Henry Flashes Muscle at 4-Crown Nationals; All Star Finale Ahead

FREMONT, Ohio (September 28, 2026) - The relationship between effort and results is non-linear in nature. Nowhere is that more prevalent than in auto racing. For Sacramento, California's Kalib Henry, he knows this reality all too well following this past weekend's 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway. The 26-year-old spent a majority of Friday night dominating in Great Lakes Super Sprints competition but a tire failure while leading with seven laps to go derailed what would have been Henry's first career Eldora victory.  In High Limit competition, Henry flashed his muscle at times during both nights in route to two feature appearances against the best winged sprint car drivers in the country.

Henry was one of six drivers to pull double duty Friday night, competing in both High Limit 410 and Great Lakes Super Sprints 360 action. He was joined by Ayrton Gennetten, Darin Naida, Parker Price-Miller, Tim Shaffer, and Zane DeVault. For Henry, it marked just his second 360 start of 2026 and his first ever at Eldora. With the 410, Henry has made twelve prior appearances with the most recent coming during the Kings Royal where he brought home a 23rd place finish following a flat right rear tire after starting 11th. Both cars belonged to the Racers for Life stable, backed by Valvoline, Pub 400, Triple J Towing, Birchard Financial, Butlerbuilt Seats, D2 Excavating, Great Lake Garage Doors, and FK Rod Ends.

In High Limit competition, Henry qualified 13th in Flight A with a time of 13.344 with eventual race winner Ryan Timms topping the charts at 13.019. Henry would fire off from the seventh spot in the first heat race behind Brady Bacon, Kasey Kahne, Justin Peck, Timms, Tanner Thorson, and Danny Sams. On the start, Gennetten, who started eighth, drove around the outside of Henry through turns one and two. Henry would get back around Gennetten on lap seven but was unable to reel in Thorson for sixth. Via his seventh place finish, Henry would then fire from fifth in the B-Feature behind Thorson, Brian Brown, Chase Randall, and fellow All Star rival, Cale Thomas. The green would fly but was quickly withdrew on the opening lap when Brown would slow going into turn three ahead of the field. Now firing from the fourth position, Henry would fall into line behind Thorson, Randall, and Thomas on the restart. On lap five, Henry turned on the jets, getting by Thomas for third. Lap nine saw Henry reel in Randall and Thorson who were now navigating lap traffic. Randall and Henry both got around Thorson on lap ten with Henry slowly reeling in Randall for the lead with just two to go. The race winning move came coming out of turn four on the last lap when Randall was forced to check up behind a lap car as Henry railed the top, getting around Randall coming to the checkered for the B-Feature victory.

For the 25-lap A-Feature, Henry would start on the inside of the 11th row in 21st. There was a lot to be desired in the start however as Henry fell to 24th at the end of the first lap. A caution on lap three for 16th place running Jack Anderson gave Henry the reset he needed. On the ensuing restart, Henry quickly made up for lost ground and then some, charging to 18th at the completion of the fifth lap. From there, Henry utilized a mixture of the top and bottom side of the track to climb to 16th. On lap 19, Justin Peck, who made an earlier mistake and fell to 21st, had rallied back and got around Henry for the 16th position. In the final five laps, Henry made an effort to get around Kerry Madsen to reclaim 16th but ran out of time. Henry's 17th place finish was his best against national competition at Eldora since Kings Royal week in 2024 where he finished 6th and 17th with High Limit. By virtue of his 17th place finish, Henry secured the fifth place starting spot in the third heat race for Saturday's program.

With the Great Lakes Super Sprints, Henry immediately established himself as a favorite by setting a time of 14.225 in the second group. Only Price-Miller went faster at 14.077 in the group. Firing from the pole in fourth heat race, Henry quickly pulled away before finishing with a four and a half second lead over second place finisher Gennetten. Following the redraw, Henry found himself on the outside of the front row for the feature beside Jason Shultz with Skyler Evans and Naida in the second row. 

Shultz and Henry paced the field to the green but Henry came out the better of the two coming out of turn two with Naida now in second. That would be the closest Naida would get though as Henry began to widen the gap from there on. Henry really opened it up in lap traffic, where he lapped up to 11th by the completion of the 17th circuit. That's when on the 18th lap, disaster would strike the Racers for Life No. 101 as Henry's right rear began to deflate and eventually shredded to pieces coming out of turn two. Henry brought his machine to the work area where crew chief Andy Potter and crew quickly worked to put on a new American Racer right rear. Henry rejoined in the 10th position with seven laps to go. Looking to repeat his dramatic comeback at Wayne County earlier this year during Ohio Speedweek, Henry began to work forward. It would all be for not when something mechanical went out while running eighth on a restart with just one lap to go. Henry would officially be scored 22nd while Price-Miller captured the victory over Naida and Gennetten. 

