Brian Deegan won the seventh edition of the Freedom 500 at the Freedom Factory in Bradenton, Florida, on April 10. The motocross rider held off James Taal and Travis Pastrana on a green-white-checker finish to claim his second Freedom 500 title after winning in 2022.
Zach Walker was the fastest driver in qualifying with a 19.624-second lap, but started eighth after a field invert that required him to roll a die and add five to the result. Kenny Wallace qualified second, with off-road star Brock Heger starting a surprising fifth.
Thanks for the submission!
Defending champion Travis Pastrana qualified 12th. Cleetus McFarland lined up seventh. The sold-out crowd at the Freedom Factory saw the event begin under the lights with a mandatory red flag early in the running to honor the late Greg Biffle, before the race resumed and immediately descended into mayhem.
2026 Freedom 500 Final Results
Brian Deegan started the Freedom 500 21st after a poor qualifying session and survived one of the most chaotic editions of the race, including a spin early in the race and a mid-race car swap. He crossed the line first after 100 laps, holding off James Taal and Travis Pastrana. Kenny Wallace came home fourth, with Kyle Wade fifth.
Here are the full results from the 2026 Custom Offsets Freedom 500:
How the 2026 Freedom 500 was decided
Cleetus McFarland, Kevin Smith, and Zach Walker dominated the early stretch of the race. Lap 89 became the defining moment of the night. Four caution flags flew on that single lap alone. Since the Freedom 500 does not count caution laps toward race distance, the field restarted on Lap 4 consecutive times. McFarland and Walker tangled while fighting for the lead.
Justin Hildebrand, attempting to avoid the contact, was clipped into the wall by Kevin KSR Smith, who led most laps on the night. Heger, who had run as high as third, was spun and suffered a broken left front axle, ending his night 11 laps early. Evan Sheff and Micah Sandman of CboysTV crashed into each other on the ensuing restart. The entire inventory of backup cars was exhausted by the end.
Pastrana had appeared the likely winner through much of the second half. He had swapped into a backup car with a better engine, despite a broken nitrous system, and then slipped back into his original Crown Vic during a late caution, using a rule that allows mid-race car switches. He held off the field through multiple restarts.
Luxury car YouTuber James Condon, better known as Stradman, had led large portions of the race before an incident with ChrisFix. Kenny Wallace, who raced at the same track decades ago when it was known as DeSoto Speedway, was unaware of the car swap rule entirely and finished fourth in his original No. 55 car.
With five laps remaining, Tye Braun made a move on the inside and made contact with Jackstand Jimmy Taal, and another caution flew. Brian Deegan, who started in the front row, slipped to the lead just before the yellow and held on.
Brian Deegan reacts after winning the 2026 Freedom 500
Brian Deegan‘s path to the Freedom 500 win was anything but clean. He spent most of the race working forward through a field of 27 drivers with wildly different skill levels and intentions. On the level of competition at this year’s event, he said (via 131 Off-Road):
“It’s stacked. It really is. Even the guys that weren’t so good are now good. Everyone’s throwing down, so you’ve got to really try hard and really think about it. That’s the most thinking I’ve done in a while, trying to set people up.”
Brian Deegan also posed alongside his Carbon Cub Super Sport plane and the Freedom 500 eagle trophy on Instagram.
Cleetus McFarland finished 13th after his Lap 89 tangle with Zach Walker for the lead. He later said that Walker “was being an idiot” for coming down on him while he was on the apron, before acknowledging that he was also “racing pretty hard” at the time. Kenny Wallace summed up the Freedom 500 experience with:
“I’ve never hit people that hard in the car and still keep going.”
Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s grandson, Wyatt Earnhardt Miller, was the youngest driver in Freedom 500 history at 14 and ran competitively before getting caught up in a lap 67 incident and finishing 20th. McFarland’s schedule at the Freedom Factory continues with Burnout Rivals returning on April 11, followed by UARA Sportsman, Pure Stocks, and Crown Vic racing on April 18.
Edited by Hitesh Nigam
