Showalter’s House… or Time for a Takeover?
- dnqseries
- Jan 11
- 4 min read
2026 DNQ Busch Grand National Preview
Showalter’s House… or Time for a Takeover?
If there’s one DNQ division where nothing comes easy, it’s the Busch Grand National Series. Deep fields, stacked resumes, and a points table that punishes every mistake, the road to the top here is brutal.
In 2025, Robert Showalter once again proved why this has been his playground. He not only won the championship, but swept all three majors – the President’s Cup, Knupp Cup, and Clements Cup – and finished the year with a 139-point gap over second after drops. 2025 Busch Points On the all-time Busch wins list, he sits alone at the top with 12 victories, well clear of everyone else.
But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. The field behind him is getting sharper, younger, and a lot less intimidated.
The King of Busch: Robert Showalter
Showalter’s 2025 run was classic 5:
Championship + all three Cups
Consistent top finishes across every layout
Almost no bad nights, even when the kart wasn’t perfect 2025 Busch Points
When you combine that with 12 career Busch wins and his reputation for capitalizing on other people’s mistakes, he rolls into 2026 as the obvious favorite. If he’s full-time again, the title still runs through him.
But he’s no longer miles ahead. He’s surrounded.
The Dollarhide Duo: Father & Son Closing the Gap
The biggest long-term threat might come from under the same awning: the Dollarhides.
Carson Dollarhide (son) finished 3rd in points with multiple podium runs and a late-season surge that had him within 11 points of Campilonga after drops. 2025 Busch Points
Coleman Dollarhide (father) ended 4th in points, just behind Carson, and has the kind of veteran craft that keeps you in the hunt even when the night starts badly. 2025 Busch Points
Both carry two career Busch wins on the all-time list, and both showed they can stay in the fight over a full schedule. When one is off slightly, the other usually isn’t – which means Showalter is almost guaranteed to be racing at least one Dollarhide every Monday. Give that camp one more winter to clean up execution, and a father–son attack on the championship is absolutely on the table.
Zac Campilonga: All-Time Threat, Late-Season Slide
Zac Campilonga finished second in points and looked for much of the year like Showalter’s primary rival. 2025 Busch Points On the Busch all-time wins list, he’s tied for third with five victories, right in the mix with the series’ best.
But the story of his 2025 season is two halves:
Early and mid-season: sharp, aggressive, and regularly in the top two or three.
Late-season: results dropped, and he “fell off big time” while the Dollarhides and Haag gained ground.
The speed is still there – nobody questions that – but the back end of the schedule showed how punishing Busch can be when a front-runner falls even slightly out of rhythm. 2026 is a chance for the 5c to prove he can sustain a full-season title run in Busch the way he’s done in Dash.
Rookie of the Year on the Rise: Carl Haag
If you’re looking at arrows pointing up, one of the clearest belongs to Carl Haag, the 2025 Rookie of the Year. Haag finished 5th in the final standings and his season followed the classic “learn, survive, then attack” rookie arc. The early races were about getting his feet under him; the later ones showed real progress in qualifying, race control, and points hauling. 2025 Busch Points
By the second half of the year, Haag was no longer just a name on the entry list; he was in the way of people trying to win. If that progression continues, he could become the next regular problem for Showalter, Campilonga, and the Dollarhides.
The Core Pack: Briody, Owings, Murphy, Coopala & Others
Behind the headliners, the Busch standings are full of drivers capable of flipping a race – or the title – on any given night.
Patrick Briody (6th) – quietly strong all year; no huge spikes, but very few disasters. That kind of baseline makes him dangerous if the big names start tripping over each other. 2025 Busch Points
Jake Owings (7th) – split focus as a crew chief in other series and still put together a solid Busch run. When he unloads close, he races like a future winner.
Matt Murphy (8th) – another driver whose point total doesn’t fully show his potential. When he hits the balance, he races with the front pack. 2025 Busch Points
Jay Coopala (9th, Rookie) – quietly one of the more promising newcomers. His finishes stabilized as the year went on, and the points trend suggests more speed is coming with experience. 2025 Busch Points
Just outside the top ten, there’s more intrigue:
Tyler Deering (10th) showed front-running pace and grabbed big scores early, but a tire issue and partial schedule dragged his final points down. If he commits to a full, clean season, he immediately becomes another podium threat. 2025 Busch Points
Collin Hoeffner, Will Munro, and Jori Helibrun all flashed moments of real potential in limited or uneven schedules. Any one of them could step forward with a more focused 2026 effort.
A Tough Road to the Top
What makes the Busch Grand National Series so brutal is how little room there is at the summit:
A 12-time winner and reigning triple-plate champion in Showalter.
A proven race winner and multi-series star in Campilonga.
A father–son duo in Carson and Coleman Dollarhide who are getting better together.
A Rookie of the Year in Haag whose curve is still trending up.
A deep, hungry mid-pack where Briody, Owings, Murphy, Coopala, Deering and others all have the tools to steal wins.
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