2020 USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL SPRINT CAR SEASON LOG
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
For just the second time ever, the same driver opened and closed the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season with a feature victory while also earning the season’s driving championship.
In 2020, it was Brady Bacon who became the first individual to perform that version of the hattrick since Pat O’Connor during the 1956 Midwest season. Bacon, of Broken Arrow, Okla., also performed a hattrick of another kind in becoming just the seventh driver to win the USAC Sprint Car title at least three times in his career, joining Parnelli Jones (1960-61-62), Larry Dickson (1968-70-75), Sheldon Kinser (1977-81-82), Steve Butler (1986-87-88-90), Robbie Stanley (1991-92-93), Levi Jones (2005-07-09-10-11).
The entrant title was claimed by Bacon’s Dynamics, Inc. / Hoffman Auto Racing team for an unprecedented 12th time, a quarter of which have been captured with Bacon as the driver. Of the three, this one hits a little different, though, for Bacon who ran the team out of his own Union City, Ohio shop.
“Obviously, the dynamics are a little different than the first two, so this one is probably, actually, a little bit sweeter,” Bacon revealed. “A little more of the weight of the responsibility fell on my shoulders and my guys for this one at my shop. We built this team with supporters that have been with me for a long time – Fatheadz Eyewear, who’s been with me for 10 years; there’s (sponsors) Mike and Megan Eubanks, who have been with me forever, just a lot of people. (Engine builder) Gene Franckowiak’s been with us for a few years. We have some newer people who are playing a bigger part now as well and it’s just great to reward them with a championship. That’s the sweetest part, rewarding the people that make it possible.”
The victories came early and often for Bacon in 2020. He won the opener in Ocala, Fla. after charging from the 9th starting spot, then doubled up the following night in Ocala with another surge from 9th to 1st. With the victory, Bacon became the ninth driver to win the first two USAC National Sprint Car features of the year, following Jud Larson (1965), Larry Dickson (1970), Pancho Carter (1978), Rich Vogler (1987), Robbie Stanley (1993), Tracy Hines (2002), Jay Drake (2004) and Damion Gardner (2010).
Entering the round at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway in late June, Bacon had yet to finish outside the top-ten and was just within earshot of the points lead when a string of misfortune haunted the team throughout the next three events.
A nasty flip by Bacon on the fourth lap at Plymouth, which seemingly spelled disaster at first glance, was salvaged when the crew thrashed during the red flag period to repair the car, miraculously returning in time for the resumption. With a caved-in tail tank and all, Bacon blitzed back through the field to finish 9th.
The following race, the 50th Tony Hulman Classic at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, second-place running Bacon’s engine ceased fire under yellow with four laps remaining, relegating him to 18th at the finish. Another mag issue followed the team two nights later to Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. when the engine wouldn’t fire to start the feature, ending the evening before it even began, putting them 24th and dead last in the running order.
Bacon righted the ship the next night at Lincoln Park with another comeback victory after starting 8th, then it was onto Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway to defend his $20,000 Corn Belt Nationals triumph from the year before. Bacon and crew were put to the test once again on his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy, having to make an engine change before the feature, which was more of a preventative measure due to a persistent oil leak.
With some down time between races, the decision was made to make the change, and the team decided they weren’t going to take any chances risking it. After all, the “backup” engine has some clout all its own; it was the same engine Bacon had utilized in his Lincoln Park victory.
Bacon proceeded to victory at Knoxville once again and was amidst a streak of seven-straight top-eight feature finishes. However, a mechanical issue early during the Indiana Sprint Week finale at Tri-State Speedway proved stifling, taking the team back to fourth in the standings and 99 points out of the lead entering late August.
Justin Grant had been the class of the field to that point in first place of the standings over Chase Stockon and Chris Windom in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. At that point, with Grant rolling midseason, hope wasn’t all lost for Bacon, but it seemed like a tall order for him to dig his way back into the title hunt.
“At one point, I didn’t think we really had a shot,” Bacon admitted. “Grant had pulled out to such a big lead and was really consistent, and typically once that happens, it’s hard to chip away. He had a lot of things happen all at once and that’s when we got on a roll.”
Three consecutive top-fives for Bacon at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway’s “Smackdown” in late August sent him straight into the point lead for the first time since June while Grant encountered three nights of hardship, finishing outside the top-ten in all three features.
A 10th place run on September 11 at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway briefly took Bacon out of the point lead, but one night later, he was back on top following a 2nd and a 1st in a single evening doubleheader at Lincoln Park.
The see-saw championship chase took another turn on Sept. 18 at Terre Haute when Windom won the Jim Hurtubise Classic, vaulting him back into the point lead. But a 3rd at Gas City (Ind.) I-69 Speedway and a runner-up finish in the penultimate round of the season at Kokomo gave Bacon his most comfortable advantage to that point, a 30-point lead entering the finale on Oct. 3 at Lawrenceburg.
A 13th place finish or better in the Fall Nationals feature at Lawrenceburg was going to clinch the title for Bacon regardless of how anybody else performed. Yet, Bacon wasn’t content to ride around and race inside a bubble to protect himself. Instead, he was trying to put the cherry on top of the icing on the cake. A back-and-forth duel for the lead between he and Tyler Courtney waged into the final stages until Courtney took the lead just six laps from the end.
However, Courtney’s car was found to be 15 pounds underweight during post-race tech inspection after spilling water from the radiator throughout much of the second half of the 30-lapper. Thus, second place finishing Bacon was elevated to first while Courtney was repositioned to the 22nd and final position in the results.
Albeit in an unconventional manner, Bacon became the 10th driver ever, and the first since Levi Jones in 2011, to win the final race of the USAC National Sprint Car season and the series championship in a single night, providing him a final margin of victory in the standings by 39 over Chris Windom – the 18th closest points race in the 65-year history of the series.
When Bacon reflects upon 2020, he recalls having a car that was prepared to win at every venue, every night, and that gave him the confidence to do what he has done more of than any other driver with the series over the past decade, win races and championships.
“Fortunately, any issues we had weren’t necessarily speed related,” Bacon said. “We had one race at Bloomington where we kind of missed it, but other than that, we had a car that was in contention to win the race every time. When we had some misfortune, it wasn’t too hard to bounce back from. You’ve just got to figure it out and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s pretty rewarding; when winning the USAC championship, your name is on that list forever.”
Bacon led or was tied atop four major statistical categories with the series during the 2020 season. He led all drivers with six feature wins and laps led with 174. Bacon tied Windom with 24 top-ten feature finishes and was one of six drivers to start all 27 features along with Windom, Justin Grant, C.J. Leary, Chase Stockon and Kevin Thomas Jr.
Windom made the largest advancement of any driver in a single feature event with the series in 2020, charging from 22nd to 5th at Gas City on Sept. 25. Windom also finished the season with 18 top-five results, the most of any driver with the series.
Meanwhile, Leary topped all drivers with six fast qualifying times. Robert Ballou and Stockon each won eight heat races throughout the year. Jadon Rogers led all Rookies with a 14th place finish in the standings.
Justin Grant won five times during the year at Iowa’s 34 Raceway, Missouri’s Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, with the latter three coming within the confines of Indiana at Plymouth Speedway, the Terre Haute Action Track and at Gas City I-69, which came via a post-race tire disqualification for original race winner Leary.
Four drivers won three races each, Tyler Courtney at Knoxville, Iowa and twice at Kokomo, Ind., as did Kyle Cummins at Haubstadt, Ind. and twice at Kokomo. Chris Windom picked up a trio of Hoosier state victories at Terre Haute twice, then again at Bloomington, while C.J. Leary picked up dual home state wins at Kokomo and Lawrenceburg on back-to-back nights during Indiana Sprint Week
Indiana Sprint Week champion Chase Stockon captured a pair of wins, first in a race at Putnamville, Ind. that was delayed nearly six weeks by rain, then won another at Haubstadt, Ind. following a post-race disqualification of Kendall Ruble due to a tire violation.
One-time series victors in 2020 included first-time winner Stephen Schnapf in June at Haubstadt, Ind. who promptly stepped away from racing shortly thereafter. He’d return in September for another start at Haubstadt. Shane Cottle scored a win at Putnamville in early July while Logan Seavey snagged a last-lap thriller during the Indiana Sprint Week opener at Gas City in late July.
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BACON BOLTS TO VALENTINE’S VICTORY AT OCALA
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Florida (February 14, 2020)………Entering Friday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season opener, the most recent time Brady Bacon left Bubba Raceway Park with a top-five finish was three years ago.
Furthermore, the Broken Arrow, Okla. native’s most recent victory at the 3/8-mile tri-oval came five years prior, leaving him more than eager to quash the early season dry spell that lingered over him entering the 2020 season.
On a weekend that’s been anything but a dry spell with heavy rain washing out Thursday’s intended opener and threatening Friday’s second go with persistent afternoon showers, Bacon rid himself of the early-season cloud of recent years by taking the lead with just four laps remaining to score his third career Winter Dirt Games feature victory.
The win for Bacon in his Dynamics, Inc./Longworth Equipment – Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy notched another milestone for the two-time series champion. With the triumph, Bacon became just the 13th driver to reach the 30-win mark in his USAC National Sprint Car career.
“This win is pretty important to me because we’ve struggled here the past three years,” Bacon admitted. “Getting off to a bad start is not easy. Hopefully, we can keep this momentum going and not start off at a handicap for the rest of the season.”
Bacon had quite a long row to hoe in just 30 laps, starting 9th on the grid on a tricky surface before steadily moving his way through the 22-car field. Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, Kevin Thomas Jr. lunged to the point on the opening lap from his pole position while outside front row starter Kyle Cummins dug in and charged around Thomas to snare the lead off turn four on the opening circuit.
Cummins quickly gapped Thomas by just a tick under a full second during the early stages before encountering lapped traffic on the tenth lap. Cummins met a five-member single-file train of cars at the tail end of the lead lap where he decisively ripped around the outside of traffic as Thomas gave chase, closing up the canyon between the two ever so slightly.
Just one lap later, young Connor Leoffler, making his first career series start and who had just been put a lap down by Cummins, biked hard in turn one before landing on all fours and smacking the right rear against the outer concrete, ending his night.
On the lap 12 resumption, Thomas peeked his nose underneath the ride of Cummins at the exit of turn four, but Cummins slashed away once again and regenerated his advantage at the front, clicking off the fastest lap of the race one lap after the halfway mark.
Just prior to the last 10-lap stanza, Cummins was greeted by a chorus of traffic, allowing Thomas to subtract the interval between he and the lead car of Cummins. On the 20th lap, while exiting turn four, Cummins experienced “a moment” if you will when he and the car of Katlynn Leer collided near the flagstand, sending both into immediate disarray and near disaster. Although, both carried on without issue.
Thomas pounced on the Cummins/Leer mishap and raced to the lead past Cummins a half lap later on the bottom between turns three and four. However, two laps later, Thomas’ bid for victory fell into shambles as his right rear tire went flat on the back straightaway on the 24th lap, granting Cummins the lead as Thomas slowed to a crawl to the work area where his crew swapped out for new rubber, ultimately returning for a 16th place finish.
The ensuing restart with seven laps remaining put Bacon on Cummins’ tail where he immediately let it be known he was going to be a contender. At the conclusion of lap 24 at the exit of turn four, Bacon clawed off turn four under Cummins, racing to a near dead heat at the line with Cummins clinging to a slight advantage as he disallowed Bacon from taking hold of the low line entering turn one.
Bacon continued hounding Cummins on both ends of the racetrack, and on lap 27, Bacon was finally able to squeeze through the crack in the door underneath Cummins entering turn one, to pocket the lead once and for all.
“I knew he had been running the bottom in three and four and it was super, super tricky,” Bacon recalled. “So, I figured if I could pressure him, he’d slide up enough to where I could slip underneath in three and four. I didn’t know if I was going to get him, but I just got enough of a run to slide up and we had a really good car in the middle of one and two. I could turn back down and go the other way without him crossing me over. I felt pretty confident, that if nothing major happened, I could hold on.”
Something major nearly did occur, however, as Bacon’s tire began to deflate in the waning laps, leaking more air as each lap dissipated. But, 30 laps were just enough to race on without a hindrance. To just get to that point, though, it took a box full of patience to make the winning move, but not too much patience as to allow others to find the path to victory first before he did himself.
“I felt like the bottom was going to be good in three and four early, but it took me awhile to figure out how to hit it right without sliding up on entry,” Bacon explained. “Even then, you had to figure out where you were going to put yourself going into the next corner to get a good run. Fortunately, we got by some people just in time before they figured it out too.”
Princeton, Indiana’s Kyle Cummins led a race-high 24 laps and came oh-so-close to finally scoring his initial Winter Dirt Games victory in his 21st start in the event, finishing 2nd in his Rock Steady Racing/Mid-America Safety Solutions – Greenwell Auto Body – Lucas Oil Center/Mach-1/Foxco Chevy.
“I felt like I had some pressure,” Cummins said of Bacon’s pursuit of him. “He was pounding the top, so I switched to the bottom. I thought I had him cleared there, but Brady did a good job there. We were really good at the beginning and I really didn’t know where to go there in three and four. I went ahead and went to the top. I saw Brady and I tried to save the bottom. He just had a better car there at the end of the race.”
Reigning series champion C.J. Leary of Greenfield, Ind. finished 3rd in his debut aboard the Gene Gile Racing/RVB Transport – Valvoline – FK Rod Ends/DRC/1-Way Chevy, while two-time Winter Dirt Games feature winner Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) took 4th and Fatheadz Eyewear/EPA Photography Fast Qualifier Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) rounded out the top-five.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 14, 2020 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XI
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/EPA PHOTOGRAPHY QUALIFYING: 1. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.644; 2. C.J. Leary, 1, Gile-13.836; 3. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.846; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.913; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.942; 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.972; 7. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-13.975; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.976; 9. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-14.065; 10. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.072; 11. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.121; 12. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-14.362; 13. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.461; 14. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.488; 15. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-14.495; 16. Anthony D’Alessio, 01, D’Alessio/Parallax-14.549; 17. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.580; 18. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.586; 19. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-14.685; 20. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.695; 21. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-14.739; 22. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.838; 23. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-14.843; 24. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-14.890; 25. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-14.908; 26. Connor Leoffler, 22L, Leoffler-14.954; 27. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-15.007; 28. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-15.100; 29. Tyler Gunn, 68G, Gunn-15.842; 30. Kory Schudy, 28K, Sawyer-14.053.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Matt Goodnight, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Kyle Robbins, 8. Harley Burns, 9. Anthony D'Alessio. 1:56.10
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Kent Schmidt, 6. Dustin Clark, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Connor Leoffler, 9. Stephen Schnapf, 10. Tyler Gunn. 1:55.41
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Sterling Cling, 5. Dennis Gile, 6. Scotty Weir, 7. Mario Clouser, 8. Kory Schudy, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Katlynn Leer. 2:01.38
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Mario Clouser, 3. Connor Leoffler, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Chris Phillips, 6. Kory Schudy, 7. Katlynn Leer, 8. Kyle Robbins, 9. Scotty Weir, 10. Tyler Gunn, 11. Anthony D'Alessio, 12. Harley Burns, 13. Dustin Clark, 14. Stephen Schnapf. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (9), 2. Kyle Cummins (2), 3. C.J. Leary (5), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Chris Windom (6), 6. Chase Stockon (11), 7. Logan Seavey (4), 8. Anton Hernandez (8), 9. Carson Short (7), 10. Dave Darland (17), 11. Dennis Gile (10), 12. Brandon Mattox (16), 13. Sterling Cling (12), 14. Matt Westfall (19), 15. Mario Clouser (18), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 17. Kent Schmidt (15), 18. Katlynn Leer (20), 19. Chris Phillips (14), 20. Kory Schudy (22), 21. Matt Goodnight (13), 22. Connor Leoffler (21). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Kyle Cummins, Laps 21-22 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 23-26 Kyle Cummins, Laps 27-30 Brady Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (9th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Sterling Cling
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Kyle Robbins
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Kory Schudy
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-77, 2-Kyle Cummins-77, 3-C.J. Leary-75, 4-Justin Grant-71, 5-Chris Windom-70, 6-Logan Seavey-63, 7-Chase Stockon-60, 8-Anton Hernandez-54, 9-Carson Short-54, 10-Dave Darland-47.
NEW HUGHES RACING/INDIANA MAFIA/FLAMINGO SANDY WINTER DIRT GAMES PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-10, 2-Dave Darland-7, 3-Matt Westfall-7, 4-C.J. Leary-5, 5-Chase Stockon-5, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-5, 7-Kyle Cummins-4, 8-Logan Seavey-4, 9-Chris Windom-4, 10-Brandon Mattox-4.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-15, 2-Daison Pursley-10, 3-Andrew Layser-9, 4-Brady Bacon-8, 5-Dave Darland-7, 6-Zeb Wise-6, 7-Dennis Misuraca-6, 8-Steve Buckwalter-6, 9-Oliver Akard-6, 10-Cannon McIntosh-5.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: February 15, 2020 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XI
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear / EPA Fast Qualifier: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Carson Short
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Race Parts Semi Winner: Dave Darland
KSE Racing Products / ProSource Hard Charger: Brady Bacon
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Sterling Cling
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Kyle Robbins
Prosource Hard Work Award: Kory Schudy
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BACON DOUBLES UP WITH SECOND STRAIGHT OCALA SCORE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Ocala, Florida (February 15, 2020)………Brady Bacon took no chances on his cool down lap following Saturday night’s USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Winter Dirt Games XI victory at Bubba Raceway Park.
Following a mishap during his heat race that saw him drop from a surefire win to having to transfer through the semi in order to qualify for the feature, Bacon was once again the class of the field, driving from 9th to 1st to capture his second consecutive series main event win in as many nights at the 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track in Ocala, Fla.
All the meanwhile, the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native was adamant to make sure a victory wasn’t going to slip through his fingers twice in one night.
“We made an extra lap in the feature. I wasn’t going to stop until we knew it was over,” Bacon exclaimed.
For you see, earlier Saturday evening during his heat race, Bacon was fully in charge, dominating the preliminary event until the final lap when his car began to slow dramatically. Was something amiss mechanically with his ride, many pondered.
However, as it turned out, Bacon thought he saw the flagman waving the white. As he came around the stripe the next time, he saw another flag waving and assumed it was the checkered. As it turned out, that flag was, in fact, the white. Bacon let off the gas on the actual last lap, assuming the race was over, and dropped from 1st to 8th as his competitors drove by him to knock him out from a potential second row starting spot.
As a result, Bacon was forced to transfer through the semi-feature, which he won, then rolled off from the 9th starting spot in the 30-lap feature – the same position he started from in his victory just 24 hours prior.
On paper, Saturday’s results were a carbon copy of Friday’s – a mesmerizing charge to the front that began from the inside of the fifth row. However, with the way all the elements transpired for Bacon, he wouldn’t have it any other way en route to his 31st career USAC National Sprint Car feature win and his fourth career Winter Dirt Games sprint car score, tying him for second with Bryan Clauson and one behind Damion Gardner.
“It might’ve been a blessing in disguise running that B-Main because I ran the bottom in one and two once and I thought it was really good, so I just moved off of it,” Bacon explained. “I didn’t want to show my hand too much and I didn’t want people to see that the bottom was fast.”
“It was a lot slicker in the feature,” Bacon continued. “But we were able to sneak around there and get a little grip down the back straightaway when everyone else was way up by the fence. It didn’t feel like it was going to work because I felt like I was going like 2 mph, but then, all of a sudden, at the end of the back straightaway, I’d be beside or ahead of them. It was a little unconventional, especially for here, but it worked.”
That’s just how it unfolded for Bacon in a two-lap spurt that saw him slip underneath Chris Windom for second on lap 12 in turn three, then repeated the same move the very next lap in the same spot on Chase Stockon, who had commandeered the opening 12 laps from his outside front row starting position.
As Bacon jetted out to a 2.5 second lead in the waning laps, Windom and resurgent pole sitter Logan Seavey were involved in an intense grapple in which Seavey threw multiple sliders at Windom to no avail as Windom staved off the 2018 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ for the position.
With three laps remaining, 14th running Katlynn Leer banged her right rear tire off the outside wall and flipped wildly down the front straightaway to bring out the feature event’s lone red flag and final stoppage, thus erasing Bacon’s advantage and setting up a three-lap dash for the win in which the two-time series champ had one of two ways to go.
“I was kind of torn whether to run the top or bottom,” Bacon admitted. “I knew the top was probably a little faster, but I would have left a big window open for someone to slide me, and he did. But I was able to cross him over and survive. Thankfully, we just had a really good car tonight and we’re able to overcome any obstacle that was thrown at us.”
Windom successfully dove to the bottom and slid by Bacon in turn one on laps 28 and 29, but Bacon lowered the boom and tucked in at the exit of turn four, taking a lower entry into the first turn on the final lap to essentially shut the door on Windom’s chances for victory and finish off a three-car-length margin of victory ahead of Windom, Seavey and Stockon with Justin Grant rounding out the top-five.
After Friday’s victory, Bacon was relieved to have shaken the cloud that had hung over his head throughout the past three years at Winter Dirt Games. Saturday served up more of the same despite Bacon initially entering the season with tempered expectations based on recent outings at Ocala. Although. he is quick to credit a possibility that they’ve got the leg up on the competition so far due to the lack of turnover on the team after a busy offseason which saw a multitude of driver, team and mechanical changes around the pit area.
“I would’ve been happy with two top-fives after the last few years we’ve had here,” Bacon said. “We ended last year really fast and had a chance to win every single race. Then, we just wanted to refine everything and keep getting better. You’ve got to keep digging because everyone else is going to do it in the offseason. We probably had the least amount of changes, just the sponsor change, but all the nuts and bolts have been the same. That might be our little advantage. All our personnel is the same. We’re just in a lot better spot than we started with last year as far as our equipment goes.”
With the victory, Bacon became the ninth driver to win the first two USAC National Sprint Car features of the year, following Jud Larson (1965), Larry Dickson (1970), Pancho Carter (1978), Rich Vogler (1987), Robbie Stanley (1993), Tracy Hines (2002), Jay Drake (2004) and Damion Gardner (2010).
Furthermore, Bacon’s 333rd career USAC National Sprint Car start elevated him into the top-ten all-time, equaling Sheldon Kinser for 10th on the list.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 15, 2020 – Bubba Raceway Park – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XI
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/EPA PHOTOGRAPHY QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 1, Gile-13.845; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.873; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.873; 4. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.877; 5. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.884; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.925; 7. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.925; 8. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-13.933; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.977; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.981; 11. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.076; 12. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-14.099; 13. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.157; 14. Katlynn Leer, 77K, Leer-14.186; 15. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-14.219; 16. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.337; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-14.385; 18. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-14.408; 19. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-14.414; 20. Kory Schudy, 28K, Sawyer-14.416; 21. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-14.442; 22. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.459; 23. Tyler Gunn, 68G, Gunn-14.472; 24. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.512; 25. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-14.514; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.612; 27. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-14.945; 28. Anthony D’Alessio, 01, D’Alessio/Parallax-15.474; 29. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Carson Short, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Mario Clouser, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Anthony D’Alessio, 8. Dustin Clark, 9. Kent Schmidt, 10. Matt Westfall. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Kyle Robbins, 5. Dennis Gile, 6. Katlynn Leer, 7. Kory Schudy, 8. Brandon Mattox, 9. Tyler Gunn, 10. Robert Bell. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Phillips, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Stephen Schnapf, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Harley Burns. 1:55.355
INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Anton Hernandez, 3. Katlynn Leer, 4. Kory Schudy, 5. Stephen Schnapf, 6. Tyler Gunn, 7. Anthony D’Alessio, 8. Harley Burns, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Brandon Mattox, 12. Dustin Clark. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (9), 2. Chris Windom (3), 3. Logan Seavey (1), 4. Chase Stockon (2), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Carson Short (4), 7. C.J. Leary (6), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 9. Kyle Cummins (12), 10. Dennis Gile (10), 11. Dave Darland (7), 12. Mario Clouser (17), 13. Stephen Schnapf (19), 14. Anton Hernandez (21), 15. Matt Westfall (24), 16. Kory Schudy (18), 17. Scotty Weir (16), 18. Kyle Robbins (15), 19. Anthony D’Alessio (22), 20. Chris Phillips (8), 21. Sterling Cling (13), 22. Brandon Mattox (23), 23. Tyler Gunn (20), 24. Katlynn Leer (14).
**Kent Schmidt flipped during the first heat. Katlynn Leer flipped on lap 28 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Chase Stockon, Laps 13-30 Brady Bacon.
KSE RACING PRODUCTS/PROSOURCE HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (9th to 1st)
WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Stephen Schnapf
SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Harley Burns
PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Anthony D’Alessio
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-155, 2-Chris Windom-146, 3-Justin Grant-140, 4-C.J. Leary-138, 5-Logan Seavey-135, 6-Kyle Cummins-130, 7-Chase Stockon-129, 8-Carson Short-118, 9-Dave Darland-96, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-95.
FINAL HUGHES RACING/INDIANA MAFIA/FLAMINGO SANDY WINTER DIRT GAMES PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-18, 2-Anton Hernandez-10, 3-Mario Clouser-10, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-9, 5-Dave Darland-9, 6-Chris Windom-8, 7-Kyle Cummins-8, 8-Chase Stockon-8, 9-C.J. Leary-7, 10-Logan Seavey-10.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-16, 2-Chris Windom-16, 3-Daison Pursley-10, 4-Andrew Layser-9, 5-Mario Clouser-8, 6-Anton Hernandez-7, 7-Dave Darland-7, 8-Zeb Wise-6, 9-Dennis Misuraca-6, 10-Stephen Schnapf-6.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: April 4, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear / EPA Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Dave Darland
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chris Phillips
Indy Race Parts Semi Winner: Brady Bacon
KSE Racing Products / ProSource Hard Charger:
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher:
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Harley Burns
Hughes Racing / Indiana Mafia / Flamingo Sandy Passing Master:
Prosource Hard Work Award: Anthony D’Alessio
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GRANT GETS BACK INTO THE GROOVE AT 34 RACEWAY USAC SPRINT RETURN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
West Burlington, Iowa (June 6, 2020)………The return to racing has been very kind to Justin Grant over the past two weeks. With a pair of midget wins in recent weeks, a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory was next on the serving tray Saturday night at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa as the Ione, Calif. native led wire-to-wire in the first series event in 112 days.
With his 17th career series victory, Grant moved into a tie for 30th on the all-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win list alongside Jerry Coons, Jr., Parnelli Jones and Bud Kaeding.
Grant started from the outside of the front row and utilized the top side to surge past C.J. Leary on the initial aborted start. On the second try, Grant rinsed and repeated to get to the point ahead of Leary, who was making his debut in the KO Motorsports No. 5K normally driven by Kent Schmidt.
Leary’s intended ride, the family owned No. 30, was heavily damaged in a high-flying, guardrail-clearing crash Friday night in a POWRi WAR Sprint Car race just a little down the road at Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, Iowa. A last-minute deal was struck late Friday night to put Leary in the seat for Saturday.
Grant extended his advantage ahead of Leary to over a second just six laps in as the leaders were already approaching traffic. That allowed Leary to close the gap and get within three-quarters of a second of Grant as they both waded their way through the throng.
Early on, the drivers on the tail end of the lead lap utilized the low line, but by the 10th lap, Grant’s torrid pace had brought into the thick of battles for position in the pack, which occupied the lines on both the bottom and middle. As Dakota Jackson and Jonathan Vennard tussled side-by-side for position, Grant got briefly caught behind Vennard, who was making his first USAC National Sprint Car start since 2006, then swung high to get around both as Leary closed to within three car lengths of Grant’s rear bumper.
Grant continued the forward march in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – The Bow Foundation/Maxim/Claxton Chevy, sliding by to put Dustin Smith a lap down as the track surface began to take rubber following a hot, sun-baked afternoon. Grant ran his – at the time – fastest lap of the race at midway, pulling away to a 1.5 second lead over Leary once again.
With the heaviest of traffic still lying in wait out in front of him, and using lines top to middle to bottom, Grant found it to be tough sledding finding a spot to find his way into even though he knew he had the car on this night to do whatever he needed it to do. Yet, patience, conservation and more patience was the name of the game.
“I was plenty good enough to get a run to slide a lapper and get back to the rubber,” Grant recalled. “But it was gridlock, there was nowhere to slip into. I tried it a couple times and about banged wheels with a guy. You can get your right front to their nerf bar, but you can spin yourself out, so you’ve got to be careful.”
“I figured, just get nose-to-tail and nobody else can slide in, I guess, unless they run in and bash somebody,” Grant continued. “So, I settled in and figured I’ll just stay tight here, and if a hole opens up, I’ll take it. If not, I’ll just try to fend off what I can. There’s not much you can do in that situation except not beat yourself.”
With five to go, Grant entered turn one on the bottom, then drifted up to the middle, allowing Leary to stick a nose to the inside of Grant for the race lead. When Leary became fully beside him, that caught Grant’s attention.
“I saw a right front poke up underneath me and thought it’s probably not a lapper trying to drive up alongside me.”
It certainly wasn’t, and Grant was able to fend Leary off, driving back around the outside off turn two to retain the lead. One lap later, the deck was reshuffled when 16th running Brandon Mattox slowed in turn three with a flat right rear tire, setting up a four-lap dash to the finish, albeit now without the throes of traffic.
“Once the yellow came out, it’s like okay, let’s get the tires cooled down,” Grant said. “Then, you want to keep air in them; you’ve got to keep them cool, but you also got to keep them hot enough so they keep air in them. I’m trying to do that and not wear them out. When it went back green, I smoked two or three hard ones to get the air back up in the tire, and thought, ‘let’s get a cushion, settle in and start rolling on the right front through the center.’ Once it got quiet, I went back into tire conservation mode.”
Grant admitted he’s usually not too excited being the leader when the track lays rubber and the yellow comes out, but it was fixing to be a dogfight down the stretch, and this time, he didn’t have a problem with the stoppage.
“I was glad to see the yellow come out and get us some open track,” Grant said. “Rubber’s always nerve wracking because a small miss can cost you a half-second, three quarters of a second a lap. It can be locked in here and an inch and a half over, it’s dead slick.”
Grant found the groove theoretically, figuratively and literally in the last stint, completing the fastest lap of the race on the final circuit, to reign victorious for the first time with the series in 2020 by 0.845 sec. over Leary, Kevin Thomas Jr., Brady Bacon and Chris Windom.
For fourth-place finisher Bacon, it was his 334th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature start, moving him into the top-ten all-time past 1977-81-82 series champion Sheldon Kinser.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 6, 2020 – 34 Raceway – West Burlington, Iowa
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.982; 2. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-15.131; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.198; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.439; 5. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-15.531; 6. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-15.574; 7. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-15.585; 8. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-15.663; 9. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-15.751; 10. Slater Helt, 24, Simon-15.808; 11. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-15.824; 12. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-15.831; 13. Terry Babb, 88, Babb-15.920; 14. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-15.987; 15. Kory Schudy, 28K, Sawyer-15.995; 16. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.193; 17. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-16.201; 18. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-16.236; 19. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-16.296; 20. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-16.348; 21. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-17.244.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-15.229; 2. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.493; 3. C.J. Leary, 5K, KO-15.611; 4. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-15.722; 5. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.725; 6. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio/Parallax-15.783; 7. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-15.923; 8. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-16.042; 9. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.134; 10. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-16.139; 11. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-16.165; 12. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-16.238; 13. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-16.253; 14. Zach Daum, 57, Artz-16.315; 15. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-16.475; 16. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-16.548; 17. Terry Richards, 18, TR's Tool Service-16.943; 18. Logan Faucon, 52F, Faucon-16.979; 19. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-17.115; 20. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-17.487; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.710.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Jonathan Vennard, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Wyatt Burks, 6. Matt Goodnight, 7. Kory Schudy, 8. Ben Knight, 9. Terry Babb, 10. Blake Vermillion, 11. Steve Thomas. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Dustin Smith, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Mitch Wissmiller, 7. Slater Helt, 8. Dustin Clark, 9. Isaac Chapple, 10. Braydon Cromwell. 2:12.911
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Matt Westfall, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Mario Clouser, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Terry Richards, 9. Patrick Budde, 10. Robert Bell, 11. Sterling Cling. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Mitchell Davis, 5. Logan Faucon, 6. Jesse Vermillion, 7. Anthony D’Alessio, 8. Scotty Weir, 9. Anthony Nicholson, 10. Zach Daum. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Anthony Nicholson, 2. Blake Vermillion, 3. Terry Richards, 4. Dustin Clark, 5. Logan Faucon, 6. Jesse Vermillion, 7. Ben Knight, 8. Steve Thomas, 9. Braydon Cromwell, 10. Patrick Budde. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Mario Clouser, 2. Wyatt Burks, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Zach Daum, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Kory Schudy, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Slater Helt, 9. Terry Babb, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Scotty Weir, 12. Anthony Nicholson, 13. Dustin Clark, 14. Blake Vermillion, 15. Anthony D’Alessio, 16. Isaac Chapple, 17. Terry Richards, 18. Mitch Wissmiller. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. C.J. Leary (1), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 4. Brady Bacon (6), 5. Chris Windom (4), 6. Logan Seavey (7), 7. Robert Ballou (3), 8. Wyatt Burks (10), 9. Carson Short (8), 10. Chase Stockon (9), 11. Mario Clouser (11), 12. Matt Westfall (16), 13. Dave Darland (14), 14. Kory Schudy (21), 15. Jadon Rogers (13), 16. Zach Daum (20), 17. Mitchell Davis (17), 18. Jonathan Vennard (18), 19. Chris Phillips (22), 20. Matt Goodnight (24), 21. Brandon Mattox (15), 22. Dustin Smith (12), 23. Dakota Jackson (19), 24. Anton Hernandez (23). NT
**Sterling Cling flipped during the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Justin Grant.
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-229, 2-Justin Grant-222, 3-Chris Windom-214, 4-C.J. Leary-210, 5-Logan Seavey-198, 6-Chase Stockon-180, 7-Carson Short-172, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-169, 9-Dave Darland-140, 10-Kyle Cummins-130.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Andrew Layser-31, 2-Logan Seavey-29, 3-Tanner Thorson-23, 4-Brady Bacon-18, 5-Chris Windom-18, 6-Daison Pursley-18, 7-Tyler Thomas-16, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-13, 9-Tyler Courtney-10, 10-Cannon McIntosh-9.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 7, 2020 – Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 – Pevely, Missouri
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Carson Short
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Mario Clouser
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Kory Schudy (21st to 14th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Dave Darland
Saldana Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill First Non-Transfer: Matt Goodnight
Top California Finisher Courtesy of Stephanie Odom: Justin Grant
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DÉJÀ VU: GRANT COMPLETES WEEKEND SWEEP WITH I-55 WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Pevely, Missouri (June 7, 2020)………Less than 24 hours after driving to his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the season, Justin Grant did the deed again, sweeping the weekend capper Sunday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in Pevely, Missouri.
Grant led wire-to-wire on Saturday night at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa after starting from the outside of the front row and leading all 30 laps in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – The Bow Foundation/Maxim/Claxton Chevy. On Sunday, he was once again in the same position, outside the front row in the feature starting lineup.
Grant drew the last pill in the qualifying draw, but the Ione, Calif. native went against the grain, shunning conventional wisdom and instilling the idea within that the track would slow him up just enough to eventually put him on the front row for the feature. He believed it, and that’s just how it played out after qualifying third fastest in flight two.
After snaring the lead from polesitter Chase Stockon at the line on the second go-around, Grant led the remainder of the 29 laps to score his 18th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, moving him past Jerry Coons Jr., Parnelli Jones and Bud Kaeding for sole possession of 30th all-time.
Grant’s fountain of confidence in current times is quite apparent, and he readily admits a successful run such as this after mighty struggles on occasions, is pretty sweet.
