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American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest 2026

Mar 20–21, 2026 · Kansas City, MO · 📍 1701 American Royal Court

Reps: David Dyche, Jo Dyche · Prize money: $5,450

🥇
DAWGS BBQ
353.1084 · Backyard Series — Overall
🥈
Wapatui Smokers
349.6800 · Backyard Series — Overall
🥉
Big Reds Backyard BBQ
349.6800 · Backyard Series — Overall

DAWGS BBQ won Grand Champion at the American Royal World Series of Barbecue Backyard Contest on March 20, 2026 in Kansas City, MO at 1701 American Royal Court, scoring 353.1084 in a field of 33 teams. Wapatui Smokers took Reserve Grand Champion with 349.6800. Category winners: Chicken — Karnivor Creations BBQ (180.0000); Pork Ribs — Big Reds Backyard BBQ (178.8572). This is the 5th of 5 editions of this contest on record; the 2025 edition was won by Too Sauced BBQ.

The contest at a glance (read off the scored boards)

How the field scored

Overall totals, every team on the board — tall stacks are where the pack sat.

How the meats cooked

Every board on one scale — the bar runs last score to first, the dot is the median.

  • Chicken 180 🔥
  • Pork Ribs 178.86
153.67 180

Entries

33
2 judged meats

Top score

353.1084

Winning margin

3.4284
GC over RC

Field average

338.23
317.09353.11
median 339.39 · last place to winner

Perfect 180s

2 🔥
Karnivor Creations BBQ (Chicken), DAWGS BBQ (Chicken)

Tightest race

Chicken
2.2972 pts across the top 5

Top-10 cutoff

343.3712
317.09353.11
10th place overall

Field spread

36.0224
winner to last place

Prize money

$5,450
on the line

Widest winning margin

Pork Ribs
won by 3.4400 pts — Big Reds Backyard BBQ

How hot was the win?

Top 27%
beats 73% of 610 Backyard Series wins in the data

Came back for more

39%
13 of 33 teams from the previous edition returned

Form held

Weak
ρ = -0.23 between pre-contest rating and finish

Field strength

1,548
avg power rating going in · stronger than 36% of contests

Top-rated in the field

Too Sauced BBQ
rated 1761 pre-contest

Storylines (3 found in this contest's numbers)

Everything below is read straight out of the results — the number on each card is the one that made it a story.

Photo finishes

Tie closest of 6 calls decided inside half a point

Chicken places 1–2: Karnivor Creations BBQ and DAWGS BBQ tied on 180.0000 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 4–5: Wapatui Smokers and Smoke N Poke BBQ tied on 177.7028 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker. Chicken places 6–7: Alaska BBQ Mann and 10 In The Pit BBQ tied on 173.7028 — settled by the KCBS tiebreaker.

  • Chicken 1–2 · tie
  • Chicken 4–5 · tie
  • Chicken 6–7 · tie
  • Chicken 7–8 · tie

Back to defend

1 past champions back in the field

Past winners of this contest cooked this edition: Too Sauced BBQ (won 2025).

  • Too Sauced BBQ · 2025

A perfect score on the table

2 perfect 180s

2 perfect 180s were scored at this contest — every judge at the table handing back a nine.

  • Karnivor Creations BBQ · Chicken
  • DAWGS BBQ · Chicken

Score curves (score by finishing position — steep cliffs mean a spread field, flat lines a knife fight)

Category showdown (top / average / median score per meat)

Biggest rating movers (power-rating points won and lost at this contest)

Did form hold? (pre-contest rating vs overall finish — ratings called it if the dots climb to the right)

This contest over the years full contest page →

DateWhereVenueTeamsHigh scoreGrand Champion
Mar 25, 2022 Kansas City, MO 1701 American Royal Court 25 350.8456 Rick's Racks
Mar 24, 2023 Kansas City, MO 1701 American Royal Court 37 348.5372 Big Racks BBQ
Mar 22, 2024 Kansas City, MO 1701 American Royal Court 31 357.7028 Bad Influence BBQ - MO
Mar 21, 2025 Kansas City, MO 1701 American Royal Court 33 353.7028 Too Sauced BBQ
Mar 20, 2026 ← this one Kansas City, MO 1701 American Royal Court 33 353.1084 Dawgs BBQ

What a call cost (the score it took to finish 1st, 5th and 10th)

