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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) became a two-time Sprint Car Smackdown winner Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway.
(Gene Crucean Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (August 24, 2019).........After positioning himself as King of the Hill earlier in the evening to earn a starting spot on the pole position for the feature, Tyler Courtney emerged as king of the mountaintop with his Smackdown VIII victory Saturday night, leading all 40 laps to join three-time winner Dave Darland in becoming the second multi-time victor of the event at Kokomo Speedway.

The win was Courtney's series-leading sixth USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature win of the season. Yet, it came with its share of peaks and valleys throughout the weekend after Courtney and the Clauson/Marshall/Newman Racing crew endured a nasty qualifying flip in Friday's program that damaged the frame. The team weathered the storm with a fourth place finish that evening but were hopeful for so much more in Saturday's $11,000-to-win finale.

"The crew was welding on it this morning," Courtney recalled. "These guys haven't stopped since they brought the car back in from qualifying (on Friday). We had a moment in hot laps today and were scrambling for a bit. We kind of thought that maybe we were doing something wrong. We got it going pretty good there in the King of the Hill and put ourselves in the cat bird seat to where we could run our own race in the feature."

It was the Indianapolis, Indiana native's 23rd career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car triumph, tying him for 23rd all-time alongside A.J. Foyt and Roger McCluskey to go along with his fourth career win during "Smackdown" and second overall during the main event on the final night. While the previous triumph in 2017 was certainly sweet in so many ways for it being his first, to Courtney, Saturday's night's score had a little extra kick to its sweetness after how the team persevered following trying circumstances.

"I think this one's even more special just because of what we've had to overcome," Courtney explained. "But we don't let it get us down. It seems like when we get down, we come out and win. To get a win like this is huge. These guys have been working their tails off all weekend, really all year, and we got it done."

Courtney emerged as the leader on the opening lap, after sliding to the top as a four-wide scramble for the lead involving he, Justin Grant, C.J. Leary and Kyle Cummins ensued in turn two. Courtney maintained his advantage at the head of the field to lead lap one while Cummins flexed his muscle, splitting between Leary and Grant to slide from fourth to second and begin his race-long pursuit of Courtney.

Cummins, who won his first career USAC feature at Kokomo during the Indiana Sprint Week round of 2016, hounded Courtney relentlessly for the duration of the 40-lapper, the second race of such distance so far this year.

By lap 15, the leaders were working lapped traffic with a three-wide conundrum awaiting just ahead. With Cummins within earshot, Courtney broke through the pack as Isaac Chapple, Thomas Meseraull and Dustin Smith battled for position, briefly pausing Cummins' pursuit before he too broke through between turns one and two a lap leader all while Courtney constructed a one second advantage up front after the two cut through the thick of the traffic.

Following a turn two spin by 10th running Carson Short on the 24th lap, the yellow took away Courtney's advantage and bunched Cummins up right behind the reigning USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ for the restart. Courtney wasn't frazzled by any means, for he knew the longer race and having the open road lying ahead of him played into his hands just as long as he didn't let Cummins' pressure press him into troubled waters.

"I feel like I'm pretty good at managing a race the longer they are," Courtney said. "I can get out and do my own thing that I was wanting to do. Kyle showed me a nose a couple of times. I just tried to not let it push me too hard to where I made a mistake."

That was put into fruition immediately as Cummins appeared to underneath, side-by-side with Cummins in turns one and two on the ensuing restart. Yet, Courtney never made a false move and kept on trekking his course ahead as Cummins remained in his shadow two to three car lengths behind.

It was the Indianapolis, Indiana native's 23rd career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car triumph, tying him for 23rd alongside A.J. Foyt and Roger McCluskey.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

The song remained the same following a caution for debris between turns one and two with eight laps remaining. However, this time, Courtney got a much better restart, initially jumping out to a five car length lead ahead of Cummins. Although starts and restarts are part of the game, it doesn't necessarily mean it's something a driver looks forward to, especially when sitting in the precarious position of the lead and not knowing what's going down behind you.