“When you’re hot, you’re hot. It’s like you can’t miss,” Grant exclaimed. “Car’s always perfect. Everything always works out. It’s pretty magical when it’s like this. It’s not always like this, and I’ve done this enough to know that it can swing back the other way, but we’ll work our butts off to make sure it doesn’t for as long as we can.”
The two Sprint victories come just two weeks after Grant won back-to-back Midget races over consecutive nights, including the final night of the T-Town Midget Showdown at Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Port City Raceway on May 23.
Once Grant took the lead Sunday at I-55, from basically the get-go, the race was just as much a race against the ever-changing preferred line as it was against anybody else in the 22-car field. Grant swapped from top to bottom on both ends of the 1/3-mile dirt oval while Brady Bacon, winner of the first two series races in Ocala, Fla. in February, slotted into second and posted a challenge to Grant.
“Early on, the top was dirty,” Grant recalled. “The curb hadn’t really formed up yet and there was enough moisture on the bottom in three and four that I was running the top, and thought it’s pretty dirty up there and looks pretty wide down there, so I dropped to the bottom. A couple of times, I saw Brady’s nose down the back stretch. I ran the bottom in three and four until I felt like it was getting slow. I had to slow a fair bit to get off four. I thought I’d be better off blazing around the fence. I was pretty happy about that because I like blazing around the fence.”
While Grant was busy searching for happiness against the fence, Matt Westfall became the unhappy one who found misfortune against the turn two wall on the sixth lap, flipping upside down, an incident from which the Pleasant Hill, Ohio driver walked away unscathed.
Grant and Bacon remained right against the wall, albeit of the inside variety, while Chris Windom and Tyler Courtney clung to the high line to make their surge to the front. And when a caution for a Mitchell Davis spin on lap 16 cleared the traffic and the path for the leaders, Grant took off, while Windom and Courtney, in quick succession on laps 17 and 18, powered around Bacon on the topside for the second and third spot, respectively.
Grant then went back to the top while sliding himself on entry into turns one and two. At one point, with it being slick on entry at the top of turn one, he admitted he about backed it into the fence, so he recalculated and changed up his approach. When his tires held their grip across the center, he thought he’d be hard to beat if that component of the track’s surface remained.
“It was kind of sketchy because there was a hole on the bottom of one and two where the moisture was,” Grant recalled. “I’d come blazing through there wide open and it’d get to bucking and it would bounce all the way across the slick in the middle of one and two, then bash into the cushion off two. Sometimes it’d blow through and bash into the wall.”
“Three and four got pretty ledgy,” Grant continued. “But you’d make really good time getting into the ledge hard exiting four, but it would get you tight if you weren’t careful. I got tight a couple times at the fence off four. That was a lot of fun. That’s how sprint cars are supposed to race, cowboy up, banging the fence and trying to keep yourself from crashing.”
After a yellow involving Carson Short on the 19th lap, the top-two of Grant and Windom broke away with Grant jetting out to a 1.824 second advantage that was erased when Logan Seavey slowed with seven laps remaining, a victim of a flat left rear tire.
An outstanding restart from Grant on the lap 24 resumption was the final nail for the rest of the field, though Robert Ballou used the moment to split through the gap in turn three to jump from fifth to third.
All the while, Grant put the race on ice, taking the checkered with a 1.639 second advantage over Windom, Ballou, Tyler Courtney and Dave Darland.
Grant elevated himself to the series point lead with the victory. For Windom, it was his second runner-up finish of the season. He and Grant are the only two with top-five finishes in all four series starts. A third for Ballou equaled his third place run at I-55 from two years prior. Courtney’s fourth place run in his season debut with the series came one night after finishing third in Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway’s weekly wing sprint car racing program. Dave Darland’s fifth-place finish was his best with the series since November 2018 at Arizona Speedway where finished second on the final night of the Western World Championships.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 7, 2020 – Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 – Pevely, Missouri – 1/3-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.971; 2. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.182; 3. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.241; 4. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.277; 5. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.313; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.410; 7. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-13.476; 8. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-13.499; 9. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-13.535; 10. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.558; 11. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.558; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.589; 13. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.613; 14. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-13.704; 15. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio/Parallax-13.729; 16. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-13.746; 17. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.772; 18. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-14.446; 19. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-14.554; 20. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-14.611; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.723.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.430; 2. C.J. Leary, 5K, KO-13.642; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.797; 4. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.849; 5. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-14.077; 6. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-14.096; 7. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.149; 8. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-14.207; 9. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.239; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.266; 11. Tyler Kendall, 20, Kendall-14.315; 12. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-14.320; 13. Kory Schudy, 28K, Sawyer-14.322; 14. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-14.375; 15. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-14.411; 16. Zach Daum, 57, Artz-14.460; 17. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-14.467; 18. Terry Babb, 88, Babb-14.540; 19. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-14.587; 20. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-14.684; 21. Scott Evans, 118, Evans-14.952.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Jonathan Vennard, 4. Mario Clouser, 5. Dustin Smith, 6. Anthony D’Alessio, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Patrick Budde, 9. Robert Bell, 10. Logan Seavey, 11. Dustin Clark. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Anton Hernandez, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Anthony Nicholson, 7. Blake Vermillion, 8. Korey Weyant, 9. Steve Thomas, 10. Isaac Chapple. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Carson Short, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Kory Schudy, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Scotty Weir, 8. Tyler Kendall, 9. Brayden Fox, 10. Scott Evans, 11. Braydon Cromwell. 1:56.879
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Sterling Cling, 4. Mitchell Davis, 5. Jesse Vermillion, 6. Zach Daum, 7. Wyatt Burks, 8. Terry Babb, 9. Matt Goodnight, 10. Kurt Gross. 1:59.453
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the semi) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Korey Weyant, 3. Zach Daum, 4. Terry Babb, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Blake Vermillion, 7. Scott Evans, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Robert Bell, 11. Steve Thomas, 12. Patrick Budde. 2:29.867 (New Track Record)
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Brayden Fox, 4. Wyatt Burks, 5. Dustin Clark, 6. Dustin Smith, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Isaac Chapple, 9. Anthony D’Alessio, 10. Anthony Nicholson, 11. Tyler Kendall, 12. Zach Daum, 13. Kory Schudy, 14. Jadon Rogers, 15. Scotty Weir, 16. Korey Weyant, 17. Jesse Vermillion, 18. Terry Babb. 2:40.932 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Chris Windom (4), 3. Robert Ballou (11), 4. Tyler Courtney (6), 5. Dave Darland (9), 6. C.J. Leary (3), 7. Brady Bacon (5), 8. Anton Hernandez (15), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 10. Mario Clouser (21), 11. Dustin Smith (20), 12. Wyatt Burks (16), 13. Jonathan Vennard (17), 14. Chase Stockon (1), 15. Brandon Mattox (19), 16. Brayden Fox (10), 17. Sterling Cling (12), 18. Dustin Clark (13), 19. Logan Seavey (8), 20. Carson Short (18), 21. Mitchell Davis (22), 22. Matt Westfall (14). NT
**Matt Westfall flipped on lap 6 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Chase Stockon, Laps 2-30 Justin Grant.
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-300, 2-Chris Windom-291, 3-Brady Bacon-288, 4-C.J. Leary-273, 5-Logan Seavey-230, 6-Chase Stockon-225, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-223, 8-Dave Darland-205, 9-Carson Short-201, 10-Anton Hernandez-173.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Andrew Layser-31, 2-Logan Seavey-29, 3-Tanner Thorson-23, 4-Chris Windom-20, 5-Mario Clouser-19, 6-Brady Bacon-18, 7-Daison Pursley-18, 8-Tyler Courtney-16, 9-Tyler Thomas-16, 10-Anton Hernandez-14.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 14, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Tyler Courtney
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Dave Darland
KSE Racing Products / American Motor Racing Podcast Hard Charger: Mario Clouser (21st to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jonathan Vennard
Saldana Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill First Non-Transfer: Matt Goodnight
Lakeland Square Laundry Heat Race Winner Bonus: Chase Stockon, Kevin Thomas Jr., Justin Grant & C.J. Leary
Everything Dirt Racing Hard Luck Award / First Car Out: Matt Westfall
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SCHNAPF SHOT: IT'S A FIRST-TIME USAC SPRINT WINNER AT TRI-STATE!
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana (June 14, 2020)………Stephen Schnapf knew he had the speed at Tri-State Speedway. He just had to finish that final third.
After last year’s oh-so-close second-place finish in midsummer to Kyle Cummins in which Schnapf led all but the final four laps, the Evansville, Ind. native felt a victory on the big stage was just within reach, but just needed to close it out Mariano Rivera style.
“I knew last year we were fast,” Schnapf remembered. “I knew we were able to get out and roll early, but Cummins got us every time last year. That last third of the race, he’d always be quicker and was able to get around us and we just couldn’t quite hang on.”
Sunday night, Schnapf finally found that final third to finish off his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory in the Midwest Sprint Car Series co-sanctioned “Showdown” at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway, a monumental victory for the 31-year-old just one day shy of his 32nd birthday.
“This is like 22 or 23 years I’ve been racing now,” Schnapf recalled. “We’ve won local championships, state championships, and have run well. I’ve been close to a feature win on the national level and this is honestly, truly, my first ever national feature win in any type of race car. It’s taken so many years to finally get it, and I’ve had so many great people behind me over those years, and things just weren’t quite able to work out. Finally, tonight, the stars just lined up for me. Tonight, it was kind of destiny, and it was going to be hard to be beaten.”
Right from the get-go, Schnapf was on point. Despite Schnapf starting from the pole, Cummins, who swept all nine Sprint Car feature victories in USAC and MSCS competition at the ¼-mile dirt oval track in 2019, was the odds-on favorite from the third starting spot and was already challenging Schnapf for the lead at the conclusion of lap one.
Schnapf withstood Cummins’ challenge and burst off the top of turn four to beat Cummins to the line and, from there, extended his lead lap-after-lap, eventually carving out a half-straightaway lead in the first half of the 30-lapper.
As Schnapf fenagled his way through the back half of the field, Cummins began to reel him in, shaving a second off Schnapf’s 1.6 second lead. On the 20th lap, Schnapf encountered Max Adams, attempting to put him a lap down, but Schnapf was caught up just enough to nearly allow Cummins to take full advantage of the door he left open underneath.
However, Schnapf secured his grasp, denying what ultimately became Cummins’ last shot. Leading USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie Anton Hernandez slowed moments later to bring out the caution, thus putting the intensity of traffic and the immediate pressure of Cummins’ presence off Schnapf for the time being.
With that said, Schnapf was in a rhythm, and some drivers loathe the thought of restarts. Not so much for Schnapf, who considered it a blessing in a way with how well he could launch each time he saw the green.
Cummins was able to stay within a couple car lengths of Schnapf in the ensuing laps following the last restart, which started the final, crucial third of the race, but Cummins wasn’t quite able to get a run. With six to go, however, any thought of Cummins making a run at a 10th consecutive Tri-State victory vanished.
Cummins was disposed of by Donny Brackett for second off turn four on the 24th lap, then a half-lap later, was overtaken for third by Robert Ballou. Suddenly, it was apparent something was amiss as Cummins slowed dramatically and pulled into the infield with an engine issue, ending his astounding winning streak with a 22nd place finish.
Schnapf stretched his lead out over Brackett and Ballou and appeared headed for surefire victory when 16th running Kendall Ruble spun to a stop in turn two, presenting a green-white-checkered finish, and another instance of Schnapf having to display his prowess this night on another restart.
“I knew I could restart,” Schnapf confidently stated. “The motor was firing really good and I knew that just getting a restart, we got an opportunity to put three or four car lengths between us. I was happy to see that one, but with two go, I really wasn’t as excited to see the caution. But I knew that, even there, just get a good start and don’t miss the bottom, and it was ours.”
And it was. Schnapf zipped away from the pack, leaving the battle to be fought for the runner-up position. Insanity ensued on the final corner of the final lap behind Schnapf when second-running Brackett, headed for his best career USAC finish, spun sideways in turn four, recovering only by driving through the infield and soldiering on to an 11th place result while Ballou, Kevin Thomas Jr., Carson Short and Justin Grant freight-trained by to take the remainder of the top-five spots at the checkered.
Following a relatively tough start to the night, Schnapf credits his ongoing building of experience to help him forge forward in diagnosing changes to take his ride from a good car to a winning car.
“Tonight, we actually came in way too tight; I couldn’t keep the front end down on the ground,” Schnapf admitted. “But, now with a few years of experience, we were able to keep traction and make a few tweaks just to make it driveable. That’s where it was. It was hard to see Kyle drive away last year. All year, we searched to find that extra speed and we were never able to find it. Even though we didn’t find it last year, we finally found that little bit of extra speed we needed here.”
With the victory, Schnapf became the initial first-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature winner of 2020, and the first since Logan Seavey at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway in August of 2019. Schnapf was also the first first-time USAC Sprint winner at Tri-State since Carson Short in 2016.
Dave Darland’s 61st career fast qualifying time during Fatheadz Eyewear time trials moved him past Tracy Hines for second all-time in series history. Darland, the all-time winningest driver in series history now ranks just four behind Tom Bigelow’s record of 65 fast qualifying times.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 14, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – “The Showdown” – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/ADDICTION SOLUTIONS VINCENNES QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-13.749; 2. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.770; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.816; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.843; 5. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble/Martin-13.939; 6. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.948; 7. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.963; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.989; 9. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-14.128; 10. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-14.158; 11. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-14.193; 12. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.224; 13. Stan Beadles, 84, Beadles-14.392; 14. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-14.490; 15. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.543; 16. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-14.662; 17. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.732; 18. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.926; 19. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-14.938; 20. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-15.406; 21. Sam Scott, 7, Scott- 15.648; 22. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-16.490; 23. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-16.984.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR/ADDICTION SOLUTIONS VINCENNES QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.647; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.717; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.787; 4. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-13.904; 5. Dakota Jackson, 17G, On The Gass-14.003; 6. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-14.078; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-14.159; 8. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-14.184; 9. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-14.243; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.276; 11. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-14.314; 12. Critter Malone, 5s, KO-14.363; 13. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-14.407; 14. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-14.484; 15. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-14.492; 16. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-14.610; 17. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-14.623; 18. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.638; 19. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-15.050; 20. Ryan Bond, 7R, Bond-15.282; 21. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio/Parallax-15.655; 22. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-16.495.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Donny Brackett, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Jonathan Vennard, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Jarett Andretti, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Harley Burns, 9. Sam Scott, 10. Eric Perrott, 11. Kendall Ruble, 12. Stan Beadles. 2:21.816
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Dustin Clark, 4. Carson Short, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Mario Clouser, 9. Mitchell Davis, 10. Matt Westfall, 11. Robert Bell. 2:23.946
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Aric Gentry, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Dakota Jackson, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Max Adams, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Dustin Smith, 9. Kurt Gross, 10. Chayse Hayhurst, 11. Anthony D’Alessio. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Stephen Schnapf, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Kent Schmidt, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Brandon Morin, 8. Brady Short, 9. Ryan Bond, 10. Steve Thomas, 11. Critter Malone. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Mario Clouser, 2. Kent Schmidt, 3. Brandon Morin, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Mitchell Davis, 6. Dustin Smith, 7. Kurt Gross, 8. Matt Westfall, 9. Anthony D’Alessio, 10. Sam Scott, 11. Steve Thomas, 12. Eric Perrott, 13. Ryan Bond, 14. Robert Bell. 2:26.686
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Kendall Ruble, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Max Adams, 5. Brady Short, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Brandon Morin, 9. Mario Clouser, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Kent Schmidt, 12. Critter Malone, 13. Stan Beadles, 14. Brayden Fox, 15. Chayse Hayhurst, 16. Chris Phillips, 17. Logan Seavey, 18. Jarett Andretti. 2:56.830
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Stephen Schnapf (1), 2. Robert Ballou (2), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 4. Carson Short (4), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Chris Windom (9), 7. Chase Stockon (11), 8. Brady Bacon (10), 9. Jadon Rogers (12), 10. Brady Short (21), 11. Donny Brackett (6), 12. C.J. Leary (7), 13. Brandon Mattox (16), 14. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 15. Kendall Ruble (13), 16. Max Adams (17), 17. Aric Gentry (20), 18. Kent Schmidt (24), 19. Dustin Clark (19), 20. Logan Seavey (23), 21. Dakota Jackson (8), 22. Kyle Cummins (3), 23. Anton Hernandez (22), 24. Jonathan Vennard (18), 25. Dave Darland (25), 26. Chayse Hayhurst (26). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Stephen Schnapf.
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-368, 2-Chris Windom-353, 3-Brady Bacon-344, 4-C.J. Leary-320, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-291, 6-Chase Stockon-283, 7-Carson Short-270, 8-Logan Seavey-253, 9-Dave Darland-234, 10-Robert Ballou-207.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Andrew Layser-31, 2-Logan Seavey-29, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-25, 4-Tanner Thorson-23, 5-Chris Windom-23, 6-Brady Bacon-20, 7-Mario Clouser-19, 8-Daison Pursley-18, 9-Tyler Courtney-16, 10-Tyler Thomas-16.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 26, 2020 – Plymouth Speedway – Plymouth, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear/Addiction Solutions Vincennes Fast Qualifier: Dave Darland
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Donny Brackett
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Stephen Schnapf
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Kevin Thomas Jr. (15th to 3rd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Brandon Mattox
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dave Darland
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RED HOT GRANT GRABS 3RD WIN IN LAST 4 AT PLYMOUTH
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Plymouth, Indiana (June 26, 2020)………Following Friday night’s USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at Plymouth Speedway, we can just about officially classify Justin Grant as “red hot.”
No, we’re not talking about the massive sunburn the Ione, Calif. driver was sporting following a recent five-hour kayaking adventure, but of his recent run in the sprint car that has witnessed him win three of last four series events in the month of June.
By doing so, Grant became the first driver to win three of four during a stretch of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season since he, himself did it toward the end of the 2018 season, when he actually won four in a five-race stretch.
For Grant, this is different, though. This is in the thick of the season, and with even bigger goals in mind as the season progresses, the confidence within Grant is at peak level every time he straps into the TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – The Bow Foundation/Maxim/Claxton Chevy No. 4.
“The only other time I hit on a run like this was at the end of 2018,” Grant recalled. “Then, the year ended. They iced us, then we weren’t hot when we went back again. Honestly, I feel right now, not to sound cocky, it really feels like I can go into any racetrack and we’re going to win that night. I have momentum and confidence, everything’s clicking, I feel great, the car’s great, the team’s great and it’s all really come together.”
A standard winter “break” between racing seasons is nearly non-existent each year with thrashing, building and rebuilding the name of the game. But with time on their hands and playing the waiting game during the extended offseason amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Grant had the opportunity to sit down and pencil out his personal goals and what it’s going to take to get there.
As a result, Grant revealed he’s in the best physical shape of his life and, mentally, he’s as quick as he’s ever been. With team owner Kevin Birchmeier and crew chief Mark Shambarger, the team is firing on all cylinders at the moment, and lead the standings by 37 exiting Plymouth just six races into the year, all of which the team has finished in the top-five and half of which the team has enjoyed the spoils of victory.
Grant started the race from the pole position, but it was Dave Darland who gained the early lead with a strong start from the outside of the front row, ultimately leading the first two laps of the 30-lap feature. On the third lap, Grant drove his machine to the topside of the third turn, then diamonded off toward the bottom of turn four to blitz underneath Darland for the race lead at the line by a half-car length.
A half-lap later, calamity ensued as Chris Windom and Brady Bacon made contact in turn three – Windom’s right front to Bacon’s left rear – sending Bacon into a wild series of nose-to-tail flips while Windom slid to a stop. Incredibly, both were able to make repairs and return to action during the red flag period, then restarted from the tail with Windom getting back to 11th and Bacon, with a caved-in tail tank and all, charging back to finish 9th.
On the ensuing restart, Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier C.J. Leary was the man on the move, ripping around the outside of Darland for the second position, then was right on the back bumper of Grant for the race lead where he’d remain one-two-three car lengths behind for most of the first half of the race.
On lap 13, Grant made, arguably, his defining move of the race, splitting between the cars of Blake Vermillion and Steve Irwin entering the third turn while Leary tried to find the space to fenagle his way back to Grant, but it was to no avail for the time being as Grant cracked open an instant half-straightaway lead.
At the time of the move, Grant recalled hearing somebody in his proximity in arrears. On this night, Grant explained that all his speed was made on entry and it was the momentum that propelled him through the exit. In essence, if you entered the corner slow, you were going to be slow all through the corner, thus allowing a trailing driver a chance to eat up ground in a hurry if he were to enter the corner full steam ahead.
“I didn’t know who it was, but I knew the clock was ticking on this deal; we got to get going,” Grant exclaimed. “I felt like I could hear somebody. It’s funny, when you do this enough, I don’t know if you actually hear them or if you just start to get a feeling of how long you’ve been running slow laps, or what it is, but I felt like there was a right front to my left rear at one point and a little bit of a gap opened up so that a guy could shoot that hole. We blazed on through there and it worked out.”
Once clear, the remainder of traffic seemingly fell into place on the bottom while Grant ripped the top, where he was now clipping, stretching his lead to 2.5 seconds by halfway and then to a full straightaway by the time there was 10 to go.
Meanwhile, further back, Tanner Thorson was making in an impressive charge in what was, believe it or not, his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car start. With seven laps remaining, the 2016 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion and three-time winner with the series thus far this year, slide jobbed Leary for second in turn one, then proceeded to try to truncate Grant’s monstrous lead as Grant navigated a swath of hefty traffic.
Grant was methodical, but was wary of the consequences of impatience in traffic following trouble in last Sunday’s unsanctioned Kokomo Speedway Sprint Car feature where he was battling for the lead when ran into the back of a lapped car and turned himself around, giving him pause for his air of invincibility.
“It was a really good reminder since I haven’t done that in a while,” Grant admitted. “It was a good reminder that, ‘hey, you’re not invincible.’ You’ve got to pay attention. You can still get flustered. I was starting to think I was pretty unflusterable in lapped traffic. Tonight, I just talked myself through it, took the opportunities as they came and capitalized on them when I had them, but didn’t force them, and just tried to pick my way through.”
A close encounter came about when Grant scraped his front wheel on the rear bumper of series Rookie Anthony D’Alessio at the start/finish line just beneath the waving of Tom Hansing’s white flag. Grant cut the inside in turn one, and from there, it was pretty much clear sailing as Grant closed out his second USAC AMSOIL National Sprint car victory at Plymouth after winning the series debut at the 3/8-mile in 2017.
Thorson was an impressive second-place, 1.191 second behind Grant at the checkered, with Leary, Chase Stockon and Darland rounding out the top-five.
For Grant, it was the 19th victory of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, putting him two behind 1967 series champion Greg Weld for 29th all-time. Grant also became the first driver since Kevin Thomas Jr. in 2013 to win three of the first six USAC National Sprint Car races to begin a season.
Stockon made history Friday night at Plymouth, becoming the first driver to reach 300 consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature starts, a remarkable record that has spanned every series race since the beginning of the 2012 season.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 26, 2020 – Plymouth Speedway – Plymouth, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.069; 2. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.340; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.358; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.382; 5. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.430; 6. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.430; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.434; 8. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-13.454; 9. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.561; 10. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.626; 11. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.668; 12. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio/Parallax-13.797; 13. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.859; 14. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.893; 15. Tanner Thorson, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.911; 16. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-13.942; 17. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero-13.985; 18. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.173; 19. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-14.206; 20. Brandon Long, 02, Long-14.225; 21. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-14.451; 22. Jack James, 99, James-14.485; 23. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-14.728; 24. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-14.951; 25. Garrett Saunders, 71s, Saunders-15.225; 26. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-15.595.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Max Adams, 6. Dustin Smith, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Garrett Saunders, 9. Jack James. 1:53.923
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Carson Short, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Steve Irwin, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Jesse Vermillion, 8. Brandon Long, 9. Robert Bell. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Anthony D’Alessio, 6. Blake Vermillion, 7. Kurt Gross, 8. Mario Clouser. 1:53.920 (New Track Record)
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Dustin Smith, 3. Chris Phillips, 4. Blake Vermillion, 5. Jesse Vermillion, 6. Brandon Long, 7. Kurt Gross, 8. Jack James, 9. Garrett Saunders, 10. Mario Clouser. 2:21.409
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Tanner Thorson (8), 3. C.J. Leary (6), 4. Chase Stockon (3), 5. Dave Darland (2), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 7. Carson Short (11), 8. Max Adams (10), 9. Brady Bacon (4), 10. Anton Hernandez (9), 11. Chris Windom (5), 12. Mario Clouser (23), 13. Matt Westfall (17), 14. Brandon Mattox (14), 15. Brandon Long (19), 16. Dustin Smith (18), 17. Anthony D’Alessio (12), 18. Blake Vermillion (20), 19. Jesse Vermillion (21), 20. Steve Irwin (16), 21. Kurt Gross (22), 22. Tye Mihocko (15), 23. Chris Phillips (13). NT
**Brady Bacon flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Dave Darland, Laps 3-30 Justin Grant.
NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-444, 2-Chris Windom-407, 3-Brady Bacon-401, 4-C.J. Leary-396, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-354, 6-Chase Stockon-354, 7-Carson Short-329, 8-Dave Darland-300, 9-Logan Seavey-253, 10-Anton Hernandez-244.
NEW OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Logan Seavey-43, 3-Tanner Thorson-40, 4-Justin Grant-35, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Tanner Carrick-27, 8-Daison Pursley-27, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-26, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 1, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 50th Tony Hulman Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Tanner Thorson
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Anton Hernandez
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Tanner Thorson (8th to 2nd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Matt Westfall
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Jack James
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WINDOM GUNS IT FOR 2ND CAREER HULMAN CLASSIC TRIUMPH
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana (July 1, 2020)………Nine years after first holding the coveted rifle as a first-time Tony Hulman Classic winner, Chris Windom joined the ranks of multi-time winners of the event following his wire-to-wire performance Wednesday night at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track in the 50th running of the race.
The 2011 Hulman Classic winner from Canton, Ill. became the 12th different driver to score multiple feature wins in the event, joining the likes of Dave Darland, J.J. Yeley, Jack Hewitt, Jerry Coons, Jr, Jon Stanbrough, Pancho Carter, Rich Vogler, Robert Ballou and Steve Butler, and just one shy of three-time winners Cary Faas and Levi Jones.
“This is the coolest race to win at Terre Haute. It’s one I’ve been gunning for every year,” Windom said following his 26th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, tying him for 18th all-time alongside Tyler Courtney, Tony Elliott and Dave Steele. “It’s been a few years since we’ve won it. This car’s been so good all year, I feel like we should’ve had a few wins already but that’s racing. It’s so tough right now in this series, it’s so tough to get these.”
Windom rolled off from the pole position for the 30-lap main event in his Hayward Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – OILFIRE – B & H Contractors/DRC/Claxton Mopar, breaking away solo on the bottom at the drop of the green as the rest of the field jostled for position two-wide, high and low, behind him.
In the early stages, it was and would remain a two-horse race throughout the majority of the feature as Windom led a two-car breakaway from the rest of the pack with Brady Bacon, who started 6th. Earlier in the night, Bacon recorded his 35th career Fatheadz Fast Qualifying time, equaling him with Rich Vogler for 7th all-time. It was also Bacon’s 3rd career Tony Hulman Classic fast qualifying effort, joining Vogler atop the all-time list in that category for the event.
The pair, who got together in an early-race collision in the most recent series race last weekend at Plymouth (Ind.) Speedway that sent Bacon flipping, remained glued together as the two raced through lapped traffic just past the halfway mark of the race. Windom led the charge with Bacon lying in the weeds waiting for a chance to pounce on any hiccup suffered by Windom, who knew full well he couldn’t hold back and had to be the aggressor, or thus be the proverbial gazelle being chased down by the lion.
“At this place, you can lose so much time if you come off your line and have to mess with lapped cars for very long,” Windom explained. “I knew that if I had a shot, I had to take it. I probably crowded a few of them, but you’ve got to be aggressive here and you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get through them. If you don’t, the guy in second’s got a better vantage point than you do because he can go the opposite way you go.”
First, in turn one on the 18th lap, Windom followed Dustin Smith high into turn one, forcing Windom to breathe the throttle and cut back underneath as Bacon ate up some time on the interval. Then, with 10 to go after regathering himself, Windom exited turn four with both Mitchell Davis and Brandon Morin running side-by-side at the tail end of the lead lap. Windom didn’t wait, instead splitting right between the 7/10 of Davis and Morin at the start/finish line to gain some much needed air away from Bacon for the time being.
“I felt like we got through lapped traffic pretty good,” Windom recalled. “I felt like the pace I was running up top was good enough that no one was at least going to drive by us on the bottom, especially the second half of the race. I was just trying to get good restarts with all those cautions at the end and avoid getting a slider into one.
Restarts came into play on multiple occasions down the stretch, first after Davis slowed to a stop on the 26th lap, bringing an end to Windom’s 1.379 second lead over Bacon. On the ensuing restart, the action didn’t resume for much longer when 4th running Tanner Thorson slowed dramatically with a flat right rear tire between turns three and four. As the field scattered to avoid contact, 11th running Nick Bilbee ramped over Thorson’s left side wheels and flipped once over in turn four. Bilbee was okay. Thorson restarted with new rubber and drove back to a 6th place finish in the final rundown.
Once racing resumed with one more lap of green under the belt, turmoil found C.J. Leary once again on this evening as he stopped at the top of turn four after charging from 22nd to 9th. Earlier in the night, the defending USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion and his team were forced to swap engines after suffering from mechanical problems in hot laps.
Moments later, under yellow, second running Bacon stopped in turn one when the engine inexplicably stopped running. There was still fuel in the tank with four laps remaining but no luck left for Bacon, the two-time series champ who was aiming for a first career Hulman Classic triumph.
That slotted Justin Grant, winner of three of the last four series races in 2020 and the winner of the most recent series race at the Terre Haute half-mile in September of 2019, into second behind Windom. The patented late-race turn one slider is a fixture at Terre Haute and Windom was prepared to expect that coming, but he also had a plan.
“I felt like if I restarted on the top, it would kind of throw them off a little bit,” Windom revealed. “This place is notorious to get a turn one slide job thrown on you, especially when you’re leading, so you’ve got to get a good restart here. Luckily, I was able to do that.”
Picking up the throttle midway through turns three and four on the topside, Windom instantly gapped Grant and, nearing the race’s end, had established a half-straightaway advantage over Grant that he never relented, collecting his first USAC AMOSIL National Sprint car feature victory of the season and first for Hayward Motorsports since joining the team during the latest offseason.
Windom’s victory was his sixth in USAC national competition at the Terre Haute Action Track (five sprint, one Silver Crown), which makes him the sixth winningest driver at the track behind Vogler (13), Jack Hewitt & Gary Bettenhausen (10), J.J. Yeley & Bubby Jones (7) and tied with Levi Jones & Sheldon Kinser (6).
Windom was followed to the checkered flag by series point leader Grant, 2.399 seconds behind at the finish, with 2019 Hulman Classic winner Chase Stockon in 3rd, 2017 USAC West Coast Sprint Car champion Jake Swanson in 4th and B & W Auto Mart/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Carson Short in 5th after starting 14th.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 1, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 50th Tony Hulman Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-22.025; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-22.094; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-22.403; 4. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-22.516; 5. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-22.639; 6. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-22.744; 7. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-22.795; 8. Tanner Thorson, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-22.875; 9. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-23.022; 10. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-23.071; 11. Kendall Ruble, 17K, Ruble/Martin-23.134; 12. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-23.321; 13. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-23.377; 14. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-23.414; 15. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-23.457; 16. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-23.545; 17. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-23.559; 18. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-23.645; 19. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-23.719; 20. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-23.994; 21. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-24.012; 22. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-24.180; 23. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-24.713; 24. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-24.726; 25. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-25.126; 26. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-25.857; 27. Joe Stewart, 19x, Stewart-NT; 28. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Carson Short, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Mitch Wissmiller, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Mitchell Davis, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Kurt Gross, 10. C.J. Leary. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Kendall Ruble, 6. Brandon Morin, 7. Eric Perrott, 8. Robert Bell, 9. Mario Clouser. 2:46.78
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Nick Bilbee, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Dustin Smith, 5. Max Adams, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Steve Thomas, 9. Joe Stewart. 2:48.655
INDY RACE PARTS/INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Nate McMillin, 3. Mitchell Davis, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Chris Phillips, 6. Brandon Morin, 7. Steve Thomas, 8. Eric Perrott, 9. Robert Bell, 10. Kurt Gross, 11. Joe Stewart. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Justin Grant (5), 3. Chase Stockon (7), 4. Jake Swanson (8), 5. Carson Short (14), 6. Tanner Thorson (10), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 8. Max Adams (2), 9. Brandon Morin (18), 10. Anton Hernandez (9), 11. Matt Westfall (11), 12. Brandon Mattox (15), 13. Chris Phillips (19), 14. Kendall Ruble (12), 15. Nate McMillin (20), 16. Steve Thomas (21), 17. Dustin Smith (16), 18. Brady Bacon (6), 19. C.J. Leary (22), 20. Nick Bilbee (13), 21. Mitchell Davis (17), 22. Mitch Wissmiller (3).
**Nick Bilbee flipped on lap 26 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Chris Windom.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-522, 2-Chris Windom-482, 3-Brady Bacon-440, 4-Chase Stockon-426, 5-C.J. Leary-425, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-416, 7-Carson Short-394, 8-Dave Darland-310, 9-Anton Hernandez-295, 10-Brandon Mattox-262.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Tanner Thorson-44, 3-Logan Seavey-43, 4-Justin Grant-38, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Tanner Carrick-27, 8-Daison Pursley-27, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-26, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: July 3-4, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Bill Gardner Sprintacular co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Anton Hernandez
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Carson Short (14th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chris Phillips
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Eric Perrott
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COTTLE THROTTLES TO BILL GARDNER SPRINTACULAR WIN AT LPS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (July 3, 2020)………It all started with a late-night phone call on Thursday night to Shane Cottle from Hodges Motorsports asking if his plans were open for Friday night.
Just about 24 hours later, Cottle was celebrating in victory lane following Friday’s opening night of the sixth annual Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park Speedway featuring the USAC AMSOIL National and Midwest Sprint Car Series.
The last-minute deal came together as the team’s original plan was to sit out the weekend and focus on preparations for next week’s Brandt Corn Belt Nationals at Knoxville Raceway. But that one phone call, as it turned out, changed the course of the weekend in a hurry.
“He called me last night probably around 10:30pm. He asked me if I wanted to go racing. It wasn’t on our schedule; he’s got a schedule that we go by. I said, ‘Well, I have to talk to my wife.’ So, I talked to her. She really wasn’t wanting me to, but I said I’m going anyway. Luckily, it all came together,” Cottle said with a laugh.
Cottle rolled off sixth for the start of the 30-lap feature, and right from the get-go, he felt the bottom of the racetrack play right into his hands as he got to fourth on the opening lap.
“I knew on the start that it was going to be pretty good,” Cottle remembered. “I just knew I was a little faster than they were and, luckily, they kept slipping up off the bottom and I snuck underneath them. When you go past those guys, it makes it a little fun.”
“Those guys” up front included the likes of past USAC champions C.J. Leary and Dave Darland while Cottle zeroed in on perennial Lincoln Park winner A.J. Hopkins for third on lap three, then set forth toward Justin Grant and Carson Short, who had snared the top spot from first lap leader Grant on the second circuit with a turn three maneuver that slid him past for the position.
Following a fifth lap yellow flag for a turn three spin by Brandon Mattox, Grant went back to work on tracking down Short and made his move on the seventh go-around drifting up the turn three banking of the 5/16-mile dirt oval past Short for the spot. Short checked up and got shuffled back to third as Cottle maintained his momentum around the infield tires to race to second behind Grant.
One lap later, Grant endured a slight bobble atop the cushion between turns three and four, opening the chamber for Cottle to throttle past underneath for the race lead on the eighth lap.
