By Joseph Terrell
Salem, Ore: The highlight of the Sprint Car Challenge Tour Speedweek has to be the $26,000 to win Fred Brownfield 360 Nationals at Skagit Speedway. Not only is it the highest paying race of the SCCT schedule, it also offers the biggest winners share of any 360 race in the country.
With a big paycheck on the line, the 360 Nationals are attracting the attention of teams up and down the West Coast. As of this writing, 47 cars have officially registered with the expectation that the car count will end up over 50.
So, with another big race at Skagit on tap, let’s look at the favorites, possible sleepers, the format, the overall purse, and implication points.
Favorites: Even though more than 50 cars will enter this weekend, the list of favorites is not very long. While many may have a chance, per say, five drivers come into the weekend as the favorites: Trey Starks, Justin Sanders, Dominic Scelzi, Seth Bergman and Jesse Schlotfeldt.
Starks, Bergman and Scelzi are former 360 National champions. All three have many laps at Skagit and come into the event with a lot of momentum. Starks won the Dirt Cup just a month ago and is defending Skagit 360 Nationals Champion.
Bergman has two top fives in two starts at Skagit this year, and Scelzi is on a streak of three-straight podiums and has seemed to solve his qualifying issues.
Schlotfeldt has six wins in 2025 and is ripe for breakout a win in a major race and has shown the speed needed to compete for big wins just needs to put it all together. Sanders is former Dirt Cup Champion and finished third at the 2022 Skagit 360 Nationals, establishing himself as one of the drivers to beat every time a big race comes to Skagit.
Betting money will be on Starks and Sanders, and rightfully so. They are drivers to beat at Skagit, but Bergman, Scelzi and Schlotfeldt all have the chops to knock the kings off their thrones.
Don’t Sleep on Them: Although the five mentioned above are the favorites, three other drivers definitely need to be on the radar even if they are not favorites.
First, Colton Heath. The Marysville, Wash., driver has been one of the best drivers at Skagit over the last 10 years but doesn’t have a big win at the track to show for it. If Heath can qualify well on Friday and the bottom comes in on Saturday, look for the two-time track champion to find himself in the mix for a big payday.
Next is Jason Solwold. A legend of Skagit and the Northwest, the Burlington, Wash., driver also picks up his game when the big money is on the line. The four-time Skagit 360 Nationals Champion is a good qualifier, which is key in big shows. Like Heath, if the bottom comes in on Saturday, Solwold could find himself contending for a fifth 360 Nationals championship.
Last is Levi Hillier. Yes, the 15-year-old driver is still learning and has his ups and downs, but the talent cannot be denied, and he has already won once at Skagit in his career. Sure, winning one point race doesn’t mean a driver is ready to win a big race, but Hillier is no ordinary young driver. Don’t be surprised if the young phenom is in the mix Saturday night.
Format: The 360 Nationals will feature a format very similar to Dirt Cup with the biggest difference being that instead of two preliminary nights, there is only one. This means the opportunity for mistakes is limited, because there is not a second night. Depending on how the preliminary night goes, this can be good or bad for teams.
As a refresher, the format goes like this. Friday night will have qualifying with fast time getting 200 points, second fastest is 199, third is 198, etc. Friday heat races will invert, with winners receiving 100 points, second 97, third 94, etc. The Friday A-Main will invert the top 16 in points, and the winner will get 200 points, second 198, third 196, etc.
After Friday night, the top four in points are locked into the A-Main and with fifth points starting on the pole of heat one, sixth on the pole of heat two, third on the pole of heat three and fourth on the pole of heat four. Second through fourth will go to the A-Main. The four heat winners will join the four lock-ins in the A-Main scramble to determine the starting lineup for the first four rows.
The rest of the A-Main will be determined by the heat race finishes, with second in heat one starting fifth, second in heat two sixth and so on.
Purse: With $26,000 going to the winner of the 360 Nationals the event offers the highest standard winners share in 360 racing — Knoxville 360 nationals pay $20,000 to win with lap money potentially bumping the total to $35,000.
Overall, the Saturday night A-Main purse is $75,650. Second place gets $12,000, and third $6,000. All three paydays would be among the best in 360 racing. Fourth pays $3,500, which is more than any regional 360 series pays to win. While the list of drivers who can win the 360 Nationals is minimal, the number of drivers who could finish third or fourth is a lot higher.
The only downside is how quickly the purse does fall off through the field, with 10th paying $1,700 and 16th $1,100. It’s $1000 to start. The B-Main only pays $400 or $300 to start and the C-Main only $200. The preliminary night of Friday will pay $3,000 to win and $500 to start.
Like the Dirt Cup purse, it would be nice to see purse money spread out a little more in the 360 Nationals, but that is also being a little nitpicky.
Point Implications: Three different point battles will be ongoing during the Skagit 360 Nationals. First is SCCT Speedweek points, which sees Braden Chiaramonte coming in as the point leader ahead of Kinzer Cox. Full SCCT points will be awarded each night when it comes to Speedweek points, and given the unique format, this weekend could have major implications..
Next is SCCT season points. Austin Wood comes into the weekend as the series point leader and will leave Skagit as such. That is because when it pertains to season points, only show-up points will be awarded Friday and Saturday night.
Lastly is the Skagit weekly 360-point battle. Starks, the defending track champion, comes into the weekend as the point leader ahead of his rival Solwold. Full points will be awarded this weekend, and just like Speedweek points, given the unique format, this could be an opportunity for change at the top.