haven, PA
• Event:  World of Outlaws Bricker’s Bash
• Results:  Group Qualifying 2nd, Heat 5th (1), A-main 18th (19)