By Clayton Johns

The Super DIRTcar Series is set to kick off its 2018 points schedule with the fourth annual Highbank Holdup 100 at Fulton Speedway in Fulton, NY, on Saturday, April 28. 

The series’ annual opener at the Central New York track will be the first Super DIRTcar event to air live on FloRacing. It’s also the first Super DIRTcar Series event since a trio of February non-points races at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, FL. 

Watch the Highbank Holdup LIVE on FloRacing!

The Series features 17 full-time drivers for the 2018 season who will undoubtedly be challenged by a number of Fulton regulars and outside invaders eager to start the new campaign. Leading the field to Fulton is three-time and defending Highbank Holdup 100 winner Billy Decker. 

Billy Decker Scores Third-Straight Highbank Hold-Up Win at Fulton https://t.co/9r9jxwwGiF pic.twitter.com/ohn5dd3T5I

— Dirt Track Digest (@DirtTrackDigest) April 30, 2017

Decker, known to big-block fans as the "Franklin Flyer," earned the opening-day victory last year after taking the lead from Brett Hearn on lap 46 and then holding off a streaking Matt Sheppard. The win was the first of four last year for the Unadilla, NY, native en route to a second-place finish in the series’ championship standings. 

Related: Billy Decker Is Staring Down A Fulton Four-Peat

Matt Sheppard will be a marked man again in 2018. The reigning series champion will attempt to defend his title and earn his fourth straight Super DIRTcar Series title and seventh overall. "Super" Matt earned 12 wins in 2017, eight more than his closest competitor, to claim the title. His 23 top 10 finishes in 25 starts were also key to his success, so expect Sheppard to begin a new streak in April.

A number of veteran drivers are also returning to the tour in 2018, including Brett Hearn who had a record-setting 2017 season. The Sussex, NJ-based "Jet" earned his 900th career Big-Block Modified victory last August and later in the month ended a multi-year winless streak on the Super DIRTcar Series tour with a win at Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, NY. Hearn will look to crack the top five in the series standings this year after a sixth-place finish last season. 

Stewart Friesen also returns to his roots with the Super DIRTcar Series on a full-time basis this year. The multi-time Super DIRT Week winner turned NASCAR Truck Series star will have a busy summer on hand between his modified and truck commitments. Friesen had a pair of wins in 2017 on the way to an 11th-place finish in the series point standings, despite missing eight races. 

STEWART FRIESEN WINS WILD NEW YORKER 100 AT UTICA-ROME SPEEDWAY https://t.co/cuvEsn6tez pic.twitter.com/xy6g3tl5Xi

— Utica-Rome Speedway (@UR_Speedway) July 3, 2017

Watertown, NY's Tim Fuller returns to the tour full-time in 2018. Fuller will once again drive for Michael Maresca Sr. in his familiar No. 19. Fuller earned his lone win of 2017 for Maresca and hopes to better his seventh-place finish in the championship standings.

Heinke Baldwin Racing teammates Jimmy Phelps and Max McLaughlin are also returning to the tour this year and add another layer of talent. Phelps is a grizzled veteran on the tour who doubles as the promoter at Weedsport Speedway, while McLaughlin enters his third year of action in search of his first victory. Phelps finished fifth on the tour last year on the strength of nine top five finishes, and the 18-year-old McLaughlin earned three top five finishes.

Billy Whittaker, Keith Flach, Peter Britten, and Rich Scagliotta are all set to return to the tour in 2018. Flach and Britten have established themselves as veterans on the tour. Flach, based out of Ravena, NY, is still searching for his first career win on the tour, while Britten, a native of Brisbane, Australia, achieved the feat last year at Ohio’s Sharon Speedway. 

Whittaker, meanwhile, returns for his second year on tour after he experienced success during his rookie campaign with a pair of top 10 finishes and a win in a non-points race at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, last July. Scagliotta, based out of Bound Brook, NJ, is also back on the road this season and hopes to earn a top 10 finish on the campaign. 

Erick Rudolph returns to the tour full-time for the first time since 2014. The Ransomville, NY, native will look to build on his five top five and 12 top 10 finishes in 16 starts last season. Also returning to the series in 2018 is one of Big-Block Modified racing’s most accomplished pilots, Danny Johnson. Known simply as "The Doctor," the Rochester, NY, driver will continue to be quick in his familiar No. 27J.   

The Super DIRTcar Series welcomes four new drivers to the tour for 2018. 

Dave Rauscher of Waterloo, NY, will battle the Super DIRTcar Series full-time. The veteran driver, known as the "Big Show," says he’s looking to have fun on the tour while battling veteran Canadian Jean-Francois Corriveau of Montreal for the series’ rookie of the year honors. Also in the mix for rookie honors will be Bethlehem, PA’s Rusty Smith. Smith made just one start with the Super DIRTcar Series last year at his home track Bridgeport Speedway. Steve Roberts is the final addition to the 2018 roster. 

The Watertown, NY, driver has raced sporadically with the series over the last several years but plans to tackle the full tour for the first time in 2018.