"I don't like restarts," Courtney admitted. "I'm not very good at them. I'd like things to go green to checkered if possible. But you've got to be ready for them and you've got to be good at all of it. That's one of my weaker points that I'm working on. I didn't know how many laps we had to go either, so I was just running as hard as I could because that's what you've got to do in these races. Everyone's so close and you can't slouch any lap. You have to be full speed ahead for 40 laps in tonight's case."

Cummins remained on the chase, scraping the front straightway and turn two walls as he squeezed every ounce he could out of his Rock Steady Racing No. 3R. Yet, Courtney just wasn't going to be deterred en route to victory on this night aboard his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Energy Drink - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy as he closed out a wire-to-wire victory by 0.758 of a second over Cummins, Leary, Grant and Friday night's winner Logan Seavey.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway were Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Jason McDougal (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Hunter Schuerenberg (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Chris Windom (Crume Evans Insurance/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Tyler Courtney (B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill Winner), Tyler Courtney (Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts/Tony Elliott Foundation Winning Bonus), Landon Simon (ProSource Hard Work Award), Josh Hodges (American Racing Ministries Final Semi Transfer), Josh Hodges (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Matt Goodnight (Saldana Racing Products/Hoosier Racing Tire First Non-Transfer), Thomas Meseraull (Weld Cool Move of the Race), Kyle Cummins (Weld Cool Move of the Race) and Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports (Weld Cool Move of the Race) and Dustin Smith (Smackdown Rookie of the Year).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 24, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 2. Carson Short (#21 RCM), 3. Dave Darland (#36D Darland/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Cole Ketcham (#41 Ketcham), 5. Max Adams (#5m Adams), 6. Tye Mihocko (#5 Mihocko), 7. Brian VanMeveren (#24 VanMeveren). 2:14.56

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal (#71p Daigh/Phillips), 2. Scotty Weir (#4p Pedersen), 3. Timmy Buckwalter (#7 LNB), 4. Isaac Chapple (#52 LNR/Chapple), 5. Josh Hodges (#74x Hodges), 6. Anthony D'Alessio (#01 D'Alessio), 7. Dustin Christie (#75 Christie), 8. Steve Thomas (#20 Thomas). 2:16.08

AUTOMETER THIRD QUALIFYING RACE: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Hunter Schuerenberg (#19BS Reinbold/Underwood), 2. Dustin Smith (#77 Smith), 3. Landon Simon (#23s Simon), 4. Corey Smith (#66s CS), 5. Matt Goodnight (#39 Goodnight), 6. Chris Windom (#5G Parallax/Goacher), 7. Shane Cottle (#2E Epperson), 8. Clinton Boyles (#57 Hazen). NT

B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL: (First Round) #8 Kyle Cummins (#3R Rock Steady) defeats #1 Justin Grant (#4 TOPP) 41.99. #4 C.J. Leary (#19AZ Reinbold/Underwood) defeats #5 Chase Stockon (#32 32 TBI) 42.02. #3 Thomas Meseraull (#47 Eades) defeats #6 Logan Seavey (#19s Reinbold/Underwood) 41.58. #2 Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson/Marshall/Newman) defeats #7 Kevin Thomas, Jr. (#19 Hayward/Thomas) 42.67.

B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL: (Semifinals) #4 Leary defeats #8 Cummins 40.98 (New Track Record). #2 Courtney defeats #3 Meseraull 41.11.

B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL: (Finals) #2 Courtney defeats #4 Leary 41.56.

SEMI: (12 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Cole Ketcham, 3. Isaac Chapple, 4. Corey Smith, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Matt Goodnight, 7. Max Adams, 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 9. Brian VanMeveren, 10. Steve Thomas, 11. Tye Mihocko, 12. Dustin Christie. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. Kyle Cummins (4), 3. C.J. Leary (2), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Logan Seavey (7), 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (8), 7. Brady Bacon (9), 8. Chris Windom (18), 9. Jason McDougal (10), 10. Chase Stockon (6), 11. Hunter Schuerenberg (11), 12. Scotty Weir (13), 13. Josh Hodges (22), 14. Max Adams (23), 15. Isaac Chapple (20), 16. Dustin Smith (14), 17. Corey Smith (21), 18. Carson Short (12), 19. Timmy Buckwalter (16), 20. Dave Darland (15), 21. Thomas Meseraull (3), 22. Cole Ketcham (19), 23. Landon Simon (17). NT
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**Clinton Boyles and Shane Cottle flipped during the third heat. Thomas Meseraull flipped during King of the Hill.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Tyler Courtney.

CRUME EVANS INSURANCE/KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (18th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Josh Hodges

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Matt Goodnight

PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Landon Simon

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,702, 2-Tyler Courtney-1,581, 3-Brady Bacon-1,564, 4-Justin Grant-1,525, 5-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,524, 6-Chris Windom-1,495, 7-Chase Stockon-1,472, 8-Jason McDougal-1,294, 9-Carson Short-1,273, 10-Isaac Chapple-991.

FINAL PROSOURCE SMACKDOWN VIII PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-23, 2-Brady Bacon-14, 3-Josh Hodges-9, 4-Jason McDougal-8, 5-Carson Short-8, 6-Tyler Courtney-7, 7-Scotty Weir-5, 8-Isaac Chapple-5, 9-Hunter Schuerenberg-4, 10-Corey Smith-4.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 29, 2019 - Tri-City Speedway - Granite City, Illinois - BRANDT River Town Showdown

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Logan Seavey celebrates his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature win following Friday's Sprint Car Smackdown VIII night two at Kokomo.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (August 23, 2019).........One night after claiming a victory in Sprint Car Smackdown's annual karaoke contest, Logan Seavey was singing a different tune Friday night on the track at Kokomo Speedway, ending it on a high note in victory lane following his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car triumph.

The reigning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion used his voice to win karaoke hardware with Garth Brooks' "That Summer" after a broken wheel cover ended a solid run on track on Thursday. For the Sutter, Calif. native, however, tomorrow would come, and he'd use his right foot to capture an even bigger trophy, a bigger payday and the prestige of becoming the series' first "first-time" winner of the 2019 season.

Along the way, Seavey cut a new record, ripping 30 laps around Kokomo Speedway 33 seconds quicker than the previous USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car track record for that distance at the quarter-mile, a record formerly held by Bryan Clauson set during Smackdown in 2013, at six minutes and 48.92 seconds.

Seavey is emerging as a jack of all trades following three wins thus far on the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget tour, then recently winning the pole and finishing fourth in last Sunday's ARCA Stock Car race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, and now jumping into a sprint car and taking it right to the front with limited seat time. Despite all the accolades, Seavey remains humble and appreciative of the opportunity, and the fun that comes along with it.

"Just to be racing Sprint Cars with USAC and to get to run good racecars with a family like this, is pretty crazy for me," Seavey admitted. "We just race and have fun. We normally end up pretty good and, the more fun we're having, the better we run. Finally, it all came together tonight. We've had that speed the last two nights, and it all finally came together."

Perhaps, most impressively, was that Seavey was making just his second start of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint car points season, the first of which came just 24 hours earlier. Seavey picked up a win behind the wheel of a Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports machine in USAC Southwest Sprint Car competition in April at Arizona Speedway. And, as it turns out, Friday of Smackdown has a special significance to Seavey, as this is the same night in which he first met team co-owner Andy Reinbold a year ago, kicking off a winning connection that certainly paid its dividends on this night.

"Friday night of Smackdown last year was the first time I met Andy," Seavey remembered. "We got together and ran a few races last year together out west. We came into this year knowing he had a full-time USAC car and that was going to take up a lot of his time. He told me early in the year that, in the big races, he wanted to bring out another car from Arizona to run Smackdown, Western World and the Oval Nationals."

Seavey made it all look relatively easy, comparatively, Friday night, although it's certainly never the case. With teammate and USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary trying to hunt him down for the entire duration of the event, Seavey had to be flawless - flawless on the start, flawless on the cushion and flawless through traffic to ace the 30-lap test and become the second-straight first-time winner on the second night of Smackdown following Tyler Thomas' victory in 2018.

"For me, I feel like running a sprint car is a little bit harder than running a midget," Seavey explained. "These guys are so good that you have to adapt quickly. Luckily, I've been here a few times and I've been here in a sprint car a couple times. Even racing midgets, it seems to be one of the most technical racetracks we go to and it seems like the guys with a lot of experience do really well here. It's pretty crazy to think that I'd win my first USAC National Sprint Car race here. I definitely wasn't expecting that and didn't know if I would even ever win one."

Seavey began the main event from the pole and led a trio of nineteens on the opening lap aboard his No. 19s while leading the 19 of Kevin Thomas, Jr. and the 19AZ of Leary. Leary made quick work from his fourth starting spot, rushing into second by lap three past Thomas and began the hunt to track down Seavey.

Leary tried high, sought the middle, looked low, and even cut a diamond groove off turns one and three. Leary chopped into Seavey's advantage and gained ground off the corners on each go-around, pulling side-by-side in turns two and four each lap for several laps early on before Seavey utilized the topside momentum to surge ahead and maintain his lead.

By the 10th lap, Leary's exit plan on the low line became stifled with a bevy of traffic occupying the bottom, hindering his path as he pursued Seavey. At the halfway mark, Seavey maintained a three car length lead as he seemingly ran his own race up top and, with no cautions in sight, kept traffic as part of the equation and allowed the top lane to be wide open for Seavey all by his lonesome where he was most comfortable running, up against the cushion.

Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports' one-two finish between Logan Seavey and C.J. Leary was the first time teammates have occupied the top-two positions in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature on dirt since July of 2008 when Keith Kunz Motorsports' stable of Cole Whitt and Darren Hagen finished first and second, respectively, during the Indiana Sprint Week round at Gas City.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

Seavey had to be perfect and execute flawlessly as a hungry Leary sought his first series victory in 20 starts. Yet, Seavey managed to up the interval in the final ten laps, from a half-second, to three quarters of a second, to more than a second on the final lap, closing out a superb performance with a 1.114 second win over Leary, Tyler Courtney, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Justin Grant.

Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports' one-two finish was the first time teammates have occupied the top-two positions in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature on dirt since July of 2008 when Keith Kunz Motorsports' stable of Cole Whitt and Darren Hagen finished first and second, respectively, during the Indiana Sprint Week round at Gas City I-69 Speedway.

Justin Grant leads the Sprint Car Smackdown VIII points entering Saturday's finale. Grant (Ione, Calif.), the defending Smackdown main event feature winner, is one of eight drivers locked into Saturday night's feature as well as the King of the Hill, along with fellow drivers Tyler Courtney, Thomas Meseraull, C.J. Leary, Chase Stockon, Logan Seavey, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Kyle Cummins.

Contingency award winners Friday night at Kokomo Speedway were Thomas Meseraull (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier), Jason McDougal (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Shane Cottle (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Josh Hodges (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Chase Stockon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Crume Evans Insurance/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger & Brady Bacon (ProSource Hard Work Award), Hunter Schuerenberg (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Jarett Andretti (Saldana Racing Products/Hoosier Racing Tire First Non-Transfer), Scotty Weir (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Logan Seavey (Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts/Tony Elliott Foundation Winning Bonus) and Matt Westfall (American Racing Ministries Final Semi Transfer).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP ONE: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.549; 2. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland/Curb-Agajanian-12.572; 3. Carson Short, 21, RCM-12.645; 4. Logan Seavey, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-12.695; 5. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.732; 6. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-12.783; 7. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.927; 8. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.966; 9. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.008; 10. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.042; 11. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.054; 12. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.063; 13. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.088; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.117; 15. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.184; 16. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.277; 17. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-13.326; 18. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.494; 19. Brad Wyatt, 41w, Wyatt-13.888.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING GROUP TWO: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-12.549; 2. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.652; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.656; 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-12.669; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.797; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.853; 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19BS, Reinbold/Underwood-12.919; 8. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.956; 9. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.091; 10. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.199; 11. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.209; 12. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.269; 13. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.362; 14. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-13.502; 15. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.521; 16. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.579; 17. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-13.602; 18. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.825; 19. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-13.829.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jason McDougal, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Timmy Buckwalter, 4. Isaac Chapple, 5. Max Adams, 6. Carson Short, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 9. Carmen Perigo, 10. Brad Wyatt. 2:12.73

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Jarett Andretti, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Corey Smith, 9. Tye Mihocko. 2:12.97

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Josh Hodges, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Scotty Weir, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Kyle Cummins, 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 8. Travis Hery, 9. Ty Tilton, 10. Lee Underwood. 2:13.60

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Dustin Smith, 5. Cole Ketcham, 6. Dustin Christie, 7. Matt Westfall, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Brian VanMeveren.

