Close but No Cigar at Fremont, Limaland for Henry; Memorial Day Doubleheader Next

FREMONT, Ohio (May 19, 2026) - It's the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two outs, down by three, or its fourth and inches at the goal line with just seconds left to play. In competitive sports, there's defining moments you dream of as a kid. You rehearse what you would do time and time again. For Kalib Henry, he found himself in one of those moments Tuesday night at Fremont Speedway; chasing down one of the hottest sprint car drivers in the country in lap traffic. A caution with five laps to go would wash the moment away though.

Henry, hailing from Sacramento, California hasn't been shy about the early season struggles. They did not seem to have much effect on the driver of the Racers for Life No. 101 when a pair of $20,000-to-win shows presented themselves midweek.

Action kicked off Tuesday night at Fremont Speedway with the All Star Circuit of Champions. The one-off event paid a whopping $75,000 total prize purse in honor of the track's 75th anniversary of racing action. To no surprise, the lucrative mid-week prize drew the attention of High Limit's Aaron Reutzel, Justin Peck, and the World of Outlaw's Cole Macedo among others.

For Henry, who has seven career victories at Fremont, qualifying was going to set the tone for the rest of the night and that it did. Henry laid a lap of 12.125 which would fall into the third position at the end of the session behind Hank Davis and Darin Naida. 

Utilizing the All Star's split field format, Henry would line up third in heat race three to the inside of Davis with Outlaw Bill Balog and All Star Bryce Lucius on the front row. That changed before a lap could be completed when Lucius was penalized for a jumped start. That moved Henry to the outside of the front row alongside Balog. When the green officially flew, Henry got the jump and lead the field into turn one and didn't look back. It was Henry's eight All Star heat victory and secured him a position in the night's dash where Henry started second and finished second behind Reutzel.

With weather encroaching, Fremont Speedway and All Star officials were racing against the clock. As the field was getting lined up for the A-Main, rain began to lightly fall but stopped before the racing surface was lost. A few moments later, Reutzel and Henry led the field to the green. Reutzel quickly jumped ahead with Henry in tow. The duo remained close, but a series of cautions would reset the field and bring Naida back into the fold. A restart on lap ten allowed Naida to launch his attack on Henry, securing the second position after a short battle between the two. Naida made a mistake on the cushion and gifted the second position back to Henry who now set his sights on race leader Reutzel who was working through thick lap traffic. The caution would come out again on lap 25 when fellow All Star competitor Zane DeVault stopped in turn two.

Racing would resume and much like the first 15 laps, Reutzel checked out until he reached lap traffic. The gap between him and Henry shrunk quickly, and Henry saw his opportunity on lap 21 when Reutzel went low into turn one. Henry sent it in hard on the top side and had a run, but Reutzel was able to close the door as the two brushed tires. Henry set chase down the backstretch but bobbled on the cushion in turn three and four, giving Reutzel breathing room. A caution on lap 23 would bring out a red for fuel.

The final 15 laps felt much like the first 25. Reutzel was able to pull away in clean air, but lap traffic presented a series of challenges that allowed Henry to put up fight for the win. Lap 31 saw Henry pull side-by-side with Reutzel but was unable to get the drive off turn two to make the most of it. Cole Macedo entered the frame on lap 32 with a big slide job attempt on Henry but couldn't clear. Henry regrouped and was back to Reutzel's rear bumper with just five to go when Davis spun to a stop in front of the leaders. On the ensuing restart, Reutzel used the clean air to his advantage and took home the $20,000 payday with Henry in second and Macedo finishing third.

"I knew he [Reutzel] was better out in clean air, but I think we were way, way better once we got to traffic." Said Henry standing in front of his Valvoline, Butlerbuilt Seats, Birchard Financial, C&H Veteran Enterprises, Running Boxing Farms, Triple J Towing No. 101. "I just kept catching lap traffic in the wrong spot...hats off to Aaron, and Cole raced me super clean, that was a ton of fun."

Henry pocketed $10,000 for his runner up effort but wouldn't have much time to think about it as another $20,000 payday waited in the wings just two nights later at Attica Raceway Park, who's event was a celebration of John Bores 20th anniversary at the speedway.

Henry and crew chief Andy Potter came out of the box fast early, going second quick in their respective qualifying group behind High Limit's Tyler Courtney. In heat race action, Henry dropped one spot from third to fourth as track conditions remained fast. Henry challenged Courtney for third briefly but was unable to complete the pass. Aiden Price went on to take the heat win ahead of Tyler Street, Courtney, Henry, and final transfer, Brandon Spithaler.

With the race format, Henry found himself rolling off on the outside of the eighth row. That did not last for long as Henry quickly picked off two cars on the first lap to move to 14th. From there, the No. 101 machine slowly moved forward. Henry took 13th on lap 8, 12th on lap 12, and was inside the top 10 by lap 25. As Henry closed on a gaggle of cars all vying for the top five, Cale Thomas got crossed up and Henry with nowhere to go, made contact before coming to a stop on lap 30. Relegated to the rear, Henry was able to work up to 18th in the final ten laps.

"We had good speed and I could tell I was reeling in that group of cars," Henry mentioned afterwards. "I had nowhere to go and the final result is not an indication of how fast we were tonight. Format had us buried deep for the feature and suffered from bad luck."

With the All Stars off for the weekend, the Racers for Life No. 101 team decided to drop the team's 360 into the car and compete with the Great Lake Super Sprints Friday night at Limaland Motorsports Park. For Henry, it marked his first ever visit to the quarter-mile high banked oval. 

Things picked up right where they left off in qualifying when Henry went out late and set quick time among all entries by nearly a full two tenths of a second ahead of DeVault, Mason Hannagan, John Ivy, and Chase Dunham. Henry would line up on the pole of heat race three with Hannagan to his outside. The eight-lap affair presented little excitement as Henry led from the green ahead of Hannagan, Jared Horstman, and Van Gurley Jr.

Henry's bad luck from the night prior carried over to Friday's redraw as the defending All Star champion drew the highest number available and would start eighth in the A-Main. Hannagan and Ivy led to the field to the green and Henry made quick work to fifth. With just 25 laps and a narrow surface, momentum stalled for Henry till lap 19 when Henry capitalized off of lap traffic and a series of mistakes to move to third with just five laps to go. Henry closed on Ivy but was unable to make the pass and crossed the line third behind Hannagan and Ivy.

"The steering box broke with like ten laps to go," as Henry pointed towards the cockpit of his No. 101 machine. "This is place is pretty unique. It took me some time to get use to the 360 again from the 410 but once I got settled in, we were moving forward but ran out of time."

For Henry, the two top five finishes from the week are a stark change in contrast to how the season opened. "Running second to arguably the hottest driver in the country right now is nothing to be ashamed of."

Next on the schedule for the Racers for Life team is an All Star Memorial Day doubleheader. First, Michael's Mercer Raceway makes its first of its two appearances on Saturday with Wayne County making the first of its four visits in 2026 on Sunday. Last year, Henry finished fifth and fourth at Mercer with the 26-year-old looking to improve on those results as the All Star points battle begins to take shape.

2026 Season Stats (U.S. Races Only)
7 Races / 0 Wins / 2 Top-5s / 2 Top-10s

Next Events
May 23 - Michael's Mercer Raceway - All Star Circuit of Champions
May 24 - Wayne County Speedway - All Star Circuit of Champions

Social Links
www.facebook.com/kalibhenryracing
www.x.com/kalibhenryrcn
www.instagram.com/kalibhenry99

Media Contact
Zane Scott
Zane Scott Media
zanescottmedia@gmail.com

Photo By: Zane Scott Media