The Gordons put on a show in the first Stadium Super Trucks race of 2026 as Max and his dad Robby dueled for the Long Beach Race 1 win. A dramatic final lap culminated in the younger Gordon scoring his fifth series win and fourth on the Southern California street circuit.

After the 2024 and 2025 Long Beach weekends were dominated by Max and Myles Cheek, 2026 seemed like it would be more of the same when they were respectively second and first in Friday qualifying. However, Cheek never really found his groove on Saturday and finished fifth after starting last due to field inversion.

On the other hand, Max climbed from ninth to third just before the first competition caution. Trey Hernquist and Blake Wilkey had sparred for the lead during this stretch before Wilkey fell off the pace.

Max passed Hernquist on the ensuing restart, while Robby quickly got past the latter for second shortly after. Robby chased down Max and got as close as his bumper, but couldn’t find an opening. Max probably would’ve pulled even further away if not for the second competition yellow on Lap 6 to reset the margins.

Robby made his move on the inside going into Turn 1, only for Max to clear him around the fountain. Dad tried another move in Turn 8 as they went down Seaside, but that failed too. After a fruitless pursuit in Lap 8, Robby found a last-lap chance on the outside as the two barreled into Turn 1 and passed him on the outside.

However, Max tried a run on the inside through Turn 9 that succeeded, reclaiming the lead just before the jump. Robby’s final opportunity came in the last hairpin to no avail.

It was the third time that the father-and-son duo finished 1–2 in SST. Max also beat Robby in the first races of the 2022 and 2024 Long Beach weekends.

Hernquist was third to secure his first career SST podium ahead of Bill Hynes and Cheek. Wilkey and Brabham were beset by mechanical trouble.

“It was going great until it wasn’t,” Wilkey quipped. He and eighth-placed JC Meynet were running their first SST races.

Results

Finish	Start	Number	Driver
1	9	77	Max Gordon
2	8	7	Robby Gordon
3	5	50	Trey Hernquist
4	6	57	Bill Hynes
5	10	957	Myles Cheek
6	4	444	Shaun Richardson
7	3	21	Zoey Edenholm
8	1	28	JC Meynet
9	2	357	Blake Wilkey
10	7	83	Matt Brabham

Featured image credit: Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach