Bobby added another crown jewel victory to his outstanding 2026 season Saturday night, charging from the 10th starting position to claim the 39th USA Nationals at Cedar Lake (WI) Speedway and the $100,000 top prize.
After settling into seventh during the opening laps, Bobby used an outside move on lap seven to advance to sixth as the bottom groove dominated the early stages of the 100-lap feature.
Patience proved to be the key.
Bobby remained in sixth for the next 40 laps while methodically waiting for the race to come to him. As the preferred groove began to widen, he finally broke through on lap 47, taking over fifth while trailing the leader by four seconds.
The charge quickly intensified.
By lap 53, Bobby had climbed to fourth and cut the deficit to 2.7 seconds. Two laps later, the race’s first caution flew just as he completed a pass for third, allowing him to line up on the inside of the second row for the double-file restart.
Bobby immediately capitalized.
He slid into second on the restart before another caution on lap 57 reshuffled the field. Although he briefly fell back to third, Bobby regrouped and reclaimed the runner-up spot down the backstretch on lap 66.
The race-winning move came after another restart.
Following a caution on lap 68, Bobby launched from the outside of the front row, carrying tremendous momentum around the top before sliding into the lead entering turn one.
From there, the pressure never let up.
Cautions on laps 71, 75, 79 and 94 repeatedly erased Bobby’s advantage and forced him to execute restart after restart with $100,000 on the line. Each time, he answered the challenge, rebuilding his lead to as much as 2.5 seconds while navigating heavy lapped traffic during the closing stages.
When the final checkered flag waved, Bobby crossed the finish line 1.1 seconds ahead of the field to earn his third career USA Nationals victory.
“Pretty early on I was good,” Bobby said in Victory Lane. “When we were all rolling the bottom, I was able to dip out a lane off the bottom and pass them right through the middle before getting back down. I was like, ‘Okay, we’ve got something to work with.’”
Rather than forcing the issue early, Bobby trusted the race would eventually come to him.
“I just knew to be patient,” he said. “I knew at some point in time we had to get to the top, and I went to the top.”
The decisive restart came after the lap-68 caution, when Bobby used the outside lane to perfection to take command.
“I had to time it perfectly,” Bobby said. “He actually still beat me off four, but I had such a run and I was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to go for it.’ I sent it in there, and for 100 grand on the line, it was just a nerve-wracking race to hold on to for the rest of it.”
As the closing laps unfolded, Bobby relied on experience to navigate the increasingly slick racing surface.
“The top side had really gotten slick,” he said. “Those last couple of restarts, I kind of used every trick in the book that I knew. I really didn’t know where to restart, so luckily it worked out. My guys gave me an awesome car.”
The victory carried added meaning as Bobby’s father was able to celebrate the milestone alongside the team.
“It’s super special,” Bobby said. “My dad’s the backbone of our team. He’s getting there, but it’s a slow comeback to 100 percent. To have him here, it just means the world. I’m so blessed to have my parents at the track all the time and all the help they do. It really takes a lot of people to make this all work.”
The triumph marked Bobby’s third USA Nationals crown jewel victory, his 18th World of Outlaws triumph of the season to tie the series’ single-season wins record, and the 60th World of Outlaws victory of his career.