Kulwicki Spotlight: Chase Johnson Ready to Shine on Big Stages This Summer

Midlothian, Virginia's Chase Johnson had a tough act to follow from his 2025 season. He's looking to heat up in the summer months, with some of the biggest races on his schedule ahead of him.

Last year, Johnson won 15 Late Model races, earning the Rookie of the Year award for the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O'Reilly Auto Parts. That performance also earned him the American Racer Late Models track championship at Dominion Raceway.

Johnson was named one of five finalists for the Kulwicki Driver Development Program ahead of the 2026 season. He's still searching for his first win of the season at Dominion, although he has been knocking on the doorstep of a victory.

"We're still trying to search for speed, but. we've got a couple second [place finishes] so far at Dominion right now," Johnson told Racing America. "We're just trying to keep having one piece so we can work on making it better and just keep trying to finish as consistently as we can until we do get better."

Johnson will have two opportunities to pick up that first win this weekend at Dominion. While the zMAX CARS Tour takes center stage for the Mini's Mission Burn Rubber to Help Another 125, the American Racer Late Models have twin 50-lap features on the schedule for Saturday.

It will be a chance for Johnson to compete for a pair of wins with an expansive audience following along as part of the CARS Tour show at the Virginia facility.

"It's a big deal for Dominion to promote their promote their new class," Johnson explained. "To be on a bigger stage for more people to have eyes on it, I'm excited to help do that for them. I think running in front of the CARS Tour is definitely a big deal. There's going to be a lot of eyes on us, so it's going to be good. Hopefully, you know, we get some more cars, cars for the CARS Tour race, but we'll just have to wait and see."

Johnson will also be on the big stage for some marquee races this season, starting later this month. The Virginia Triple Crown begins on Saturday, June 27 with the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200 at South Boston Speedway.

While Johnson has raced at South Boston before, this will be his first attempt at the Thunder Road Harley-Davidson 200. It is part of a Triple Crown bid for Johnson, who will also compete in the Hampton Heat at Larry King Law's Langley Speedway and the ValleyStar Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway.

"I'm super excited," said Johnson. "It'll be my first start for the Thunder Road race. I wouldn't say we have too much expectations other than just to try and finish and have fun and learn all we can. It's one of the biggest races of the year, obviously. If we can just come home and have it in one piece and hopefully build a notebook off of what we can do for it next year, I think that'll be a successful weekend for us.

"We have run a couple races in South Boston. We did get a top-10 on the season opener there. I think we have a chance to bring some speed. We just have to wait and see."

The Virginia Triple Crown races draw the best competitors in Late Model Stock Car racing from Virginia and beyond, and Johnson hopes to measure up against them in the trio of events.

"It's the best of the best, so if you can just compete with them, that's a big deal, especially around here. A lot of these guys, they work on their cars full-time. For somebody like me to try and compete with them, it's huge when we do compete with them. The competition is top of the line, that's for sure."

Johnson is thrilled and excited to be part of this year's Kulwicki Driver Development Program. Along with the honor of advancing the legacy of 1992 NASCAR Cup Series Champion Alan Kulwicki, he has been able to learn from many of the people involved in the program, gaining skills on and off the track.

"I was really excited just to not only build my program on the track, but help me with the off-track stuff too as far as promoting and your social media and just stuff like that, with the charity stuff, all the stuff that goes on off the track that I definitely have lacked. I was excited to be able to learn and figure out how to better myself off the racetrack."

As part of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program, each finalist is paired with a mentor with a wealth of racing experience and knowledge. Johnson's mentor is Danny Cameron, who worked in the engine shop at AK Racing and also served as Kulwicki's spotter.

"He has a lot of knowledge and he's been around racing a long time," said Johnson about Cameraon. "People that have been around racing a long, long time obviously have good advice and good criticism, good constructive criticism. Anytime you have a chance to talk to them, it really does help you. The best thing you can do sometimes is just sit back and listen to Danny, Danny has a lot of great knowledge to listen to."

Johnson has also been hard at work off the track with his philanthropic efforts as part of the Kulwicki Driver Development Program, using his platform as a racer for a greater good.

"We're still in the works with some more charities for the later part of the year," said Johnson. "We have been doing the Richmond SPCA food drives for cat and dog food. We have been collecting cat and dog food at the track entrance in Dominion. So far, we've got over 650 pounds of cat and dog food raised up. I believe we're going to be going Monday to turn it in."

Gates open at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Dominion Raceway, with racing starting at 7 p.m. ET.

-Photo provided by Kulwicki Driver Development Program