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Corey Smith, 2. Carmen Perigo, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Matt Goodnight, 5. Brian VanMeveren, 6. Lee Underwood, 7. Brad Wyatt. 2:20.57

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Carson Short, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Cole Ketcham, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Brandon Mattox, 9. Clinton Boyles, 10. Max Adams, 11. Anthony D'Alessio, 12. Dustin Christie, 13. Tye Mihocko, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Carmen Perigo, 16. Corey Smith, 17. Travis Hery, 18. Sterling Cling. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (1), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2), 4. Tyler Courtney (7), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Jason McDougal (10), 7. Thomas Meseraull (6), 8. Chris Windom (12), 9. Kyle Cummins (9), 10. Brady Bacon (22), 11. Chase Stockon (11), 12. Carson Short (8), 13. Scotty Weir (16), 14. Dave Darland (3), 15. Isaac Chapple (14), 16. Shane Cottle (19), 17. Cole Ketcham (18), 18. Matt Westfall (15), 19. Timmy Buckwalter (17), 20. Josh Hodges (20), 21. Hunter Schuerenberg (13), 22. Brandon Mattox (23), 23. Dustin Smith (21). 6:48.92 (New Track Record)
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**Tyler Courtney flipped during qualifying. Sterling Cling flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Logan Seavey.

CRUME EVANS INSURANCE/KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (22nd to 10th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Scotty Weir

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Jarett Andretti

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Hunter Schuerenberg

PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Brady Bacon

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,638, 2-Brady Bacon-1,512, 3-Tyler Courtney-1,511, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,469, 5-Justin Grant-1,464, 6-Chris Windom-1,446, 7-Chase Stockon-1,429, 8-Jason McDougal-1,248, 9-Carson Short-1,246, 10-Isaac Chapple-958.

NEW PROSOURCE SMACKDOWN VIII PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-13, 2-Brady Bacon-12, 3-Carson Short-8, 4-Tyler Courtney-7, 5-Jason McDougal-7, 6-Hunter Schuerenberg-4, 7-Scotty Weir-4, 8-Shane Cottle-3, 9-C.J. Leary-2, 10-Justin Grant-2.

NEW SMACKDOWN VIII POINTS (TOP-8 LOCKED INTO SATURDAY'S FEATURE): 1-Justin Grant-324, 2-Tyler Courtney-323, 3-Thomas Meseraull-320, 4-C.J Leary-301, 5-Chase Stockon-295, 6-Logan Seavey-294, 7-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-293, 8-Kyle Cummins-290.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 24, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) is all smiles after capturing Thursday night's victory in the Sprint Car Smackdown VIII opener at Kokomo Speedway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (August 22, 2019).........Time after time, Thomas Meseraull has proven every time he straps into a racecar, he's a threat to win.

One night after leading 12 laps in Simon Racing's No. 23s at #GYATK Night, the San Jose, Calif. native stepped into Tom Eades' No. 47 Thursday night for the Sprint Car Smackdown VIII opener and never skipped a beat, racing to his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the year, and first for Eades, a Kokomo, Ind. native in his first year of owning a sprint car.

The win was a sense of redemption for Meseraull who had a particularly rough showing in the car during the series' most recent visit to Kokomo during Indiana Sprint Week in July where he started 13th and finished 21st. Meseraull knew he had to put together a complete night to provide himself his best shot to collect a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win for the fifth-straight year, something accomplished only by five other drivers: Brady Bacon, Justin Grant, Chase Stockon, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Chris Windom over the same time span since 2015.

"After (Indiana) Sprint Week, we got our ass handed to us, flat out," Meseraull admitted. "We just got beat. It was a little unexpected. I had to qualify a little better tonight, and I did, which put us up front. Track position in these deals is everything. It's everything."