Cottle, in his Hodges Motorsports/Hodges Automotive – Mesilla Valley Transportation – Jackson Compaction – Ortega Appliance/DRC/Gibson Chevy, was undeniably hooked up as he steadfastly stretched his lead throughout the midway point to around a one-second interval entering the final 10 lap stanza.
The Kansas, Ill. native was undeniable throughout the entire distance, and was rarely challenged down the stretch while a hotly-contested tussle between Grant and Leary engaged for second, which allowed Windom to slip past Leary and into the third spot on the 21st lap while Grant secured his position in second.
Cottle closed out his fifth career USAC National Sprint Car feature win by 1.488 second margin at the checkered, ahead of Grant, Windom, Leary and Chase Stockon, who made his debut in the KO Motorsports No. 5s, with who he recently announced he would compete with for the remainder of the 2020 USAC season.
Cottle estimates that he’s driven the Hodges Motorsports No. 74x a total of six occasions this year, and he’s already won twice, the first of which came in a late May POWRI WAR feature at Missouri’s Valley Speedway.
Josh Hodges, the one-time USAC National Sprint car winner at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway in 2016 who had piloted the team’s car for the past several years, stepped out of the driver’s compartment this past season and into a mechanical role for the team. The decision for him was based on a myriad of reasons, namely taking on a new promotion at work, getting married and moving, plus slight dizziness that he attributed to a possible wreck he had in the past.
Into the ride stepped Cottle, who’s found instant success in the car, and admitted that they might’ve found the elusive balance that they had been searching for, something that could lead to quite a bit of continued success, much like the success they enjoyed Friday night at Lincoln Park.
“This is the best racecar I’ve ever sat in,” Cottle revealed. “Every nut and bolt is just perfect. They’ve made it a nice car to drive. They won’t do all that work if I don’t go out and do my job. So, we’re pretty happy with it.”
Like a walk-off homer, Cottle isn’t planning on backing up his triumphant performance Saturday for night two of the Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park. While Friday’s quick decision on a whim led to victory, don’t expect any surprise returns to the racetrack on Saturday.
“We’re not (racing). I’ve got a graduation party for my stepson tomorrow, so we’re going to go do that. If I miss that, I would be in trouble with my wife,” Cottle guffawed.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 3, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Bill Gardner Sprintacular – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.523; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.525; 3. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.595; 4. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.637; 5. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-13.744; 6. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.777; 7. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.882; 8. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.912; 9. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-14.083; 10. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-14.111; 11. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-14.135; 12. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.168; 13. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble/Martin-14.172; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-14.239; 15. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-14.268; 16. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-14.293; 17. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.340; 18. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.373; 19. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-14.384; 20. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-14.393; 21. Tanner Thorson, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.434; 22. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-14.453; 23. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-14.453; 24. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-14.563; 25. Jake Bland, 20B, Bland-14.595; 26. Garrett Aitken, 32, Aitken-14.618; 27. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.666; 28. Dakota Jackson, 17G, On The Gass-14.703; 29. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-14.739; 30. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-14.744; 31. Ryan Bond, 7R, Bond-14.863; 32. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-14.863; 33. Max Adams, 37, Felker-14.908; 34. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-14.927; 35. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.952; 36. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-15.006; 37. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-15.006; 38. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-15.065; 39. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-15.184; 40. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-15.208; 41. Tony Helton, 87, Miller-15.282; 42. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-15.403; 43. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-15.546; 44. Stan Beadles, 84, Beadles-15.763; 45. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-15.999; 46. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-16.050; 47. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-16.173; 48. Robert Carrington, 34c, Carrington-16.446; 49. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-16.450; 50. Carl Rhuebottom, 83, Rhuebottom-16.719; 51. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. Garrett Aitken, 5. Dickie Gaines, 6. Tim Creech, 7. Carl Rhuebottom, 8. Jordan Kinser, 9. Robert Carrington. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Brent Beauchamp, 3. Dustin Smith, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Harley Burns, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Chayse Hayhurst, 8. Max Adams, 9. Michael Clark. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Jonathan Vennard, 5. Jesse Vermillion, 6. Stan Beadles, 7. Tye Mihocko. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Hopkins, 2. Jake Bland, 3. Brayden Fox, 4. Ben Knight, 5. Robert Bell, 6. Tony Helton, 7. Eric Perrott, 8. Kurt Gross. NT
FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Kent Schmidt, 6. Donny Brackett, 7. Blake Vermillion, 8. Ryan Bond. NT
SIXTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Stephen Schnapf, 6. Kendall Ruble, 7. Jadon Rogers, 8. Brady Short. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Tim Creech, 2. Aric Gentry, 3. Max Adams, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Blake Vermillion, 6. Chayse Hayhurst, 7. Ryan Bond, 8. Eric Perrott, 9. Robert Carrington, 10. Nate McMillin, 11. Jadon Rogers, 12. Tony Helton, 13. Kendall Ruble, 14. Stan Beadles, 15. Donny Brackett, 16. Carl Rhuebottom, 17. Michael Clark. NT
INDY METAL FINSIHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Garrett Aitken, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Dickie Gaines, 5. Max Adams, 6. Jonathan Vennard, 7. Jesse Vermillion, 8. Ben Knight, 9. Tim Creech, 10. Kent Schmidt, 11. Jake Swanson, 12. Stephen Schnapf, 13. Aric Gentry, 14. Harley Burns, 15. Tye Mihocko, 16. Robert Bell. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Shane Cottle (6), 2. Justin Grant (2), 3. Chris Windom (7), 4. C.J. Leary (5), 5. Chase Stockon (11), 6. A.J. Hopkins (1), 7. Brent Beauchamp (8), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 9. Dakota Jackson (15), 10. Kyle Cummins (17), 11. Tanner Thorson (18), 12. Dave Darland (4), 13. Garrett Aitken (19), 14. Mario Clouser (13), 15. Jadon Rogers (23), 16. Carson Short (3), 17. Brayden Fox (14), 18. Dustin Smith (12), 19. Brandon Mattox (16), 20. Jake Bland (10), 21. Aric Gentry (22), 22. Anton Hernandez (21), 23. Dickie Gaines (20), 24. Brady Bacon (24). NT
**Brady Short flipped during the sixth heat. Michael Clark flipped during the C-Main.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Justin Grant, Laps 2-6 Carson Short, Lap 7 Justin Grant, Laps 8-30 Shane Cottle.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-572, 2-Chris Windom-532, 3-Brady Bacon-490, 4-Chase Stockon-476, 5-C.J. Leary-475, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-466, 7-Carson Short-444, 8-Dave Darland-360, 9-Anton Hernandez-345, 10-Brandon Mattox-312.
PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Tanner Thorson-51, 2-Chris Windom-49, 3-Logan Seavey-43, 4-Justin Grant-38, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-27, 8-Tanner Carrick-27, 9-Daison Pursley-27, 10-Thomas Meseraull-24.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 4, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Bill Gardner Sprintacular – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Jadon Rogers
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Dave Darland
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Carson Short
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: A.J. Hopkins
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Garrett Aitken
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Kyle Cummins (17th to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Garrett Aitken
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Max Adams
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BACON MAGNIFICENT IN SPRINTACULAR TRIUMPH AT LPS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (July 4, 2020)………Brady Bacon’s run of misfortune over the past three USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car races had run the gamut, beginning with a crash not of his own doing one week prior, followed by mag issue after mag issue after mag issue ever since.
The Broken Arrow, Okla. native’s tide was seemingly turning midway through Saturday’s second and final night of the 6th annual Bill Gardner Sprintacular at Lincoln Park Speedway, co-sanctioned by MSCS, as he stormed to the lead midway through the 30-lap feature after starting 8th. Soon after, that old notion of “if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all” seem to rear its ugly presence.
“When I got the lead, I think that’s when our tire started going down,” Bacon recalled of the deflation on the right rear. “I wasn’t able to make the speed I was able to make to get to the lead. I was kind of having to play defense and use the lapped cars as blockers.”
However, that tide did finally turn for Bacon on this night as everything stayed intact until the checkered flag with the tire completely going down as he rolled into victory lane for the third time this season in his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy, just in the nick of time.
“I think if we would’ve had a yellow there at the end and that tire would’ve gone flat, I would’ve just driven it off the end of the track and came and got it later,” Bacon semi-joked.
The triumphant victory for Bacon was the 32nd of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, tying him with 1973 series champion, longtime USAC official and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Rollie Beale for 12th all-time.
Bacon’s recent misfortunes began with a crash at Plymouth one week ago while running third, then snowballed with a slew of magneto issues under the hood, first with the Hoffman’s own car during a local show at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. Then, last Wednesday at Terre Haute, Bacon was running second late when another mag failure befell him despite driving a completely different car with a different engine that night.
Following those two instances, Bacon and team changed the mag and made a trip to the dyno prior to suiting up for Friday’s first night of action at Lincoln Park. He ran hot laps, qualified and transferred through his heat race, when suddenly, another mag went out, and he was unable to fire off for the feature before being pushed back to the pit area prior to even seeing the green flag.
“That’s more mag failures than I’ve had in my entire career in the last three nights,” Bacon related. “It was frustrating to have cars we knew we’re good enough to be on the podium, at least, every night and be in contention to win and not be able to.”
“I feel like these are the nicest cars I’ve ever had and the most prepared we’ve ever been,” Bacon continued. “It’s stuff that never happens that’s not really in our control; it gets pretty frustrating. I’m thinking ‘I feel like I’m living right. I feel like I’m living pretty good. I’m not even living on the edge or anything.’”
Yet, Bacon has resolve and thrives when put behind the eight-ball. In fact, in both of his USAC victories this year coming into Saturday night, Bacon was the KSE Racing Products/B & W Auto Mart hard charger, having to come from 9th to win during each night of the Winter Dirt Games in Ocala, Fla. to start the season in February.
“We felt like we were missing a little step earlier in the night,” Bacon remembered from the beginning of Saturday night’s event. “I just made a bad decision in qualifying and kind of put us back. In the heat race, we did win, but we didn’t feel like we were good enough to win the feature. We made some changes, and obviously they were the right ones.”
Starting 8th in the 24-car field, Bacon made quite a bit of headway early on, moving to 7th on the opening lap, to 6th on the second lap, to 5th on lap four, into 4th on lap five and finally to 3rd by lap seven, interrupted only by a Max Adams lap two spin while running 5th and a lap four Stephen Schnapf flip in turn one from which he emerged without injury.
Justin Grant commanded the opening 14 laps, but nearing the halfway point, it was a tale of differing lines among the top-three of Grant, C.J. Leary and Bacon, with Grant utilizing the top of turns three and four and the bottom of one and two while Leary was glued to the bottom and Bacon was ripping the top.
On the 15th lap, Bacon was able to clear Leary off the second turn, then continued the roll to press by Grant off four to possess the lead by a nose at the stripe.
Grant attempted a succession of sliders on laps 16 and 17 into turn three past Bacon, but each time, Bacon had an answer and promptly cut back underneath Grant to reclaim the lead with Leary lurking on the bottom just about even with the two at the head of the pack.
“Justin was sliding up to the middle of four and I was leaving the gap into three really big,” Bacon explained. “It’s kind of a dangerous spot to be in even though it may be faster, but it’s not if he gets in front of me. I’m just racing as hard I could and trying to make good decisions and, fortunately, we didn’t make any bad enough to lose the lead.”
On the 19th lap, Leary was able to nip his way into second by Grant and relentlessly hounded Bacon in his pursuit to the front where he ultimately put himself in a position to pounce on Bacon when the leaders reached a throng of traffic with five laps remaining.
Leary surged ahead of Bacon while scurrying around the bottom with four laps remaining but had to readjust his line as he followed Adams on the bottom of turn one. That allowed Bacon, carrying the momentum up top, to surge back ahead of Leary off turn two, and beating the defending series champ to the line by a half-car length with now three laps to go.
Leary was able to eat up ground and briefly take the lead entering turns one and three, but Bacon shot off the exit of turns two and four each time to hold serve, barely. With two go, Bacon saw an opportunity with a slight break in the traffic to beat Leary in a race to the bottom of turn one, taking away Leary’s line.
Entering the final set of corners on the 30th and final lap, Leary was forced to follow Bacon around the infield tires while Grant made one final push off the rim as Bacon captured the victory with Leary just behind in second and Grant third in a top-three that was separated by a mere 0.172 of a second.
Those three were followed by Chase Stockon, Tanner Thorson, Brent Beauchamp, Dave Darland, Kevin Thomas Jr. and Brandon Mattox with Carson Short rounding out the top-ten.
In Fatheadz Qualifying, Brent Beauchamp earned his first fast qualifying time in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition since the 2012 Indiana Sprint Week opener at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
The car count of 57 Saturday night was the largest for a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car race since the Western World Championships at Arizona’s Manzanita Speedway in November of 2008.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 4, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – Bill Gardner Sprintacular – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Brent Beauchamp, 34, Olson-12.611; 2. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-12.713; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.985; 4. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.996; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Whitney-13.024; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.085; 7. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.121; 8. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-13.139; 9. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.143; 10. Garrett Aitken, 32, Aitken-13.190; 11. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.194; 12. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.214; 13. Aaron Leffel, 12L, Leffel-13.228; 14. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.373; 15. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-13.435; 16. Dickie Gaines, 44, Soudrette-13.471; 17. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-13.520; 18. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.599; 19. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-13.793; 20. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.795; 21. Robert Carrington, 34c, Carrington-14.000; 22. Stan Beadles, 84, Beadles-14.006; 23. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-14.073; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.493; 25. Bobby Griffitts, 9, Griffitts-14.579; 26. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-14.591; 27. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-14.611; 28. Ryan Bond, 7R, Bond-NT; 29. Justin Standridge, 8D, Schlattweiler-NT.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.913; 2. Max Adams, 37, Felker-13.059; 3. Tanner Thorson, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.190; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.197; 5. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-13.205; 6. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-13.308; 7. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-13.440; 8. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.473; 9. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.533; 10. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.629; 11. Josh Cunningham, 6s, Cunningham-13.678; 12. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.744; 13. Dakota Jackson, 17G, On The Gass-13.771; 14. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-13.783; 15. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-13.846; 16. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.866; 17. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-13.872; 18. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.966; 19. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.974; 20. Jake Bland, 20B, Bland-14.087; 21. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio/Parallax-14.134; 22. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-14.151; 23. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-14.262; 24. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-14.555; 25. Shey Owens, 17s, Owens-14.858; 26. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-14.958; 27. Tony Helton, 87, Miller-15.077; 28. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-15.324.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Brent Beauchamp, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Dustin Smith, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Kent Schmidt, 8. Blake Vermillion, 9. Harley Burns, 10. Robert Carrington, 11. Justin Standridge, 12. Bobby Griffitts, 13. Donny Brackett, 14. Chris Windom, 15. Aaron Leffel. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Garrett Aitken, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Jonathan Vennard, 8. Chayse Hayhurst, 9. Brayden Fox, 10. Stan Beadles, 11. Ryan Bond, 12. Robert Bell, 13. Dickie Gaines. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Tanner Thorson, 4. Jordan Kinser, 5. Aric Gentry, 6. Tye Mihocko, 7. Ben Knight, 8. Josh Cunningham, 9. Shey Owens, 10. Tim Creech, 11. Anthony D’Alessio, 12. Tony Helton, 13. Matt McDonald, 14. Dakota Jackson. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Mario Clouser, 3. Max Adams, 4. Stephen Schnapf, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Travis Berryhill, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Nate McMillin, 9. Brian VanMeveren, 10. Mitch Wissmiller, 11. Jake Bland, 12. Jesse Vermillion, 13. Eric Perrott. 2:23.754
D-MAIN: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the C-Main) 1. Jesse Vermillion, 2. Blake Vermillion, 3. Chayse Hayhurst, 4. Robert Bell, 5. Shey Owens, 6. Ryan Bond, 7. Tony Helton, 8. Justin Standridge, 9. Eric Perrott, 10. Bobby Griffitts.
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Brayden Fox, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Mitch Wissmiller, 5. Jesse Vermillion, 6. Chayse Hayhurst, 7. Jake Bland, 8. Blake Vermillion, 9. Tim Creech, 10. Kent Schmidt, 11. Robert Bell, 12. Harley Burns, 13. Robert Carrington, 14. Ben Knight, 15. Stan Beadles, 16. Donny Brackett, 17. Chris Phillips, 18. Anthony D’Alessio.
SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Jonathan Vennard, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Travis Berryhill, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Jadon Rogers, 9. Mitch Wissmiller, 10. Matt McDonald, 11. Brayden Fox, 12. Nate McMillin, 13. Josh Cunningham, 14. Brian VanMeveren, 15. Anton Hernandez, 16. Dustin Smith, 17. Aaron Leffel. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (8), 2. C.J. Leary (5), 3. Justin Grant (1), 4. Chase Stockon (7), 5. Tanner Thorson (2), 6. Brent Beauchamp (6), 7. Dave Darland (10), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 9. Brandon Mattox (11), 10. Carson Short (9), 11. Chris Windom (16), 12. Kyle Cummins (14), 13. Jordan Kinser (13), 14. Jonathan Vennard (17), 15. Mario Clouser (20), 16. Jadon Rogers (24), 17. Dakota Jackson (23), 18. Travis Berryhill (18), 19. Garrett Aitken (19), 20. Jake Swanson (21), 21. Max Adams (4), 22. Aric Gentry (22), 23. Stephen Schnapf (15), 24. Thomas Meseraull (12). NT
**A.J. Hopkins flipped during qualifying. Dickie Gaines flipped during the second heat. Dakota Jackson flipped during the third heat. Ben Knight flipped during the C-Main. Stephen Schnapf flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-14 Justin Grant, Laps 15-26 Brady Bacon, Lap 27 C.J. Leary, Laps 28-30 Brady Bacon.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-644, 2-Chris Windom-574, 3-Brady Bacon-568, 4-C.J. Leary-553, 5-Chase Stockon-545, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-523, 7-Carson Short-495, 8-Dave Darland-420, 9-Brandon Mattox-364, 10-Anton Hernandez-355.
PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-54, 2-Tanner Thorson-51, 3-Logan Seavey-43, 4-Justin Grant-38, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Brady Bacon-27, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-27, 9-Tanner Carrick-27, 10-Daison Pursley-27.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: July 10-11, 2020 – Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, Iowa – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Brandt Corn Belt Nationals – Co-Sanctioned by the POWRI WAR Sprint Car League
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brent Beauchamp
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Carson Short
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Brandon Mattox
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Brady Bacon (8th to 1st)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jordan Kinser
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dakota Jackson
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COURTNEY CINCHES CORN BELT NATIONALS OPENER AT KNOXVILLE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Knoxville, Iowa (July 10, 2020)………In essence, it didn’t take long for Tyler Courtney to get to the front of the field in Friday night’s Brandt Corn Belt Nationals opener at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway.
In another sense, however, the wait was more than long enough.
The 2018 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion started 3rd on the grid for the 25-lapper, but instantly split between both front row occupants Wyatt Burks and Riley Kreisel through the middle of turn one, then powered off turn two and never looked back the remainder of the distance.
The Indianapolis, Ind. native admitted it’s been a rough and tumble couple of months for him in both the midget and his recent dabbles in a winged sprint car. Yet, Friday night, he went to the well for a sterling performance in earning his 27th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature win, tying Kevin Thomas Jr. for 17th all-time, and notching his first with the series in 2020.
It’s something the 2018 Knoxville USAC Sprint winner considers a boon for both the morale and confidence for the Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing team and his NOS Energy Drink Turbo - CSI - ZMax - Schoenfeld/Spike/Rider Chevy.
“(Car owner) Tim (Clauson) and the guys gave me a really good car tonight,” Courtney exclaimed. “I love Knoxville Raceway. This place is awesome in a wing car, a non-wing car; I’d like to come here in a midget, a Silver Crown car, whatever we can get here, that’d be sweet. When you sit back and think of all the guys that’ve won here, we won here once, but to put your name on the list again is just really cool.”
As Courtney stretched his lead out in the beginning stages, on the fifth lap, he encountered his lone hiccup of the night as he stumbled atop the turn four cushion, allowing second-place Riley Kreisel to close the gap. But he too would find a similar fate in the turn four fluff one lap later, causing him to hedge the pace a tad while Courtney opened the spigot once again.
On a lap eight restart, Brady Bacon began to position himself in a familiar spot at Knoxville as the Corn Belt “sweeper” from 2019 with a slide by Burks for third on the bottom of turn one, then initiated a reprise of the move again a lap later, similarly sliding by Kreisel for second.
Just after midway, series point leader Justin Grant elevated himself to third with a reminiscent turn one slider past Kreisel on the 13th circuit. Still, the 2017 Knoxville winner was more than a half-straightaway behind the two most recent Knoxville winners in Courtney and Bacon running first and second.
In traffic with nine laps to go, Courtney was scoping his way through traffic, attempting to slide Jack Wagner in turn one, but couldn’t make the move stick, causing him to lose momentum and fall in line behind Wagner which allowed Bacon to chomp the interval behind Courtney to as close as it had been all race long.
Once Courtney freed himself from the shackles, Bacon became stifled behind a wall of traffic himself and lost valuable ground to Courtney just as he was prepping to pounce. Courtney jostled out of the pack and constructed another half-straight lead over Bacon with six laps to go.
With five laps remaining, the final yellow of the night fell for the stopped car of 2020 USAC Midwest Wingless Racing Association Sprint Car winner Don Droud Jr., who came to a halt above the turn four cushion. As a result, traffic was now crystal-clear ahead Courtney as was the road for Bacon to reach Courtney with nary a lapped car nestled in between.
Courtney led the field low off turn four on the restart and remained about midway up on the front straightaway before darting back to the bottom of turn one to slide himself before Bacon ever had a chance to do so himself. With the slider attempt thwarted, Courtney expanded his lead to 10 car lengths over Bacon to put a “Fin” on this story for the evening while Bacon fought tooth-and-nail with Grant for second.
Courtney closed his latest triumph with a 1.105 second victory over Bacon, Grant, Chris Windom and C.J. Leary.
Lamenting last year’s results in the inaugural Corn Belt Nationals with 4th and 3rd place finishes on each of the two nights, Courtney has primed himself to rectify those past shortcomings when he straps on the helmet for Saturday night’s $20,000-to-win finale.
“We came up a little bit short last year both nights, but we’ve put ourselves in a good spot for tomorrow,” Courtney said. “We’ll get through qualifying, our qualifier tomorrow, and hopefully be in the first couple of rows for the feature and try to take home some money.”
For second-place Bacon of Broken Arrow, Okla., the bottom nor the middle of the racing surface seemed to be there for the two-time USAC National Sprint Car champion as he made his run at Courtney in his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy for the lead in the later phases of the feature. For him to be able to get by Courtney, Bacon explained that his competition would’ve had to make a catastrophic mistake for him to pass, so he settled into second with the intention of not making any mistakes himself, though he admitted that he did became a bit complacent late and allowed Grant to pose a threat for the runner-up spot.
For Ione, California’s Grant, his 3rd place result at Knoxville marked his 10th consecutive top-five finish in 10 starts during his 2020 campaign. Grant explained he became very tight near the end in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – The Bow Foundation/Maxim/Claxton Chevy, getting noticeably tight on the curb, and didn’t have nearly enough to make a move on Bacon stick for good.
C.J. Leary’s Fatheadz Eyewear fast qualifying time earlier in the night was the 26th of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, tying him for 14th all-time with 2004 series champion Jay Drake.
Chase Stockon set a new 12-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record during the semi-feature at a time of 4:26.089, breaking the previous record at Knoxville set by Merle Bettenhausen in 1971.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 10, 2020 – Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, Iowa – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Brandt Corn Belt Nationals – Co-Sanctioned by Lucas Oil POWRi WAR Sprint Car League
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.386; 2. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-19.557; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.766; 4. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-19.833; 5. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-19.865; 6. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-19.877; 7. Wesley Smith, 12s, Helm-20.173; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.372; 9. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-20.454; 10. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-20.505; 11. Glen Saville, 19L, Leyton-20.642; 12. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-20.694; 13. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-20.798; 14. Neal Matuska, 48, Matuska-21.112; 15. Jack Wagner, 77J, Hockett-21.170; 16. Steve Irwin, 0s, Flying Zero-21.171; 17. Terry Richards, 18, TR-21.180; 18. Justin Standridge, 8D, Schlattweiler-21.370; 19. Justin Zimmerman, 9w, Williams-21.746; 20. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-21.839; 21. Chuck Alexander, 5, Alexander-22.069; 22. Jason Billups, 2, Billups-22.108; 23. Max Grogan, 66m, Grogan-22.510; 24. Samuel Wagner, 73, Wagner-22.605; 25. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-22.754; 26. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-22.955; 27. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-NT.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-19.631; 2. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-19.685; 3. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-19.734; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-19.788; 5. Tanner Thorson, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-19.855; 6. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-20.033; 7. Riley Kreisel, 91, DKR-20.074; 8. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-20.081; 9. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-20.116; 10. Ryan Bernal, 17GP, Dutcher-20.131; 11. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.327; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-20.570; 13. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-20.674; 14. Don Droud Jr., 1m, Burch-20.682; 15. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-20.968; 16. Anthony Nicholson, 16, Nicholson-21.159; 17. Jonathan Hughes, 67, Hughes-21.306; 18. Clinton Boyles, 90, Smith-21.321; 19. Lane Stone, ST1, Stone-21.343; 20. Brandon Stevenson, 0, Stevenson-21.622; 21. Josh Castro, 4T, Terzich/Gile-21.788; 22. Zach Clark, 2c, C & C-21.964; 23. Braydon Cromwell, 4A, Cromwell-22.390; 24. Doug Sylvester, 12x, Sylvester-22.390; 25. Clinton Bruns, 7, Bruns-22.464; 26. Brandon Halverson, 13MJ, Halverson-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Dustin Clark, 2. Justin Grant, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Wyatt Burks, 5. Wesley Smith, 6. Jack Wagner, 7. Shane Cottle, 8. Glen Saville, 9. Terry Richards, 10. Robert Bell, 11. Max Grogan. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Steve Irwin, 6. Mitch Wissmiller, 7. Samuel Wagner, 8. Paul Dues, 9. Justin Standridge, 10. Neal Matuska, 11. Steve Thomas, 12. Jason Billups, 13. Dave Darland. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Riley Kreisel, 2. Nick Bilbee, 3. Carson Short, 4. Brian VanMeveren, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Dennis Gile, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Dustin Smith, 9. Jonathan Hughes, 10. Lane Stone, 11. Josh Castro, 12. Clinton Bruns, 13. Braydon Cromwell. 2:51.722
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Don Droud Jr., 8. Anthony Nicholson, 9. Brandon Stevenson, 10. Zach Clark, 11. Doug Sylvester, 12. Clinton Boyles, 13. Brandon Halverson. 2:47.775
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Brandon Stevenson, 3. Clinton Boyles, 4. Terry Richards, 5. Lane Stone, 6. Justin Zimmerman, 7. Justin Standridge, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Jason Billups, 10. Josh Castro, 11. Neal Matuska, 12. Clinton Bruns, 13. Max Grogan, 14. Robert Bell, 15. Chuck Alexander, 16. Steve Thomas, 17. Jonathan Hughes, 18. Zach Clark, 19. Doug Sylvester. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-8 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Tanner Thorson, 3. Wesley Smith, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Jack Wagner, 6. Shane Cottle, 7. Don Droud Jr., 8. Dennis Gile, 9. Steve Irwin, 10. Glen Saville, 11. Clinton Boyles, 12. Dustin Smith, 13. Anthony Nicholson, 14. Mitch Wissmiller, 15. Lane Stone, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Terry Richards, 18. Justin Zimmerman, 19. Samuel Wagner, 20. Brandon Stevenson, 21. Paul Dues, 22. Brandon Mattox. 4:26.089 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (3), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Justin Grant (6), 4. Chris Windom (9), 5. C.J. Leary (8), 6. Ryan Bernal (14), 7. Carson Short (7), 8. Jake Swanson (10), 9. Logan Seavey (20), 10. Wesley Smith (19), 11. Chase Stockon (17), 12. Wyatt Burks (1), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (16), 14. Nick Bilbee (5), 15. Tanner Thorson (18), 16. Riley Kreisel (2), 17. Matt Westfall (15), 18. Shane Cottle (22), 19. Don Droud Jr. (23), 20. Jack Wagner (21), 21. Brian VanMeveren (12), 22. Dustin Clark (13), 23. Robert Ballou (11), 24. Dennis Gile (24). NT
**Dave Darland flipped during qualifying. Jonathan Hughes & Doug Sylvester flipped during the C-Main.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Tyler Courtney.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-694, 2-Chris Windom-624, 3-Brady Bacon-618, 4-C.J. Leary-603, 5-Chase Stockon-595, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-573, 7-Carson Short-545, 8-Dave Darland-470, 9-Brandon Mattox-414, 10-Mario Clouser-373.
CORN BELT NATIONALS POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-494, 2-Brady Bacon-489, 3-Justin Grant-489, 4-C.J. Leary-486, 5-Chris Windom-484, 6-Carson Short-482, 7-Nick Bilbee-467, 8-Jake Swanson-466, 9-Chase Stockon-466, 10-Ryan Bernal-463.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-59, 2-Tanner Thorson-54, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-41, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 8-Brady Bacon-29, 9-Chase Stockon-28, 10-Tanner Carrick-27.
CORN BELT NATIONALS PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-11, 2-Wesley Smith-9, 3-Ryan Bernal-8, 4-Chase Stockon-6, 5-Chris Windom-5, 6-Shane Cottle-4, 7-Don Droud Jr.-4, 8-Justin Grant-3, 9-C.J. Leary-3, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-3.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 11, 2020 – Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, Iowa – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Brandt Corn Belt Nationals – Co-Sanctioned by the Lucas Oil POWRi WAR Sprint Car League
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Dustin Clark
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Riley Kreisel
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chase Stockon
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Logan Seavey
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Riley Kreisel
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Steve Irwin
ProSource Hard Work Award: Dennis Gile
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BACON REPEATS AS $20,000 CORN BELT NATIONALS CHAMPION
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Knoxville, Iowa (July 11, 2020)………A three-and-a-half hour rain delay and an engine swap just prior to the feature couldn’t deny Brady Bacon from Brandt Corn Belt Nationals domination for the second consecutive year in the second annual event that concluded in the wee hours of early Sunday at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway.
A heavy half-hour-long storm doused the half-mile dirt oval with moisture just prior to hot laps, forcing a lengthy delay that set back the start of hot laps until about a quarter to 11pm Central time.
When things wrapped up just after 3am with a non-stop, green-to-checkered feature, the Corn Belt king had reclaimed his throne and a $20,000 winner’s share as he captured his 33rd career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory, moving him past 1973 champ Rollie Beale for sole possession of 12th all-time.
Bacon and the crew on his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy made the engine change before the feature as more of a preventative measure due to a persistent oil leak. With some down time between races, the decision was made, and they decided they weren’t going to take any chances risking it. After all, the “backup” engine has some clout all its own; it was the same engine Bacon used in his recent July 4 victory at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.
“(The crew) said it puffed some smoke,” Bacon recalled after finishing third in the second qualifying race. “We looked under the hood and there was quite a bit of oil under there. We found out where it was leaking – a fitting that goes right into the block – and we tried to take it out and put a bunch of tape on it to try to get it to seal up. We put it back in, fired it up again and it was still leaking. We didn’t want to take any chances. There’s a lot of money on the line here, so we just put our other motor in.”
Bacon started his 30-lap race from the pole position, sliding from bottom to top between turns one and two, then settling in a groove up top as Justin Grant put began his racelong chase of Bacon. Grant took a peek to the inside of Bacon in turn three on the seventh lap, but quickly fell back into line behind Bacon on the high line.
Grant remained within earshot of Bacon throughout, and on the 11th lap, Bacon played the role of offense as he split the narrow gap between Glen Saville and Dustin Clark at the tail end of the field in turn three to gain some breathing room from Grant.
“I took it a little easy the first few laps and I saw (Justin)’s nose on the (video) screen,” Bacon recalled. “I was like, ‘alright, I better pick it up a little bit,’ and I wanted to give myself a little gap getting into lapped traffic because I knew that was going to be tricky. Thankfully, we were able to make some pretty good moves in lapped traffic and hopefully keep the gap safe.”
Yet, through the middle section of the race, Grant remained just three to four car lengths back of Bacon, and if there was any ounce of a misstep by Bacon, Grant was there to pounce. Yet opportunities were scarce with the front of the pack running lockstep on the cushion.
“Keeping the gap safe” was the name of the game, and on lap 18, Bacon once again split the alley between Wyatt Burks and another at the rear of the pack just when Grant got as close as he’d get all race, nose-to-tail off turn two and down the back straightaway.
With 10 laps to go, Grant got a tad sideways above the cushion between turns three and four where he lost a measure of ground to Bacon but would reload and resume his everlong pursuit.
However, there was no slip-up, hiccup or crack-up that was going to deter Bacon on this night as the Broken Arrow, Okla. native separated himself from Grant by a 1.6 second margin with five to go and the lapped cars of Riley Kreisel and Logan Seavey now serving as the buffer between the pair.
Bacon finished off his series-high fourth feature victory of the year by 1.212 sec. over point leader Grant, who secured his 11th consecutive top-five finish to begin the season. C.J. Leary finished third following a pass for position with five laps remaining while Chris Windom took fourth and Friday night Corn Belt winner Tyler Courtney was fifth.
“The Knoxville crew worked really hard getting the track ready for us,” Bacon commended. “Obviously, I thought the track was pretty good, but it was a little treacherous up on the cushion. I was like, ‘man, when is that white flag coming out?’ I didn’t even have time to look at the (video) board because the exits were so tricky, you’d pop a wheelie and push into the fence if you weren’t careful.”
The win was the fourth of Bacon’s career at Knoxville, the same place where he made his first career USAC starts 14 years ago in a midget during the 2006 season. Success came naturally to Bacon at Knoxville those particular nights, finishing as the runner-up on back-to-back occasions as a 16-year-old, a run of success that continues to this day.
“I’ve always loved racing here,” Bacon said. “My first ever USAC race was at Knoxville. I think I just have a lot of laps here. I think that adds to me getting around here pretty good and I can kind of read it when a lot of these guys really haven’t gotten to race here much. Last night didn’t really play a big role, but tonight, I think I was able to work through traffic a little bit better knowing what I could and couldn’t get away with.”
