Josh Stade Storms Back to Sunset Victory Lane in APC Season Opener

Josh Stade finished the 2024 APC United Late Model Series season with a head of steam, with three straight podium finishes to end the year. That momentum continued on Sunday, as Stade won the Dayco 100 to start the 2025 APC season at Sunset Speedway.

Stade's surge to end the 2024 season started at Sunset last August, winning the Stewarts & Kubota 200. He followed that with third-place finishes at Sauble Speedway and Delaware Speedway.

On Sunday, he returned to Sunset's victory lane for his third career APC United Late Model Series victory. While he dominated the 100-lap event, he wondered if a longer race might have gone in a different direction after watching Dale Shaw close in on him in the closing circuits.

"Yeah, I don't know if I had much at the end, honestly," said Stade. "The car started to go away on me. A lot of respect racing up front with those guys on restarts. A lot of fun, nice to race against Shawn [Chenoweth]. I aced against him in the last little bit for a while. Nice to see him at the front and compete with us.

"I just got too free at the end. Dale was coming on pretty strong at the end. I don't know if I had two more laps in me or not."

Stade had plenty of people to thank for his win, but also made sure to mention his mother in victory lane, who watched along from the hospital.

"My mom, she actually came down to camp with us this weekend and ended up having surgery," said Stade.

"She wanted to be here in the worst way. She said, just go win the race for me, so got it done."

While Stade and Shawn Chenoweth battled for the lead throughout most of the race, Dale Shaw surged into contention in the final 25 laps.

"I had some brake issues mid-race," said Shaw. "I just kind of battled that. At the end, the track cooled down, the track tightened up. Me and Stade were just running as hard as we could, 25 qualifying laps at the end."

Chenoweth finished third, with Junior Farrelly fourth and Shae Gemmell fifth.

The season-opening event was originally scheduled for Saturday, May 17, but inclement weather postponed it to Sunday. This created some hard-chargers through the field for drivers with obligations at nearby Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the NASCAR Canada Series event.

Treyten Lapcevich was part of the REV TV broadcast for the event, starting from the rear of the field and racing his way up to sixth in the Glenn Styres Racing No. 0.

Kyle Steckly won the pole for the NASCAR Canada Series event, but mechanical issues ended his race early. He also joined the rear of the field after Sunset track champion Jordan Howse shook down his car on Sunday. However, Steckly finished 15th, one lap down after being involved in an incident with Kendra Adams just before the halfway mark.

The APC United Late Model Series returns to action on Saturday, June 7. That race takes place at Flamboro Speedway.

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Dayco 100 Unofficial Results