Meseraull began his journey from the outside of the front row, but it was Bacon who took control early on, sliding from his pole starting position to the top in turn one to lead the opening seven circuits with Meseraull in tow, trailing the two-time series champ a couple car lengths behind.

The first stoppage of the night came on lap seven when the night's ProSource Hard Work Award winner and 19th running Josh Hodges flipped upside down in turn four. He'd walk away uninjured but was finished for the evening.

Once racing resumed, Meseraull stuck right with Bacon, and on the ninth lap, made his bid for the lead, dipping to the bottom of turn one and sliding up in front of Bacon for the top spot. With tension high and the competition at a peak level, Meseraull knew there was no time to putt around in second.

"It was so slick to the curb, and the curb was on the wall. It was as tall as me, I swear," Meseraull recalled. "It was so big out there, I knew I couldn't waste any time. After the red flag, we ended up parking there right off of three and realized that it wasn't slick to the curb. It had a big hole before the curb, like the track had gotten ate up and it had this big dip and my car was evil up there. I'd hit it and it'd get up on two wheels. I just started going in above it in three and cheating across it and driving to the slick. That hole got Brady one lap, and I knew I had to just bomb it in there and hope to God that it would stick, and it stuck."

Meanwhile, as the battle for the lead switched hands, fourth-running C.J. Leary biked entering on the bottom of turn one. The series point leader miraculously saved his mount without flipping or making contact, but the landing is what got him, flattening his left rear tire before slowing to bring out the yellow. Leary restarted from the tail after getting fresh rubber in the work area, and, ultimately, finished 14th, ending his streak of 21 consecutive top-tens to begin the season.

On the tenth lap restart, Bacon went to work on the bottom underneath Meseraull for the lead in turn one, however Meseraull retained the momentum on the high side as did Courtney back in third. While Bacon trekked the low line, Courtney stuck to the top and raced around the outside to nip Bacon at the line for second and nail down the position exiting turn two.

The victory was the 10th of Meseraull's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, moving him past Mario Andretti, Hunter Schuerenberg and Robbie Stanley on the list and into a tie with Tony Stewart for 49th all-time. Three of Meseraull's 10 wins have come at Kokomo.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

Courtney put the chase on Meseraull, diamonding off the third turn as well as following him on the top shelf to find a way to close the gap. On the 12th lap, though, Courtney got in above the cushion a bit off turn four, allowing Meseraull to jump away and build his lead to nearly a full straightaway (2.729 seconds) just after the midway point.

On the 17th lap, 7th running Logan Seavey slowed to a stop on the bottom of turn one, erasing Meseraull's substantial advantage just prior to hitting lapped traffic.

It hardly seemed to make a difference to Meseraull once the green flag dropped on the restart with 13 to go where he once again utilized the high line to break away from Courtney, holding a half-straightaway advantage down the stretch with only lapped traffic to contend with in the final five-lap push.

Meseraull skimmed the outside concrete in turn two with two to go, with no tiptoeing around the outside of the lappers occurring whatsoever, as he closed out a sterling performance in his Tom Eades Racing/Physical Medicine Consultants - 1-Way Technologies/DRC/Stensland Chevy with a 1.339 second victory over Courtney, Justin Grant, Brady Bacon and Chase Stockon.

The victory was the 10th of Meseraull's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, moving him past Mario Andretti, Hunter Schuerenberg and Robbie Stanley on the list and into a tie with Tony Stewart for 49th all-time.

