Emotional Mazda MX-5 Cup win for Fletcher at Mid-Ohio

The last time 2025 series champion Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) took to the track with Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin, his race ended only a few corners after the green flag. Saturday, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Fletcher bounced back in a big way, winning an exhilarating Round Five race. He was joined on the podium by the two series champions preceding him: Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) and Gresham Wagner (No. 5 JTR Motorsports Engineering).

It’s been tough times for Fletcher both on and off track lately. His last race ended in the wall on the Streets of St. Pete, and since then he’s dealt with family medical issues and a blown engine in Friday afternoon practice. Winning Saturday’s race at Mid-Ohio was just what he needed.

“Shortly after St. Pete, my grandma ended up having to get her leg amputated, so this is the first race she's missed in 15 years,” Fletcher said. “Our dog of about 10 years died a couple days ago too, so we needed this to boost the spirits. Luckily the McCumbee McAleer guys have been like a family. My car chief Dalton Dow, always yelling at me on the radio, telling me what I need to do. My grandpa, keeping himself together mentally and being able to show up here. We had so many problems in practice. I think we did about five laps yesterday and this morning, go out there and qualify second.”

Fletcher lined up second on the 38-car grid, alongside his teammate Justin Adakonis (No. 23 McCumbee McAleer Racing), who earned the pole earlier in the day on a wet track. Having a teammate to work with is always a good thing in Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup, but unfortunately for the MMR pair, they had another team pairing behind them with Thomas and Wagner.

The entire Mazda MX-5 Cup field was nose-to-tail in the opening laps. Then, Ethan Jacobs (No. 99 JDH Racing) was on the scene to break up the teammate party up front. With the squabbling among those top five, Fletcher got shuffled back all the way to eighth at one point.

As Fletcher worked his way back to the leaders, Adakonis was falling, losing positions and the MMR teammates were together once again, just in time for the race’s only full-course yellow, for a car stuck in the gravel at Turn 2.

On the restart, the JTR and MMR teammates were locked in battle again, and just like the start of the race, Jacobs was eager to break up the teammates again.

Wagner was leading with teammate Thomas as a tail-gunner. Behind them it was the same, with Fletcher leading Adakonis, who was trying to fend off Jacobs and Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports).

Fletcher took the lead with six laps to go. Thomas and Wagner took turns trying to get around him, but neither were successful and Fletcher became the first repeat winner of the season over Thomas by just 0.119s.

“Luckily, just a little rough housing, and we got it done,” said Fletcher. “The three of us have won the last five championships, so definitely those guys know what they're doing. I feel like we can all race respectful to each other and always put on a good show.”

Thomas and Wagner are both two-time champions with massive amounts of experience. This is the first season as teammates and they have plenty of respect for each other, which makes racing together a lot of fun.

“It’s always better when you’re racing with somebody that you know that you can predict what they’re going to do and know they won’t do something crazy,” Thomas said.

“Being from Indiana, this is like a home track for me,” Thomas added. “I don't know if I have any more experience over anybody else, but I definitely feel comfortable here. I've seen about everything that can happen. So, from my notebook, that just helps with experience.”

Wagner led the most laps and completed the podium.

“During the race, you can definitely look in your mirror, see your teammate, and then kind of race things a little bit different, and control things a bit more,” Wagner said of racing with his teammate. “It's still tricky when it comes to end, because everybody kind of has their own idea of what's going to happen, and as soon as one variable kind of gets thrown into it, you know, you can't wait to wait around for anybody, so I wish that that finish would have gone slightly differently. I wish we could have maybe jumped Jeremy [Fletcher], but I just lost my momentum out of the Keyhole, and Jared [Thomas] had to go with the run he had going, so that's how to do it up today.”

As hard as he tried, Jacobs couldn’t break up the teammate parade up front and ended up finishing just shy of the podium. He was the highest finishing rookie.

After starting from pole, Adakonis ended the day in fifth.

Ethan Lampe (No. 31 Advanced Autosports) won the Penske Shocking Performance Award for advancing 14 positions during the 45-minute race.

Ellie Gossett (No. 77 BSI Racing) was awarded the highest finishing female award, and Christian Hodneland (No. 32 BSI Racing) took home the Takumi Award for drivers over the age of 40.

Sunday’s Round Six race is slated for 10:10 a.m. ET, with live streaming on the IMSA and RACER YouTube Channels.