Tyler Erb Scores Second Win of 2026 in RACEFEST Finale at West Virginia

COLUMN BY: Spence Smithback / WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODEL SERIES – MINERAL WELLS, WV – Tyler Erb had to wait until the 26th race of the 2026 World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision season to get his first win, but he only needed three more to get his second.

Two weeks after the biggest win of his career, a $100,00 score in the Blaster 57 Special at Mansfield Speedway, “Terbo” returned to Victory Lane at West Virginia Motor Speedway to collect another $30,000 as the winner of the RACEFEST Summer Championship.

It was a dominant performance from the driver of the Best Performance Motorsports No. 1, as Erb led all but one of the 60 laps in Saturday’s Feature. That one lap he missed out on was the first one, which was led by Erb’s fellow Rocket Chassis pilot, Brandon Sheppard, who started on the Bilstein Pole.

After Sheppard took the lead off of Turn 2 on the opening lap, Erb dove to the bottom of Turns 3 and 4 and tried to slide up in front of Sheppard off the corner, but he wasn’t clear and let Sheppard slip back by. Erb did the same thing going into Turn 1, and that time, he made the move stick. Sheppard gave the low line a try in the next set of corners, but Erb defended the slider line in what turned out to be the winning move.

It was all Erb the rest of the way, as he remained committed to the top through to the finish whether he was in clean air or stuck in thick traffic. Several other competitors, including Sheppard, Hudson O’Neal and Drake Troutman kept Erb honest and got several restarts to take a shot at him, but none were able to find a way around. The new short-track layout at West Virginia put on some excellent racing for second on back, but Erb maintained a comfortable margin at the front to claim the sixth World of Outlaws win of his career.

“That was a lot of fun,” Erb said. “Elbows up, hard racing. It really worked out into our favor. Last night, I felt really good, just probably wasn’t as committed to the top as I was tonight. Just was able to get the lead, Shepp kind of beat me there and then I slid him. I ran really hard, I felt like, for a minute, just trying to get going. Once we hit lap cars, I was like, ‘Well, the lap cars are on the bottom, that’s good, they can’t pass me down there.’ It definitely makes you feel a little bit easier just having clean air, not having to worry about anybody doing anything crazy.”

Troutman came out ahead of O’Neal in their battle for second in the closing laps. Behind them, Bobby Pierce and Ethan Dotson completed the top five.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision opens a three-week northern swing with a two-night visit to 141 Speedway on Friday and Saturday, June 19-20. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.

Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every race live on DIRTVision.

Feature (60 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 22*-Drake Troutman[3]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[11]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 7. 11-Josh Rice[12]; 8. 9M-Tim McCreadie[7]; 9. 12-Ryan Montgomery[13]; 10. 22-Chris Ferguson[18]; 11. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[20]; 12. 9-Nick Hoffman[16]; 13. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 14. 93-Carson Ferguson[17]; 15. 17SS-Brenden Smith[10]; 16. 53C-Colten Burdette[25]; 17. 14-Trey Mills[23]; 18. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 19. 71R-Rod Conley[26]; 20. 1Z-Logan Zarin[24]; 21. S21-Seth Daniels[27]; 22. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 23. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[9]; 24. 58V-Daulton Wilson[8]; 25. 49-Luke Morey[15]; 26. 19-Dustin Sorensen[21]; 27. 55E-Eli Johnson[19]