Category1st5th10th
Chicken180177.7028173.1200
Pork Ribs178.8572173.7028171.4172

Official results on kcbs.us ↗

Backyard Series

Overall

33 entries · top 353.1084 · median 339.3940

#TeamScore
1 DAWGS BBQ 353.1084
2 Wapatui Smokers 349.6800
3 Big Reds Backyard BBQ 349.6800
4 SMOKIN E'S BBQ 347.9772
5 Poppin Smoke BBQ 347.9656
6 Rucking Fidiculous BBQ 346.8228
7 10 In The Pit BBQ 346.8228
8 Smoke N Poke BBQ 346.2400
9 Alaska BBQ Mann 344.5372
10 Family Tradition BBQ 343.3712
11 Chester's Twisted Que 342.8456
12 Karnivor Creations BBQ 341.6684
13 Natural Born Grillers 341.6568
14 HevyQue BBQ 341.0972
15 SadieQ 340.5260
16 SMOKEY GQ 339.9312
17 I Smell Smoke 339.3940
18 Burn Barrel BBQ 338.7884
19 Too Sauced Guys Bar-B-Que 338.2168
20 Too Sauced BBQ 337.6456
21 Big Bear BBQ 336.4912
22 Sasquatch Smoke N Que 336.4680
23 Too Sauced To Smoke 335.9428
24 BBQ MIKE 334.8228
25 SASSY SMOKE BBQ 333.6912
26 HORMONAL ESCAPE COMPETITION BBQ 333.0740
27 Muppets of Smoke 330.2172
28 Smokey Bros Barbecue 330.2056
29 Nuttycocksbbq 326.2396
30 Brown Dog BBQ 324.5600
31 Sofa King Awesome BBQ 324.4912
32 Geeks2Meats 320.4572
33 Kingdom Que BBQ 317.0860

Chicken

33 entries · top 180 · median 170.2628 · 🔥 perfect 180

#TeamScore
1 Karnivor Creations BBQ 180 🔥
2 DAWGS BBQ 180 🔥
3 SMOKIN E'S BBQ 178.8572
4 Wapatui Smokers 177.7028
5 Smoke N Poke BBQ 177.7028
6 Alaska BBQ Mann 173.7028
7 10 In The Pit BBQ 173.7028
8 I Smell Smoke 173.7028
9 Too Sauced To Smoke 173.1428
10 BBQ MIKE 173.1200
11 Poppin Smoke BBQ 173.1084
12 Rucking Fidiculous BBQ 172.5600
13 SASSY SMOKE BBQ 171.9656
14 Big Reds Backyard BBQ 170.8228
15 Burn Barrel BBQ 170.8228
16 SMOKEY GQ 170.8112
17 Chester's Twisted Que 170.2628
18 Too Sauced Guys Bar-B-Que 170.2512
19 Natural Born Grillers 170.2512
20 HevyQue BBQ 169.6800
21 Family Tradition BBQ 169.6684
22 Too Sauced BBQ 167.9772
23 Smokey Bros Barbecue 167.4056
24 Big Bear BBQ 166.8112
25 Nuttycocksbbq 166.2512
26 Muppets of Smoke 165.6800
27 HORMONAL ESCAPE COMPETITION BBQ 165.6684
28 Sasquatch Smoke N Que 165.6568
29 SadieQ 165.1088
30 Kingdom Que BBQ 163.4172
31 Brown Dog BBQ 162.2972
32 Sofa King Awesome BBQ 162.2400
33 Geeks2Meats 161.0856

Pork Ribs

33 entries · top 178.8572 · median 169.1200

#TeamScore
1 Big Reds Backyard BBQ 178.8572
2 SadieQ 175.4172
3 Poppin Smoke BBQ 174.8572
4 Rucking Fidiculous BBQ 174.2628
5 Family Tradition BBQ 173.7028
6 10 In The Pit BBQ 173.1200
7 DAWGS BBQ 173.1084
8 Chester's Twisted Que 172.5828
9 Wapatui Smokers 171.9772
10 HevyQue BBQ 171.4172
11 Natural Born Grillers 171.4056
12 Alaska BBQ Mann 170.8344
13 Sasquatch Smoke N Que 170.8112
14 Big Bear BBQ 169.6800
15 Too Sauced BBQ 169.6684
16 SMOKIN E'S BBQ 169.1200
17 SMOKEY GQ 169.1200
18 Smoke N Poke BBQ 168.5372
19 Too Sauced Guys Bar-B-Que 167.9656
20 Burn Barrel BBQ 167.9656
21 HORMONAL ESCAPE COMPETITION BBQ 167.4056
22 I Smell Smoke 165.6912
23 Muppets of Smoke 164.5372
24 Too Sauced To Smoke 162.8000
25 Smokey Bros Barbecue 162.8000
26 Brown Dog BBQ 162.2628
27 Sofa King Awesome BBQ 162.2512
28 SASSY SMOKE BBQ 161.7256
29 BBQ MIKE 161.7028
30 Karnivor Creations BBQ 161.6684
31 Nuttycocksbbq 159.9884
32 Geeks2Meats 159.3716
33 Kingdom Que BBQ 153.6688

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