Lebanon Valley Speedway’s 2026 Season Is Here

Column By: Phil Allaway / LEBANON VALLEY SPEEDWAY – WEST LEBANON, N.Y.  – After a seven-month offseason, it is now time to go back racing.  Saturday night, April 11, will serve as the season opener at Lebanon Valley Speedway.

Since the 2025 season ended at Lebanon Valley, there have been a number of changes.  Most visibly, the entire outside wall on the backstretch has been replaced.  The cutout in the middle of the backstretch outside wall has been sealed off, making the facility safer for racers.

In the actual classes, the 358 Modified class has adopted full DIRTcar 358 Modified rules for the 2026 season.  This will allow teams to potentially race tour events for the DIRTcar 358 Modifieds with no modifications necessary to their cars.

Those new rules include a mandatory DIRT-legal rev box, a sealed unit that will not allow more than 7600 rpms from the engine.  Sportsman and Limited Sportsman teams will have a 6200 rpm rev box, while Pro Stocks and Street Stocks must run a 6000 rpm rev box.  There are no exceptions to these rules and they will be checked diligently.

The new rules for the class will debut April 18 with the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series, which will also hold their season opener at Lebanon Valley (their original season opener at Can-Am Speedway was cancelled due to a combination of cold weather, rain and recent snows).  This race will be a 50-lap event with $5000 to the winner.

Modified and 358 Modified teams will not be racing Saturday night.  However, some of the teams will be present Saturday for additional hot lap opportunities before and after the racing card.

Last weekend’s warmups saw not all of the teams present have their transponders active.  At least one team indicated that they didn’t want to show everyone what they had.  There was also a rain delay for an hour near the end of the first warmup loop.

In the Modifieds, the fastest official lap set was 20.954 seconds by Marc Johnson.  There could have been unofficial laps set faster than that.

For the 358 Modifieds, the best laps were turned in by Joey Coppola.  His best lap at 21.836 seconds in the second session held up to top the charts with Kyle Sheldon right on his heels.

The fastest official lap set in the Limited Sportsman class was a 23.231 second lap by Braxton Martin.  Devon Palmer had the second fastest lap, .269 seconds back.

In Street Stock, Hillsdale, N.Y.’s Anthony King showed that he will continue to be a tough out this season.  The defending Street Stock champion’s best lap was 26.403 seconds.  This was more than a second faster than any other official time.

Opening night will feature the Spring Fling for the Sportsman class.  $4000 is on the line for the winner.

In recent years, Tim Hartman Jr. has been the man to beat in the class.  He has won 21 of the last 29 Sportsman features and the last four championships in a row.  He’s back for more in his Cyclone chassis, but he’s going to have competition.

During warmups last weekend, Hartman was right on pace.  However, a couple of drivers were fairly close to him.  One of those drivers was A.J. Albreada, who is coming off of a strong rookie campaign.  He went from having never sat in a full-sized race car at the beginning of the year to winning a Sportsman feature and earning six top-five finishes.

He finished seventh in Sportsman points last year, but that was only because he started the year in the Limited Sportsman class.  His natural skill behind the wheel and quick adjustment to the improved competition resulted in Albreada being awarded the Jeff Yasinsac Mr. Excitement Award at the recent 2025 Banquet.

The Pro Stock class will see some teams breaking out new equipment for this season.  One of those drivers is Dave Stickles, who acquired a new chassis in the offseason and got to take laps in it for the first time during the April 3 warmup.

In addition to the Sportsman Spring Fling, the season will get underway for the Limited Sportsman, Pro Stock, Street Stock and 4-Cylinder classes.

The action will start at 6 p.m. ET Saturday night.  The weather is forecast to be mostly sunny with a high around 52°.  It will be in the upper 40s by race time and drop from there, so bring a jacket and/or sweater to keep warm.  We look forward to having you back for another excellent season.

Tickets can be purchased at lebanonvalley.com, or at the track’s box office Saturday afternoon. General Admission tickets are $13, $2 for children under 11. Reserved tickets are $15, while Tower and Rooftop tickets are $20.  Tickets purchased online will also have a surcharge assessed.