Meanwhile, Robert Ballou set two brand new track records for sprint cars without a wing at Knoxville. His 10-lap performance in the third heat race of 3:09.379 lowered the previous record set by Richard Griffin in a 1991 CRA event by more than 10 seconds. Ballou’s 16-lap time during the semi-feature of 5:25.068 broke the former record at Knoxville set by Eddie Leavitt in 1978 by a whopping 18 seconds.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 11, 2020 – Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, Iowa – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Brandt Corn Belt Nationals – Co-Sanctioned by Lucas Oil POWRi WAR Sprint Car League
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Dustin Clark (#75 Clark), 2. Chase Stockon (#5s KO), 3. Shane Cottle (#74x Hodges), 4. Chris Windom (#19 Hayward), 5. Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson/Marshall/Newman), 6. Dave Darland (#36d EZR/Curb-Agajanian), 7. Wesley Smith (#12s Helm), 8. Steve Irwin (#0s Flying Zero), 9. Terry Richards (#18 TR), 10. Josh Castro (#4T Terzich/Gile), 11. Steve Thomas (#27 Thomas), 12. Brandon Stevenson (#0 Stevenson), 13. Robert Bell (#71 Bell). 3:12.100
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Matt Westfall (#33m Marshall), 2. Ryan Bernal (#17GP Dutcher), 3. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 4. Carson Short (#71p Daigh/Phillips), 5. Don Droud Jr. (#1m Burch), 6. Riley Kreisel (#91 DKR), 7. Glen Saville (#19L Leyton), 8. Justin Zimmerman (#9w Williams), 9. Anthony Nicholson (#16 Nicholson), 10. Lane Stone (#ST1 Stone), 11. Clinton Bruns (#7 Bruns), 12. Jason Billups (#2 Billups). 3:12.177
AUTOMETER THIRD QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou), 2. Tanner Thorson (#19A Reinbold/Underwood), 3. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP), 4. Wyatt Burks (#11w Burks), 5. Nick Bilbee (#17 Bilbee), 6. Brandon Mattox (#28 Mattox), 7. Jack Wagner (#77J Hockett), 8. Paul Dues (#87 Dues), 9. Braydon Cromwell (#4A Cromwell), 10. Zach Clark (#2c C & C), 11. Mitch Wissmiller (#29 RMB). 3:09.379 (New Track Record)
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH QUALIFIER: (10 laps) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#9K KT), 2. C.J. Leary (#30 Leary), 3. Dennis Gile (#13 Gile), 4. Logan Seavey (#19AZ Reinbold/Underwood), 5. Jake Swanson (#34AZ Team AZ), 6. Dustin Smith (#77 Smith), 7. Clinton Boyles (#90 Smith), 8. Samuel Wagner (#73 Wagner), 9. Neal Matuska (#48 Matuska), 10. Max Grogan (#66m Grogan). 3:12.071
ALSO AT THE TRACK: Justin Standridge (#8D Schlattweiler) & Brian VanMeveren (#24 VanMeveren)
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the semi) 1. Braydon Cromwell, 2. Brandon Stevenson, 3. Josh Castro, 4. Clinton Bruns, 5. Neal Matuska, 6. Zach Clark, 7. Steve Thomas, 8. Robert Bell, 9. Jason Billups, 10. Chuck Alexander, 11. Max Grogan. 3:25.199
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Dennis Gile, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Don Droud Jr., 6. Glen Saville, 7. Steve Irwin, 8. Dustin Smith, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Jack Wagner, 11. Justin Zimmerman, 12. Josh Castro, 13. Paul Dues, 14. Anthony Nicholson, 15. Samuel Wagner, 16. Brandon Stevenson, 17. Braydon Cromwell, 18. Clinton Bruns, 19. Zach Clark, 20. Steve Thomas, 21. Neal Matuska, 22. Terry Richards, 23. Clinton Boyles, 24. Lane Stone. 5:25.068 (New Track Record)
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (1), 2. Justin Grant (2), 3. C.J. Leary (3), 4. Chris Windom (5), 5. Tyler Courtney (4), 6. Ryan Bernal (8), 7. Carson Short (6), 8. Robert Ballou (19), 9. Chase Stockon (7), 10. Jake Swanson (10), 11. Tanner Thorson (14), 12. Riley Kreisel (15), 13. Logan Seavey (13), 14. Nick Bilbee (9), 15. Wyatt Burks (11), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 17. Don Droud Jr. (23), 18. Shane Cottle (21), 19. Matt Westfall (17), 20. Dennis Gile (20), 21. Dustin Clark (16), 22. Wesley Smith (18), 23. Glen Saville (24), 24. Dave Darland (22). 10:19.560
**Brian VanMeveren flipped during practice. Mitch Wissmiller flipped during the third heat. Lane Stone flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Brady Bacon.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-744, 2-Chris Windom-674, 3-Brady Bacon-668, 4-C.J. Leary-653, 5-Chase Stockon-645, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-623, 7-Carson Short-595, 8-Dave Darland-520, 9-Brandon Mattox-464, 10-Mario Clouser-373.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-60, 2-Tanner Thorson-57, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-41, 5-Cannon McIntosh-32, 6-Andrew Layser-31, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-30, 8-Brady Bacon-29, 9-Chase Stockon-28, 10-Tanner Carrick-27.
FINAL CORN BELT NATIONALS PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-11, 2-Logan Seavey-11, 3-Ryan Bernal-10, 4-Don Droud Jr.-10, 5-Wesley Smith-9, 6-Shane Cottle-7, 7-Chris Windom-6, 8-Chase Stockon-6, 9-Tanner Thorson-6, 10-Justin Grant-3.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 24, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Simpson Race Products First Qualifier Winner: Dustin Clark
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Qualifier Winner: Matt Westfall
AutoMeter Third Qualifier Winner: Robert Ballou
Indy Race Parts Fourth Qualifier Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Robert Ballou
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Robert Ballou
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Steve Irwin
ProSource Hard Work Award: Dave Darland
Jerry Medlin 20th Place Finisher: Dennis Gile
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SEAVEY LOGS GAS CITY ISW OPENER IN EPIC DUEL WITH THOMAS
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (July 24, 2020)………Friday night’s introduction to the 2020 edition of NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week at Gas City I-69 Speedway produced one of the wildest finishes in the 33-year history of the series, punctuated by a memorable duel between Logan Seavey and Kevin Thomas Jr. that truly defined the fine line between the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Competing for nearly the entirety of the second half of the 30-lap feature side-by-side for the lead, Seavey and Thomas tangled in turn three while working their past a lapped car, sending both of the frontrunners over the turn three cushion. Thomas’ car came to a stop while Seavey motored on without stopping, bent draglink and all.
Thereon, Seavey finished off the victory in a green-white-checkered battle with Chase Stockon to collect his first career ISW victory and his second in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition aboard the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Fisher Chevy.
“Happy to finally get a win,” Seavey exhaled. “We finally found the balance and the confidence tonight early, and that’s what I needed. We made a big mid-week decision to stick with what we have. We’ve been struggling all year and we’re debating on getting a new racecar. I talked to the boys and I told them I was confident in the racecar we got right now. I thought we could win with this car and we finally came out and proved it tonight.”
Sutter, California’s Seavey started his race from the pole position, but endured an early onslaught from outside front row starter Chris Windom who slid past Seavey for the spot momentarily in turn three before Seavey cut back under to preserve the lead on the opening lap.
On the third lap, Windom biked hard atop the third turn cushion, very nearly toppling over before landing back on all fours and driving on, although it dropped him from 2nd to 10th in the running order, thus elevating Thomas to the runner-up spot with Seavey showing the way up front. It didn’t take long for Thomas to track down Seavey, however, utilizing the bottom of the quarter-mile’s surface while Seavey worked the middle groove.
A caution on the 13th lap involving 4th running C.J. Leary, 5th place Brady Bacon and the 7th car in the order, Tyler Thomas, at the exit of turn four, took out several prime contenders. Chase Stockon, running 6th at the time, managed to eke through the melee like a Plinko ball, putting some cosmetic damage on the rear end of his car.
The ensuing restart saw an immediate halt to the action with Windom (7th), Robert Ballou (8th) and A.J. Hopkins (12th) all getting ensnared in a turn one kerfuffle. Only Windom out of the bunch returned to competition, finishing 11th.
Once racing resumed, it became a non-stop duel between Seavey and Thomas that, in a four-lap span between laps 19 and 22, saw the pair exchange the lead four times officially at the line. The two alternated big runs on the top (Seavey) and bottom (Thomas) with neither separating themselves by much further than a single car length.
“I saw his nose basically the whole race,” Seavey recalled. “I knew I really needed to get by that first lapped car but anytime I’d get close, I’d make a mistake and let KT back on a run. I felt like we were side-by-side for the whole second half of the race and I knew I just needed to get it going up top. Anytime I felt like I gained a little momentum and got an edge on him, I’d make a mistake.”
Seavey took back the lead on lap 22, and at moments, was able to extend the advantage to three or four car lengths over Thomas. Despite trying the bottom in the earlier stages, Seavey decided to marry himself to the high line and knew that if he didn’t make any mistakes off turn two like he did earlier in the race, he’d be golden, but it was going to take near perfection by one or the other down the stretch to capitalize on any misstep, no matter how slight it might have been.
Seavey led at the stripe on the white flag lap by a half-car length as he and Thomas approached the car of Jadon Rogers in the 19th position at the tail end of the lead lap. Rogers was glued to the bottom just as the rapidly approaching Thomas was behind him.
Exiting turn two, Thomas had one of two decisions to make – either follow Rogers into turn three or try to split to the outside in front of Seavey. Thomas chose the latter, then chaos ensued. The end result saw contact on entry between Thomas’ right rear and Seavey’s left front wheel, sending Thomas careening airborne over the top of the turn three cushion and Seavey spinning toward the guardrail. While Thomas stopped, Seavey miraculously kept his ride off the guardrail and continued on.
“(Thomas) got that big run off the bottom getting in,” Seavey remembered. “He knew he had to slide me, and I knew I had to beat him out of four. He got across the racetrack a lot faster than I thought he would. I was trying to turn down and it was way too late by that point. I have no idea how I drove away from it. I’m not really sure how we didn’t turn over or land in the pits. That’s where I thought I was going.”
Meanwhile, for Thomas, one of his better runs of the year ended in heartbreak as he sought his first series victory of the year.
“We had the lapped car on the bottom and my only shot was to squeeze up to the top getting into three,” Thomas explained. “I got a decent run, but I don’t think good enough. He got a good run too, but I couldn’t really see him going down the back stretch. I tried to give room but tried to slide a little bit too. I just made contact and screwed myself.”
With the contact nearly turning Thomas over amidst the cloud of dust, the red flag was displayed. By rule, once the red flag was displayed for Thomas, the 360-spin rule was no longer in effect for Seavey. Thus, Seavey was positioned back at the front of the field for the restart with two laps remaining.
“I knew my draglink was a little bent,” Seavey admitted. “My steering wheel was a little sideways. I know that’s just kind of a comfort thing. I knew everything was going to be fine.”
Everything turned out fine for Seavey, the 2018 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion, who then had to withstand the challenge of 2015 Gas City ISW winner Chase Stockon. Stockon pulled even with Seavey exiting turn two on the restart and was just a car length behind Seavey at the line on the bottom.
On the final lap, Stockon didn’t quite get the drive he strove for off turn two while Seavey nailed the top to surge ahead and capture the victory by three car lengths – 0.472 sec. – over Stockon, Justin Grant, Kyle Cummins and Thomas Meseraull.
Meanwhile, the previous year’s Gas City ISW winner, Shane Cottle, secured the KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger of the night, finishing 7th after starting 21st.
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader Justin Grant earned Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying honors Friday at Gas City, the 25th of his career, which moved him ahead of past series champions Gary Bettenhausen and J.J. Yeley for 16th on the all-time list.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 24, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.859; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.049; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.330; 4. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.345; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.403; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-12.438; 7. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-12.456;; 8. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.532; 9. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-12.549; 10. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-12.596; 11. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.601; 12. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-12.603; 13. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.607; 14. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-12.647; 15. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-12.650; 16. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-12.702; 17. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-12.773; 18. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-12.841; 19. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-12.886; 20. Jerry Coons Jr., 5, Baldwin-12.906; 21. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-12.982; 22. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-13.123; 23. Jack James, 99, James-13.235; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-13.567.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.536; 2. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.626; 3. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-12.724; 4. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-12.752; 5. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.761; 6. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-12.766; 7. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-12.885, 8. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.886; 9. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.908; 10. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-12.988; 11. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-13.018; 12. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-13.021; 13. Mitchell Davis, 56, Davis-13.031; 14. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.049; 15. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.082; 16. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.098; 17. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-13.184; 18. Shane Cockrum, 77c, Wingo-13.304; 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.329; 20. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.433; 21. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.514; 22. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.613; 23. Logan Hupp, 69JM, Gindling-13.752; 24. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. A.J. Hopkins, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Wyatt Burks, 6. Ben Knight, 7. Zack Pretorius, 8. Scotty Weir, 9. Justin Grant, 10. Jadon Rogers, 11. Jack James, 12. Dustin Clark. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Jerry Coons Jr., 7. Ryan Barr, 8. Charles Davis Jr., 9. Chayse Hayhurst, 10. Kurt Gross, 11. Robert Bell, 12. Anthony D’Alessio. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chris Windom, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Carson Short, 6. Dakota Jackson, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Kyle Robbins, 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Logan Hupp, 12. Mitchell Davis. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jarett Andretti, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Dustin Smith, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Shane Cockrum, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Max Adams, 9. Dennis Gile, 10. Brayden Fox, 11. Max Guilford, 12. Sterling Cling. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Kyle Robbins, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Shane Cockrum, 4. Max Guilford, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Scotty Weir, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Jerry Coons Jr., 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Ryan Barr, 12. Max Adams, 13. Chayse Hayhurst, 14. Logan Hupp, 15. Jack James, 16. Robert Bell, 17. Dustin Clark, 18. Kurt Gross. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Carson Short, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Wyatt Burks, 5. Kyle Robbins, 6. Clinton Boyles, 7. Dennis Gile, 8. Shane Cockrum, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Ben Knight, 12. Charles Davis Jr., 13. Sterling Cling, 14. Zack Pretorius, 15. Max Guilford, 16. Mitchell Davis. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (1), 2. Chase Stockon (4), 3. Justin Grant (10), 4. Kyle Cummins (7), 5. Thomas Meseraull (13), 6. Carson Short (12), 7. Shane Cottle (21), 8. Brady Bacon (5), 9. Jarett Andretti (8), 10. Matt Westfall (16), 11. Chris Windom (2), 12. Tyler Thomas (11), 13. C.J. Leary (6), 14. Clinton Boyles (15), 15. Brandon Mattox (18), 16. Dustin Smith (20), 17. Wyatt Burks (14), 18. Kyle Robbins (22), 19. Jadon Rogers (24), 20. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 21. Dave Darland (19), 22. Robert Ballou (9), 23. A.J. Hopkins (17), 24. Robert Bell (23). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-18 Logan Seavey, Lap 19 Kevin Thomas Jr., Lap 20 Logan Seavey, Lap 21 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 22-30 Logan Seavey.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-818, 2-Brady Bacon-730, 3-Chris Windom-722, 4-Chase Stockon-719, 5-C.J. Leary-696, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-655, 7-Carson Short-653, 8-Dave Darland-549, 9-Brandon Mattox-504, 10-Logan Seavey-433.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-80, 2-Chase Stockon-74, 3-Justin Grant-74, 4-Kyle Cummins-71, 5-Thomas Meseraull-64, 6-Brady Bacon-62, 7-Carson Short-58, 8-Shane Cottle-57, 9-Jarett Andretti-54, 10-Chris Windom-48.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-67, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-48, 5-Andrew Layser-44, 6-Daison Pursley-42, 7-Jerry Coons Jr.-33, 8-Thomas Meseraull-32, 9-Cannon McIntosh-32, 10-Robert Dalby-32.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Shane Cottle-14, 2-Thomas Meseraull-8, 3-Justin Grant-7, 4-Carson Short-6, 5-Matt Westfall-6, 6-Dustin Smith-4, 7-Kyle Robbins-4, 8-Kyle Cummins-3, 9-Brandon Mattox-3, 10-Chase Stockon.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 25, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Jarett Andretti
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (21st to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: C.J. Leary
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dennis Gile
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Dave Darland
Jim Spridgeon / Rich Murray Hard Work Award: Kyle Robbins
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LEARY BOUNCES BACK WITH VICTORY AT KOKOMO ISW ROUND #2
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (July 25, 2020)………In most aspects of life, an individual creates their own luck by being in the right place at the right time all while performing to their maximum capabilities.
However, on occasion, sometimes a stroke of luck is what it takes to make that final extra push to propel one to the brink of success.
Following an incident in Friday night’s NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week opener at Gas City in which he was running 4th and collected multiple other front running cars, C.J. Leary found lady luck back on his side following a spin by race leader Tyler Courtney with just three laps remaining Saturday night in the second round of NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week at Kokomo Speedway.
From thereon, Leary was fully en route to winning time aboard his Leary Racing/Valvoline – Gray Auto – Leary Construction/DRC/1-Way Chevy, the fourth career ISW win for the Greenfield, Ind. native who captured both the ISW championship and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car crown the year prior in 2019.
Leary’s 10th career series victory moved him past Mario Andretti, Hunter Schuerenberg and Robbie Stanley for 49th on the all-time feature win list.
“Last night we just stepped on it. The driver made a mistake,” Leary point blanked. “Just like what Courtney did tonight, when you’re racing as hard as we are now, mistakes happen. Sometimes, it costs more than others. To come back tonight and get a win is great, I feel like we’ve been really fast all year and we were really fast last year, and we only won two races.”
Those two victories and the championship that came along with it were part of Leary’s sensational 2019 season as the pilot of the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports ride. The Reinbold-Underwood team won Friday’s ISW opener at Gas City with Logan Seavey at the wheel while Leary managed just a 13th place result after the incident.
It was an encounter by Leary and his former team owner during the post-race at Gas City that, as it turned out, may have provided a little bit of that good fortune for Leary come Saturday night at Kokomo.
“Last night, I went over and talked to (team owner) Andy (Reinbold) after the race. I was like, ‘man we should’ve won this one last year and now you guys won it this year for some redemption. You guys got all the luck. I’m going to pit next to you tomorrow and steal some of that luck.’ (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports crew chief Tyler Ransbottom) came over after tonight’s race and said, ‘don’t ever pit next to me again,’” Leary said with a laugh.
Leary rolled off for the start of the 30-lap main from outside of the front row. Carson Short occupied the pole but found himself in a world of trouble as he became a little too far sideways between turns one and two on the opening lap. Leary took evasive action, tapping the breaks, then moving to the outside around Short as second row starters Justin Grant and Tyler Courtney raced by underneath, running one-two in that order at the line with Leary now third.
After leading the opening lap, Grant slid up off the bottom in turn two as Courtney motored by underneath and into the race lead. Courtney planted his car firmly on the bottom around the tires with Grant and 2016 Kokomo ISW feature winner Kyle Cummins running second and third.
On the seventh lap, Leary went for the 7/10 split between Grant and Cummins at the flag stand, first zipping by Cummins, then sliding up in front of Grant at the exit of turn two to execute a two-fer to reach the runner-up spot, then began his pursuit of Courtney and the race lead.
Ten laps in, Courtney, perhaps with a glimpse of Leary lurking beside him, altered his approach by moving topside. Leary, thus, altered his gameplan in response and dove to the bottom of turn one on the 13th lap, slide jobbing his way into the lead. However, lapped traffic was now within arm’s reach of the frontrunner, beginning a see-saw battle between the past two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champions for much of the remaining duration.
Courtney gathered himself up on the bottom and raced to a near-dead-heat at the line alongside Leary with 12 laps remaining. On the following lap, Jerry Coons Jr. and Colten Cottle ran two-wide at the tail end of the lead lap, boxing Courtney in on the low groove while Leary split the gap entering turn three and led the lap by two car lengths. A lap later, on the 21st go-around, the verdict was Courtney at the line by a wheel, and vice-versa with the roles reversed on the 22nd circuit with Leary staking his claim up front for the time being.
Courtney attempted to steal Leary’s line at the top away in turn two with eight laps remaining as he slid up to the cushion. Leary never hesitated, kept his foot on the throttle, and ziplined through the eye of the needle to escape the clutches of Courtney as he raced downhill off turn two to retain the lead, which Leary then constructed to five car lengths by the entrance of turn three while Courtney aimed to regain traction and take another shot at Leary.
Leary appeared to be in as comfortable of a spot as he had been all race, hand-in-hand with the lead of the race until he slid up in front of Thomas Meseraull in traffic in turn two with six laps left on the board. Leary drifted to the top, then slipped a tad over the cushion, which was just enough to cause him to stumble and allow Courtney’s momentum to wheelstand into the top spot. Courtney slid past Leary entering turn three to complete the process of the pass, stumbled a bit himself on the turn four exit, yet still had enough get back to the stripe a half-car length ahead of Leary.
Courtney immediately clamped down, snaring the low line away from Leary and slid himself into the first turn before rapidly ascending his advantage to nine lengths ahead of Leary. Appearing to now have the race as well within hand as it’s been all night with three laps to go and with traffic now relatively cleared away, suddenly, Courtney found himself spun around backwards to a stop at the bottom of turn two, bringing an end to his bid for a first Kokomo Indiana Sprint Week victory after four other previous USAC Sprint scores.
With a three-lap shootout the only thing now standing between Leary and victory, plus the two winningest drivers with the series in Grant and Brady Bacon behind him, Leary took off at the drop of the green with might. Meanwhile, Bacon slid his way into the second spot by Grant in turn one for second.
Bacon, or anyone else for that matter, was no match for Leary in the final stanza with which he, the 2015 Kokomo track champion and now three-time USAC Sprint winner at Kokomo, cruised to a 1.254 second victory over Bacon, Grant, Robert Ballou and Chase Stockon.
Meanwhile, in Fatheadz Qualifying, Bacon embarked on another milestone in his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career by recording his 36th fast qualifying time. That moved the two-time series champion past Rich Vogler on the list and into 6th all-time alongside Bryan Clauson.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 25, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.056; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.060; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.284; 4. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.298; 5. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.344; 6. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.418; 7. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.437; 8. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-13.452; 9. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-13.463; 10. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.490; 11. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.516; 12. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-13.521; 13. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.596; 14. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-13.624; 15. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-13.628; 16. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.668; 17. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.722; 18. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.839; 19. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-13.841; 20. Logan Hupp, 69JM, Gindling-13.918; 21. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.072; 22. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-14.086; 23. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-14.095; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.031; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.104; 3. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.107; 4. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.155; 5. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.164; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.288; 7. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.298; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.337; 9. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.510; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.514; 11. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-13.632; 12. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.674; 13. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.709; 14. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.711; 15. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-13.712; 16. Jerry Coons Jr., 5, Baldwin-13.760; 17. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.805; 18. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.843; 19. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-13.914; 20. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.951; 21. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.974; 22. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.298; 23. Jack James, 99, James-14.485; 24. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-14.913; 25. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Critter Malone, 4. Max Adams, 5. Chase Johnson, 6. Tyler Thomas, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Chris Phillips, 9. Zack Pretorius, 10. Dustin Clark, 11. Jadon Rogers, 12. Kurt Gross. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Colten Cottle, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Anthony D’Alessio, 7. A.J. Hopkins, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Logan Hupp, 10. Wyatt Burks, 11. Dennis Gile. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Jarett Andretti, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Scotty Weir, 9. Charles Davis Jr., 10. Matt Westfall, 11. Dustin Smith, 12. Jack James. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Carson Short, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Dave Darland, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Travis Berryhill, 10. Kent Schmidt, 11. Max Guilford, 12. Chayse Hayhurst. 2:21.928
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jerry Coons Jr., 2. A.J. Hopkins, 3. Chase Johnson, 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Brayden Fox, 7. Chayse Hayhurst, 8. Anthony D’Alessio, 9. Kent Schmidt, 10. Dustin Clark, 11. Jack James, 12. Kurt Gross, 13. Zack Pretorius, 14. Max Guilford, 15. Logan Hupp, 16. Sterling Cling. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Dave Darland, 4. A.J. Hopkins, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Tyler Thomas, 8. Jarett Andretti, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Jadon Rogers, 11. Scotty Weir, 12. Dustin Smith, 13. Charles Davis Jr., 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Wyatt Burks, 16. Travis Berryhill, 17. Dennis Gile, 18. Dakota Jackson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Brady Bacon (6), 3. Justin Grant (4), 4. Robert Ballou (7), 5. Chase Stockon (10), 6. Kyle Cummins (5), 7. Carson Short (1), 8. Shane Cottle (14), 9. Chris Windom (13), 10. Logan Seavey (8), 11. Chase Johnson (19), 12. Dave Darland (11), 13. A.J. Hopkins (21), 14. Tyler Courtney (3), 15. Brandon Mattox (9), 16. Thomas Meseraull (17), 17. Kevin Thomas Jr. (22), 18. Clinton Boyles (16), 19. Jadon Rogers (24), 20. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 21. Max Adams (18), 22. Dustin Smith (23), 23. Critter Malone (15), 24. Colten Cottle (12). NT
**Ben Knight flipped during qualifying. Jadon Rogers flipped during the first heat. Logan Hupp & Sterling Cling flipped during the C-Main. Travis Berryhill flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Justin Grant, Laps 2-12 Tyler Courtney, Laps 13-20 C.J. Leary, Lap 21 Tyler Courtney, Laps 22-24 C.J. Leary, Laps 25-27 Tyler Courtney, Laps 28-30 C.J. Leary.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-891, 2-Brady Bacon-811, 3-Chase Stockon-781, 4-Chris Windom-775, 5-C.J. Leary-774, 6-Carson Short-711, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-689, 8-Dave Darland-590, 9-Brandon Mattox-543, 10-Logan Seavey-481.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-147, 2-Brady Bacon-143, 3-Kyle Cummins-138, 4-Chase Stockon-136, 5-Logan Seavey-128, 6-C.J. Leary-121, 7-Carson Short-116, 8-Shane Cottle-113, 9-Thomas Meseraull-101, 10-Chris Windom-101.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-71, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-49, 5-Andrew Layser-44, 6-Daison Pursley-42, 7-Chase Stockon-35, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-35, 9-Brady Bacon-33, 10-Thomas Meseraull-33.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Shane Cottle-20, 2-Thomas Meseraull-9, 3-Justin Grant-8, 4-Chase Johnson-8, 5-A.J. Hopkins-8, 6-Chase Stockon-7, 7-Carson Short-6, 8-Matt Westfall-6, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-5, 10-Brady Bacon-4.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 26, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chase Stockon
KSE Racing Products / Everything Dirt Racing / The Frolic & Bar Grill Hard Charger: Chase Johnson (19th to 11th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: A.J. Hopkins
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Tyler Thomas
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Jadon Rogers
Jim Spridgeon / Rich Murray Hard Work Award: Kevin Thomas Jr.
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30 FOR 30: LEARY LEADS ALL AT THE BURG FOR 2ND STRAIGHT ISW WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (July 26, 2020)………Entering 2020 NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week, it had been three years since a driver had gone “back-to-back” with consecutive victories in the annual tour of the Hoosier state.
The very same driver who achieved the aforementioned feat in 2017, C.J. Leary, has now become the most recent individual to accomplish the feat by leading all 30 laps of Sunday night’s third round of ISW at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
With Leary’s victory in the Leary Racing/Valvoline – Gray Auto – Leary Construction/DRC/1-Way Chevy, the Greenfield Ind. reigning series champion has already equaled his total USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win output from a year ago in a mere two-night span, a year which also gained him his first Indiana Sprint Week championship.
“Man, that was a workout,” Leary exclaimed after surpassing Thomas Meseraull and Tony Stewart in terms of USAC National Sprint Car wins with his 11th career triumph. “Lawrenceburg Speedway was elbows up tonight; definitely had the spurs on and took all I had. Typically, it’s a breeze in the park for me since I have so many laps here, but tonight, it was everything I had, and using all the experience I’ve put together the past 10 years here.”
That experience includes a sprint car track championship at the track during the 2013 season, plus the 2017 ISW score that launched him into a succession of ISW feature victories on two-straight nights that summer. Coming into Sunday, he’d been the only driver to have finished inside the top-five of the Lawrenceburg ISW event in each of the last four years, a streak he’s now run to five.
For Leary, track position was key on this night, as is the case for most anybody in as tight and competitive of a field that is in on display each night throughout the ISW tour. A solid qualifying performance Sunday night and a transfer spot through the heat netted Leary a starting spot on the outside of the front row.
“We somehow sandbagged just enough two nights in a row to get on the front row,” Leary said facetiously. “It’s what I felt like we needed to do to win these races. Winning these races is tough, but the 30 car was on a rail tonight.”
Leary proved that fact from the word go as he snagged the advantage topside to defeat pole sitter Seavey at the exit of turn two to lead the opening lap in a duel of the winners of the first two rounds of ISW this weekend.
At the completion of lap one, trouble ensued near the start/finish line when contact between 10th starting Kevin Thomas Jr. and 12th starting Tyler Courtney resulted in terminal frontend damage for Courtney, the 2018 Lawrenceburg ISW winner. Thomas, meanwhile, coasted to a stop atop the banking in turn one. He’d return to the fray and finish 12th.
More trouble ensued on the fourth lap when Jadon Rogers took a tumble in turn two to bring out the yellow flag in an incident which also collected USAC Triple Crown champion Jerry Coons Jr. Rogers was okay, while Coons rejoined the lineup for the restart, finishing 17th.
On the lap eight restart following the stoppage of Max Adams in turn one, the man on a mission was fourth-running Justin Grant who expunged Bacon for third with a turn three slider, then tried to execute the slide on Seavey for second on the 10th circuit in turn one.
As Grant was side-by-side with Seavey entering the first turn, Grant performed a quick skip and a hop up the banking, losing ground to Seavey and requiring him to regather and repursue at another juncture. However, with no warning in between turns three and four a half-lap later, Grant’s right rear wheel center broke, jettisoning his wheel, which careened off the outside wall before bouncing nearly the length of the front straightaway.
Grant managed to avoid wall contact, then returned to action at the tail of the field on the ensuing restart. The series point leader’s attempt at equaling J.J. Yeley’s 2003 record USAC National Sprint Car streak of 14 top-five finishes to begin a season came just short. Grant’s run of 13 consecutive concluded on this night, although, after a reinstallation of his right rear wheel, he came from the back of the pack to finish 8th.
Around the halfway mark, Leary continued rolling, expanding his lead to 1.5 sec. as the quest for second began to pick up steam. First, Windom slid by Seavey for the runner-up spot in turn one on the 15th lap. Seavey countered back under to retake the position in turn three. Windom filmed a second take one lap later, mimicking the same turn one maneuver he tried a lap later to secure second while Bacon faked high and ducked low to zip by Seavey for third on the bottom of three.
By that point, Leary had upped his command to over two seconds, yet it soon began dwindling as he picked his way through traffic. Despite setting a substantially quicker pace, Leary had to force the issue a bit on occasion in order to be on the offensive and be on the attack in terms of track position with Windom, Bacon and others clamping down in the latter stages.
“In lapped traffic, we were so much faster,” Leary recalled. “We came up on them quick, so you really just had to bomb them.”
Windom ably shrunk Leary’s interval to three-quarters of a second, and with seven to go, took his shot at Leary with a turn one slider. However, when Windom realized he wasn’t going to clear him, he pitched his car a little too far sideways and nearly spun, freely admitting he may have made the pass attempt just a half-lap too early.
As Windom gathered it back up, Leary recouped his advantage once again while Bacon closed for second in the meantime. As it turned out, that proved to be the final challenge presented to Leary as he raced to a 1.057 margin of victory over Windom, Bacon, Chase Stockon and Carson Short.
With his victory, Leary’s 12th overall win at the track equaled the previous summer’s Lawrenceburg ISW winner, Grant, as the winningest sprint car driver on the 3/8-mile iteration of the track, which began in 2008.
Bacon’s third-place finish allowed him to move to the point lead of Indiana Sprint Week by five markers with four races remaining over Grant with Chase Stockon third (-7), Leary fourth (-17) and Kyle Cummins (-23).
Grant’s Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time earlier in the evening was his second during ISW after previously setting the standard in Friday’s opener at Gas City. It was also Grant’s 26th career USAC Sprint quick time, tying him with Jay Drake and C.J. Leary for 14th all-time.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 26, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.070; 2. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.233; 3. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-14.244; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.289; 5. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-14.299; 6. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-14.339; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-14.405; 8. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-14.485; 9. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-14.490; 10. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.608; 11. Jerry Coons Jr., 5, Baldwin-14.644; 12. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.648; 13. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-14.652; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.694; 15. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-14.764; 16. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-14.847; 17. Shawn Westerfeld, 89, Westerfeld-14.864; 18. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-14.874; 19. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-14.986; 20. Scotty Weir, 22, Goodnight-15.173; 21. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-15.288.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-14.196; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-14.252; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-14.408; 4. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.455; 5. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-14.505; 6. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.613; 7. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.614; 8. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-14.644; 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.722; 10. Max Adams, 37, Felker-14.767; 11. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-14.795; 12. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-14.846; 13. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-14.961; 14. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-15.146; 15. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.192; 16. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-15.192; 17. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-15.280; 18. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-15.328; 19. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-15.367; 20. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-16.221; 21. Dallas Hewitt, 18x, Keen-NT; 22. Saban Bibent, 43, Tibbits-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Jerry Coons Jr., 5. J.J. Hughes, 6. Dustin Smith, 7. Max Guilford, 8. Dennis Gile, 9. Shawn Westerfeld, 10. Tyler Thomas. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jarett Andretti, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Sterling Cling, 7. Chase Jones, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Ryan Barr, 10. Kurt Gross. 2:31.003
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chase Johnson, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 5. Dave Darland, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Jadon Rogers, 8. Charles Davis Jr., 9. Dakota Jackson, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Saban Bibent. 2:34.188
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Max Adams, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Kyle Cummins, 8. Dustin Clark, 9. Anthony D’Alessio, 10. Steve Thomas. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Dakota Jackson, 2. Shawn Westerfeld, 3. Anthony D’Alessio, 4. Max Guilford, 5. Ryan Barr, 6. Saban Bibent, 7. Steve Thomas, 8. Kurt Gross. 2:35.712
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. J.J. Hughes, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Dave Darland, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Dustin Clark, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Anthony D’Alessio, 12. Chase Jones, 13. Dustin Smith, 14. Shawn Westerfeld, 15. Dakota Jackson, 16. Tye Mihocko, 17. Charles Davis Jr. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Chris Windom (5), 3. Brady Bacon (3), 4. Chase Stockon (4), 5. Carson Short (7), 6. Logan Seavey (1), 7. Kyle Cummins (15), 8. Justin Grant (6), 9. Chase Johnson (11), 10. Robert Ballou (22), 11. Thomas Meseraull (16), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 13. Dave Darland (13), 14. Matt Westfall (21), 15. Jarett Andretti (8), 16. J.J. Hughes (14), 17. Jerry Coons Jr. (20), 18. Brandon Mattox (23), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (19), 20. Shane Cottle (9), 21. Max Adams (17), 22. Jadon Rogers (18), 23. Tyler Courtney (12). NT
**Chase Jones flipped during the semi. Jadon Rogers flipped on lap 4 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 C.J. Leary.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-954, 2-Brady Bacon-883, 3-Chris Windom-853, 4-Chase Stockon-853, 5-C.J. Leary-851, 6-Carson Short-777, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-731, 8-Dave Darland-628, 9-Brandon Mattox-570, 10-Logan Seavey-541.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-215, 2-Justin Grant-210, 3-Chase Stockon-208, 4-C.J. Leary-198, 5-Kyle Cummins-192, 6-Logan Seavey-188, 7-Carson Short-182, 8-Chris Windom-179, 9-Thomas Meseraull-149, 10-Robert Ballou-148.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-74, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-54, 4-Justin Grant-49, 5-Andrew Layser-44, 6-Daison Pursley-42, 7-Thomas Meseraull-38, 8-Jerry Coons Jr.-36, 9-Chase Stockon-35, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-35.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Shane Cottle-20, 2-Robert Ballou-15, 3-Thomas Meseraull-14, 4-Matt Westfall-13, 5-Kyle Cummins-11, 6-Chase Johnson-10, 7-Justin Grant-8, 8-Carson Short-6, 9-A.J. Hopkins-8, 10-Chase Stockon-7.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 29, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week / Don Smith Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Jarett Andretti
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Shane Cottle
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Carson Short
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: J.J. Hughes
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (22nd to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Dave Darland
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dustin Clark
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull
Jim Spridgeon / Rich Murray Hard Work Award: Robert Ballou
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GRANT’S LAST STAND NETS FINAL LAP VICTORY AT TERRE HAUTE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana (July 29, 2020)………“I just ran every lap harder than the last one. I figured if I didn’t get it done on the last one, I must need to run this thing harder. Finally, I worked my courage up to run it hard enough to finally get by him.”
Those are the words of Justin Grant who capitalized on a pair of late-race cautions and an “overtime” period to score a last lap USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory Wednesday night during the Dorsett Automotive Don Smith Classic at the Terre Haute Action Track in round four of NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week.
