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Tuesday September 15th 2026: Brandon Ward and the #04 Polaris Off Road, kevinsaysyes.com, Q104.1, iHeartRadio team are locked into the championship playoffs for a run at the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic title. Ward sits fourth in the points as the first race of the playoffs begins this weekend at Orange County Speedway in Rougement, North Carolina for the Rumble in Rougement. The driver who accumulates the most points in the three race playoffs will win this year’s championship.
Ward was optimistic when reached for comment about the playoff format beginning this weekend. “I like Orange County.” Said Ward. “You can normally see it be a racetrack where you can move around. The groove opens up your going to see cars run the middle of the track, right up against the wall and in different places and being fast and it makes for good racing and passing. During the race the groove moves around. We’ve had some wins there before too. Hopefully that being the start of the Championship season we have a good start.”
Championships are defined by the tough days at the racetrack and the KPSM team has been pushing through its challenges. An engine problem at the King of the Modifieds at South Boston put the team out early in one of the biggest fields of the season. Later in July the team’s primary car was caught up in a wreck at Caraway, completely destroying the race car. After building a new car in just a few days, the team bounced back with top ten and top five runs at Pulaski County Motorsports Park and Carteret County Speedway.
“This has been an up-and-down year for us on the SMART tour. We’ve won, we’ve had great speed, we qualified on two poles, had two track records, but we’ve also had DNF’s and that’s what hurt us. We’ve been leading the points, back to seventh or eighth and we’re fifth now. To just run good, to get those good solid finishes to hopefully carry us into the championship and no better way to do that than with a couple of wins and that’s what we do here, that’s what Will’s been working on now. And all our guys have done a great job all year long.”
The first race of the SMART Modified Tour powered by Pace-O-Matic playoffs begins this Saturday at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, NC. Pit gates open at 11am with Practice beginning at 3:30pm. Coverage begins live on Flo Racing beginning at 6pm with qualifying shortly after at 6:10pm.
