With Stafford Motor Speedway approaching its final races of the 2026 season, drivers are quickly running out of time to either establish themselves as a championship contender, or make a move up in the standings before the season ends. Here is a division by division breakdown of how each of Stafford’s five weekly divisions has played out thus far in 2026:
SK Modified® Division
Stafford’s premier weekly division sees Keith Rocco on track to claim a fifth career track championship. A fifth SK track title would tie Rocco with Bob Potter for the second most in Stafford history, trailing only the late great Ted Christopher with 9 SK titles. Todd Owen kicked off the 2026 season with what was his first SK Modified® feature win since Sept. 2024. Owen, defending SK track champion Jon Puleo, and Tyler Chapman all took turns holding the SK point lead in the early stages of the season, but Rocco’s consistency sees him currently holding a 66-point advantage over Puleo with Marcello Rufrano and Owen tied for third, 86 points behind. Rocco took the point lead for the first time following the July 10 feature event and he has not relinquished the lead since. Rocco heads into the Sept. 4 Paradiso Insurance LM 50 program riding a streak of 10 consecutive top-8 finishes, but all it would take is one bad night for Rocco for his comfortable 66 point margin to disappear.
Late Model Division
Stafford’s Late Model division is the tightest championship fight going at Stafford with the top-8 drivers spread less than 50 points, or one race win, apart. Five different drivers have each held the Late Model point lead at some point during the 2026 season. Chris Buffone opened the season with a victory in the NAPA Spring Sizzler and after losing the point lead to Kevin Gambacorta and then Chris Meyer, Buffone was back on top before Adam Gray took over the lead following the June 12 feature event. Gambacorta would swap the lead with both Gray and Meyer once more before Gray went back into the lead following the July 10 feature event and he has held the lead ever since. Much like Keith Rocco in Stafford’s SK Modified® division, Gray is racing for what would be a fifth career Late Model track title at Stafford. Meyer goes into the final 4 races trailing Gray by 10 points, Gambacorta is third 24 points behind, Wayne Coury, Jr. is fourth, 34 points behind, Michael Bennett is fifth, 40 points behind, Darrell Keane and Buffone are tied for sixth 42 points behind and defending track champion Paul Varricchio, Jr. is eighth, 46 points behind.
SK Light Division
Stafford’s SK Light division has seen its 2026 season evolve into a story of two dominant seasons. Chris Matthews opened the season with a victory in the NAPA Spring Sizzler and looked like he would have things on cruise control as he posted podium finishes in the first 7 races with 1 win, 5 second place, and 1 third place finish among those 7 races. Although Matthews has added 3 more wins to his season total since that streak, he has also finished outside the top-15 five times since then and he has fallen to 4th in the standings, 66 points behind Nick Anglace. Anglace has been the other hot SK Light driver during the 2026 season, racking up 7 wins over the first 17 races. Anglace’s win total trails only Ryan Waterman, who has 10 wins in the Street Stock division, for the most feature wins at Stafford this season. Former SK Light champion Tyler Barry has quietly kept himself in contention for a second track title, holding the point lead himself for several weeks before Anglace took over the top spot in the standings. Barry has yet to win a race in 2026, but he is the co-division leader with 11 top-5 and 14 top-10 finishes this season. Barry goes into the Sept. 4 race 20 points behind Anglace with Daltin McCarthy, who scored his first career SK Light victory earlier this season, sitting third, 42 points behind.
Limited Late Model Division
Jason Lafayette opened the Limited Late Model season with victory in the NAPA Spring Sizzler, which vaulted him into the early season point lead. Lafayette would hold the point lead until the middle of June when Jeremy Lavoie took over the top spot. Lavoie and Lafayette traded the point lead several times with former track champion Rich Hammann also taking the lead for a week before Lavoie went back to the front, where he remains going into the Sept. 4 feature event. Lavoie is seeking what would be his fourth career track championship in the Limited Late Model division and he leads Norm Root, III, who is still looking for his first win of the 2026 season, by 10 points. Lafayette and Hamman are currently tied for third in the standings, 28 points behind Lavoie.
Street Stock Division
The Street Stock division has been a one-man wrecking crew in 2026 as Ryan Waterman has absolutely dominated the competition. Waterman has amassed 10 wins over the first 16 races this season to see himself 48 points clear of Brent Gleason in second place. Waterman has been so dominant this season that he has finished 15 of the 16 races this season in the top-4 with the lone blemish on his record a 17th place finish in the July 31 feature event. Gleason has yet to win this season but he is the only driver to have recorded a top-10 finish in each of the first 16 races. Jason Raymond is currently third in the standings with 3 victories and he is 58 points behind Waterman. The only other driver within 100 points of Waterman is PJ Evans who is fourth in the standings, 96 points behind.
The races for Stafford’s track titles continues this Friday, September 4th with the Paradiso Insurance Late Model 50 program. The Late Models will take part in their lone extra distance event of the season with all four of Stafford’s other weekly divisions in regular feature action. Tickets are available now online and can also be purchased at the admission gates. If you can’t attend in person, don’t miss the action—tune in to the live stream on https://staffordmotorspeedway.com/store/Event-Tickets-c40170015
For more information, visit staffordspeedway.comhttps://staffordmotorspeedway.com/, follow Stafford Speedway on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.
