Injuries certainly have not helped his consistency and 2026 has been no different. Coming in as a title contender, it was obvious something was wrong when he finished 11-7-10-10 at the first four rounds. Turns out Nate injured his shoulder in the off-season and he has been riding through the pain. He spoke on his injury during the post-race press conference in Cleveland.

“Didn’t really know what was going on, just kind of got quite a bit worse and didn’t know what the solution or the problem was," Thrasher said. "So, we obviously were battling that. And came into the season and I was obviously trying to win and that didn’t really go to plan, and we knew we had to come up with a solution. We finally did there before Detroit and I feel like we’ve been trending, the speeds coming back each weekend just a little bit. Still lacking just a little bit in the dry conditions but once we got a little rain in there, I feel like the track slowed down a little bit and it really started to suit me. It felt great, awesome to get a win and we’ll keep chugging trying to get better.”

By Detroit, Thrasher started making gains with his shoulder and was leading the race until he went down in the whoops (the whoops took out many people that night including Hunter Lawrence). But he recovered nicely going 4-2-1 at the next three rounds, finally getting his first win of 2026.

“It's not my first, but it's cool to keep the streak going. I have won every year I have raced,” Nate commented after the race on what it takes to win for six consecutive seasons. “I’m just trying to get better each year. Trying to work on my weaknesses, get a little bit better. Everybody’s getting better every year, so you have to step up your game too. So hopefully we can get two in a row next weekend, we’ll go back this week and try to get a little better again. Hopefully we can win, instead of a Triple Crown, win a main race.”

This win will surely help Nate with contract negotiations for the 2027 as he currently does not have a ride for next year.

“I haven’t had any talks with really anybody yet, I think we are still a little bit early still," he confirmed. "But I am sure everything will start ramping up soon. Yeah, I am looking for a spot, we haven’t had any talks there but hopefully can land somewhere and hopefully be a title contender next year.”

As Mitch Payton famously said, “We can work with speed” and Nate Thrasher has plenty of that. Consistency can be learned. Wherever he ends up next year, it will be fun to continue to watch his winning ways.

Nate Thrasher's 2026 250SX Results to Date