Officials from the Summit Racing Equipment United States Modified Touring Series presented by RacinDirt are excited to introduce an all-new competition format for the 2026 season.

G-Style Transport, LLC has officially come on board as the Title Sponsor of the new USMTS Draft Board, bringing added excitement and strategy to the series’ heat race lineup procedure.

The G-Style Transport USMTS Draft Board will give drivers the opportunity to choose their starting positions in heat races based on their qualifying results. After group qualifying is completed, drivers will check in at the USMTS trailer where they will select their heat race starting positions in order of qualifying performance.

Time Trials / Group Qualifying

• Drivers will draw for Time Trial order.
• Qualifying will be conducted in group qualifying format.
• Qualifying Points will be awarded as follows:
  • Quick Time: 100 points
  • Each subsequent position drops 2 points per position
  •  

Heat Race Draft Procedure

• Heat races will be set by group qualifying results.
• Immediately following qualifying, all drivers must hustle back up to where the drivers meeting took place.
• Drivers will then select their heat race starting positions in qualifying order.

Draft Format

• The fastest qualifier selects first, followed by the next fastest, and so on.
• Drivers will be assigned to heats in rotation based on qualifying order:
  • 1st driver → Heat 1
  • 2nd driver → Heat 2
• Continuing sequentially through the total number of heats
• Each driver will have 10 seconds to select a starting position.
• If a driver DOES NOT make a selection within 10 seconds, they will be assigned the best available starting position in their designated heat race.

Heat Race Points System (2026)

USMTS will continue with the new passing points system for 2026.

Base Finish Points

• Heat race winner earns 70 base points
• Points decrease by 2 points per finishing position

Passing Points

• Drivers advancing forward from their starting position earn +4.83 points per position gained
• Drivers losing positions lose 1.86 points per position lost

B-Main & A-Main Lineups

• All qualifying, heat race, and passing points will be combined to determine total points.
• The top 12 drivers in total points will be locked directly into the A-Main.
• Remaining drivers will be lined up in B-Mains based on total accumulated points.

New for 2026: Spot Earned = Spot Kept

• No redraws will be used for the A-Main in 2026.
• A driver’s earned position in the A-Main is final and will be set strictly by total points.
• The position you earn throughout the night is the position you start in the A-Main.

Tie-Breaker Procedure

• All ties in total points will be broken by Qualifying Time.
• Tie-breakers will be determined by qualifying times within each driver’s respective qualifying group.
• The faster qualifying time will prevail in all tie situations, including:
  • A-Main lock-in positions
  • B-Main lineups
  • A-Main starting positions

“Everyone knows I’m not going to line our drivers straight up after qualifying,” said USMTS President Todd Staley. “We believe this format will be much better without inverts or redraws while still rewarding the fastest drivers of the night. If we need to make any tweaks to the format, we certainly will.”