Joey Scarborough kicked off the 2026 season at Albany-Saratoga Speedway with a victory. And on Friday night, he did it again after 35 laps.
The Brandon, VT driver passed Chris Crane Jr. on a Lap 22 restart and held on to score his second career DIRTcar Sportsman Series win, finishing the track’s season where he started it.
Chris Crane Jr. led the field to the green, outdueling Scarborough into Turn 1. The Canaan, CT driver got away from the No. 11VT, and Series regular Derrick McGrew Jr. before the race’s first caution came out on Lap 7 for Trevor Houghton.
Crane got the better of Scarborough on that restart, and again three laps later when Chad Gregory brought out the caution. However, when Dave Hackett slowed on Lap 22, it gave Scarborough another chance—one he didn’t waste.
When the race resumed, Scarborough gained momentum down the frontstretch before storming around the outside of the No. 711 for the lead in the middle of Turns 1 and 2. That was all Scarborough needed to earn his first Malta Massive Weekend victory, collecting $1,500 in the process.
Knowing the restart on Lap 22 could be the last one, Scarborough said it was his only shot.
“The restarts before me, he got a jump on those,” Scarborough said. “When the last caution came out, I said this has got to be it. I was on it. Didn’t let him get ahead, stuck with it and drove the wheels off the thing.”
Crane settled for second, earning his third straight Malta Massive Weekend podium, while McGrew crossed the line third with his second consecutive Series podium.
McGrew, from Ballston Spa, NY, said things are clicking with Super DIRT Week coming up.
“We just have something figured out,” McGrew said. “The driver and car are both going well together. Everywhere we go, we’ve been fast out of the gate. Another good points night even though we’re not standing there in Victory Lane. We’ll settle for a third-place finish. Every guy ahead of us we needed to beat, we beat. Moving forward into (Super) DIRT Week, I hope we can do the same thing.”
Series points leader Tristan Ladouceur finished fourth, extending his Series lead to 86 points over Richard Murtaugh, who finished 11th.
Connor Crane rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series returns to action on Saturday, Oct. 10, for the Great Lakes 75 as part of Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub at Oswego Speedway.
Where can you find event information and tickets for Super DIRT Week 54 presented by StubHub? By visiting SuperDIRTWeek.com.
Where can you watch the Super DIRT Week? Watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
DIRTcar Sportsman Series (35 Laps): 1. 11VT-Joey Scarborough[2]; 2. 711-Chris Crane Jr[1]; 3. 26-Derrick Mcgrew Jr[4]; 4. 92T-Tristan Ladouceur[8]; 5. 711X-Connor Crane[5]; 6. 98-Craig Wholey[3]; 7. 78JR-Nigel Pendykoski[11]; 8. 3-Cole Hentschel[9]; 9. 01-Zach Buff[12]; 10. 33B-Michael Benson[10]; 11. 33-Richard Murtaugh[27]; 12. 07W-Taylor Wason[30]; 13. 82-David Hackett[19]; 14. 916-Nick Brundige[6]; 15. 112-David Baranowski[21]; 16. 51-Bryan Preville[16]; 17. 2-Greg Henry[14]; 18. 51J-Jordan Hill[25]; 19. 52-Jessica Power[22]; 20. 54-Sullivan Dickey[23]; 21. 24-Logan Denis[15]; 22. 33M-Bodie Marks[28]; 23. 48G-Matthew Gebo[20]; 24. 00X-Josh Coonradt[18]; 25. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[29]; 26. 11-Cody Cordova[13]; 27. 28X-Josh Leclaire[24]; 28. 23-Chad Gregory[7]; 29. 2E-Derrik Emigh[17]; 30. (DNF) 10-Trevor Houghton[26]