A succession of unfortunate timing led to race leader Chase Stockon’s ultimate misfortune in the final two green-white-checkered restarts. The last of which, Grant drove around Stockon in the second turn and raced to victory for the fourth time with the series this season, taking over the ISW point lead by a mere six points over Stockon and 10 points over 3rd place Brady Bacon with three races remaining over the next three nights.
“We want to win this championship badly,” Grant exclaimed. “I want to win races, I like trophies, I like wheelies, bicycles, running above the cushion and I’m here to make money. This is how I feed my kids. This is how I pay my bills. This is my life. Fortunately, points and dollars earned correlate pretty closely. Tonight, the safe move would’ve been to run second. But, god, I love winning races. So, we said, ‘screw it,’ let’s win this race. We were wide open above the curb getting in, wheelieing, bicycling, and getting trophies.”
Taking a line a car width or two above Stockon just before the first and second yellow near the end of the main event, Grant wasn’t able to get the oomph off turn two to make the move stick. The third time proved to be a charm, however, as the Ione, Calif. lived up to the refrain, “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” for his 20th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win.
Stockon, the 2016 Don Smith Classic winner, led the opening lap of the 30-lap event before Bacon, himself a two-time Terre Haute winner with the series, charged to the point on the bottom of turn four on the second lap. Grant, starting 4th meanwhile, put his bid in for 2nd, riding the bottom rail between turns three and four to the runner-up spot on the seventh lap.
Bacon had upped his lead to 2.5 seconds when Max Adams suffered a flat right rear tire to bring out the yellow with 12 laps remaining. With the field bunched up for the restart, Bacon’s lead wasn’t long for the world as he slid through the middle of turn one, henceforth opening the door on the bottom for Grant to drive by while Stockon followed suit on the bottom at the exit of turn two to glide into second.
Grant’s run up front was short lived as, just one lap later, Stockon stuck the bottom of turns one and two to snag the lead from Grant. Stockon extended his lead to three-quarters of a second, but that lead tediously dwindled when Grant closed to within a car length trying to make an outside pass in turn two, to no avail. At that point, victory was seemingly in the bag for Stockon as he rounded turn three only to find a yellow flag and the 20th place car of Nate McMillin spun backwards, facing his direction and in motion at the exit of turn four.
By rule, caution periods that occur on the white flag lap will result in a two-lap, green-white-checkered finish. Subsequently, second running Grant and now third-place Windom had an additional opportunity, much to the chagrin of Stockon. The restart was nearly identical to the final lap before the McMillin caution with Grant trying with all his might to get around Stockon who was perfect on the bottom line.
Just as Stockon began to exhale and a feature win seemed imminent, lightning struck again for the Fort Branch, Ind. native as he swept through turn three only to see the yellow once again for the spun car of Dennis Gile in turn two, running 15th at the time.
As the leader, Stockon had to be perfect, especially with the sense of not being able to see the angles of attack with which his closest competitors were utilizing behind him. In essence, Grant, in second, only had to be perfect just this once. After one lap of trailing Stockon around the half-mile on what wound up as being lap 31, Grant got a big run off turn four headed to the white flag.
Being stuck high in the crumbs on the exit of two during his last attempts there, Grant had an alternate plan.
“I entered below the lip and didn’t want to turn over on the lip getting in,” Grant recalled. “The only way this thing’s going to work is if I run right over that lip wide open, get enough bite on entry and drive across the slick and get back to the good stuff off two. And, by god, it worked!”
With Grant tucked right behind Stockon at the start/finish line, the two tagged bumpers. Stockon, now possibly carrying too much speed into turn one, slid straight up to the middle, losing momentum and opening up the expressway at the top for Grant and the bottom for Windom who both raced on by for first and second, respectively.
Grant executed the last half-lap of the distance as the frontrunner, going on to win his second career series race at Terre Haute by a margin of two car lengths, or 0.257 of a second, over Windom, Stockon, C.J. Leary and Shane Cottle.
On this particular evening, the late cautions which caused misfortune and much consternation for some, happened to play into the hands of Grant who made his third and final effort the payoff pitch.
“Tonight, it played in our favor, but sometime this season, it won’t,” Grant admitted. “It’s just one of those things. Tonight, it didn’t play in Chase’s favor, but at some point this year, it will. Like it or not, it’s part of the game and you’ve got to play the game how it’s played. We know what the gig is coming in and that’s part of the gig. It doesn’t matter if it’s not your favorite part, it’s part of it. And you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
In other notes, during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying, C.J. Leary earned his 27th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car fast qualifying time, equaling him with both Dave Steele and Chase Stockon for 12th on the all-time list.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 29, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week / Dorsett Automotive Don Smith Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.933; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.126; 3. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-20.152; 4. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-20.156; 5. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-20.162; 6. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-20.351; 7. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-20.369; 8. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-20.389; 9. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-20.506; 10. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-20.506; 11. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.606; 12. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-20.683; 13. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.715; 14. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-20.739; 15. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-20.860; 16. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-20.965; 17. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-21.074; 18. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-21.080; 19. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-21.138; 20. Kendall Ruble, 17K, Ruble/Martin-21.161; 21. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-22.182.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-19.974; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.120; 3. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-20.357; 4. Dennis Gile, 13, Gile-20.377; 5. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-20.380; 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-20.582; 7. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-20.601; 8. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-20.791; 9. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-20.837; 10. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-20.924; 11. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-20.974; 12. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-21.012; 13. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-21.014; 14. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-21.116; 15. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-21.128; 16. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-21.206; 17. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-21.311; 18. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-21.351; 19. Logan Hupp, 69JM, Gindling-21.485; 20. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-21.577; 21. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Dave Darland, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Tyler Thomas, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Chris Phillips, 9. Brandon Morin, 10. Anthony D’Alessio, 11. Steve Thomas. 2:47.870
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Kyle Cummins, 5., Clinton Boyles, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Matt Westfall, 8. Tye Mihocko, 9. Kendall Ruble, 10. Dustin Clark. 2:45.154
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Carson Short, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Nate McMillin, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Jadon Rogers, 8. Max Guilford, 9. Logan Hupp, 10. Dakota Jackson, 11. Kurt Gross. 2:50.048
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Max Adams, 3. Dennis Gile, 4. Dustin Smith, 5. Mitch Wissmiller, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Bill Rose, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Chayse Hayhurst. 2:50.156
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Dustin Clark, 2. Brandon Morin, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Mitch Wissmiller, 5. Kendall Ruble, 6. Sterling Cling, 7. Anthony D’Alessio, 8. Kurt Gross, 9. Chayse Hayhurst, 10. Steve Thomas. 3:42.874
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 8. Chris Phillips, 9. Anton Hernandez, 10. Max Guilford, 11. Jadon Rogers, 12. Bill Rose, 13. Tye Mihocko, 14. Dustin Clark, 15. Brandon Morin, 16. Tyler Thomas, 17. Mitch Wissmiller. 4:21.266
FEATURE: (32 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (4), 2. Chris Windom (7), 3. Chase Stockon (2), 4. C.J. Leary (6), 5. Shane Cottle (8), 6. Brady Bacon (3), 7. Logan Seavey (10), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 9. Dave Darland (13), 10. Robert Ballou (19), 11. Kyle Cummins (14), 12. Jake Swanson (1), 13. Charles Davis Jr. (17), 14. Carson Short (11), 15. Brandon Mattox (16), 16. Matt Westfall (20), 17. Nate McMillin (22), 18. Clinton Boyles (15), 19. Dennis Gile (9), 20. Dustin Smith (21), 21. Chase Johnson (12), 22. Max Adams (18). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Chase Stockon, Laps 2-18 Brady Bacon, Lap 19 Justin Grant, Laps 20-31 Chase Stockon, Lap 32 Justin Grant.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1,034, 2-Brady Bacon-950, 3-Chris Windom-929, 4-Chase Stockon-927, 5-C.J. Leary-923, 6-Carson Short-819, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-791, 8-Dave Darland-680, 9-Brandon Mattox-610, 10-Logan Seavey-597.
NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-290, 2-Chase Stockon-282, 3-Brady Bacon-282, 4-C.J. Leary-270, 5-Chris Windom-255, 6-Logan Seavey-244, 7-Kyle Cummins-238, 8-Carson Short-224, 9-Shane Cottle-210, 10-Robert Ballou-193.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Justin Grant-52, 5-Andrew Layser-44, 6-Robert Ballou-43, 7-Daison Pursley-42, 8-Thomas Meseraull-38, 9-Jerry Coons Jr.-36, 10-Shane Cottle-35.
NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-24, 2-Shane Cottle-23, 3-Matt Westfall-17, 4-Kyle Cummins-14, 5-Thomas Meseraull-14, 6-Chris Windom-12, 7-Justin Grant-11, 8-Chase Johnson-10, 9-Carson Short-8, 10-A.J. Hopkins-8.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 30, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chris Windom
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Shane Cottle
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (19th to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Charles Davis Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Eddie Tafoya Jr.
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Kyle Cummins
Jim Spridgeon / Rich Murray Hard Work Award: Nate McMillin
Jerry Medlin Last Running Car in the Semi: Brandon Morin
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CUMMINS COLLECTS TRI-STATE FINALE; STOCKON SEALS ISW TITLE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana (August 2, 2020)………Sunday’s NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week finale at Tri-State Speedway turned out to be a homecoming of sorts for a pair of drivers who reside within a stone’s throw of the Haubstadt, Ind. track.
Kyle Cummins, about 15 minutes down the road in Princeton, continued his mastery of the quarter-mile dirt oval by winning Sunday’s 30-lap feature all while putting his name atop the leaderboard in terms of USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victories at Tri-State with five, alongside Daron Clayton and Kevin Thomas, Jr.
Meanwhile, the series’ Ironman in consecutive feature starts at 310, Chase Stockon, hails from Fort Branch, a literal seven-minute drive northbound on US 41 from the track. Of those 310 consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car starts, perhaps few have generated the same type of personal satisfaction as did capturing his first Indiana Sprint Week title after a decade-straight of trying.
Entering Sunday’s feature, six drivers remained mathematically eligible to secure the Indiana Sprint Week title. Stockon trailed Justin Grant by just five points, and those two, along with Brady Bacon, C.J. Leary, Chris Windom and Logan Seavey, were separated by a mere 35 points between them.
Cummins, who had been eliminated from ISW title contention following the heat races earlier in the evening, now simply had visions of a feature win dancing on his mind and was slotted to start the feature event from the pole position. Stockon, meanwhile, started 7th and Grant 11th.
The initial two attempts of taking the green flag resulted in a pair of stackups, the first of which saw a four-car turn one pile-up involving between Kent Schmidt, Jadon Rogers, Stevie Sussex and Critter Malone. The ensuing try saw Bacon, Malone and Aric Gentry stop on the front straightaway prior to hitting the start/finish line. Bacon, who trailed the ISW points by nine entering the feature, pulled off to the work area under yellow and briefly returned, only to drop to the infield prior to the race’s resumption to finish 23rd.
The third start was the charm, but this time Chris Windom, 5th in the ISW standings coming into the A, ripped around Cummins from his outside front row starting position to lead the opening lap. Cummins didn’t allow Windom to distance himself too far and roared to the lead past Windom on the second lap with a turn three slider. Fourth starting Shane Cottle mimicked the turn three maneuver past Windom a lap later for 2nd while Garrett Aitken slotted himself into 3rd.
By lap seven, Cummins had established a full-straightaway lead over Cottle, and by lap nine, was amidst a flurry of traffic at the tail end of the lead lap. However, a yellow for 6th running Tony DiMattia, making his first series start of 2020, rode the top of the turn four wall before coming to a rest on all fours back on the racing surface, which halted the action on the 10th lap.
Aitken, making the best run of his USAC Sprint Car career in just his sixth series start, threw his hat into contention with a turn one slide job for 2nd by Cottle on the 11th lap. A lap later, Aitken tagged the wall in turn two causing him to lose a couple spots while, behind him, four drivers on the fringes of the top-ten – Carson Short, Kevin Thomas Jr., C.J. Leary and Brandon Mattox – were stacked deep and stopped in turn one.
The timely yellow for Aitken put the Paris, Ill. driver back in second behind Cummins where he proceeded to slide by Cummins for the race lead in turn one. Quickly, Cummins cut back under Aitken at the exit of turn two to retain the lead, then slid himself through turn three to disavow any countermeasure from Aitken for the time being.
Following a plethora of precipitation that fell in recent days, Cummins hypothesized that the track had a much different feel than on this night than he is accustomed to. In response, Cummins found comfort up top that gained him a straightaway lead just prior to the yellow. Then came Aitken.
“I was being patient, not doing anything crazy, and all of a sudden here he comes, and I was like ‘oh,’ it’s time to step it up a little bit,” Cummins recalled. I just turned down and got him back. I could tell I was really going to have to step it up, and after that, I kind of moved my line around on the track a little bit. I moved a little bit more down to the bottom, then I got super tight, so I was grabbing shocks. Every yellow, I kept loosening it up, loosening it up. Even at the end I was still super tight.”
For virtually the entire second half of the race, Cummins’ progress was unimpeded at the front, and a watchful eye was turned toward the ISW title race. Point leader Grant, who had yet to finish outside the top-10 in his first 15 series starts to the season, was mired back in 13th. Simultaneously, Stockon was surging down the stretch, to 4th by Windom with three laps remaining and to 3rd two laps from the finish by Aitken, who began to run out fuel just prior to losing the second position to Cottle.
Cummins finished off his masterpiece with a 1.423 margin of victory in picking up his 7th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win, equaling the likes of Kevin Doty, Darren Hagen, Kenny Irwin, Jr., Doug Kalitta, Jim Keeker, Bobby Santos, Brady Short, Kevin Thomas, Bobby Unser and Josh Wise. Cottle, Stockon, Aitken and Windom rounded out the top-five at the finish.
Following a one-race winless “streak” in sprint car competition at Tri-State back in June, Cummins has since gotten off the schneid by picking up back where he left off, winning an MSCS race there on Independence Day Weekend, then winning Sunday night’s USAC return despite having to search and find the winning combination throughout the evening aboard his Rock Steady Racing/Mid-America Safety Solutions – Greenwell Auto Body – Lucas Oil Center/Mach-1/Foxco Chevy.
“We didn’t get that last USAC win here because of some motor problems,” Cummins remembered. “We won the time after, although I didn’t feel great, and even the beginning of the night tonight, I didn’t feel like I normally feel here. We changed a couple things. Like in the beginning of the week, we’d kind of been trialing a little bit. Since COVID, we didn’t really get any testing, really.”
For Stockon, his raceday morning began at 6:30am watching his son, Parker, compete on a dirt bike in the 50 JR class of the Southern Indiana Grand Prix Series at Red Fox T-N-T in Tennyson, Ind. Young Parker finished second in the race that had a gate drop of 8:20am. Around 13 hours later that same day, Chase was back in his starring role behind the wheel, capturing his long-coveted Indiana Sprint Week driving championship in the KO Motorsports/Hutson John Deere – Ravens Manufacturing - AMSOIL/Velocity/Fisher Chevy.
“This is pretty sweet,” Stockon admitted. “It probably won’t sink in until tomorrow or Wednesday or something this week, but we’re going to bask in the glory of it right now.”
After nearly capturing victory at the Terre Haute Action Track in the previous Indiana Sprint Week race which ran to completion, Stockon and the KO Motorsports team, which he joined on a full-time basis just one month prior, bounced back with authority.
It was a week Chase classified as a trying week with the missed opportunities, both on-track and due to mother nature, despite being the only driver in the series to finish within the top-five in all five ISW feature races in 2020, a consistent run that made him the third-straight driver to win ISW without the aid of a feature win, and the 12th overall in the 33-year history of the series along with Randy Kinser (1988), Gary Trammell (1990). Bob Kinser (1991), Tony Elliott (1999), Levi Jones (2004-08-12), Robert Ballou (2015), Brady Bacon (2016), Chris Windom (2018) and C.J. Leary (2019).
“It’s been a trying week for us,” Stockon said. “This is a lot of redemption for us. We were really good here tonight, just trying to be careful and trying to win a race at the same time. It’s all big picture for us. I got to thank my guys and everybody on the side of this car that made it all possible. I think it just shows how strong we are as a team. Nobody got down and everybody kept their chin up. We just powered forward.”
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 2, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.933; 2. Garrett Aitken, 32, Aitken-13.938; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.943; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.986; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.991; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.083; 7. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-14.229; 8. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-14.237; 9. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-14.254; 10. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-14.275; 11. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-14.465; 12. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-14.516; 13. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-14.584; 14. Kendall Ruble, 17K, Ruble/Martin-14.637; 15. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-14.781; 16. Stan Beadles, 84, Beadles-14.844; 17. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-15.166; 18. Logan Hupp, 69JM, Gindling-15.231; 19. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-15.379; 20. Sam Scott, 7s, Scott-15.693; 21. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-16.393.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.854; 2. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.879; 3. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.882; 4. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.899; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.929; 6. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.950; 7. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-14.013; 8. Max Adams, 37, Felker-14.063; 9. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.133; 10. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-14.133; 11. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.155; 12. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.272; 13. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.399; 14. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.439; 15. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.540; 16. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-14.618; 17. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-14.765; 18. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-15.461; 19. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-15.689; 20. Ryan Bond, 7R, Bond-15.703; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-17.099.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Tony DiMattia, 4. Brady Short, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Chayse Hayhurst, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Kurt Gross, 9. Jonathan Vennard, 10. Eric Perrott, 11. Dustin Smith. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Aric Gentry, 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Garrett Aitken, 5. Kendall Ruble, 6. Brayden Fox, 7. Stan Beadles, 8. Logan Hupp, 9. Sam Scott, 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Dave Darland, 7. Chase Johnson, 8. Brandon Morin, 9. Michael Clark, 10. Robert Bell, 11. Carson Short. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Critter Malone, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Kent Schmidt, 7. Max Adams, 8. Max Guilford, 9. Ryan Bond. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Stan Beadles, 2. Max Guilford, 3. Dustin Smith, 4. Ryan Bond, 5. Michael Clark, 6. Kurt Gross, 7. Sam Scott, 8. Robert Bell, 9. Eric Perrott. 2:29.074
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Johnson, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Carson Short, 4. Kent Schmidt, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Dave Darland, 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 9. Dustin Smith, 10. Chayse Hayhurst, 11. Chris Phillips, 12. Brayden Fox, 13. Max Guilford, 14. Ryan Bond, 15. Jonathan Vennard, 16. Stan Beadles, 17. Kendall Ruble. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (1), 2. Shane Cottle (4), 3. Chase Stockon (7), 4. Garrett Aitken (3), 5. Chris Windom (2), 6. Robert Ballou (8), 7. Dakota Jackson (16), 8. Carson Short (17), 9. Critter Malone (18), 10. Jadon Rogers (13), 11. Brady Short (15), 12. Logan Seavey (6), 13. Justin Grant (11), 14. Tony DiMattia (5), 15. Dave Darland (23), 16. Brandon Mattox (21), 17. C.J. Leary (9), 18. Kent Schmidt (22), 19. Aric Gentry (19), 20. Chase Johnson (14), 21. Dustin Smith (24), 22. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 23. Brady Bacon (12), 24. Stevie Sussex (20). NT
**Stan Beadles flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Chris Windom, Laps 2-30 Kyle Cummins.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1,079, 2-Chase Stockon-1,002, 3-Chris Windom-996, 4-Brady Bacon-980, 5-C.J. Leary-965, 6-Carson Short-871, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-817, 8-Dave Darland-717, 9-Logan Seavey-655, 10-Brandon Mattox-642.
FINAL NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK POINTS: 1-Chase Stockon-367, 2-Justin Grant-345, 3-Chris Windom-332, 4-Kyle Cummins-326, 5-C.J. Leary-322, 6-Brady Bacon-322, 7-Logan Seavey-312, 8-Shane Cottle-298, 9-Carson Short-286, 10-Robert Ballou-266.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-79, 2-Tanner Thorson-58, 3-Logan Seavey-57, 4-Justin Grant-52, 5-Robert Ballou-43, 6-Andrew Layser-44, 7-Daison Pursley-42, 8-Chase Stockon-39, 9-Thomas Meseraull-38, 10-Shane Cottle-35.
FINAL NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-26, 2-Shane Cottle-25, 3-Carson Short-17, 4-Matt Westfall-17, 5-Kyle Cummins-14, 6-Thomas Meseraull-14, 7-Chris Windom-12, 8-Justin Grant-11, 9-Chase Stockon-11, 10-Chase Johnson-10.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 26, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – #GYATK Night (Non-Points Special Event)
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
ProSource Indiana Sprint Week Passing Master: Robert Ballou
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Chase Johnson
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Dakota Jackson (16th to 7th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Justin Grant
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dave Darland
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Max Adams
Jim Spridgeon / Rich Murray Hard Work Award: Kent Schmidt
Jerry Medlin Last Running Car in the Semi: Brayden Fox
Everything Dirt Racing Hard Luck Award: Stevie Sussex
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KODY SWANSON REDEEMS WITH NIGHT BEFORE THE 500 SPRINT WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Brownsburg, Indiana (August 22, 2020)………Following a discouraging conclusion to a superb first half performance in Friday night’s USAC Silver Crown event at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Ind., Kody Swanson and Nolen Racing were opted to claim a sense of redemption in Saturday night’s Night Before the 500 USAC Sprint Car non-points special event.
Swanson, the Silver Crown point leader, led the first 40 laps of Friday’s main event before a rear brake caliper failed on his car, relegating him out of contention for a win. Come Saturday, Swanson and the Nolen team weren’t keen on having their winning plans thwarted once again, which they demonstrated by completing a night’s sweep as fast qualifier and feature winner, leading all 40 laps in wire-to-wire fashion to claim the $10,000 top prize.
After Friday’s whirlwind, the lost opportunity ate at Swanson, and he along with the Greenwood, Ind. based team weren’t going to let opportunity slip through their fingers when they rolled their car onto LOR’s pit lane bright and early on Saturday morning for the Sprint Car debut at the 70th Night Before the 500.
“It was actually pretty rough, I tell you,” Swanson admitted of his two-race losing “’streak.’” Last night was actually tough because we put so much into the Silver Crown series and the effort there. We had one whale of a racecar last night.”
Well, they had one whale of racecar on this night as well by any measure. Kody was Saturday’s fastest qualifier in both the midget and sprint car divisions, which set him up for a spot on the pole in both of the night’s features with the races lining up “straight up” based on qualifying time.
A win this past June at LOR in Must See Racing Sprint Car competition came with the team’s trusty V6 engine. This time, the otherwise traditional V8 was under the hood of the Nolen Racing/KECO Coatings – Goodridge – K & N Filters/Beast/Tranter Chevy.
“It’s the first time we’ve had this engine in this racecar,” Swanson revealed. “We’re a V6 team but we didn’t know if we’d be able to hold everybody off here in a big race like this with it.”
Right off the bat, the first lap spelled doom for eighth starting Nick Hamilton and fifth starting Ken Schrader, who was making his first Sprint Car start at LOR in his long, illustrious career. Both drivers and their cars wound up against the SAFER barrier in turn two, putting a sudden conclusion to each of their nights.
Early on, outside front row starter Aaron Pierce presented a steady challenge to Swanson as he kept pace to the inside of Swanson throughout the duration of the opening circuit. Swanson reached the start/finish line first at the end of lap one by a mere nose over Pierce, who promptly fell into line behind Swanson and gave chase to the five-time Silver Crown titlist.
Throughout the middle stages, Swanson’s main culprit was the slew of traffic that lie ahead of him. As Swanson darted around and in-between the cars at the tail end of the lead lap, second-running Pierce inched his way closer to Swanson to within a couple car lengths away from the lead.
By lap 25, Swanson was in the clear as he ripped by the last remaining tail-end lead lap car, for the time being, that stood in his path to victory. Once clear, Swanson’s field of vision only involved one car within his sight that shared the same straightaway as himself, providing him ample time to open his lead back up and distance himself from Pierce.
It was easy-peasy from that point forward as Swanson was switching to glide to lead the remainder, and the entirety, of the feature event for his second LOR win in the past two nights, and third of the year. It was a more-than-welcome sight for the Kingsburg, Calif. native after the wrinkle that dogged the team the night before in the Silver Crown race.
“Today, they rallied and gave us a great sprint car,” Swanson remarked. “I appreciate the effort of everyone that’s a part of this Nolen Racing team. We do this in memory of Gene (Nolen), and I’m so thankful for his son, Greg, who’s carrying the torch for us and doing a great job of running a race team. These guys are first class and I’m thankful to be racing for them.”
Pierce finished 2nd to a Swanson for the second consecutive night at LOR. Friday night, it was Tanner, and on Saturday, the culprit was Kody keeping Pierce at Bay. Kyle Hamilton recorded a pair of third-place results on Saturday in both the midget and the sprint car feature. Tyler Roahrig (Mishawaka, Ind.) took 4th in the final tally while Tanner Swanson finished 5th on the heels of a Silver Crown victory the night before. Bobby Santos, meanwhile, scored a 6th after winning the Midget feature earlier in the evening.
USAC SPRINT CAR SPECIAL EVENT RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2020 – Lucas Oil Raceway – Brownsburg, Indiana – .686-Mile Paved Oval – Night Before the 500
QUALIFYING: 1. Kody Swanson, 4, Nolen-20.992; 2. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-21.103; 3. Tanner Swanson, 77, Doran-21.159; 4. Tyler Roahrig, 56, Roahrig-21.184; 5. Ken Schrader, 78, Armstrong-21.225; 6. Bobby Santos, 22, DJ-21.233; 7. Kyle Hamilton, 5, Klatt-21.307; 8. Nick Hamilton, 32H, Hamilton-21.429; 9. Billy Wease, 12, Wease-21.495; 10. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-21.507; 11. Kyle O’Gara, 67, SFHR-21.515; 12. Derek Bischak, 31, Performance Assurance-21.663; 13. Chris Neuenschwander, 12N, Powell-21.774; 14. Teddy Alberts, 44, Wolverine-21.893; 15. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott-21.934; 16. Bryan Gossel, 6G, Gossel-22.010; 17. Joe Liguori, 8A, Reiser-22.051; 18. Christian Koehler, 10, Koehler-22.160; 19. Brian Vaughn, 71, Carmany-22.243; 20. Charlie Schultz, 9s, Reiser-22.397; 21. Mario Clouser, 92, Guess-22.716; 22. Gary Dunkle, 34, Dunkle-23.604; 23. Chris Jagger, 27J, Jagger-23.711; 24. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 32, Broadus-NT; 25. Tony Main, 74, Main-NT; 26. Justin Harper, 53, Harper-NT.
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kody Swanson (1), 2. Aaron Pierce (2), 3. Kyle Hamilton (7), 4. Tyler Roahrig (4), 5. Tanner Swanson (3), 6. Bobby Santos (6), 7. Billy Wease (9), 8. Kyle O’Gara (11), 9. Derek Bischak (12), 10. Travis Welpott (15), 11. Bryan Gossel (16), 12. Joe Liguori (17), 13. Brian Vaughn (19), 14. Teddy Alberts (14), 15. Charlie Schultz (20), 16. Gary Dunkle (22), 17. Chris Jagger (23), 18. Mario Clouser (21), 19. Russ Gamester (10), 20. Christian Koehler (18), 21. Chris Neuenschwander (13), 22. Nick Hamilton (8), 23. Ken Schrader (5). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Kody Swanson.
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CUMMINS CLUTCHES SMACKDOWN NIGHT #1 AT KOKOMO
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 27, 2020)………Without a caution on the aborted initial start of Thursday night’s feature at Kokomo Speedway, Kyle Cummins said he felt like he would’ve had the lead coming out of turn four on that opening lap. That came, albeit while starting sixth on the grid in the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Smackdown IX opener at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
The Princeton, Ind. native was confident that the symbiosis between his car and his abilities were such to make that a reality. With an opening lap caution forcing him to try it again, Cummins only took a mere four laps to attain 2nd, and just 13 laps to assume the lead from Tyler Courtney.
Cummins then stifled a late-race challenge courtesy of Brady Bacon on a green-white-checkered finish to score the victory, his second straight with the series and the eighth of his career, equaling Mike Bliss, Chet Fillip, Johnny Rutherford and Joe Saldana for 55th all-time.
While Cummins’ well-established dominance of Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. is known far and wide, where he won earlier this August during the Indiana Sprint Week finale, Thursday’s victory marked the second of his USAC career at Kokomo, the very same venue he won his first career USAC Sprint feature at in 2016.
Cummins credits the “little bitty” things that got him to this point, a first career triumph during Sprint Car Smackdown. The changes aren’t anything he considers “out of control,” nothing the naked eye can see per se, but a few turns of the wrench here and there that have led to another celebration for him in victory lane.
“We’ve actually been experimenting and trying different stuff all year,” Cummins revealed. “Last year, we had a great year, but there were things we struggled at that I wanted to get better at. We just decided everywhere we’ve been going, we’ve been trying something a little different here and there. We kept our same stuff at Tri-State Speedway, but everywhere else, we’ve kind of ventured out to some different stuff. We’re slowly getting a handle on it, which is making me a lot more comfortable to drive it as hard as I can at the beginning and at the end instead of just the end.”
At the beginning, Cummins was simply hooked up. The night’s Fatheadz Fast Qualifier was on the move when a stackup in turn two near the tail of the field saw Shane Cottle get turned around in turn two, stopping to bring out the yellow. Meanwhile, provisional starter Carson Short also stopped with trouble after being involved in the incident, ending his evening along with Stevie Sussex’s as well
A complete restart forced Cummins back to his original starting position outside row three for the restart, which saw him utilize his rapid fire, methodical approach on the first four laps of the feature, moving up one spot per lap to the 2nd position by lap four to post a challenge to 2017 & 2019 Smackdown champion, Tyler Courtney, throughout much of the first half of the 30-lap event.
From lap five onward, Cummins was all over Courtney like white on rice as he stalked the two-time USAC National champion around the quarter-mile and the two swapping lines high/low as Courtney fought to stay in control and Cummins sought an avenue past.
On the 11th and 12th lap, Cummins found a bit of a groove that witnessed him getting a run on the bottom underneath Courtney for the position exiting turn four, ultimately coming up short in his bid by a single car length at the line each time. On the 13th circuit, however, Cummins got the run he needed after putting together a high-quality set of turns in one and two, pulling even alongside Courtney on the back straightaway before surpassing him on the bottom of three and four to make the pass stick and overtake the top position.
As Cummins performed his high-wire act on the topside of the racetrack in traffic throughout the second half of the race, Courtney remained just three car lengths behind in second with only three laps remaining.
As Courtney diamonded off turn one on lap 28, he encountered the lapped cars of Damion Gardner and Tyler Thomas in turn two. With the gap between Gardner and Thomas closing rapidly, Courtney and Thomas made contact with Courtney’s left rear tire ramping over Thomas’ right front. The result sent Courtney sideways and plowed into by the incoming Shane Cottle while second-running Bacon became airborne and bouncing off the track surface twice. Thomas, meanwhile, stopped backward with a collapsed front end.
Bacon, along with Cottle, continued onward. However, Courtney’s left rear tire was now flat, forcing him to the work area where his crew changed the tire before ultimately returning to finish 15th. It was yet another Kokomo heartbreak for Courtney who has now encountered trouble three separate times while leading or running second at the track in USAC competition this year. During Indiana Midget Week, he flipped while leading two-thirds of the way through. And during Indiana Sprint Week, he clipped a turn two infield tire while leading and spun just three laps from the finish.
The first attempt at the resumption of racing saw fourth-running Kevin Thomas Jr. suffer heartbreak of his own on the 28th lap when he slowed on the front straightaway before stopping in turn two, ending a solid run for the 2016 Smackdown winner and Kokomo track champion, thus setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
When racing resumed, Bacon showed his involvement in the incident did not hamper the drive of his car or himself personally as he dug in on the bottom, surging off the final set of corners to nearly pull even with Cummins. As the two raced to the line side-by-side, with Cummins ahead by a wheel at the stripe, the two were greeted by the yellow flag instead of the checkered flag due to Bill Balog performing a 360-degree spin in turn two, which by rule, instantly brought out the yellow flag each time. Balog ultimately came to a complete stop.
Cummins’ sight of Bacon underneath him in turn four just before the yellow was a bit of a surprise to him, as it turned out.
“I felt like on the restarts, I was pretty good,” Cummins admitted. “I was loose in traffic, but I was holding them off, so I didn’t want to do much different. I thought if I could just keep my momentum up, they couldn’t pass me because it was super slick getting in both corners. Coming off four, it was slick on the bottom, and I didn’t want to get hung up in there. I just thought I could run more through the middle. I got in there, got it turned and here he came on the bottom. Then, I figured the bottom must be pretty good!”
“It was a little nerve wracking,” Cummins continued. “When I was coming through three and four, I thought I was fine. All of a sudden, here he comes up and I’m pretty sure I had him at the line if it would’ve went checkered then, but it feels better when you win and they’re not right to the side of you.”
Under the caution, Cummins made a few final adjustments both on the car and with his approach.
“I took a half turn out of both front shocks just to say I did something and give myself just a little bit extra,” Cummins said. “Then, I slowed my entry down just a little bit in both corners and was going to make him pass me on the top. I wanted to stay a little bit more in the moisture down the back stretch and just not open it up for him to drive by me.”
All went according to Cummins’ blueprint when racing resumed, remaining closer to the bottom and denying Bacon any sensation of daylight to take advantage of underneath Cummins at the exits of turn two and four.
Cummins staved off the competition to capture the victory by 0.259 sec. over Bacon and Robert Ballou, who rounded out the podium. Outside front row starter Buddy Kofoid, making his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car debut, finished 4th, while 2019 Smackdown opening night winner, Thomas Meseraull, rounded out the top-five.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Sprint Car Smackdown IX
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.957; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.998; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.093; 4. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.159; 5. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.214; 6. Bill Balog, 17B, Lein-13.216; 7. Damion Gardner, 5, Baldwin-13.300; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.316; 9. Charles Davis Jr., 47c, Davis-13.439; 10. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.478; 11. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.545; 12. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-13.547; 13. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.577; 14. Cody Gardner, 9G, Appco-13.649; 15. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.663; 16. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.680; 17. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.689; 18. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.689; 19. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.701; 20. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Shipley-13.708; 21. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.716; 22. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-13.736; 23. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-13.868; 24. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-14.176; 25. Robert Brown Jr., 13, Brown-NT.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.024; 2. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.070; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.086; 4. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.167; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-13.246; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.260; 7. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-13.416; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.439; 9. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.475; 10. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.524; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.524; 12. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.526; 13. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.539; 14. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.551; 15. Cole Bodine, 57x, Bodine/Crow-13.592; 16. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-13.609; 17. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-13.614; 18. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-13.648; 19. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.700; 20. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.741; 21. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.792; 22. Jack James, 99, James-14.343; 23. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.780; 24. David Hair, 44, Hair-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Damion Gardner, 7. Colten Cottle, 8. Anthony D’Alessio, 9. Dustin Clark, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Eddie Tafoya Jr. 2:18.708
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Bill Balog, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Max Adams, 6. Noah Gass, 7. Chase Jones, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Cole Ketcham, 10. Kyle Shipley, 11. Cody Gardner, 12. Brian VanMeveren. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Austin Williams, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Brayden Fox, 11. Cole Bodine, 12. Robert Bell. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Carson Short, 8. Tye Mihocko, 9. Dustin Smith, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Jack James. NT
THE FROLIC BAR & GRILL C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Max Adams, 2. Austin Williams, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Kyle Shipley, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Anthony D’Alessio, 9. Chase Jones, 10. Dustin Smith, 11. Dustin Clark, 12. David Hair, 13. Jack James, 14. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 15. Chris Phillips. 2:19.816
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Damion Gardner, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Carson Short, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Colten Cottle, 11. Tye Mihocko, 12. Max Adams, 13. Matt Goodnight, 14. Noah Gass, 15. Austin Williams, 16. Cole Ketcham, 17. Cody Gardner, 18. Cole Bodine. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Robert Ballou (8), 4. Buddy Kofoid (2), 5. Thomas Meseraull (7), 6. Logan Seavey (1), 7. Chase Stockon (12), 8. Chris Windom (21), 9. Jake Swanson (10), 10. C.J. Leary (11), 11. Justin Grant (20), 12. Clinton Boyles (18), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 14. Charles Davis Jr. (9), 15. Tyler Courtney (3), 16. Damion Gardner (15), 17. Shane Cottle (17), 18. Dave Darland (24), 19. Brandon Mattox (14), 20. Bill Balog (13), 21. Tyler Thomas (22), 22. Matt Westfall (19), 23. Stevie Sussex (16), 24. Carson Short (23). NT
**David Hair flipped during qualifying. Robert Bell flipped during the third heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Tyler Courtney, Laps 13-30 Kyle Cummins.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1,121, 2-Chase Stockon-1,061, 3-Brady Bacon-1,057, 4-Chris Windom-1,048, 5-C.J. Leary-1,015, 6-Carson Short-894, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-864, 8-Dave Darland-744, 9-Logan Seavey-715, 10-Brandon Mattox-669.
SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-13, 2-Justin Grant-9, 3-Clinton Boyles-6, 4-Kyle Cummins-5, 5-Robert Ballou-5, 6-Chase Stockon-5, 7-Brady Bacon-2, 8-Thomas Meseraull-2, 9-Jake Swanson-1, 10-C.J. Leary-1.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-112, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Justin Grant-73, 4-Kyle Cummins-70, 5-Kyle Larson-62, 6-Shane Cottle-61, 7-Logan Seavey-57, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Robert Ballou-50, 10-Daison Pursley-48.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 28-29, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Sprint Car Smackdown IX
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Winning Bonus: Kyle Cummins
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Cummins
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Charles Davis Jr.
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
The Frolic Bar & Grill C-Main Winner: Max Adams
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary
KSE Racing Products/Circus City Speedway/Irvin King Hard Charger: Chris Windom (21st to 8th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Carson Short
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Damion Gardner
ProSource Hard Work Award: Tyler Thomas
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CUMMINS CONNECTS AGAIN FOR 2ND STRAIGHT SMACKDOWN IX PRELIM WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 28, 2020)………Entering Friday’s second night of Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo Speedway, no driver had ever swept victories on both prelim nights of the event.
And then came Kyle Cummins, who became the first to accomplish the feat after earlier capturing Thursday’s opener. In fact, dating back to early August of this year, Friday marked the Princeton, Indiana driver’s third consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, the first to “triple-up” in nearly four years with the series with Chris Windom being the most recent in late 2016.
Despite a similar victory just 24 hours earlier at Kokomo, Cummins’ Friday night’s score had the now nine-time series winner even more jubilant than did his most recent winning effort aboard the Rock Steady Racing/Mid-America Safety Solutions – Greenwell Auto Body – Lucas Oil Center/Mach-1/Foxco Chevy.
“Oh definitely,” Cummins exclaimed when asked if this win had him even more excitable than Thursday’s score. “Last night, we started a little bit back and then we got the lead, then it was just running it as hard as you can. Even though that one was exciting, everybody was in this one until the end tonight.”
Always changing, always evolving, Cummins and team refused to rest on their laurels of success from the night before, and instead, tried a different approach to their setup for the 30-lapper which saw them occupy the outside of the front row. However, things weren’t exactly hunky-dory in the early stages with the approach, which ultimately worked.
“At the beginning of the race, I was too tight to even get close to the cushion, so I knew I wasn’t going to mess with it,” Cummins revealed. “The whole time, I knew I was hanging, hanging, hanging, I’m out leading, and if they pass me on the top, then I’ll move up. But I was not going to go up until then.”
However, a lack of rhythm marked the first several laps of the feature with a number of cautions stifling the action. On the opening lap, an incident between turns three and four stacked up four past Kokomo Sprint Car track champions running near the front of the field. Third-running Shane Cottle biked entering turn three, and when he landed, collected series point leader Justin Grant (4th), Dave Darland (9th) and C.J. Leary (11th). All eventually rejoined the field.
On the second lap resumption, a turn two kerfuffle involving four cars collected Brandon Mattox (17th), Robert Ballou (18th), Matt Westfall (19th) and Damion Gardner (21st). Only Westfall did not restart.
In the meantime, Cummins, who was the first driver to get dunked in the water tank for charity earlier in the day, made a splash on track as he rocketed around pole sitter Carson Short to occupy the lead on the opening lap. On lap four, Kevin Thomas Jr. was on the move as he slid under Short in turn three for 2nd while Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier Thomas Meseraull instantaneously went topside around Short for third.
A lap seven incident involved two perennial frontrunners who had already encountered their share of trouble early on. Grant flipped at the exit of turn four, which collected Ballou, who also made contact with the outside front straightaway wall after glancing off Grant’s flipping car. Both drivers were okay, but Grant’s incident did tighten up the series points race with the top-four of Grant, Chris Windom, Brady Bacon and Chase Stockon separated by just 34 points.
Under yellow, second running Kevin Thomas Jr. slowed to a stop on the front straightaway. After a push around the track, his race came to an early end as he was pushed back to the pits without re-firing, ultimately finishing 21st in the 24-car field.
On the lap eight restart, Cummins soon reestablished his half-straightaway lead (1.7 sec.), which he’d retain until just before the middle stages of the event while those behind him jockeyed for position from second on back.
Following a yellow on lap 14 for the slowing Anthony D’Alessio, running 19th at the time, the restart saw Meseraull, now 2nd, go on the attack, pouncing on Cummins for the lead with a turn three slider. As Meseraull slid past and up to the top at the exit of turn four, Cummins ducked back underneath to retake the lead at the stripe. There, Cummins withstood the challenge, then quickly reopened his half-straightaway lead once again.
A see-saw battle for 2nd between Meseraull and Windom developed with Windom gaining the upper hand and the runner-up position on lap 19 with a diamond maneuver off the top of three to the bottom of four to drive past Meseraull for 2nd, then put on the chase for Cummins and the race lead.
A slight stumble in turn two by Cummins on the 21st lap allowed Windom to close up the gap to Cummins to under a second and quickly shrinking. With five to go, Windom was now draped over Cummins, pulling ahead of Cummins on the back straightaway by a car length momentarily as the two sped into the third turn, Cummins occupying the low line and Windom working up top as the pair began to encounter traffic.
“When the lapped cars got there, I kind of moved up a little bit and that made me better in three and four for sure,” Cummins explained. “I was better through three and four in the middle, but I went to the top in one and two and just kind of floated it in to make sure everything was alright. I had just gotten into the cushion and I saw Chris (Windom) there, then I knew I had to hustle a little bit harder.”
Coming to the line with four to go, however, Cummins drifted up off turn four in front of Windom while working around the car of Dustin Smith at the tail end of the lead lap. That stifled Windom’s drive of momentum at the top and vice versa’d each driver’s role with Cummins now high and Windom low. Windom edged ahead off two but was slightly boxed in behind Smith while Cummins established a line right through the middle to lock down the lead as Windom remained just two car lengths back.
The throng of traffic allowed Cummins to discover something on the surface of the quarter-mile dirt oval, much to his liking, while also elevating his game in crunch time.
“The lapped car took me all the way up to the cushion in three and four,” Cummins remembered. “I ran around there, and it was even better than it was in the middle. Even in one, I got a little sideways; I just didn’t want to get in there and hop the front end. I knew as long as I did that, I could keep my nose down and at least beat them through three and four. Once I saw a nose (from Windom) right there at the end, I picked it up those last couple laps. I could’ve really went pretty hard and I could’ve probably picked it up a little bit if I had seen him a little bit earlier.”
Windom fired his shots at Cummins in the final laps but could never quite get enough of a run to reel in Cummins for the taking. Instead, it was Cummins taking it all for his own, closing out his third career Kokomo USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory over Windom, Tyler Courtney, Buddy Kofoid and Brady Bacon.
Cummins is at the head of the class in terms of points after the first two nights of Smackdown IX and is one of eight drivers locked into Saturday night’s 40-lap feature event and also the B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill along with Brady Bacon, Buddy Kofoid, Thomas Meseraull, Tyler Courtney, Chase Stockon, Chris Windom and C.J. Leary.
“I’m glad it worked out how it did,” Cummins said. “It’s pretty exciting driving under the checkered flag there to get that one and winning too. But I’m here to win three, and to really put a staple on it.”
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 28, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Sprint Car Smackdown IX
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.155; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.218; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.271; 4. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.285; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.317; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.336; 7. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.352; 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.421; 9. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.422; 10. Damion Gardner, 5, Baldwin-13.507; 11. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.510; 12. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.516; 13. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.516; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.517; 15. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-13.628; 16. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.645; 17. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Shipley-13.648; 18. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.673; 19. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.725; 20. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.765; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-13.836; 22. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.840; 23. Cody Gardner, 9G, Appco-14.139; 24. Cole Bodine, 57x, Bodine/Crow-14.217; 25. Robert Brown Jr., 13, Brown-14.615.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-13.086; 2. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.142; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.249; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.296; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.320; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.498; 7. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.589; 8. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-13.633; 9. Bill Balog, 17B, Lein-13.645; 10. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.659; 11. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-13.660; 12. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.698; 13. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-13.728; 14. Charles Davis Jr., 47c, Davis-13.729; 15. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-13.872; 16. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.884; 17. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.894; 18. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.910; 19. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.943; 20. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.999; 21. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-14.042; 22. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.069; 23. Brandon Long, 02, Long-14.131; 24. Jack James, 99, James-14.599; 25. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Logan Seavey, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Kyle Shipley, 9. Noah Gass, 10. Brian VanMeveren, 11. Cody Gardner, 12. Robert Brown Jr., 13. Chase Jones. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Carson Short, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Anthony D’Alessio, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Robert Ballou, 8. Clinton Boyles, 9. Cole Ketcham, 10. Brayden Fox, 11. Cole Bodine, 12. Brandon Mattox. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Bill Balog, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Tyler Thomas, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Austin Williams, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Max Guilford, 9. Matt Goodnight, 10. Dustin Smith, 11. Brandon Long, 12. Tye Mihocko. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Max Adams, 8. Jadon Rogers, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Dustin Clark, 11. Jack James, 12. Colten Cottle. NT
THE FROLIC BAR & GRILL C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 2. Brian VanMeveren, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Brayden Fox, 6. Max Guilford, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Kyle Shipley, 10. Brandon Long, 11. Dustin Smith, 12. Jack James, 13. Cody Gardner, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Robert Brown Jr. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Anthony D’Alessio, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Max Adams, 9. Chase Jones, 10. Brandon Mattox, 11. Clinton Boyles, 12. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 13. Jadon Rogers, 14. Charles Davis Jr., 15. Tye Mihocko, 16. Austin Williams, 17. Brian VanMeveren, 18. Sterling Cling. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. Chris Windom (9), 3. Tyler Courtney (7), 4. Buddy Kofoid (11), 5. Brady Bacon (13), 6. Tyler Thomas (14), 7. C.J. Leary (12), 8. Chase Stockon (10), 9. Thomas Meseraull (6), 10. Dave Darland (8), 11. Carson Short (1), 12. Bill Balog (18), 13. Logan Seavey (15), 14. Jake Swanson (20), 15. Stevie Sussex (16), 16. Brandon Mattox (21), 17. Damion Gardner (23), 18. Dustin Smith (22), 19. Shane Cottle (4), 20. Anthony D’Alessio (17), 21. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 22. Justin Grant (3), 23. Robert Ballou (24), 24. Matt Westfall (19). NT
**Brian VanMeveren flipped during the semi. Justin Grant flipped on lap 7 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kyle Cummins.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1,152, 2-Chris Windom-1,123, 3-Brady Bacon-1,121, 4-Chase Stockon-1,118, 5-C.J. Leary-1,072, 6-Carson Short-941, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-896, 8-Dave Darland-795, 9-Logan Seavey-754, 10-Kyle Cummins-733.
SMACKDOWN POINTS: (Top-8 locked into Saturday night’s feature) 1-Kyle Cummins-697, 2-Brady Bacon-666, 3-Buddy Kofoid-654, 4-Thomas Meseraull-646, 5-Tyler Courtney-633, 6-Chase Stockon-631, 7-Chris Windom-625, 8-C.J. Leary-608.
SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-20, 2-Brady Bacon-10, 3-Tyler Thomas-9, 4-Justin Grant-9, 5-Buddy Kofoid-7, 6-Chase Stockon-7, 7-Jake Swanson-7, 8-Kyle Cummins-6, 9-Robert Ballou-6, 10-C.J. Leary-6.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-119, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Justin Grant-73, 4-Kyle Cummins-71, 5-Kyle Larson-62, 6-Shane Cottle-61, 7-Logan Seavey-59, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Robert Ballou-51, 10-Daison Pursley-48.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 29, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Sprint Car Smackdown IX
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Winning Bonus: Kyle Cummins
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Dave Darland
The Frolic Bar & Grill C-Main Winner: Eddie Tafoya Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary
KSE Racing Products/Circus City Speedway/Irvin King Hard Charger: Brady Bacon (13th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dakota Jackson
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Anthony D’Alessio
ProSource Hard Work Award: Robert Ballou
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SMACKDOWN IX IS ALL SUNSHINE FOR A 3RD TIME
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 29, 2020)………Snakebitten is a word that has been used to describe Tyler Courtney’s misfortunes at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway throughout the 2020 season. It’s almost hard to imagine that fact for a driver who has become synonymous with victory lane at the track in recent years.
Courtney rediscovered the fountain of success once again Saturday night in the Sprint Car Smackdown IX finale at Kokomo, a track in which he had won at six times in his USAC National career between sprint cars and midgets, and an event in which he had hoisted the coveted champion’s belt at twice before in 2017 and 2019.
The Indianapolis, Ind. native tracked down Brady Bacon 13 laps from the conclusion to score his 28th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory, equaling the total of fellow series champions Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley for 15th all-time, in his efforts worth $11,000 aboard his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Turbo - CSI - ZMax - Schoenfeld/Spike/Rider Chevy.
In the process, Courtney became the second driver ever to win Smackdown three times in his career, joining the series’, and Kokomo’s, winningest sprint car driver, Dave Darland, who won three-straight in 2013-14-15.
“Dave’s a guy I grew up watching and I watched him win all three of his Smackdowns,” Courtney recalled. “To tie a guy like that here at his home track, it’s just unreal. I never would’ve thought that, when I started racing sprint cars, or started racing Smackdown nine years ago, that I’d even win one of these things, let alone three. To tie a guy like Dave Darland is something that will probably take a while to sink in.”
Back to the snakebitteness, however, the two-time USAC National champion had encountered trouble three separate times while leading or running second at the track in USAC competition this year. During Indiana Midget Week, he flipped while leading two-thirds of the way through. During Indiana Sprint Week, he clipped a turn two infield tire while leading, sending him spinning and stopping just three laps from the finish. In Thursday’s Smackdown opener, while running second, contact with a lapped car flattened Courtney’s tire, putting him out of contention for victory once again.
“I told my guys I’ll take a little bit of bad luck from the last three races if it meant I could win this one,” Courtney said. “This is one you put on the calendar, especially when we were putting our schedule together this year with us not running full-time. We had a gameplan coming into tonight and stuck to it and it worked out. We got a technical racetrack and it almost bit me a little bit, but somehow, I made it through a couple of those situations, and it worked out.”
Courtney started sixth on the grid for the 40-lap feature, and for much of the first half of the race, remained relatively stagnant, holding the fifth position nearing the midway point. Up front, however, the night’s B & W Auto Mart “King of the Hill” winner and pole sitter, Brady Bacon, was in control of the 23-car field as C.J. Leary and Kyle Cummins gave chase in second and third, respectively.
The first of two reds during the feature was displayed on the ninth lap when 19th running Carson Short rode out a flip down the front straightaway from which he walked away unscathed.
Under the ensuing stoppage, 12th running Justin Grant’s misfortune continued when his car didn’t re-fire following the red, ending his night prematurely with a 21st place finish.
When racing resumed, Cummins, who was aiming to become the first driver to win four USAC Sprint races in a row since Rick Hood in 1985, made his way to 2nd past Leary while race Rookie Buddy Kofoid, in just his 3rd career series start, flexed his muscle to take 3rd as Leary got shuffled back to 4th.
The second and final red flag period of the feature arrived on lap 15 when 14th running Clinton Boyles barrel rolled near the outside wall in turn four. The incident also collected the 15th place car of Jake Swanson who spun and stopped in the melee. Both were uninjured, but both were finished for the remainder of the evening.
On the race’s resumption on the 15th lap, Cummins showed Bacon a nose below in turn two, then did so again on the 16th lap. However, quickly shooting into the frame was Courtney, who had exploded from 5th to 3rd on the restart, then was just within arm’s reach of both Cummins in 2nd and Bacon, the race leader, as the top-three ran nose-to-tail on the topside on lap 17.
“We were getting close to halfway there and I knew I needed to start making my moves and not let Brady (Bacon) get too far out because his car was pretty good and Cummins was running 2nd, and obviously, he’s been good the first two nights,” Courtney explained. “I wanted to get by those guys and be able to run my own race. I could tell when I was running behind them that I was a lot better, so I knew if I could just get out and make some clean laps, I’d probably be all right.”
Courtney’s next move came on the 21st lap when he slid past Cummins for second in turn four, gliding from the bottom of turn three all the way up to the outside concrete at the exit of turn four to complete the pass, then, in no time, was challenging Bacon for the race lead.
Courtney hounded Bacon, the two-time USAC National Sprint Car champ, for the next several circuits, seemingly stalking his prey as he readied himself to pounce on any inkling of a misstep. That came on the 28th circuit when Bacon snagged his right rear tire on the lip exiting turn two, knocking him slightly askew as Courtney shot under to snag the lead going away. A reeling Bacon slipped back to 2nd, 3rd and 4th over the next three laps as Cummins, then a resurging Leary, slotted back into the top-three.
“Brady messed up a little bit off two, and I got by him closely, but we got by clean,” Courtney remembered. “I just put the hammer down and tried to put a gap between us because I knew my car was better.”
Courtney quickly gapped his challengers with a 3.6 sec. advantage as he worked traffic around the quarter mile with the race dwindling down to the final four laps.
With the race, and victory, seemingly in hand, Courtney had a couple “moments” down the stretch while possessing a fairly substantial gap between he and Cummins. None bigger than the one he experienced in turn one coming to the white flag as he got some airtime after hitting the cushion, and nearly knocked down the wall and dumped the No. 7BC, before gathering it up and motoring on, albeit while his heart was in the process of skipping a beat.
“That was wild,” Courtney exclaimed. “I got in, biked and got tight up on the wall and thought, ‘Oh my god, you’re really going to throw it away with three laps to go. Come on.’ Luckily, I got down off that and made a couple clean laps at the end. I love Kokomo. I love Smackdown. It was a really, really cool night.”
That “really, really cool night” concluded with Courtney taking a 3.699 sec. margin of victory in the end over Cummins, Leary, Bacon and Kofoid. For Courtney, it was his seventh career USAC National victory at Kokomo, and his five career USAC National Sprint Car feature wins at the track have him third on the all-time list, trailing only the two greatest masters in Kokomo Speedway history, Dave Darland (9) and Tony Elliott (8).
Earlier in the evening, Bacon became the first three-time B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill champion in a series of two-car, three-lap elimination races to determine the starting field. Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) defeated Leary in the final round to win the pole, after previously doing so in both 2014-15.
Meanwhile, a big shuffle in the points saw Grant fall from first to third while Bacon shot from third to first. In fact, the top-four in the standings are only separated by a mere 18 points with Bacon leading Chris Windom (-4), Grant (-7) and Chase Stockon (-18).
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 29, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Sprint Car Smackdown IX
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#9K KT), 3. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP), 4. Carson Short (#71p Daigh-Phillips), 5. Dakota Jackson (#17 On The Gass), 6. Stevie Sussex (#77w Wingo), 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (#51T Tafoya), 8. Brian VanMeveren (#24 VanMeveren), 9. Chris Phillips (#6p Phillips). 2:17.410
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 2. Clinton Boyles (#57 Hazen), 3. Jake Swanson (#34AZ Team AZ), 4. Brandon Mattox (#28 Mattox), 5. Colten Cottle (#5c Cottle), 6. Chase Jones (#11AG Gray), 7. Damion Gardner (#5 Baldwin), 8. Max Adams (#5m Adams), 9. Jack James (#99 James). NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland (#36d EZR/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Charles Davis Jr. (#47c Davis), 3. Shane Cottle (#74x Hodges), 4. Tyler Thomas (#17GP Dutcher), 5. Austin Williams (#92 Sertich), 6. Jadon Rogers (#61m Edwards), 7. Tye Mihocko (#5T Mihocko), 8. Anthony D’Alessio (#01 D’Alessio), 9. Corey Smith (#77 LG), 10. Robert Bell (#71 Bell). NT
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL FIRST QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #8 C.J. Leary (#30 Leary) defeats #1 Kyle Cummins (#3R Rock Steady). 44.215
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL SECOND QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #4 Thomas Meseraull (#47 Eades) defeats #5 Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson/Marshall/Newman). 49.443
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL THIRD QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #3 Buddy Kofoid (#19A Reinbold/Underwood) defeats #6 Chase Stockon (#5s KO). NT
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL FOURTH QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #2 Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics) defeats #7 Chris Windom (#19 Hayward). NT
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL FIRST SEMIFINAL: (3 laps) #8 C.J. Leary defeats #4 Thomas Meseraull. 40.950 (New Track Record)
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL SECOND SEMIFINAL: (3 laps) #2 Brady Bacon defeats #3 Buddy Kofoid. NT
B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL FINAL: (3 laps) #2 Brady Bacon defeats #8 C.J. Leary. NT
INDY RACE PARTS / INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (15 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Carson Short, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Dakota Jackson, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Max Adams, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Austin Williams, 9. Colten Cottle, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Damion Gardner, 12. Anthony D’Alessio, 13. Brian VanMeveren, 14. Jadon Rogers, 15. Jack James, 16. Chase Jones, 17. Tye Mihocko. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. C.J. Leary (2), 4. Brady Bacon (1), 5. Buddy Kofoid (3), 6. Chris Windom (8), 7. Logan Seavey (10), 8. Thomas Meseraull (4), 9. Chase Stockon (7), 10. Shane Cottle (17), 11. Tyler Thomas (18), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 13. Dave Darland (11), 14. Robert Ballou (9), 15. Dakota Jackson (21), 16. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 17. Brandon Mattox (20), 18. Jadon Rogers (23), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (22), 20. Clinton Boyles (13), 21. Jake Swanson (16), 22. Justin Grant (15), 23. Carson Short (19). NT
**Chase Jones flipped during the semi. Carson Short flipped on lap 9 of the feature. Clinton Boyles flipped on lap 14 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-27 Brady Bacon, Laps 28-40 Tyler Courtney.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,182, 2-Chris Windom-1,178, 3-Justin Grant-1,175, 4-Chase Stockon-1,164, 5-C.J. Leary-1,136, 6-Carson Short-964, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-935, 8-Dave Darland-832, 9-Logan Seavey-806, 10-Kyle Cummins-800.
FINAL SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-22, 2-Tyler Thomas-16, 3-Brady Bacon-10, 4-Kyle Cummins-9, 5-Tyler Courtney-9, 6-Justin Grant-9, 7-Buddy Kofoid-7, 8-Chase Stockon-7, 9-Jake Swanson-7, 10-Shane Cottle-7.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-121, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Kyle Cummins-74, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Shane Cottle-68, 6-Kyle Larson-62, 7-Logan Seavey-62, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Robert Ballou-51, 10-Daison Pursley-48.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 11, 2020 – Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY & AWARD WINNERS:
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Winning Bonus: Tyler Courtney
Smackdown IX Rookie of the Year: Buddy Kofoid
ProSource Smackdown IX Passing Master: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Dave Darland
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tyler Thomas
KSE Racing Products/Circus City Speedway/Irvin King Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (17th to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Dave Darland
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Max Adams
ProSource Hard Work Award: Dakota Jackson
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WINDOM TAKES VICTORY & USAC SPRINT POINT LEAD AT BLOOMINGTON
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Bloomington, Indiana (September 11, 2020)………After a victory slipped through his fingertips on the final lap of a midget race last weekend, Chris Windom was determined not to play it as conservatively this time around in Friday’s USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway.
“I learned that lesson last week in the midget race,” Windom testified after taking the lead at Bloomington on third lap from Kyle Cummins, then held off Cummins’ pesky resurgence down the stretch to claim his 27th career USAC National Sprint Car feature win, equaling him with Kevin Thomas Jr. for 18th all-time.
The triumph was Windom’s second career USAC score at Bloomington, and first since the 2011 season in his Hayward Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – OilFire – B & H Contractors/DRC/Claxton Mopar. On that occasion, Windom rolled the bottom to victory. This time, the path required a road of a different kind.
“I’ve always felt like I’ve been pretty good here; I just never got that second USAC win,” Windom explained. “Notoriously, I feel like I’m better at running the bottom here, but it was cool to get a win running the top.”
In the process, Windom took over the point lead in the new USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car standings, making it two different series he currently leads along with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship.
Windom came into the night 2nd, trailing by four points to Bacon, but the beginning of the feature also saw him trailing in an unexpected way. The first two tries at the start of the feature saw both instances aborted by race officials. Windom, who was determined to have jumped both starts, was moved back a row from his 2nd place starting position to the outside of row two when the green flag finally put the race into motion.
Cummins, who had been elevated into Windom’s slot on the front row, stepped out to the early lead around the outside of pole sitter Brent Beauchamp in turn three on the opening lap. As Beauchamp slid up the track on entry in the third turn, Windom ducked under to move back into 2nd with Cummins just ahead.
On the third lap, the door swung wide open for Windom as Cummins slid up the racing surface himself in turn two. Windom cut under and took off with the lead like a thief in the night.
From there forward, Windom constructed a one second lead that ultimately ballooned to two seconds as he cut through lapped traffic in the midst of the middle stages of the 30-lap main event. All the while, Windom was persuaded by his surroundings to change his exploration route, and adjusting accordingly on the fly.
“I was running the bottom early on and I felt like we had really good speed,” Windom recalled. “The longer the race went on, the track started going away. It was tough to run the bottom because there was grease and it was slick. If you didn’t hit it just right, you’d lose all your time in the corners. I felt like, once I got to lapped traffic, some of the lapped cars were maintaining speed up top so I thought the top was probably the better place to go. So, I moved up at the point.”
Windom’s multiple second lead evaporated on the 19th lap when 10th running Sterling Cling levitated over the banking between turns three and four, landing on all fours before coming to a complete stop to bring out the yellow.
That instance changed the ballgame for Windom, and for Cummins too, who now had a shot at redemption without the hindrance of traffic. Just the open road and thoughts of victory racing through his mind. Cummins took a run on the bottom of turns one and two on the lap 19 restart, pulling even alongside with Windom for the length of the back straightaway. Windom utilized the constant speed of the high line in this case and ripped around Cummins to put a lockdown on the position.
“I knew Kyle was going to be good here; he’s always good here,” Windom reinforced. “They can get their car really good about anywhere through the middle. He showed that on that restart where he was able to slide up next to me, but I felt that if I stayed on the top and didn’t make a mistake, the momentum was going to prevail.”
Three stoppages occurred in the stretch run during the final 12-lap run, including one for Shane Cottle who went up in smoke with an engine issue while running in the 5th position with five laps remaining, plus Anton Hernandez’s flip over the turn three banking on lap 25. On each said restart, Windom’s theory proved true, as he carried the momentum topside to establish a five-car length lead on what would be the final, lap 25 restart.
However, Cummins began to inch closer to Windom on each successive circuit, and coming to the white flag, Cummins took aim for the race lead in turn three. Nonetheless, with one shot to take and one shot only, Cummins fired that shot with an attempted slider on the bottom of the third turn that sent him sliding straight up the racetrack as Windom opened up his advantage to secure the position once and for all.
“I actually didn’t see him,” Windom said, referring to Cummins on his bid for the lead. “I was focused hard on not running off the curb there. I knew he was probably close if he was hitting the bottom just right, but I was watching and waiting until I saw someone. If I had to dive down, I was going to dive down, but I felt if I kept running smooth laps up there, we were going to be okay.”
Windom’s margin of victory was 0.948 as his second series victory of 2020 propelled him to the point lead by 23 points over Chase Stockon. Cummins finished 2nd – his fifth consecutive top-2 finish with the series dating back to August 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. finished 3rd, his best result with the series since mid-June. Stockon was 4th after starting 13th to earn KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger honors. Brent Beauchamp finished 5th and has top-seven results in all three of his USAC starts this season.
Kevin Thomas Jr., meanwhile, earned the 29th quick time of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career during Fatheadz Qualifying Friday night at Bloomington. That puts KTJ just one behind Pancho Carter for 10th all-time in that category.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 11, 2020 – Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-11.326; 2. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-11.509; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-11.535; 4. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-11.545; 5. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-11.576; 6. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-11.616; 7. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-11.626; 8. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.632; 9. Anton Hernandez, 17GP, Dutcher-11.647; 10. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-11.656; 11. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-11.676; 12. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-11.694; 13. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-11.719; 14. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-11.719; 15. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.719; 16. Dakota Jackson, 17G, On The Gass-11.729; 17. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-11.778; 18. Zach Hampton, 35, Hampton-11.858; 19. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-11.880; 20. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-11.891; 21. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-11.905; 22. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-11.939; 23. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-11.941; 24. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-11.957; 25. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-11.964; 26. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-11.987; 27. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-12.000; 28. Alec Sipes, 20, Bland-12.038; 29. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.128; 30. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-12.153; 31. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-12.367; 32. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-13.114.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Brayden Fox, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Anton Hernandez, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Carson Short, 8. Brandon Mattox. 1:58.936
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Brady Short, 7. Harley Burns, 8. Zach Hampton. 2:01.754
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jordan Kinser, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Brent Beauchamp, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Jonathan Vennard, 6. Tye Mihocko, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Chris Phillips. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Sterling Cling, 2. Dave Darland, 3. A.J. Hopkins, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Alec Sipes, 8. Robert Bell. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Carson Short, 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Brady Short, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Isaac Chapple, 8. Brandon Mattox, 9. Tye Mihocko, 10. Jonathan Vennard, 11. Alec Sipes, 12. Justin Grant, 13. Harley Burns, 14. Zach Hampton, 15. Robert Bell, 16. Chris Phillips. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (2), 2. Kyle Cummins (4), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 4. Chase Stockon (13), 5. Brent Beauchamp (1), 6. Stevie Sussex (5), 7. C.J. Leary (9), 8. Justin Grant (24), 9. Robert Ballou (17), 10. Brady Bacon (14), 11. Dave Darland (16), 12. Dakota Jackson (18), 13. Jake Swanson (22), 14. A.J. Hopkins (3), 15. Jadon Rogers (20), 16. Carson Short (15), 17. Shane Cottle (7), 18. Anton Hernandez (12), 19. Sterling Cling (8), 20. Brayden Fox (19), 21. Jordan Kinser (10), 22. Brady Short (21), 23. Logan Seavey (11), 24. Brandon Mattox (23). NT
**Zach Hampton flipped during the semi. Anton Hernandez flipped on lap 25 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Kyle Cummins, Laps 3-30 Chris Windom.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,255, 2-Chase Stockon-1,232, 3-Brady Bacon-1,230, 4-Justin Grant-1,224, 5-C.J. Leary-1,196, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,010, 7-Carson Short-1,000, 8-Dave Darland-880, 9-Kyle Cummins-878, 10-Logan Seavey-833.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-130, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-76, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Cannon McIntosh-69, 6-Shane Cottle-68, 7-Andrew Layser-65, 8-Kyle Larson-62, 9-Logan Seavey-62, 10-Robert Ballou-59.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: September 12, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – “Double Features”
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Shane Cottle
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Jordan Kinser
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Sterling Cling
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Chase Stockon (13th to 4th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jake Swanson
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Isaac Chapple
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Robert Ballou
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WAIT NO MORE: STOCKON WINS AT LPS FOR FIRST OF 2020
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (September 12, 2020)………Exactly six weeks after basking in the limelight as the Indiana Sprint Week champion,, Chase Stockon finally achieved that long sought after first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the season during the first of two features run Saturday night at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.
While Stockon’s triumph won’t officially go in in the books as an official Indiana Sprint Week victory, it did come in an event that resumed Saturday, having been suspended for a month and a half following a heavy storm on the final night of July when it was then part of the ISW series, the night in which nearly all the preliminary events had been completed.
“I know it’s a bit delayed, but I’m definitely glad to get another (Indiana) Sprint Week win,” Stockon said with a grin.
The win also continued one of the most impressive streaks with the series by a driver who is known for setting records. Stockon, the series’ “Ironman” from Fort Branch, Ind., in making his 316th consecutive feature start, ran his annual checkmark in the win column to nine consecutive years, picking up a USAC win each year since the 2012 season, an active streak that is second only to Brady Bacon’s 10 straight years dating back to 2011.
Stockon’s 13th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win surpassed Eric Gordon and tied both Don Branson and Steve Chassey for 43rd all-time.
Lincoln Park is the place where Stockon began his driver/owner relationship with KO Motorsports in terms of USAC competition back in early July. A pair of top-five runs in the KO Motorsports/Hutson John Deere – Ravens Manufacturing - AMSOIL/Velocity/Fisher Chevy that weekend has led Stockon to elevate his game and put him in contention for a first career series title, while also providing the KO team its first career USAC victory on Saturday at LPS.
Pole sitter Stockon initially shared the front row alongside Darland, the winningest USAC Sprint Car driver at the 5/16-mile dirt oval with six victories. Stockon grabbed the early lead while Darland fought with Carson Short before emerging with the second position in the early going.
Meanwhile, defending series champ and fourth starting C.J. Leary made the topside work to his liking and surged up through the thick to beat Stockon to the line by one car length at the stripe on the 10th lap. Stockon called it a comeback and was able to stick even Steven with Leary at the exit of turns two and four before, ultimately eking out his own one car length advantage at the conclusion of lap 14.
As Leary fought to regain the position, Stockon nipped Leary again at the line under the crossed flags indicating halfway to completion of the 30-lap feature. Nonetheless, Leary was undeterred, digging in to supplant Stockon from the top of the throne once again by a single car length at the line. That proved short lived as Stockon gained a big drive off the bottom of four to re-corral the race lead once and for all on the 17th circuit.
In that instant, it became more than just a two-horse race with Darland, Logan Seavey and Brady Bacon each joining the fray along with Leary, while Stockon suddenly left his home on the bottom to try the top. Darland nearly took advantage of Stockon’s switch with 10 laps remaining by securing the bottom line, just missing out on leading the 20th lap by inches.
Darland became pinned behind the car of Colten Cottle on the tail end of the lead lap on the bottom of turn two as he raced side-by-side with Leary for the race lead. Nose-to-tail contact was made between Darland and C. Cottle, sending Cottle sideways and veering off into the infield to maintain control while Darland lost his stride of momentum, allowing Seavey to shoot the gap into second.
A lap later, the event’s fastest qualifier, Brent Beauchamp, slowed to a stop on the back straightaway to end the lengthy green flag run and restack the deck in a single file manner without the aid, or hindrance of traffic, in the distance. Stockon continued to tiptoe around the tires of the infield variety when racing resumed with nine laps left. Darland followed Stockon on the limbo line while Bacon jostled into third on lap 24, then to the runner-up spot on lap 25 when Darland left the door open on the bottom of turn two for Bacon to scoot on by.
Bacon made every attempt to try to reel himself into lead contention at the end, but a slight issue with a cut tire placed him into conservation mode instead of attack mode for the final five-lap run to the checkered. Searching high and also stalking the bottom, Bacon couldn’t catch Stockon, who was the picture of perfection on the low line to win by a 0.819 second margin over Bacon, Darland, Leary and Seavey.