"I'm just frustrated," Henry explained. "Andy gave me an absolute piece, we were so fast and another win got away." For Henry, this feeling has become all too normal this year. "I can think of at least two or three races we should have won or were in good position to win this year but didn't whether I made a mistake or something broke." The team wouldn't have much time to dwell on it though as action was slated to resume in less than 24 hours for the final night of the three day event.

Saturday night offered open wheel fans a full buffet of action with all three of the United States Auto Club's premier national series in action alongside High Limit. With lineups based on Friday night's results, there were no qualifications and the first competitive laps would be in heat race action.

In heat race three, Henry launched from his fifth place starting spot but the initial start would be brought to a halt when Jack Anderson got into the turn one wall and went for a series of tumbles. He was okay. On the complete restart, Henry stumbled through turn one and two, allowing Cale Thomas and Joel Myers Jr. to get around for fifth and sixth respectively. Henry and Myers Jr. battle briefly on lap four for sixth with Henry coming out on top with half a heat race remaining. The gap between Thomas and Henry slowly shrunk as the duo looked to battle for the final transfer spot but the checkered would come out with Thomas taking home the fifth and final transfer position. In the B-Feature, Henry would start outside of Tanner Thorson on the front row. Thorson would pull away on the opening circuit as Henry would get into a spirited battle with Brent Marks for second. The duo battled wheel-to-wheel for the first five laps, with the two making contact on the fourth lap entering turn three. Henry would come out on top and begin to trek down Thorson. The knock on the door came with two laps to go as Henry looked to the low side but Thorson capitalized off his momentum and opened his lead back up on the way to the B-Feature victory with Henry, Marks, and Danny Sams in tow.

Starting just one spot worse than the night prior, Henry used the initial start to move to 19th before advancing to 17th. A heart stopping moment occurred early on in the race when on the entry to turn one, Henry's No. 101 found a hole and violently hopped around, nearly making contact with the wall. Henry was able to corral it in and continue on. The pace would be slowed on lap 11 when Kerry Madsen coasted to a stop in turn four. On the restart, Henry was bottlenecked on the bottom and in dirty air, allowing three cars to get by going down the backstretch. The field completed two laps before Daison Pursley made contact with the turn three wall and got upside down in front of the rear of the field, forcing Henry to take evasive action. Pursley climbed from his wrecked machine under his own power. The reset was just what the doctored order for Henry, who used the restart and ensuing laps to quickly climb to 14th at the official halfway point. Henry spent the second half of the 30 lap affair searching all over the Eldora Speedway for grip before Jace Park got around him with two laps to go. Henry brought it home in the 15th position, improving on the night prior's finish.

When Henry pulled into the team's work area, crew chief Andy Potter noted the rear end of the No. 101 was askew. Henry himself climbed out holding his arm. "I hit that hole and it ripped my hand off the wheel. I don't know what I hit it on but whatever it was, it hurts pretty good." The change in the rear end likely negatively affected the handling later in the race, noted Henry. "I searched all over the place for something but honestly I was just hanging on there towards the end."

The weekend likely concludes Henry's season with High Limit Racing. In six appearances this year, Henry made the A-Feature five times, with two top-ten finishes among them. His best coming at Lawrenceburg, where he finished ninth. Other notable finishes on the year include an 11th at Kokomo and a tenth at Fremont.

Next on the docket is the All Star Circuit of Champions season finale at Michaels Mercer Raceway Park on October 3rd. Henry and the Racers for Life team enter the event with a 32 point lead over Cale Thomas in the drivers points and a 38 point lead over Rudzik Racing in the owners points. Henry and the team can formally secure both championships by taking the green flag in qualifying.

Kalib Henry and the Racers for Life team would like to thank their marketing partners: All Star Performance, Berryman Racing Shocks, Birchard Financial, ButlerBuilt Professional Seat Systems, C&H Veteran Enterprises, D2 Excavating, FK Rod Ends, Great Lake Garage Door, Harris Distributing, Hardcore Headwear, House of Hardtops, K1 RaceGear, Pub 400, Quick Car, RCM Design, Rider Racing Engines, Running Boxer Farms, Ti22, Triple J Towing LLC, Valvoline, West River Trailer Sales.

2026 Season Stats (U.S. Races Only)
36 Races / 4 Wins / 13 Top-5s / 19 Top-10s

Next Events
October 3rd, 2026 - Michaels Mercer Raceway Park - All Star Circuit of Champions

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Media Contact
Zane Scott
Zane Scott Media
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Photo By: Zane Scott Media