By: Ashley McCubbin

Whether you are catching a late model event in the United States or Canada, you are bound to run into Kyle Steckly as he is set for a busy campaign across North America in 2026.

“I’m excited,” Steckly told News From The Pits about the upcoming season. “I’ve got a really group of people both in the US and in Canada. I think I’ve got a great group of people surrounding me for the ASA Stars National Tour with Donnie Wilson Motorsports; I’m excited for another year there and I’m excited to continue what we’ve been doing with 22 racing and MBS Motorsports in Canada. So it’s going to be a very busy year, but I’m excited to keep working with everyone involved and have a strong year and hopefully pick up a bunch of wins.”

Steckly kicked off the ASA Stars National Tour with a 13th-place finish in the Clyde Hart Memorial at New Smyrna Speedway last month.

“The week was definitely a kind of a learning week for all of us,” Steckly spoke of New Smyrna Speedweeks. “We were all getting acclimated to each other and you know, learning what we need. But I think it was just the very beginning and I think there’s a lot of potential there, and we all know what we need to do better and you know, continue to grow with these guys and contend for wins, and I know that’s what we all want to do, and it’s what we can do.”

The 2026 campaign marks Steckly’s second year on the tour after placing sixth in the year-end standings last season.

“I mean, I’ve driven a super late model for two years now and I’ve went to most of tracks that ASA is going to, so just have that experience and be comfortable with the tracks and the type of cars I’m driving,” he commented. “Obviously it’s a new team this year, so it’s just two things out of the way that I’m already comfortable with is definitely a big advantage and you know, just being involved with the series. It is pretty cool how big it is and the names I get to race so just being used to that and acclimated to that already is going to be a huge advantage to this year with joining a new team and I can just focus on, you know, getting used to my guys and working with them and growing together as a team.”

Looking at the year ahead, Steckly notes returning back to Slinger Speedway in Wisconsin is the track he has circled on the calendar due to the amount of banking, how well it suits his driving style, and and the 11-second lap times giving “no time to breathe.”

When he is not racing in the U.S, Steckly will return to Canada to once again chase another APC Auto Parts United Late Model Series Championship. The Two-Time Series Champion placed fourth in the 2025 standings with three wins and six top-five finishes.

“I’m excited. I love the APC Series,” he shared. “It’s always gonna be my home. There was great competition last year; we missed a race and had a couple unfortunate mishaps in races, so we had a couple bad results, which held us from getting a third championship. So we want to go back and try and chase for that third championship this year and right now, it looks like we can make all eight races and the series is doing a great job, keeping everything fresh. They’ve been working around with lap distances and working with the teams to make sure everyone is getting what they want and it’s best for everyone involved, and I’m excited to be back with APC and Pennzoil chasing another championship in the APC Series.”

Steckly knows the competition will be no easier when he returns home, given the early announcements in returns to the series for 2025 champion Josh Stade, and past champion Brandon Watson, among others.

“I think that’s all thanks to, you know, the series and what they do for their drivers and what they do to keep everything fresh and interesting,” Steckly explained. “It’s pretty impressive who they have racing there year in and year out and the consistency they have with the guys like Josh Stade and Dale Shaw and now people like Brandon Watson and Treyten Lapcevic coming back to the series. It’s going to be a good year this year, and I think it’s going to put a lot of good shows on for fans at Ontario short tracks.”

Looking at a schedule where he has practically won everywhere, Steckly has circled Peterborough Speedway as the track he is most excited to return to.

I mean all the tracks, I love them all, they put on great shows, they’re all like home to me, but Peterborough is special,” he shared. “I haven’t been able to run a full race there since 2023, so, it’s been a couple years since I’ve been able to practice qualifying race there and get the full days experience so I’m excited to get back there and run a race there with the APC Series.”

Steckly will also be making select starts in the NASCAR Canada Series with MBS Motorsports once again, looking to build on their seventh-place finish together at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park last September.

“They’re a great group of guys,” Steckly said. “We’ve got our car that I ran last year at CTMP and we had a ton of speed. We had a ton of qualifying speed; we just got to work on that a little bit. I know all the guys and myself have been working on figuring out how to get a little better race pace, but we’ve been really proud of our effort in that series with the MBS Motorsports guys last year and I just have a lot of fun racing with them. They’re a good group of guys and they just love motorsports, so excited to get after it with them and do some lefts and rights and change it up a little bit.”