“I could feel those guys breathing on me there toward the end of the race. I was just trying to hit my marks and make no mistakes,” Stockon revealed after leading a race-high 25 laps. “The topside around here was just a little bit too far around for me tonight.”
Bacon’s journey from 8th to 2nd earned him B & W Auto Mart / KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors in the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native’s Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy.“
We got a cut in our tire there at the end,” Bacon explained. “I kind of felt it getting soft, so I had to get a little conservative. It was really good on the bottom of three and four and I hadn’t been down there as much as them, so I didn’t exactly know what to do. We were better than them in one and two, but (Stockon) got to start in front and keep his nose clean. We might’ve used our stuff up a little bit to get there.”
Darland’s best 2020 USAC finish came in a 3rd place performance Saturday night for the driver who earned a pair of Lincoln Park Speedway Sprint Car track championships during the 1990-91 seasons, piloting the EZR-Curb-Agajanian/Marchand’s Window Tinting – Fox Paving – Windmill Grill/DRC/Claxton Chevy.
“We had a good race, but those guys just beat me a little bit,” Darland said. “I didn’t really want to see that yellow; traffic was going to help me. We were decent, but they were too. I knew Chase wouldn’t screw up too many times too often. Then brady came through and he had a good racecar too. There on that yellow, I was just hoping I could run real low around one and two on the restart and maybe get Chase out in the slick or something, but it was better to be up in the middle off turn two. He was in the right spot and he knew what he was doing, so there’s always a lot going through your mind of just what you’re going to do and what’s going to happen. It didn’t work out for the win, but we had a good run, a good finish and we’re happy about that.”
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 31 & September 12, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-12.688; 2. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.716; 3. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.784; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.800; 5. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-12.848; 6. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-12.851; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-12.915; 8. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.922; 9. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-12.981; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.994; 11. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.019; 12. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-13.051; 13. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-13.074; 14. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-13.081; 15. Jake Bland, 20B, Bland-13.112; 16. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.162; 17. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-13.167; 18. Logan Hupp, 69JM, Gindling-13.232; 19. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-13.238; 20. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.251; 21. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.264; 22. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.306; 23. Shelby VanGilder, 22v, VanGilder-13.631; 24. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-13.654.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.392; 2. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.595; 3. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-12.632; 4. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-12.653; 5. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-12.802; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.869; 7. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-12.913; 8. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-12.940; 9. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-12.941; 10. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.947; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.949; 12. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-12.955; 13. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-13.085; 14. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.118; 15. Max Adams, 37, Felker-13.141; 16. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.167; 17. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-13.211; 18. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.242; 19. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.248; 20. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.427; 21. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-13.469; 22. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.584; 23. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-14.290; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.375.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brent Beauchamp, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Colten Cottle, 6. Tony DiMattia, 7. Brandon Morin, 8. Kurt Gross, 9. Sterling Cling, 10. Jonathan Vennard, 11. Jake Bland, 12. Shelby VanGilder. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Carson Short, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Dustin Smith, 8. Chayse Hayhurst, 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 10. Logan Hupp, 11. Jadon Rogers, 12. Travis Berryhill. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Max Adams, 8. Matt McDonald, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Harley Burns, 11. Evan Mosley. 2:49.862
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Chris Phillips, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Max Guilford, 8. Brayden Fox, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Robert Bell, 12. A.J. Hopkins. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Matt McDonald, 2. Brandon Morin, 3. Logan Hupp, 4. Max Guilford, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Sterling Cling, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Harley Burns, 9. Chayse Hayhurst, 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 11. Robert Bell, 12. Charles Davis Jr., 13. Kurt Gross. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, final 4 laps completed on Sept. 12, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brayden Fox, 4. Mario Clouser (#69JM), 5. Colten Cottle, 6. Max Adams, 7. Brandon Morin, 8. Matt McDonald, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Tony DiMattia, 11. Chase Johnson, 12. Anton Hernandez, 13. Max Guilford, 14. Jonathan Vennard, 15. Evan Mosley, 16. Dustin Smith, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Jake Bland. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses, completed on Sept. 12) 1. Chase Stockon (1), 2. Brady Bacon (8), 3. Dave Darland (2), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Shane Cottle (7), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 8. Chris Windom (13), 9. Carson Short (3), 10. Kyle Cummins (12), 11. Robert Ballou (9), 12. Brandon Mattox (17), 13. Stevie Sussex (16), 14. Brayden Fox (10), 15. Justin Grant (18), 16. Mario Clouser (#69JM) (22), 17. Thomas Meseraull (15), 18. Brent Beauchamp (5), 19. Jake Swanson (14), 20. Max Adams (20), 21. Aric Gentry (#17) (21), 22. Colten Cottle (19), 23. Jadon Rogers (23). NT
**Justin Grant flipped during qualifying. Nate McMillin flipped during qualifying. Travis Berryhill flipped during the second heat. A.J. Hopkins flipped during the fourth heat. Jake Bland flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Chase Stockon, Laps 10-13 C.J. Leary, Laps 14-15 Chase Stockon, Lap 16 C.J. Leary, Laps 17-30 Chase Stockon.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,311, 2-Chase Stockon-1,309, 3-Brady Bacon-1,305, 4-C.J. Leary-1,264, 5-Justin Grant-1,260, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,068, 7-Carson Short-1,051, 8-Dave Darland-949, 9-Kyle Cummins-927, 10-Logan Seavey-899.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-135, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-78, 4-Justin Grant-76, 5-Shane Cottle-69, 6-Andrew Layser-65, 7-Logan Seavey-63, 8-Kyle Larson-62, 9-Robert Ballou-59, 10-Chase Stockon-55.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 12, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Shane Cottle
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Brandon Mattox
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Brady Bacon (8th to 2nd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Stevie Sussex
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Brandon Morin
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Jake Swanson
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BACON BACK TO THE TOP OF THE POINTS WITH LPS TRIUMPH
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (September 12, 2020)………Brady Bacon and Lincoln Park Speedway have been a perfect match for each other ever since a mag issue sidelined he and the Dynamics, Inc. team prior to the start of the feature back on July 3.
Since that point, Bacon reeled off a victory there the following night, then recorded a runner-up finish in the first feature on Saturday, followed up by another victory in the second feature of the doubleheader to close out Saturday night at LPS with just about the best result any driver/team could ask for.
And, to add the cherry on top, Bacon and Dynamics, Inc. reclaimed the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car driver and owner point leads in the process after entering the weekend atop the standings, but falling back to third in the pecking order following a 10th place result Friday at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway.
“Lincoln Park – two features in one day, a first and a second,” Bacon exclaimed. “You can ask for a little better than that but not much better. We’ll definitely take it after we struggled last night at Bloomington.”
The victory was Bacon’s 34th in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition, putting him just one behind Jon Stanbrough and Rich Vogler for 10th all-time. Though Bacon leads the points, he aims not to just merely “point race.” He intends to win races and let the points sort out however they may, and he’s accomplished that better than anyone else in the series this year with the victory marking the Broken Arrow, Okla. driver’s series-leading fifth triumph of the year.
“We’re pretty fortunate to be in the battle at all,” Bacon said. “We had some mistakes early in the year. To even be in the hunt, we’re pretty fortunate for than and that other people had some misfortune. So, we’re just taking it a day at a time, just going out here and winning races. Obviously, you have that in the back of your mind when you see other guys struggling a little bit. You kind of have to put it in a little bit of a conservative mode and not do anything stupid, but at the same time, you want to go out and win races.”
Bacon started the second 30-lap feature from fifth on the grid, but it was frequent Lincoln Park weekly winner A.J. Hopkins taking off to the early advantage from the pole position for the first two corners on the opening lap. However, it was a resurgent Kevin Thomas Jr. who secured the lead on the opening lap, powering to the front with a big run off the top of turn four to lead by a car length at the line.
Bacon dropped back to 7th during the opening laps, cruising the top early on as he sought to figure out the best path forward to get to the front until discovering a trail a little bit lower than seemingly everyone in front of him was chasing.
“I got a little worried there at the beginning,” Bacon admitted. “The top kind of got rolled in, then I thought, ‘you know what, it’s going to get dirty up there. They aren’t going to be able to run up there.’ So, I just started rolling the bottom, rolling the bottom and it came in and we got to hitting that bottom off turn two.”
Trouble ensued for Hopkins, however on lap eight as he, C.J. Leary and Mario Clouser were involved in a fight for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Leary slid past Hopkins for 2nd off turn four. Behind him, however, Clouser’s right front wheel climbed Hopkins’ left rear, which resulted in damage to the left side nerf bar of Hopkins’ ride and a flat left rear tire, ending Hopkins’ night prematurely with a 22nd place result.
When racing resumed, Leary took the fight right to Thomas for the race lead. Leary drove by Thomas with a slider in turn three on the lap eight restart, providing him the lead at the line by a half car length. However, Thomas replied with a slider of his own in turn one, reclaiming the position, albeit briefly, before Leary ducked back under exiting turn two to retake the spot, which he’d hold throughout the mid-portion of the race.
As Thomas and Clouser chased Leary on the topside, Bacon utilized the catfish line to 3rd by Clouser on the tenth lap, then to 2nd by Thomas on the 13th lap. Another three-lap increment later, Bacon wheeled the Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy No. 69 underneath Leary in turn two on lap 16 to snare the lead once and for all, and the timing couldn’t have been any better from Bacon’s point of view.
“We’re able to get to the lead, then it started laying rubber,” Bacon recalled. “So, I thought we were pretty safe. I was worried about it laying rubber on the top, but you can’t really give up what you’re doing when you’re in the lead.”
Bacon stayed the course for the entirety of the second half of the event, hitting the bottom lap after lap. The top-four began to drift to the bottom of the surface as they tried to keep pace with Bacon as he continued to pull away from the rest of the field.
Shane Cottle, who started 17th and won at LPS with USAC back in early July, found the bottom early, and proceeded to drive all the way up to 3rd place with 10 laps remaining as Thomas opened the door by pushing up at the exit of turn two.
For Bacon, it was three sails to the wind as he posted a full-straightway advantage with five laps to go while beginning the process of entering the tail end of the field in traffic. Despite that fact, Bacon’s lead never dwindled as he executed a victorious performance with precision to score his third career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at LPS after earlier winning in 2015 and now twice with the series in 2020. He also captured a non-sanctioned Sprint Car victory at LPS in June of this year.
At the checkered, Bacon was 3.964 seconds ahead of Leary, Cottle, Thomas and Friday night’s Bloomington winner Chris Windom. Cottle’s 3rd place performance netted him B & W Auto Mart / KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors for the night after starting 17th in the feature.
Leary’s series-leading fifth fast time of the year during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying was the 28th of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, surpassing Dave Steele and Chase Stockon for sole possession of 12th all-time.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 12, 2020 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.624; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.700; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.951; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.961; 5. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.021; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.084; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.130; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.177; 9. Shane Cockrum, 24p, Paul-13.237; 10. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.245; 11. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.246; 12. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.308; 13. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-13.312; 14. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.323; 15. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.342; 16. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-13.564; 17. Josh Cunningham, 17c, Cunningham-13.627; 18. Slater Helt, 22s, Helt-13.667; 19. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.815; 20. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-13.832; 21. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.871; 22. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-13.971; 23. Robert Carrington, 34c, Carrington-14.202; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.752.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.885; 2. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.083; 3. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.122; 4. Max Adams, 37, Felker-13.151; 5. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.178; 6. Anton Hernandez, 17GP, Dutcher-13.189; 7. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.240; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-13.268; 9. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.333; 10. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-13.378; 11. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.388; 12. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-13.454; 13. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.454; 14. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.462; 15. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-13.602; 16. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-13.691; 17. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-13.745; 18. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-13.787; 19. Shey Owens, 17s, SNO-13.814; 20. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.831; 21. Alec Sipes, 20, Bland-13.868; 22. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-13.953; 23. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-14.807; 24. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Hopkins, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Shane Cockrum, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Ricky Lewis, 8. Matt Westfall, 9. Brayden Fox, 10. Josh Cunningham, 11. Chris Phillips, 12. Robert Carrington. 2:21.084
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tye Mihocko, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Justin Grant, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Matt McDonald, 8. Aric Gentry, 9. Sterling Cling, 10. Slater Helt, 11. Robert Bell, 12. Jesse Vermillion. 2:22.755
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mario Clouser, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Carson Short, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Alec Sipes, 9. Michael Clark, 10. Ben Knight, 11. Anthony D’Alessio, 12. Shey Owens. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brent Beauchamp, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Brandon Morin, 5. Nate McMillin, 6. Blake Vermillion, 7. Colten Cottle, 8. Max Adams, 9. Jake Swanson, 10. Harley Burns, 11. Travis Berryhill. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Josh Cunningham, 2. Slater Helt, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Chris Phillips, 5. Matt McDonald, 6. Stevie Sussex, 7. Nate McMillin, 8. Ben Knight, 9. Alec Sipes, 10. Michael Clark, 11. Harley Burns, 12. Robert Carrington, 13. Robert Bell, 14. Shey Owens. 2:39.068
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Max Adams, 4. Chris Phillips, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Josh Cunningham, 11. Carson Short, 12. Travis Berryhill, 13. Ricky Lewis, 14. Anthony D’Alessio, 15. Slater Helt, 16. Blake Vermillion, 17. Shane Cockrum, 18. Logan Seavey. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (5), 2. C.J. Leary (6), 3. Shane Cottle (17), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 5. Chris Windom (2), 6. Mario Clouser (8), 7. Jake Swanson (10), 8. Tye Mihocko (7), 9. Jadon Rogers (18), 10. Brandon Mattox (15), 11. Chase Stockon (19), 12. Justin Grant (11), 13. Brent Beauchamp (9), 14. Max Adams (16), 15. Kyle Cummins (3), 16. Chris Phillips (22), 17. Matt Westfall (23), 18. Thomas Meseraull (21), 19. Brandon Morin (20), 20. Anton Hernandez (13), 21. Dave Darland (12), 22. A.J. Hopkins (1), 23. Robert Ballou (14). NT
**Logan Seavey flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 8-15 C.J. Leary, Laps 16-30 Brady Bacon.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,384, 2-Chris Windom-1,375, 3-Chase Stockon-1,351, 4-C.J. Leary-1,344, 5-Justin Grant-1,305, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,139, 7-Carson Short-1,061, 8-Dave Darland-979, 9-Kyle Cummins-969, 10-Logan Seavey-909.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-135, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Shane Cottle-83, 4-Kyle Cummins-78, 5-Justin Grant-76, 6-Cannon McIntosh-69, 7-Andrew Layser-65, 8-Chase Stockon-63, 9-Logan Seavey-63, 10-Kyle Larson-62.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 18, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Jim Hurtubise Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: A.J. Hopkins
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tye Mihocko
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Mario Clouser
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brent Beauchamp
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Justin Grant
KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (17th to 3rd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Brent Beauchamp
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Brayden Fox
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Anthony D’Alessio
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WINDOM BECOMES FIRST 4-TIME HURTUBISE CLASSIC VICTOR AT TERRE HAUTE
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Terre Haute, Indiana (September 18, 2020)………In the long, storied history of the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, few drivers have had the amount of success that Chris Windom has accrued in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition at the half-mile dirt oval.
Friday night at Terre Haute, Windom pounced early, shooting to the lead on the opening lap from his starting spot inside the second row, then carved his way through a gridlock of traffic to become the first four-time winner of the Jim Hurtubise Classic, surpassing the three accumulated by Jack Hewitt in 1990-91-95.
“With how good he was here, that’s pretty special.” Windom reflected. “I honestly didn’t know that could be broken tonight, so that was really cool to find that out after the race. This place has been so good to me throughout my whole career. I love coming here and racing. We’ve always had a fast car here all those years.”
Windom (Canton, Ill.) also became just the sixth driver to win at least six USAC Sprint Car features at Terre Haute. Gary Bettenhausen and Hewitt each won eight while his half-a-dozen ranks right alongside Bubby Jones, Sheldon Kinser and J.J. Yeley for third all-time at the track.
Furthermore, the triumph marked Windom’s 28th overall career USAC National Sprint Car victory, surpassing Kevin Thomas Jr. to move him to 15th all-time with Tyler Courtney, Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley.
Windom had previously won the Hurtubise Classic in 2011-16-17, the latter of which came during his USAC National Sprint Car championship season. Windom is mired in a similar dogfight this year as well, and his performance at Terre Haute elevated him into the series point lead by just two markers over Brady Bacon with four events remaining over the next three weekends.
It was evident from the word “go” that Windom had turned on the proverbial switch on this night. After qualifying fourth to pick up three points, in his heat race, he charged from his sixth starting spot to first in quick succession to earn another eight for that victory. In the feature, again, he wasted no time getting to the front and stayed there for the entire duration to gain 70 points, thus turning a nine-point deficit to Brady Bacon into a two-point lead.
Windom knows this game, as he’s been here before as recently as three years ago. The phrase “points racing” has a sour connotation, but for him, points racing refers to being on the attack to gain every point possible rather than sitting back, riding it out cautiously and playing it safe.
“Right now, with how tight the points battle is, every point matters.” Windom explained. “I needed to win that heat and I needed to win the feature. If we just keep doing that every night, we should put ourselves in good shape. “We just got to keep showing up and preparing cars to win the race every night and the points will work itself out. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to change every night. Hopefully, it doesn’t change again for me, but It’s so tight, one heat race position or one qualifying spot can change it.”
The opening lap of the 30-lap feature saw sixth-starting C.J. Leary, who earlier had moved into a tie with Kevin Thomas Jr. for 11th all-time with his 29th career Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time, saw his bid for a repeat championship take a major hit when he flipped in turn two, ending his night with a 22nd place result. He came into the evening fourth in the standings with a 40-point deficit, but now trails by 77 points.
On the complete restart, Windom punched the throttle and slid from his third starting spot past pole sitter Dave Darland for the initial lead. Darland countered back underneath Windom exiting turn two with nary a credit card’s width separating the two to retake the position, albeit briefly. Windom reloaded and returned fired as he dove to the inside guardrail in turn three to snag the lead for good.
Windom opened up a near straightaway advantage by lap eight when the action slowed for Kevin Thomas Jr. who stopped at the entrance to turn three with a flat right rear tire while running 11th at the time. Thomas restarted and worked his way back to a 7th place finish.
On the ensuing restart, recent California to Indiana transplant Jake Swanson and Carson Short, in his debut for Michael Dutcher Motorsports, locked horns in turn two while tussling for the 8th position, with Short’s front bumper and Swanson’s rear bumper becoming connected as they grinded to a stop midway down the back straightaway. Both restarted with Short finishing 11th and Swanson 15th.
By halfway, Windom was cruising, notching a 10-car length advantage of 1.5 sec. as traffic from the tail end of the lead lap cars loomed. With the preferred top groove mostly occupied, Windom had to split, dip and dive to escape from the snarling clutches of the ever-closing pack in which Darland was the closest. With 10 to go, the gap between Windom and Darland had been cut in half until Windom flew underneath Tye Mihocko in turn three, then split between Max Adams and Jonathan Vennard to regain what he had nearly lost, negotiating the fine high-wire balancing act between patience and urgency throughout.
“Toward the end of the race, it got really technical to pass lapped cars because it was so slick to the cushion,” Windom relayed. “When you went to slide somebody, you had nothing to stop you but that little cushion or the wall. You really had to pick and choose your battles there. You had to get to the lapped car to slide them. A couple times, I had the wrong timing and the wrong spacing on them, and I had to tuck in behind them rather than throw a slider that wasn’t going to clear them. That was making me nervous because I figured everyone was coming at that point. Once I cleared those guys, I figured the next guys behind me would have to do the same thing I just did, so I just tried to stay calm and hit my marks as much as possible.”
With Windom now in the clear, he gained his largest lead of the race at 2.252 sec. until the advantage was eradicated by a turn two Swanson spin on the 24th lap, which brought out the final caution of the night. While Windom was already seeing a clear path ahead, the yellow gave new life to the rest of the top-five contenders in Darland, along with past Hurtubise Classic winners Justin Grant, Robert Ballou and Brady Bacon, who were plucked out of their fight with traffic and provided a new shot at the leader.
However, none of that deterred Windom who forcefully put his foot down and ended all thoughts of being beaten on this occasion as he took off to claim his second Terre Haute USAC Sprint Car feature win of 2020 by a 0.752 sec. margin over Darland, Grant, Ballou and Bacon. Tuna, Windom’s new dog, joined the victory lane celebration in the first race the pup has ever attended.
Logan Seavey, whose Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports car had suffered a mechanical issue during hot laps, was forced into a backup car for the team. After a qualifying run in the backup which bellowed popping and sputtering noises throughout both laps, the car did not meet the minimum weight requirements in post qualifying tech inspection. After that misfortune, the team’s night turned around with Seavey transferring through his heat race to earn the $200 ProSource Hard Work Award, then advanced from his 22nd starting spot to finish 9th in the feature to score KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger honors.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 18, 2020 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – Jim Hurtubise Classic
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.061; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.246; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.421; 4. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-20.453; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.455; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-20.469; 7. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-20.489; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-20.516; 9. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-20.549; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.588; 11. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-20.606; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-20.608; 13. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-20.652; 14. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-20.672; 15. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-20.685; 16. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-20.715; 17. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-20.818; 18. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-20.821; 19. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-20.833; 20. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-21.032; 21. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-21.073; 22. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-21.108; 23. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-21.109; 24. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-21.171; 25. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-21.315; 26. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-21.489; 27. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-21.584; 28. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-21.707; 29. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-22.044; 30. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-24.386; 31. Will Barnett, 88, Barnett-NT; 32. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-(Time of 21.616 disallowed – light at the scales).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Carson Short, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Matt McCarthy. 2:48.253
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. J.J. Hughes, 7. Kyle Robbins, 8. Will Barnett. 2:48.235
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Max Adams, 5. Anton Hernandez, 6. Jonathan Vennard, 7. Evan Mosley, 8. Austin Williams. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Chris Phillips. 2:49.914
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Jonathan Vennard, 3. J.J. Hughes, 4. Austin Williams, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Matt McCarthy, 9. Kyle Robbins, 10. Evan Mosley, 11. Chris Phillips, 12. Robert Bell, 13. Nate McMillin, 14. Will Barnett. 4:28.048
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (3), 2. Dave Darland (1), 3. Justin Grant (2), 4. Robert Ballou (4), 5. Brady Bacon (5), 6. Shane Cottle (9), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 8. Chase Stockon (7), 9. Logan Seavey (22), 10. Anton Hernandez (8), 11. Carson Short (10), 12. Clinton Boyles (19), 13. Austin Williams (18), 14. J.J. Hughes (14), 15. Jake Swanson (12), 16. Jadon Rogers (17), 17. Tye Mihocko (16), 18. Max Adams (21), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (20), 20. Brandon Mattox (11), 21. Jonathan Vennard (15), 22. C.J. Leary (6). NT
**C.J. Leary flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Chris Windom.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,456, 2-Brady Bacon-1,454, 3-Chase Stockon-1,408, 4-C.J. Leary-1,379, 5-Justin Grant-1,378, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,197, 7-Carson Short-1,107, 8-Dave Darland-1,055, 9-Kyle Cummins-969, 10-Logan Seavey-961.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-137, 2-Shane Cottle-86, 3-Tanner Thorson-83, 4-Kyle Cummins-78, 5-Justin Grant-76, 6-Logan Seavey-76, 7-Cannon McIntosh-69, 8-Andrew Layser-65, 9-Chase Stockon-63, 10-Kyle Larson-62.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 19, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Haubstadt Hustler – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Dave Darland
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Anton Hernandez
KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger: Logan Seavey (22nd to 9th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Austin Williams
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Sterling Cling
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Chase Stockon
ProSource Hard Work Award: Logan Seavey
HARF 6th Place Finisher in Honor of Bob Laycock Sr.: Shane Cottle
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RUBLE DQ’D FROM HAUBSTADT HUSTLER; STOCKON DECLARED WINNER
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Haubstadt, Indiana (September 19, 2020)………United States Auto Club and Midwest Sprint Car Series officials have suspended and fined driver Kendall Ruble and entrant Jerry Ruble for failing a tire test after completion of the USAC/MSCS “Haubstadt Hustler” event on September 19 at Tri-State Speedway.
Ruble, who was initially credited with the victory, has been disqualified from the event. Chase Stockon, who initially finished in the runner-up position that night, has been credited with the feature victory.
The test verified by laboratory findings revealed that Ruble’s tire had been altered and did not conform to the benchmark provided by Hoosier Tire Company.
309 (Tires) C. Any solvents or chemicals applied to the tire that alter the chemical makeup of the compound or have the effect of altering tire durometer or construction is prohibited. A tire can be confiscated at any time. Penalties from tire found to deviate from the original factory benchmark specifications are as follows:
**First Offense with USAC: Entrant/Driver 6-race suspension, loss of points and forfeit purse for that event, plus a $2,500 fine.
Ruble has forfeited points and purse winnings from the event, was fined $2,500 by USAC and suspended for 6 races from both MSCS and USAC competition.
“It is important for USAC and for MSCS to give confidence to competitors that we will keep the competition fair,” USAC Executive Vice President Levi Jones said.
“Both MSCS and USAC will continue to work together to create a level playing field for all participants,” MSCS owner Tom Helfrich stated.
Winnings and points will be adjusted accordingly to reflect the change in the final results of the Haubstadt Hustler.
------Here is the original story before Ruble's disqualification.--------
In a year that had produced one first-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner at Tri-State Speedway this past June, lightning struck twice at the Haubstadt, Ind. quarter-mile dirt oval Saturday night when Kendall Ruble reached victory lane for the first time, collecting $10,000 at the 13th annual Haubstadt Hustler co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series.
Ruble (Vincennes, Ind.) joined Stephen Schnapf as the second first-time winner with the series this season and became the sixth-ever driver to earn his first USAC National Sprint Car feature triumph at Tri-State along with Schnapf, Daron Clayton (2006), Hunter Schuerenberg (2008), Blake Fitzpatrick (2010) and Carson Short (2016).
Prior to Ruble, the most recent driver to win his first career USAC National Sprint Car in a 40-lapper was current USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader, Chris Windom, who won at Pennsylvania’s Big Diamond Speedway in 2010.
Making just his eighth career USAC National Sprint Car feature start, Ruble lined up fourth on the starting grid for the 40-lap feature event aboard his Ruble-Martin Motorsports/Martin’s Auto Care – Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance/DRC/SPEC Chevy. Meanwhile, he had two-time Haubstadt Hustler winner Kyle Cummins and 2016 TSS USAC winner Chase Stockon in front of him, plus three-time Haubstadt Hustler winner Kevin Thomas Jr. to his inside in the second row.
To the surprise of many, by the exit of turn two on the opening lap, Cummins had dropped from the pole to third as Stockon raced around the outside to the lead while Ruble pulled a wheel stand as he shot underneath Cummins on the back straightaway to move to second.
Early on, Ruble found the bottom of the racetrack to his liking, and on the third lap, edged Stockon to lead by a car length at the stripe. Stockon, however, reestablished the grip through the middle and cruised back around Ruble to retake the position. Ruble, nonetheless, never wavered from his stranglehold of the bottom.
“In the middle and on the top, if you keep your momentum up around here, you can be very fast,” Ruble explained. “But on the bottom, if you can come off the corner here, you’re going to be really fast. Also, it kind of helps you protect against people from passing you entering the corner.”
Ruble continually badgered Stockon following a caution for Jonathan Vennard, who spun sideways in turn two on the seventh lap where he was then clipped by Chayse Hayhurst, resulting in terminal front end damage to Vennard’s ride. Ruble was able to pull even with Stockon several times but was unable sew up the spot, and on lap 13, Stockon closed the door on him in turn one as traffic loomed, securing his escape from the clutches of Ruble for the time being.
“When Stockon got in front of me, he was pretty stinking fast, and he kept pulling on me and pulling on me,” Ruble recalled. “With me being a little less experienced driver, every time I got up to lapped traffic, I was hoping somebody would mess up or slow him down a little bit. But, with him being more experienced, he always seemed to get through it a little better than I was.”
Following that early caution, Ruble had to talk himself into calming down and letting the race come to him without forcing the issue. That, plus a bit of an adjustment on the shocks, allowed Ruble to stalk Stockon through the halfway point and onto the 31st lap where Ruble stuck it in turns one and two while Stockon swung just a bit wide at the exit of turn two.
As Ruble shot underneath for the lead, Stockon kissed the back straightaway concrete with his right side tires, which scrubbed his speed and also opened the door for Cummins to pounce for the second spot with an inside turn four pass of Stockon.
With six laps remaining, as Ruble tried to negotiate Dakota Jackson on the tail end of the lead lap, Ruble misjudged just slightly, closing a tad too fast on corner entry in turn one, which sent his car straight up the hill just as Cummins peeked underneath to overtake Ruble for the lead. Ruble recalibrated and immediately went to the outside of Cummins exiting turn two while Cummins’ surge became stifled as he tried to maneuver under Jackson on the back straightway.
When Cummins and Ruble entered the bottom of turn three side-by-side just moments later, the two grazed wheels with Ruble’s left rear tire and Cummins’ right rear rubber grazing sidewalls against each other. That sent Cummins into a 90-degree spin backward up the track that also collected 15th running Dave Darland and 16th place Carson Short. Kevin Thomas Jr., running fourth at the moment, also careened into Short, but kept on going, albeit briefly as he pulled into the infield under the ensuing yellow flag, putting him out of the race and out of contention for a record fourth career Haubstadt Hustler victory.
“It was a little bit of racing deal,” Ruble admitted. “I could hear an engine behind me, and I knew it was either Cummins or Stockon. Once I saw the red nose, I knew it was Cummins. I think he was trying to not nudge me but trying to scare me away from the bottom a little bit and I came down a little bit too much. I got into him, unlike I should’ve, and I feel pretty bad about that. Not the way I wanted to do it, but here we are.”
With a clear path ahead, and just seven laps remaining, Ruble could feel his heart pounding like a jackhammer under his firesuit. Just six laps now stood in the way of him becoming the 258th different driver to win a USAC National Sprint Car race. Once the green flag dropped, Ruble showed no nerves in keeping Stockon at bay lap-after-lap with Stockon seemingly following and setting up one final shot at Ruble and the race lead.
On the final circuit, Stockon maintained a two car length gap behind Ruble, and when the time came to fire his shot, Stockon made a run at him to the bottom of turn three. However, Ruble nailed the bottom perfectly, leaving no gap for Stockon to take advantage of as he pitched his car sideways and slid up the racetrack with Ruble closing out the victory by a 0.830 sec. margin over Stockon.
Jadon Rogers finished a career-best 3rd as he extended his lead in the series’ Rookie of the Year race to 55 points. Robert Ballou earned KSE Racing Products/The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger honors by advancing from his 18th starting position to finish 4th. Critter Malone earned Hard Work on his way to a 5th place finish, which was his first top-five result with the series since a November 2006 prelim night for the Oval Nationals at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway.
With his late-race surge to a 6th place finish, Chris Windom extended his point lead in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship standings from two to eight over Brady Bacon with only three events remaining in the 2020 season. Windom’s charge included a pass of Bacon for the 7th position just three laps from the end of the 40-lap feature. Bacon finished 8th. Runner-up finisher Stockon is third in the standings, just 36 markers out of the lead.
The night’s most serious accident occurred on the final lap of the first heat race where Stan Beadles and Brandon Mattox were battling for the fourth and final transfer spot. Beadles ramped over the right rear tire of Mattox at the exit of turn four and slammed into the outside retaining wall along the front straightaway. The contact ignited a fire which engulfed Beadles’ car in flames from which he ultimately escaped under his own power.
In the aftermath, Beadles was attended to by medical personnel, then loaded into an ambulance via stretcher and transported to Ascension St Vincent Hospital in nearby Evansville, Ind. and flown via helicopter to a burn center in Indianapolis for further treatment. A report from the family on social media stated that Beadles had suffered second degree burns to his hands, arms, knees, and face in the accident.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 19, 2020 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.739; 2. Kendall Ruble, 17K, Ruble/Martin-13.839; 3. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.870; 4. Stephen Schnapf, 38, Williams-13.967; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.967; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.008; 7. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.045; 8. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.071; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-14.150; 10. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-14.169; 11. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-14.221; 12. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.225; 13. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-14.248; 14. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-14.300; 15. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.360; 16. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-14.389; 17. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.442; 18. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-14.458; 19. Stan Beadles, 84, Beadles-14.498; 20. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.611; 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.638; 22. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.658; 23. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.738; 24. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-14.751; 25. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-14.783; 26. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-14.835; 27. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-14.843; 28. Ryan Bond, 7R, Bond-15.083; 29. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-15.216; 30. Sam Scott, 7s, Scott-15.464; 31. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-16.408.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kendall Ruble, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Clinton Boyles, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Chayse Hayhurst, 8. Stan Beadles. NT
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Kent Schmidt, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Jonathan Vennard, 8. Critter Malone. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Stephen Schnapf, 4. Carson Short, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Sam Scott, 7. Robert Bell, 8. Ryan Bond. 2:18.996
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Austin Williams, 7. Chris Phillips. 2:20.483
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Dakota Jackson, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Critter Malone, 4. Aric Gentry, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Chayse Hayhurst, 8. Sam Scott, 9. Austin Williams, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Logan Seavey, 12. Jonathan Vennard, 13. Ryan Bond, 14. Robert Bell. 2:48.979
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chase Stockon (2), 2. Jadon Rogers (14), 3. Robert Ballou (18), 4. Critter Malone (19), 5. Chris Windom (8), 6. Justin Grant (7), 7. Brady Bacon (12), 8. C.J. Leary (10), 9. Kyle Cummins (1), 10. Brandon Mattox (13), 11. Kent Schmidt (6), 12. Dave Darland (5), 13. Anton Hernandez (16), 14. Dakota Jackson (17), 15. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 16. Carson Short (15), 17. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (22), 18. Chayse Hayhurst (24), 19. Aric Gentry (20), 20. Clinton Boyles (9), 21. Shane Cottle (21), 22. Jonathan Vennard (23), 23. Stephen Schnapf (11). NT (Feature winner Kendall Ruble was disqualified for a tire violation.)
**Stan Beadles flipped during the first heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Chase Stockon.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,514, 2-Brady Bacon-1,506, 3-Chase Stockon-1,478, 4-Justin Grant-1,433, 5-C.J. Leary-1,428, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,230, 7-Carson Short-1,138, 8-Dave Darland-1,094, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,015, 10-Logan Seavey-971.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-140, 2-Shane Cottle-86, 3-Tanner Thorson-83, 4-Kyle Cummins-78, 5-Justin Grant-77, 6-Logan Seavey-76, 7-Robert Ballou-74, 8-Cannon McIntosh-69, 9-Andrew Layser-65, 10-Chase Stockon-64.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 25, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Donor Network-Driven2SaveLives Double Double / James Dean Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Cummins
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kendall Ruble
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Dakota Jackson
KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (18th to 3rd)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Anton Hernandez
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chayse Hayhurst
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Jonathan Vennard
ProSource Hard Work Award: Critter Malone
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JUSTIN IS GRANTED THE WIN AFTER LEARY’S DQ
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Gas City, Indiana (September 25, 2020)………Driver C.J. Leary and entrant Leary Racing have been suspended and fined by the United States Auto Club for a violation of series regulations, section 309 (tires), during USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition on September 25 at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
Leary, who was initially credited with the victory, has been disqualified from the event. Justin Grant, who initially finished in the runner-up position that night, has now been credited with the feature victory.
The test, verified by laboratory findings, revealed that Leary’s tire had been altered, and thus, was not in accordance with the series rulebook nor did it conform to the benchmark provided by Hoosier Tire Company.