Contingency award winners Thursday night at Kokomo Speedway were Tyler Courtney (Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Isaac Chapple (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Carson Short (AutoMeter Third Heat Winner), Kyle Cummins (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Crume Evans Insurance/KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Josh Hodges (ProSource Hard Work Award), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier), Brandon Mattox (Saldana Racing Products/Hoosier Racing Tire First Non-Transfer), Dave Darland (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Thomas Meseraull (Elliott's Custom Trailers and Carts/Tony Elliott Foundation Winning Bonus) and Cole Ketcham (American Racing Ministries Final Semi Transfer).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.635; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.706; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.815; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.820; 5. C.J. Leary, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.825; 6. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-12.834; 7. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.837; 8. Logan Seavey, 19s, Reinbold/Underwood-12.882; 9. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-12.918; 10. Hunter Schuerenberg, 19BS, Reinbold/Underwood-12.928; 11. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland-13.038; 12. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.073; 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 19, Hayward/Thomas-13.175; 14. Dustin Smith, 77, Smith-13.187; 15. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.193; 16. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.204; 17. Chris Windom, 5G, Goacher-13.284; 18. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.304; 19. Carson Short, 21, RCM-13.329; 20. Carmen Perigo, 21p, Perigo-13.416; 21. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.447; 22. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.468; 23. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.535; 24. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.549; 25. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.780; 26. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.950; 27. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.955; 28. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.959; 29. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.996; 30. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-14.061; 31. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-14.080; 32. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-14.251; 33. Dustin Christie, 75, Christie-14.258; 34. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-14.448; 35. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-14.455; 36. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Dustin Christie, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Corey Smith. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Isaac Chapple, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Hunter Schuerenberg, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Josh Hodges, 7. Dustin Smith, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Travis Hery. 2:12.79

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Max Adams, 7. Jarett Andretti, 8. Cole Ketcham, 9. Brad Greenup. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Carmen Perigo, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Ty Tilton, 7. Brian VanMeveren, 8. Timmy Buckwalter. NT

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Dustin Smith, 4. Max Adams, 5. Josh Hodges, 6. Cole Ketcham, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Corey Smith, 9. Jarett Andretti, 10. Tye Mihocko, 11. Timmy Buckwalter, 12. Sterling Cling, 13. Ty Tilton, 14. Brian VanMeveren, 15. Matt Westfall, 16. Matt Goodnight, 17. Dustin Christie, 18. Travis Hery, 19. Anthony D'Alessio. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (2), 2. Tyler Courtney (6), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Brady Bacon (1), 5. Chase Stockon (7), 6. Hunter Schuerenberg (10), 7. Chris Windom (16), 8. Scotty Weir (9), 9. Kyle Cummins (4), 10. Carson Short (18), 11. Jason McDougal (14), 12. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (12), 13. Dave Darland (11), 14. C.J. Leary (3), 15. Logan Seavey (8), 16. Dustin Smith (13), 17. Isaac Chapple (17), 18. Max Adams (20), 19. Shane Cottle (15), 20. Carmen Perigo (19), 21. Dustin Christie (24), 22. Brian VanMeveren (23), 23. Josh Hodges (22), 24. Cole Ketcham (21). NT
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**Corey Smith flipped during the first heat. Brad Greenup flipped during the third heat. Josh Hodges flipped on lap 7 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Brady Bacon, Laps 9-30 Thomas Meseraull.

CRUME EVANS INSURANCE/KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (16th to 7th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dave Darland

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Brandon Mattox

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Kevin Thomas, Jr.

PROSOURCE HARD WORK AWARD: Josh Hodges

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-1,563, 2-Brady Bacon-1,464, 3-Tyler Courtney-1,445, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,398, 5-Justin Grant-1,394, 6-Chris Windom-1,390, 7-Chase Stockon-1,380, 8-Carson Short-1,202, 9-Jason McDougal-1,185, 10-Isaac Chapple-920.

NEW PROSOURCE SMACKDOWN VIII PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-9, 2-Carson Short-8, 3-Tyler Courtney-4, 4-Hunter Schuerenberg-4, 5-Jason McDougal-3, 6-Justin Grant-2, 7-Chase Stockon-2, 8-Max Adams-2, 9-Thomas Meseraull-1, 10-Scotty Weir-1.

NEW SMACKDOWN VIII POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-168, 2-Justin Grant-164, 3-Thomas Meseraull-163, 4-Brady Bacon-156, 5-Chase Stockon-156, 6-Kyle Cummins-151, 7-Hunter Schuerenberg-148, 8-Scotty Weir-145, 9-C.J Leary-139, 10-Chris Windom-137.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 23-24, 2019 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - Sprint Car Smackdown VIII