2025 Wrangler NFR Wrap Up

By Patrick Everson

Rocker Steiner entered the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in first place in the season-long world standings.

On Saturday night, after a 90.5-point second-place ride aboard Disco Party, Steiner exited in the same spot.

That final ride in the 10-round Wrangler NFR put another $28,980 in Steiner’s bank account. Plus, he finished fifth in the average to bag an additional $31,937.

Over the past 10 days, Steiner racked up $203,985, including two go-round wins worth $36,688 apiece. Add all that up, and the 22-year-old cowboy claimed his first bareback bronc riding world championship, with a record total of $507,532 in 2025 earnings.

“I can’t believe it’s here. It seems like two weeks ago, I was getting on little ponies,” the 22-year-old Steiner said.

Part of why it was so hard to believe: A week that started strong – with wins in Rounds 2 and 5 – got bumpy in Rounds 6-8, and Steiner let the doubts creep in.

“After Round 8, I thought this wasn’t looking good, and I kind of lost hope. I was in this bad head space,” Steiner said. “Then I thought, ‘You know what? However it’s supposed to end is how it’s going to be.’

“Then I went out there and tried my ass off. I got in the right head space.”

In doing so, Steiner nearly won the final go-round, just an eyelash behind Kade Sonnier’s 90.75.

“The whole time, I was thinking world championship. With every buck, I was thinking gold buckle.”

And so it was. Steiner can now call himself a world champion.

“That sounds good,” he said.

Sam Petersen took the NFR average title with 854 points across 10 rides, claiming that buckle and $94,036. That allowed Petersen to finish second in the world standings at $448,755.

Team Roping

When the first steer raced onto the Thomas & Mack Center dirt on Night 1 of the 2025 Wrangler NFR, Andrew Ward and Jake Long were seventh in the team roping world standings.

But all that matters is where you stand when 10 go-rounds end. Ward and Long finished on top of the world.

In the 10^th go, the twosome split first with Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira at 3.9 seconds, earning $32,824 apiece. That also clinched the NFR average title for Ward and Long, with an elapsed time of 44 seconds flat on nine head, good for a huge haul of $94,036.

That gave the duo $224,783 apiece for the week. And it vaulted Ward to the world header championship, at $373,838, and Long to the world heeler title, at $372,092.

“I feel like somebody is gonna come in here and tell me it was a dream,” Long said after finally claiming his first gold buckle, on his 15^th trip to the NFR. “You don’t know if it’s ever gonna happen.”

With different partners, both won the NFR average title before – Ward in 2021 and Long in 2024. Together, they got the whole kit and kaboodle done.

Not knowing whether they won the world championship, all Ward initially had was a sense of relief Saturday night.

“I was just so thankful this was over. It’s a stressful 10 runs,” Ward said. “We’ve roped good in this building before and not come close to a world title. It went our way this week.

“When I was a kid, I went to bed watching this stuff. What an honor.”

Long added that the child never really goes away when such a big dream becomes reality.

“We all dream about being here. I don’t think that little kid in us will ever die.”

Barrel Racing

When Kassie Mowry tipped the final barrel of the final go-round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, she thought it might’ve cost her a gold buckle. She was leading the NFR average entering the 10^th night, but fell to fourth in the average after that 5-second penalty kept her from making any go-round money Saturday night.

However, the fourth-place average money of $44,356 was enough to seal a second straight barrel racing world championship for Mowry. She won $200,437 over the past 10 days to finish the season with $403,882, holding off Tricia Aldridge ($386,567).

Mowry never thought she’d win one gold buckle, never mind two.

“Not at all. I’m a futurity trainer. I ride just to keep myself sharp,” she said, while raving about a great week of competition. “I’m thrilled that I could be with these ladies. This is a phenomenal group of girls.”

Mowry had two go-round wins during the week. Julie Plourde won the average with an elapsed time of 139.67 seconds over 10 rounds. That netted Plourde a $94,036 check, boosting her to ninth in the final world standings at $237,689.

Steer Wrestling

When you cleanly turf 10 head of steer over 10 nights, and do it 10 seconds faster than anyone else at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, there’s a good chance you’ll walk out not only with the average buckle, but the world championship gold buckle.

That’s what Tucker Allen did. On Saturday night, Allen just needed a clean run, and he got it at 5.8 seconds. It wasn’t worth any go-round money, but it gave the steer wrestler a 10-round elapsed time of 46.40 seconds, No. 1 in the average, 10.4 seconds better than anyone else in the 15-contestant field.

That’s not what Allen expected this week.

“Not by 10 seconds. I couldn’t imagine that,” said Allen, who claimed three go-round wins over the 10 days.

The average win was worth $94,036, vaulting his NFR winnings to $248,046 and hiking his season-long earnings to $398,913.44, a PRCA event record. That was more than enough to overtake Will Lummus on Night 10 for the world title.

“This has been the funnest week of my life,” Allen said in perhaps the understatement of the year. “It’s unreal. It hasn’t set in yet. I don’t know when it will.”

It was certainly an emotional moment for the 25-year-old bulldogger from Ventura, Calif. Allen secured his first gold buckle in just his second NFR appearance, after a fourth-place finish in the world in 2024.

“I’m not a crier. But I did shed a few tears,” said Allen, who was fifth in the world standings before the NFR began. “There’s so much money here. I’m truly blessed that I’m able to do this.”

Tie-Down Roping

From 1980-84, Roy Cooper won five consecutive tie-down roping world championships. Since then, no cowboy has won more than two in a row.

Until now.

Riley Webb put a bow on his Wrangler NFR by winning a third straight tie-down gold buckle. And it was a sentimental moment, to say the least, as Cooper – who passed away in April – was a mentor to Webb. The 22-year-old roper idolized the Hall of Famer known as the Super Looper.

“We lost Roy this year, and he was really big in my roping career,” Webb said. “It’s crazy to think my name is in the same sentence as his.”

Webb was leading the NFR average heading into the 10^th go-round and made sure to just have a clean run, which he did in 7.7 seconds. That was good for third-place money of $21,882.

More important, it sealed the average title, worth a massive $94,035. That gave Webb $250,412 in NFR winnings and boosted his season-long total to $555,544, easily outdistancing Shad Mayfield for the world championship.

Webb had only one go-round win this week, on Night 3, but he was the steadiest roper of the bunch all week long.