309 (Tires) C. Any solvents or chemicals applied to the tire that alter the chemical makeup of the compound or have the effect of altering tire durometer or construction is prohibited. A tire can be confiscated at any time. Penalties from tire found to deviate from the original factory benchmark specifications are as follows:
Leary has forfeited points and purse winnings earned from the event, has been fined $2,500 by USAC and has been suspended for 6 races from USAC competition.
These fines and penalties are imposed immediately. Super license driver C.J. Leary’s first eligible race in USAC competition will be Saturday, November 21. Entrant Leary Racing’s USAC eligibility resumes with the seventh National Sprint Car event of the 2021 season.
Winnings and points will be adjusted accordingly to reflect the change in the final results of the James Dean Classic/Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double at Gas City.
------Here is the original story before Leary's disqualification.--------
C.J. Leary saved up a little bit of late-race magic en route to Friday night’s James Dean Classic USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway, night one of the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double.
Taking full advantage of a second wind provided by a caution with four laps remaining, Leary swept around the outside of Justin Grant exiting turn four on lap 28 of the 30-lap feature to secure and lock down the lead for good, piloting the Leary Racing/Valvoline – Gray Auto – Leary Construction/DRC/1-Way Chevy to his third series win of the year and the 12th of his career, tying him with Eric Gordon for 46th all-time.
One year removed from his championship campaign, Leary’s season has taken a number of turns, bringing him into Friday night’s event without a crew chief and with a recently repaired car that had taken a hard tumble on the opening lap at Terre Haute exactly one week earlier.
Affixed with a new front clip on his family-owned ride, the end result looked just like old times – hoisting the trophy and celebrating the thrill of victory for the second time with USAC at Gas City following an Indiana Sprint Week win at the quarter-mile dirt oval in 2017.
“This No. 30 car was on rails tonight,” Leary exclaimed. “We’re crew-chiefless tonight. My dad’s not here; it’s just me and some good friends. To come out and win and to beat Justin is great; he was really good there. Somehow, I was making the middle work. I found that in lapped traffic while trying to slide myself and hitting some moisture on exit.”
Although Leary started from the pole position, he wound up chasing for much of the race while outside front row starter Dave Darland jumped out the advantage to lead the first seven laps.
An early caution put an end to July’s Gas City USAC Sprint winner, Logan Seavey, who suffered a flat left rear and required a ride on a hook back to the pits after contact with Brady Bacon while battling for the fifth position on the sixth lap.
Meanwhile, Justin Grant, slated to start fourth, but penalized two rows for being late to the track prior to the race, spurted from his new eighth starting spot following the restart into the lead on the eighth go-around underneath Darland on the back straightaway.
Leary charged back by Darland on the 10th lap for the second spot while Bacon moved to third in the running order on the 15th circuit for third. At that point, Grant held a near two second lead, but as the leaders began making headway in traffic, the interval Grant held began to be whittled down slowly, but surely.
Grant’s lead over Leary and Bacon was sliced in half to a second with under 10 laps remaining, with tenths ticking off each lap thereafter. Nonetheless, time was running short, and hope for another shot for either Leary or Bacon at Grant was withering away and may not have been in the cards without Grant’s ultimate nemesis on this night – the yellow flag.
The caution flew for seventh running Kyle Cummins who was stopped atop turn two with four laps to go, setting up a dash for the win amongst the leaders without the attendance of other foes in front of them – something that Leary, in second at the time, was mightily thankful for although he didn’t exactly know how many trips around the circumference of the track were left.
“My RACEceiver batteries died, so I had no idea how many laps there were to go, but I felt like the race was almost over,” Leary revealed. It definitely bunched us up and we got a good run off two. Justin kind of threw a curveball at me. I thought he was going to slide himself like what I did (in turn three), but he tried to run the bottom and we just got a good run through the middle (of turns three and four). Typically, we’re not very good right in the slick, but this was really good all night. I lost the lead at the start and I felt like it just wasn’t our night. To drop back and come back, it’s a great feeling.”
Immediately after taking the spot front Grant on the outside, Leary locked up the bottom, shutting the door at the entry to turn one. From there, the race belonged to Leary who closed out 0.539 sec. margin of victory over Grant, Bacon, Chase Stockon and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger, Chris Windom, who started 22nd and rounded out the top-five. Interestingly, the top-five feature finishers also occupy the top-five positions in the series point standings.
Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) is proud of where his car is at this point with his best finish in the series in nearly two months, but the disappointment was hard to hide after leading a race-high 20 of the 30 laps in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – The Bow Foundation/Maxim/Claxton Chevy.
“The car is back where it needs to be,” Grant said. “It was fast all night and we’ve got our motors running and have everything operating how it should be. We’re back fighting for wins, but I just let that one get away at the end. I just made bad decisions there on the restart. I’m still a bit salty at myself over it.”
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) emerged as the point leader by a mere five points over Chris Windom following Friday night’s event as he chases a third career USAC National Sprint Car title after previous reaches of the pinnacle in both 2014 and 2016. Despite a podium run, Bacon felt it was performance that could’ve been smoother in his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
“I’m actually a little disappointed with third tonight,” Bacon expressed. “We had the third best car, but figured we’d be a little better than that tonight. We’ll definitely take it. We had a solid night all night.”
Earlier Friday, Bacon recorded the 37th fast qualifying time of his USAC National Sprint Car career, passing Bryan Clauson to move into fifth all-time alongside 1968-70-75 series champion, Larry Dickson.
Two drivers made their first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature starts Friday night at Gas City: 19th place finisher Ricky Lewis (Ventura, Calif.) and Evan Mosley (Lapel, Ind.) who ran 20th.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 25, 2020 – Gas City I-69 Speedway – Gas City, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – James Dean Classic / Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-12.346; 2. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.359; 3. Brandon Long, 02, Long-12.387; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.411; 5. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-12.428; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.428; 7. Chase Johnson, 22, Goodnight-12.458; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.542; 9. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.609; 10. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble/Martin-12.676; 11. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-12.714; 12. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-12.728; 13. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-12.731; 14. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.734; 15. Slater Helt, 22s, Simon/Helt-12.747; 16. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-12.778; 17. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-12.919; 18. Jack James, 99, James-13.026; 19. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-13.040; 20. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.055; 21. Tayte Williamson, 20R, Williamson-13.428; 22. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-14.702.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.195; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.253; 3. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-12.306; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.378; 5. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.436; 6. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-12.465; 7. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-12.519; 8. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-12.520; 9. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-12.521; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.523; 11. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-12.525; 12. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-12.526; 13. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-12.659; 14. Max Adams, 57, Hazen-12.708; 15. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-12.728; 16. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-12.736; 17. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-12.778; 18. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-12.960; 19. Brayden Clark, 42G, Clark/Jackson-12.993; 20. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Shipley-13.061; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-13.738.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Korbyn Hayslett, 6. Brandon Long, 7. Slater Helt, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Ryan Barr, 10. Tayte Williamson, 11. Mario Clouser. 2:06.724
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Kendall Ruble, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Matt McCarthy, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Matt McDonald, 9. Jack James, 10. Zack Pretorius, 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. 2:08.211
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Evan Mosley, 6. Tim Creech, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 8. Cole Ketcham, 9. Brayden Clark, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Robert Bell. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Carson Short, 6. Ricky Lewis, 7. Max Adams, 8. Brad Greenup, 9. Dustin Ingle, 10. Kyle Shipley. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Dustin Ingle, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Matt McDonald, 4. Ryan Barr, 5. Matt Goodnight, 6. Jack James, 7. Braydon Cromwell, 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 9. Robert Bell, 10. Brayden Clark, 11. Tayte Williamson. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Carson Short, 4. Ricky Lewis, 5. Brandon Long, 6. Evan Mosley, 7. Korbyn Hayslett, 8. Tim Creech, 9. Mario Clouser, 10. Matt McCarthy, 11. Max Adams, 12. Cole Ketcham, 13. Matt McDonald, 14. Ryan Barr, 15. Zack Pretorius, 16. Slater Helt, 17. Dustin Ingle, 18. Thomas Meseraull. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (8), 2. Brady Bacon (5), 3. Chase Stockon (3), 4. Chris Windom (22), 5. Shane Cottle (15), 6. Dave Darland (2), 7. Jadon Rogers (4), 8. Robert Ballou (18), 9. Mario Clouser (23*), 10. Carson Short (17), 11. Brandon Mattox (10), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 13. Chase Johnson (16), 14. Scotty Weir (19), 15. Kyle Cummins (7), 16. Brandon Long (11), 17. Clinton Boyles (9), 18. Ricky Lewis (14), 19. Evan Mosley (21), 20. Kendall Ruble (20), 21. Logan Seavey (6), 22. Anton Hernandez (13). (Feature winner C.J. Leary (1) was disqualified for a tire violation.) NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Kyle Shipley flipped during the fourth heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Dave Darland, Laps 8-30 Justin Grant.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,586, 2-Chris Windom-1,581, 3-Chase Stockon-1,550, 4-Justin Grant-1,513, 5-C.J. Leary-1,436, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,273, 7-Carson Short-1,183, 8-Dave Darland-1,159, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,056, 10-Robert Ballou-1,010.
INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-24, 2-Brady Bacon-14, 3-Tanner Thorson-13, 4-Buddy Kofoid-11, 5-Shane Cottle-10, 6-Robert Ballou-10, 7-Justin Grant-9, 8-Kyle Cummins-9, 9-Carson Short-7, 10-Clinton Boyles-5.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-164, 2-Tanner Thorson-96, 3-Shane Cottle-96, 4-Kyle Cummins-87, 5-Justin Grant-86, 6-Robert Ballou-84, 7-Logan Seavey-77, 8-Brady Bacon-76, 9-Cannon McIntosh-72, 10-Andrew Layser-65.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 26, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Donor Network / Driven2SaveLives Double Double
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brandon Mattox
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chris Windom (22nd to 4th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Chase Johnson
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Korbyn Hayslett
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Ricky Lewis
ProSource Hard Work Award: Chris Windom
BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Chris Windom
Schoenfeld Ahead of the Game Award: Ricky Lewis
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COURTNEY CORRALS KOKOMO’S DOUBLE DOUBLE SPRINT WIN
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (September 26, 2020)………Tyler Courtney has gotten quite used to parking it in victory lane at Kokomo Speedway over the past few years.
His late-race duel with Brady Bacon during Saturday night’s USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature was the latest chapter added to his story as he prevailed with the winning move just three laps from the end to earn his sixth career series victory at the quarter-mile dirt oval, third all-time behind Kokomo greats Dave Darland (9) and Tony Elliott (8).
The two-time USAC National champion has seemingly been either snakebitten or victorious in USAC competition at Kokomo this season. He’s encountered trouble three separate times while leading or running second this year alone.
During Indiana Midget Week, Courtney flipped while leading two-thirds of the way through. During Indiana Sprint Week, he clipped a turn two infield tire while leading and spun just three laps from the finish. In August’s Sprint Car Smackdown IX opener, while running second, contact with a lapped car flattened his tire, putting him out of contention for victory once again.
The tide turned, so to speak, with his Smackdown finale score to close out the month of August and brought him into Saturday night’s Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double as the most recent series winner at the track.
Starting fifth, Courtney was on the chase early as outside front row starter Brandon Mattox controlled the pace up front for the first six circuits. Bacon, meanwhile, made a charge from fourth to second on the opening lap and began to contend with Mattox for the race lead.
On lap six, Bacon presented a challenge to the outside, which caught Mattox’s attention. Mattox noticed Bacon’s nose to his outside and moved up a groove at the exit of turn four in response. Bacon countered back by shooting underneath Mattox on the entry into turn one to take over the point.
Courtney was on the move at that point as well, and on the 11th lap, overtook Mattox for the second position and began to lasso in Bacon as lapped traffic loomed in their path.
The two ringed the top around the tail end of lead lap traffic with Courtney making up just slivers of ground at a time while this year’s track champion, Bacon, expertly navigated through the thick as he searched for his first career USAC National Sprint Car feature win at the track.
The highwire show in traffic came to a halt just after the halfway mark of the 30-lapper when 17th running Chase Johnson looped it between turns one and two to bring out the caution. At the resumption of activity, Courtney was now right on Bacon’s rear bumper and sans traffic as far as the eye could see.
As Courtney pursued Bacon, Courtney stumbled on the turn four cushion on lap 21, but it didn’t seem to deter his motive one iota as he charged back and set himself up for a slider in turn three on the 24th lap that stuck and sent him into the lead. That set off a classic duel between the two champs that proved unrelenting in the forthcoming laps.
Bacon used the bottom side of the racetrack while Courtney worked the top. Bacon ably pulled ahead at the exit of turns two and four on laps 25 and 26 each time with Courtney utilizing the high side momentum to beat him to the line each time. Bacon’s relentlessness brought him back to the lead on the 27th lap as he surged to the front off the low line in turn two to hold a two car length advantage with three to go.
However, with the low line occupied by the two cars at the tail end of the field – last week’s Haubstadt Hustler winner Kendall Ruble and USAC West Coast star Chase Johnson – Bacon was forced to go high in turn three on lap 28. Courtney went outside-in, following Bacon into turn three, then ducking underneath off turn four to slip by Bacon for the spot.
Bacon continued the chase that now ventured to the top where Courtney had roamed for much of the event, hanging in stride with Courtney just a couple car lengths back on the final lap. Courtney threaded the needle in turn two to the outside of Johnson and Critter Malone and just inside the outer retaining wall. Malone took evasive action to avoid contact as he was the meat in the middle of the sandwich. Bacon was just behind Malone at that exact moment and the two made bumper-to-bumper contact, impeding Bacon’s momentum and ending an opportunity for one last effort for the victory.
Courtney closed it out with a 0.764 sec. interval over Bacon at the finish line with Chase Stockon third. Brandon Mattox earned a career-best fourth-place finish while Shane Cottle rounded out the top-five.
For Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), it was the 29th victory of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, equaling him with Robert Ballou for 14th all-time in his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Turbo - CSI - ZMax - Schoenfeld/Spike/Rider Chevy.
“The track changed a lot there from the start to the end,” Courtney noted. “Brady started making the bottom work there at the end, but luckily, lapped traffic kind of played in my favor. This car really rolls around this place nice and it just makes my job so easy.”
Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) extended his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point lead to 30 over ninth-place Kokomo finisher Chris Windom entering the October 3 season finale at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. However, after leading a race-high 18 laps, this was one the two-time series champ felt slipped through his fingers aboard his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
“I felt we had a better car,” Bacon readily admitted. “I got stuck out in the lead as kind of a sitting duck. I contemplated going to the bottom but it’s kind of hard to leave what you’re doing. We actually got the lead back and lapped traffic just kind of clogged the hole and (Courtney) was able to keep the lead. I’m disappointed to run second again but there’s obviously a bright side with us gaining a lot of points for the championship.”
Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) remained in the title hunt, just 40 points behind Bacon in third while piloting his KO Motorsports/Hutson John Deere – Ravens Manufacturing - AMSOIL/Velocity/Fisher Chevy.
“We’ve got a real fast hot rod. It’s just hard to gain any points on these guys when they keep finishing in front of you,” Stockon stated.
Dave Darland’s fast qualifying run during Saturday’s Fatheadz Eyewear time trials at Kokomo was the 62nd of his career, putting him just three behind Tom Bigelow for the all-time series lead.
While battling for the second position on the opening lap of the semi-feature, driver Tim Creech ramped over the right rear tire of another car and barrel-rolled into the turn four wall and fence. He was transported for further evaluation.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 26, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.235; 2. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble/Martin-13.318; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.321; 4. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.323; 5. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.399; 6. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.465; 7. Chase Johnson, 22, Goodnight-13.517; 8. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-13.563; 9. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-13.579; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.584; 11. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.626; 12. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-13.633; 13. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.715; 14. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.770; 15. Brandon Long, 02, Long-13.801; 16. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-13.837; 17. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-13.841; 18. Cole Bodine, 57x, Bodine/Crow-13.995; 19. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-14.005; 20. Davey Ray, 14AJ, FattFro-14.068; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.838.
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.068; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.126; 3. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.213; 4. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.219; 5. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-13.229; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.250; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.282; 8. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.296; 9. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.349; 10. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-13.446; 11. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.448; 12. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.464; 13. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.488; 14. Max Adams, 57, Hazen-13.534; 15. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.636; 16. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-13.911; 17. Brayden Clark, 42G, Clark/Jackson-14.053; 18. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-14.080; 19. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-14.180; 20. Jack James, 99, James-14.279; 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.437.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Tim Creech, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Brandon Long, 9. Matt McCarthy, 10. Ryan Barr, 11. Robert Bell. 2:16.297
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Critter Malone, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Kendall Ruble, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Chase Jones, 8. Korbyn Hayslett, 9. Cole Bodine, 10. Davey Ray. 2:16.623
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Carson Short, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 9. Tye Mihocko, 10. Brayden Clark, 11. Braydon Cromwell. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Mario Clouser, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Max Adams, 6. Brad Greenup, 7. Zack Pretorius, 8. Jack James, 9. Ricky Lewis. NT
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Matt McCarthy, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Zack Pretorius, 5. Braydon Cromwell, 6. Ryan Barr, 7. Brayden Clark, 8. Jack James, 9. Robert Bell, 10. Davey Ray. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Carson Short, 4. Kendall Ruble, 5. Clinton Boyles, 6. Max Adams, 7. Jake Swanson, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Brandon Long, 10. Chase Jones, 11. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 12. Zack Pretorius, 13. Korbyn Hayslett, 14. Tye Mihocko, 15. Ricky Lewis, 16. Matt McCarthy, 17. Brad Greenup, 18. Justin Grant, 19. Tim Creech. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (5), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Chase Stockon (3), 4. Brandon Mattox (2), 5. Shane Cottle (1), 6. Robert Ballou (9), 7. Kyle Cummins (7), 8. Dave Darland (6), 9. Chris Windom (18), 10. Justin Grant (21*), 11. Clinton Boyles (20), 12. C.J. Leary (12), 13. Logan Seavey (14), 14. Scotty Weir (10), 15. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 16. Mario Clouser (22), 17. Carson Short (13), 18. Jadon Rogers (19), 19. Chase Johnson (16), 20. Max Adams (23), 21. Critter Malone (17), 22. Kendall Ruble (11), 23. Thomas Meseraull (8). NT
* represents a provisional starter
**Ricky Lewis flipped during the fourth heat. Tim Creech flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Brandon Mattox, Laps 7-23 Brady Bacon, Laps 24-26 Tyler Courtney, Lap 27 Brady Bacon, Laps 28-30 Tyler Courtney.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,664, 2-Chris Windom-1,634, 3-Chase Stockon-1,624, 4-Justin Grant-1,556, 5-C.J. Leary-1,475, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,309, 7-Dave Darland-1,219, 8-Carson Short-1,216, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,116, 10-Robert Ballou-1,073.
FINAL INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-46, 2-Tanner Thorson-16, 3-Cannon McIntosh-15, 4-Brady Bacon-16, 5-Buddy Kofoid-15, 6-Clinton Boyles-14, 7-Logan Seavey-13, 8-Robert Ballou-13, 9-Kyle Cummins-13, 10-Tyler Courtney-11.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-186, 2-Tanner Thorson-99, 3-Shane Cottle-96, 4-Kyle Cummins-91, 5-Logan Seavey-89, 6-Robert Ballou-87, 7-Justin Grant-86, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-78, 10-Andrew Layser-65.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 3, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Fall Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Double Double ProSource Passing Master: Chris Windom
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Dave Darland
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Scotty Weir
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chris Windom (18th to 9th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Jake Swanson
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Chris Windom
ProSource Hard Work Award: Max Adams
BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Shane Cottle
Schoenfeld Ahead of the Game Award: Chris Windom
MPI BCForever Up on the Wheel Highest Finishing Semi-Feature Transfer: Clinton Boyles
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USAC SPRINT CHAMP BACON WINS FALL NATIONALS; COURTNEY COMES UP LIGHT
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (October 3, 2020)………For Brady Bacon, it was an unconventional way to celebrate a victory, standing at his hauler with his crew, family and friends by his side as the winner’s trophy was presented to him Saturday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
Bacon was already cognizant of being crowned the 2020 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car championship by virtue of, what appeared to be, a second-place finish. Yet, after initial winner Tyler Courtney was found to be 15 pounds underweight during post-race tech inspection, Bacon was elevated to first place while Courtney was repositioned to the 22nd and final position in the results.
Anyway the cookie crumbled for Bacon, he’d take it, especially when it pays $10,000, which he pocketed after emerging victorious in the Fall Nationals all while becoming the 10th driver ever, and the first since Levi Jones in 2011, to win the final race of the USAC National Sprint Car season and the series championship in a single night, which he did aboard the Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
“I saw (Courtney) having some issues at the scales when we weighed, so I figured they were probably quite a ways off,” Bacon recalled. “It takes away a little bit of it, but it pays the same, so we’ll take it. Obviously, we’re very happy to win the championship, first and foremost, but winning the race is icing on the cake. I’ve only won one other USAC race here and it’s the home of the Hoffmans, kind of a local track for them. So, it makes it even more special.”
Bacon, who previously won USAC Sprint titles with Hoffman Auto Racing / Dynamics, Inc. in 2014 and 2016, brought home the Ohio-based team’s 12th USAC Sprint entrant title Saturday night.
But it was certainly not how Bacon could’ve drawn it up after a furious hard-fought battle down the stretch with Courtney which resulted in Bacon’s second career USAC Sprint win at Lawrenceburg (2015) and becoming just the seventh driver to win the series title at least three times in his career, joining Parnelli Jones (1960-61-62), Larry Dickson (1968-70-75), Sheldon Kinser (1977-81-82), Steve Butler (1986-87-88-90), Robbie Stanley (1991-92-93), Levi Jones (2005-07-09-10-11)
A 30-point lead was the margin Bacon began the night with over Chris Windom while Chase Stockon stood 40 points back in third. Those three were the only mathematically eligible championship contenders going in, and lo and behold, two of them – Bacon and Windom – occupied the front row for the start of the 30-lap feature, the first time since 2003 that the final race of the USAC Sprint season was not held out west.
Bacon had been in this position before as the winner of two previous titles, but he admitted the nerves were still in effect when it came down to crunch time. However, from the eye test, it appeared to be business as usual for the Broken Arrow, Okla. native as the night progressed.
“It’s almost more nerve wracking coming into a race having to just not mess up than it is to have to meet a certain bar,” Bacon explained. “Once we got through the heat races and stuff, the nerves kind of went away. Once we got the lead, it was just about trying to win the race. I felt like I kind of gave it away there. But obviously, we were able to get it back after the race, unfortunately for (Courtney).”
Bacon grabbed the early advantage on the start from his outside front row starting position, gliding around Windom to lead the opening 13 laps, and it quickly became evident that this wasn’t going to be a cruise-around effort for Bacon who, with a finish of 13th or better, would clinch the title regardless of whatever else transpired.
“You don’t want to do anything too stupid, but you’re here to race and here to win,” Bacon adamantly stated. “I might take a little bit less of a chance, but when you can smell the win, it’s hard not to go for it.”
By the 13th lap, Bacon had built his lead up to three-quarters of a straightaway around the 3/8-mile, high-banked dirt oval, and was working traffic 2.2 seconds ahead of Windom who was clinging to second and withstanding the challenges of Courtney for the runner-up spot.
A yellow on that 13th lap for the stopped car of 21st running Logan Seavey in turn four brought out the first caution period, which bunched up the lead pack, taking the lappers out of the equation for the time being. A one-lap sprint proceeded on the following circuit which Courtney utilized to slide by Windom for second on the bottom of turn four, before clearing him completely for the position in turn two.
With the 13th lap complete, 17th running Mario Clouser came to a halt atop turn three to force another yellow, which closed up Courtney on the tail of Bacon for the restart. Courtney didn’t take long to get rolling and powered under Bacon at the exit of turn four on lap 14, pointing the wheels up to the sky at the flag stand in the process.
Shortly thereafter, Courtney’s car began to billow smoke, draining water from the radiator lap-after-lap, but showing no ill effects as far as speed. Bacon managed to tighten up the gap on Courtney, however, and with eight to go, Courtney went full sail into turn one, getting out of shape and sideways on entry, a misstep which Bacon used to reclaim his role in the lead.
Two laps later, Courtney had regathered it to track down and drape himself over Bacon’s machine for the lead. Using the momentum up top, while Bacon rode the low line, Courtney ripped by Bacon around the outside of turn four to take over the lead for good, in what seemed like the winning pass at the time.
After the victory lane photos were taken and the celebration carried on into the pits, Courtney’s car was brought to the scales for the standard post-race technical inspection. Courtney’s car was found to weigh 1,360 pounds on the scales, which is 15 pounds under the minimum requirement of 1,375. By rule, Courtney was repositioned to 22nd place and the balance of the field was bumped up one position.
In the final order, Bacon was the victor for the 35th time in his USAC National Sprint Car career, moving him into the top-ten all-time alongside Rich Vogler and Jon Stanbrough. Kevin Thomas Jr. earned a season-best second-place result with Windom third, C.J. Leary fourth and Robert Ballou fifth after starting 19th, which earned him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors for the evening. Stockon, a championship contender coming into the night, finished 15th after starting 22nd.
In Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying, Jake Swanson earned his second career USAC National Sprint Car fast time award which was his first since 2016 at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: October 3, 2020 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Fall Nationals
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.659; 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.823; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.826; 4. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.849; 5. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.863; 6. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.864; 7. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.903; 8. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.922; 9. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-13.974; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.045; 11. Saban Bibent, 10, Bibent-14.111; 12. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.199; 13. Anthony D'Alessio, O1, D'Alessio-14.216; 14. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-14.234; 15. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-14.297; 16. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-14.479; 17. Steve Thomas, 27, Thomas-15.169; 18. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-16.124. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-Time of 14.715 disallowed for the car being underweight at post-qualifying tech inspection.)
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.914; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.843; 3. Max Adams, 37, Felker-13.844; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.866; 5. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.911; 6. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.972; 7. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-13.989; 8. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-14.011; 9. Cole Bodine, 57, Bodine/Crow-14.037; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-14.069; 11. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-14.143; 12. Joss Moffatt, 5J, Moffatt/Wright-14.314; 13. Andy Baugh, 8D, Schlattweiler-14.356; 14. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-14.432; 15. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.477; 16. Justin Owen, 44, Fischesser-14.538; 17. Tony McVey, 7m, McVey-14.620; 18. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-14.666.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. J.J. Hughes, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Anthony D’Alessio, 7. Saban Bibent, 8. Matt Westfall, 9. Steve Thomas. 1:58.635
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Scotty Weir, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Chris Windom, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Ryan Barr, 7. Robert Bell, 8. Robert Ballou. NT
AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Carson Short, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Max Adams, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Andy Baugh, 9. Tony McVey. NT
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Joss Moffatt, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Nick Bilbee, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Justin Owen, 9. Korbyn Hayslett. 1:58.148
INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Max Adams, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Nick Bilbee, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Saban Bibent, 11. Anthony D’Alessio, 12. Andy Baugh, 13. Korbyn Hayslett, 14. Justin Owen, 15. Ryan Barr, 16. Tony McVey, 17. Robert Bell, 18. Steve Thomas. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (2), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 3. Chris Windom (1), 4. C.J. Leary (5), 5. Robert Ballou (19), 6. Kyle Cummins (11), 7. Justin Grant (3), 8. Dave Darland (18), 9. Jake Swanson (6), 10. Cole Bodine (8), 11. Scotty Weir (14), 12. Max Adams (10), 13. Shane Cottle (12), 14. Tye Mihocko (16), 15. Chase Stockon (22), 16. Carson Short (17), 17. J.J. Hughes (7), 18. Logan Seavey (15), 19. Nick Bilbee (21), 20. Mario Clouser (13), 21. Joss Moffatt (20), 22. Tyler Courtney (4) (Courtney was initially declared the winner but was repositioned to 22nd for being 15 pounds underweight in post-race tech inspection.) NT
**Steve Thomas flipped during the semi.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Brady Bacon.
FINAL USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,742, 2-Chris Windom-1,703, 3-Chase Stockon-1,658, 4-Justin Grant-1,614, 5-C.J. Leary-1,550, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,384, 7-Dave Darland-1,274, 8-Carson Short-1,254, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,177, 10-Robert Ballou-1,134.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-186, 2-Robert Ballou-101, 3-Tanner Thorson-99, 4-Kyle Cummins-96, 5-Shane Cottle-96, 6-Logan Seavey-89, 7-Justin Grant-86, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-79, 10-Chase Stockon-72.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Jake Swanson
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: J.J. Hughes
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Logan Seavey
KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (19th to 5th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Shane Cottle
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Brandon Mattox
Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Dave Darland
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2020 USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER POINT STANDINGS:
POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN
1 1,742 Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Okla.
2 1,703 Chris Windom, Canton, Ill.
3 1,658 Chase Stockon, Fort Branch, Ind.
4 1,617 Justin Grant, Ione, Calif.
5 1,550 C.J. Leary, Greenfield, Ind.
6 1,384 Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, Ala.
7 1,274 Dave Darland, Lincoln, Ind.
8 1,254 Carson Short, Marion, Ill.
9 1,177 Kyle Cummins, Princeton, Ind.
10 1,134 Robert Ballou, Rocklin, Calif.
11 1,077 Logan Seavey, Sutter, Calif.
12 1,044 Brandon Mattox, Terre Haute, Ind.
13 984 Shane Cottle, Kansas, Ill.
14 678 Jadon Rogers (R), Worthington, Ind.
15 581 Mario Clouser, Auburn, Ill.
16 569 Matt Westfall, Pleasant Hill, Ohio
17 555 Anton Hernandez (R), Arlington, Texas
18 544 Tyler Courtney, Indianapolis, Ind.
19 527 Max Adams, Loomis, Calif.
20 477 Dustin Smith, Russiaville, Ind.
21 461 Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, Calif.
22 373 Robert Bell, Colfax, Iowa
23 335 Dakota Jackson, Elizabethtown, Ind.
24 327 Chris Phillips (R), Plainfield, Ind.
25 253 Dennis Gile (R), Phoenix, Ariz.
26 249 Dustin Clark, Washington, Ind.
27 247 Sterling Cling (R), Tempe, Ariz.
28 232 Wyatt Burks (R), Topeka, Kans.
29 227 Stephen Schnapf, Newburgh, Ind.
30 225 Scotty Weir, Marion, Ind.
31 223 Anthony D'Alessio (R), Apollo Beach, Fla.
32 192 Kent Schmidt, Owensville, Ind.
33 192 Steve Thomas, Ludlow, Ill.
34 174 Kurt Gross, Washington, Ind.
35 160 Matt Goodnight, Winchester, Ind.
36 156 Nick Bilbee, Indianapolis, Ind.
37 156 Nate McMillin (R), Rosedale, Ind.
38 140 Brian VanMeveren, Woodbury, Minn.
39 120 Chayse Hayhurst, Evansville, Ind.
40 120 Harley Burns (R), Brazil, Ind.
41 115 Jarett Andretti, Mooresville, N.C.
42 110 Terry Richards (R), Denton, Neb.
43 80 Kyle Robbins, New Castle, Ind.
44 53 Katlynn Leer (R), Moulton, Iowa
45 42 Zach Daum, Pocahontas, Ill.
46 40 Zack Pretorius (R), Yorktown, Ind.
47 34 Tyler Gunn (R), Napoleon, Ohio
48 30 Isaac Chapple, Willow Branch, Ind.
49 25 Connor Leoffler (R), Myrtle Beach, S.C.
50 20 Patrick Budde, Bartelso, Ill.
51 20 Saban Bibent (R), Cincinnati, Ohio
(R) represents a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie
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2020 USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OWNER POINT STANDINGS:
POS. PTS. ENTRANT, TEAM LOCATION
1 1,742 Dynamics, Inc., Union City, Ohio (#69)
2 1,703 Hayward Motorsports, Morrison, Ill. (#19)
3 1,617 TOPP Motorsports, Rochester, Ind. (#4)
4 1,384 KT Motorsports, Whitestown, Ind. (#9K)
5 1,328 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19AZ)
6 1,277 Leary Racing, Greenfield, Ind. (#30)
7 1,274 EZR/Curb-Agajanian, Waukesha, Wisc. (#36d)
8 1,232 KO Motorsports, Owensville, Ind. (#5s)
9 1,209 Daigh-Phillips Motorsports, Indianapolis, Ind. (#71p)
10 1,177 Rock Steady Racing, Dupont, Ind. (#3R)
11 1,134 Ballou Motorsports, Tipton, Ind. (#12)
12 1,044 Brandon Mattox Racing, Cory, Ind. (#28)
13 984 Hodges Motorsports, Albuquerque, N.M. (#74x)
14 630 Randy Edwards, Evansville, Ind. (#61m)
15 569 Ray Marshall Motorsports, Forest, Ohio (#33m)
16 565 Michael Dutcher Motorsports, Cicero, Ind. (#17GP)
17 549 Clouser Motorsports, Chatham, Ill. (#6)
18 544 Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing, Fishers, Ind. (#7BC)
19 521 Baldwin Brothers Racing, West Lafayette, Ind. (#5)
20 487 LG Motorsports, Pittsburgh, Pa. (#77)
21 426 32 TBI Racing, Fort Branch, Ind. (#32)
22 373 Bell Motorsports, Colfax, Iowa (#71)
23 348 On The Gass Motorsports, Brownsburg, Ind. (#17G)
24 327 KO Motorsports, Owensville, Ind. (#5K)
25 327 Chris Phillips, Martinsville, Ind. (#6p)
26 292 Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19A)
27 269 Scott Adams, Marion, Ind. (#5m)
28 253 Gene Gile Racing, Phoenix, Ariz. (#13)
29 252 Kyle Rogers, Worthington, Ind. ( #14)
30 249 Dustin Clark Racing, Washington, Ind. (#75)
31 247 Sterling Cling Racing, Tempe, Ariz. (#34)
32 232 Wyatt Burks Racing, Topeka, Kans. (#11w)
33 223 D'Alessio Motorsports, Apollo Beach, Fla. (#01)
34 217 Epperson Racing, Indianapolis, Ind. (#2E)
35 214 Tom Eades, Sharpsville, Ind. (#47)
36 213 Jerry Burton, Bloomington, Ind. (#04)
37 213 Paul Hazen, Columbia City, Ind. (#57)
38 192 Steve Thomas, Ludlow, Ill. (#27)
39 187 Aric Gentry, Robards, Ky. (#10)
40 174 Kurt Gross, Washington, Ind. (#1x)
41 170 RMB Motorsports, Saybrook, Ill. (#29)
42 166 Goodnight Racing, Hartford City, Ind. (#22)
43 160 Goodnight Racing, Hartford City, Ind. (#39)
44 156 Bilbee Motorsports, Indianapolis, Ind. (#17)
45 156 Kenny McMillin, Brazil, Ind. (#24m)
46 140 Brian VanMeveren, Woodbury, Minn. (#24)
47 138 Gene Gile Racing, Phoenix, Ariz. (#1)
48 123 Hurst Brothers Racing, Salem, Ind. (#70)
49 120 Hayhurst Racing, Elberfeld, Ind. (#20)
50 120 Burns Racing, Brazil, Ind. (#16)
51 115 Andretti Autosport Short Track, Indianapolis, Ind. (#18)
52 110 TR Motorsports, Denton, Neb. (#18m)
53 80 KR Racing, Greenfield, Ind. (#17R)
54 53 Joe Leer, Moulton, Iowa (#77K)
55 42 Artz & Sons, Lincoln, Neb. (#57x)
56 40 Pretorius Racing, Yorktown, Ind. (#9z)
57 34 Tyler Gunn Racing, Napoleon, Ohio (#68G)
58 30 Don Whitney Racing, Waveland, Ind. (#00)
59 30 LNR-Isaac Chapple Racing, Fortville, Ind. (#52)
60 25 Layne Leoffler, Galivants Ferry, S.C. (#22L)
61 20 Budde Racing, Bartelso, Ill. (#90)
