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

Tyler Courtney was victorious in the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car portion of the '4-Crown Nationals' Saturday night at Eldora. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio.........To get to double-digits in the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win column, you must win at Eldora Speedway.

Maybe it's an omen, a harbinger or what have you, but history tells us as much.

Courtney reiterated that fact Saturday night during the 37th running of the "4-Crown Nationals" presented by NKT.TV, marking just the tenth occasion a driver has reached at least 10 series wins in a season and the 10th of those select drivers in that club to win at Eldora during their banner year.

Tom Bigelow (14 wins), J.J. Yeley & Robert Ballou (13), Larry Dickson & Pancho Carter (12), Bubby Jones (11), Dickson, Carter & Jay Drake (10) each got it done at Eldora on their magical seasons. Now you can add a little "Sunshine" to that list.

However, the ride to get there on this night was a tad turbulent early on as the team ran into mechanical issues that forced them to swap out the engine for another bullet following qualifying. It seemed to do the trick as Courtney walloped the competition in his heat race, then proceeded to decimate the field for much of the 30-lapper in his Clauson Marshall Newman Racing/Priority Aviation - Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy until having to hold off a late surge from hard-charging C.J. Leary left that fairytale ending hanging in the balance momentarily.

Courtney started from the pole position, but it was 2007 "4-Crown" USAC Sprint Car winner Robert Ballou who eked into the lead from his outside front row starting spot to lead the opening lap with Leary and Courtney in tow.

As Leary trailed Ballou, the reigning "4-Crown" Sprint Car winner was amidst a battle with Courtney for second. Courtney threaded the dot of the i around the outside of Leary in turn two. Leary then snagged the concrete and spun completely around down the back straightaway and somehow, someway, avoided catastrophe as the entire field missed him, allowing him to restart, although he would now have to come from the tail in 22nd.

Following the restart, Courtney made his surge, sliding past Ballou entering the third turn. Ballou countered with an uppercut to the chin and clung to his grip of the lead as the pair crossed the line. Courtney reloaded and fired his next shot, sliding to the lead past Ballou entering turn one. By lap 10, Courtney's advantage was a full-straight ahead of Ballou.

Ballou's bid to get back into the game hit a literal snag on the 14th lap when he clipped the turn two outside wall and spun around to a stop, ending his evening earlier than anticipated. That moved Justin Grant into second where he and the hard-charging Leary took a full head a steam at running down Courtney. Grant found the demise of his night in the same spot that took caught Leary and Ballou earlier in turn two. Grant's car churned against the concrete along the back straight before grinding to a halt with four laps remaining.

With his victory Saturday night at Eldora, Tyler Courtney joined Jack Hewitt, Kyle Larson, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Dave Darland as the fifth driver to win in a Midget, USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown car during his '4-Crown' career. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

Leary was in second behind Courtney for the lap 27 restart, but a challenge to Courtney's throne was discarded almost immediately as Courtney blitzed to a good jump when action resumed. The only race for position was behind Courtney as Leary, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Isaac Chapple roamed three-wide at times for the runner-up position.

It was all to Courtney's advantage, however, as he drove away to his tenth series win of the year and joined Jack Hewitt, Kyle Larson, Jerry Coons, Jr. and Dave Darland as the fifth driver to win in a Midget, USAC Sprint Car and Silver Crown car during his "4-Crown" career.

Leary finished second ahead of Chapple, who scored a career-best third-place result. Point leader Thomas was fourth ahead of Chris Windom.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Eldora Speedway were Justin Grant (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & ProSource Fast Qualifier), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), C.J. Leary (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Nick Bilbee (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Dakota Jackson (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Timmy Buckwalter (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier) and Scotty Weir (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 22, 2018 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 37th"4-Crown Nationals" presented by NKT.TV

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.607; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-15.799; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.976; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.997; 5. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-16.035; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-16.088; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.103; 8. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-16.110; 9. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-16.156; 10. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.197; 11. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-16.208; 12. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-16.214; 13. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-16.277; 14. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-16.287; 15. Dallas Hewitt, 18H, Keen-16.296; 16. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-16.301; 17. Chad Boespflug, 98, NineEight-16.331; 18. Dickie Gaines, 44x, Soudrette-16.374; 19. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-16.394; 20. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-16.494; 21. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.571; 22. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-16.641; 23. Joe Liguori, 44, Liguori-16.686; 24. Ty Tilton, 42, Tilton-16.731; 25. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-16.832; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.899; 27. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-16.919; 28. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-16.926; 29. Bill Rose, 320, Kissel-16.988; 30. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-16.992; 31. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-17.081; 32. Brandon Whited, 15, Whited-17.093; 33. Matt Cooley, 19, Cooley-17.120; 34. Josh Cunningham, 63, Cunningham-17.235; 35. Mike Burkin, 79, Mahoney-17.236; 36. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-17.245; 37. Barney Craig, 71c, Craig-17.250; 38. Jack James, 99J, James-18.578; 39. Ken Drangmeister, 27, Drangmeister-19.007.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Grant, 2. Westfall, 3. Bacon, 4. Buckwalter, 5. Cottle, 6. Boespflug, 7. J. Wilson, 8. Rose, 9. Cooley, 10. Craig. 2:16.59

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas, 2. Darland, 3. Windom, 4. Bilbee, 5. Chapple, 6. Goodnight, 7. Gaines, 8. Cunningham, 9. James. 2:16.45

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Leary, 2. Ballou, 3. Jackson, 4. Gentry, 5. Smith, 6. Welpott, 7. Burkin, 8. Drangmeister, 9. Liguori, 10. Hewitt. 2:15.28

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Ingle, 3. McDougal, 4. Tilton, 5. Perigo, 6. Stockon, 7. Weir, 8. C. Wilson, 9. Whited. 2:16.89

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Gaines, 2. Cottle, 3. Stockon, 4. Perigo, 5. Chapple, 6. J. Wilson, 7. Weir, 8. Whited, 9. Burkin, 10. Goodnight, 11. Rose, 12. C. Wilson, 13. Smith, 14. Craig, 15. Welpott, 16. Cunningham, 17. Cooley, 18. Drangmeister, 19. James, 20. Boespflug. 3:44.08

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (1), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Isaac Chapple (10), 4. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 5. Chris Windom (3), 6. Chase Stockon (7), 7. Dave Darland (14), 8. Nick Bilbee (19), 9. Dickie Gaines (16), 10. Brady Bacon (9), 11. Carmen Perigo (15), 12. Shane Cottle (21), 13. Dakota Jackson (11), 14. Matt Westfall (18), 15. Dustin Ingle (17), 16. Ty Tilton (20), 17. Justin Grant (6), 18. Jason McDougal (12), 19. Robert Ballou (2), 20. Aric Gentry (22), 21. Timmy Buckwalter (13), 22. Jacob Wilson (8). NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Ballou, Laps 3-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS/LARRY RICE HIGH PERFORMANCE HARD CHARGER: Nick Bilbee (19th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Dakota Jackson

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Timmy Buckwalter

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Scotty Weir

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-K. Thomas-2206, 2-Courtney-2189, 3-Windom-2143, 4-Bacon-1901, 5-Darland-1889, 6-Stockon-1870, 7-Leary-1865, 8-Ballou-1771, 9-Grant-1746, 10-Chapple-1232.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 27 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - "Sprint Car Smackdown VII"

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

2017 '4-Crown Nationals' USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner C.J. Leary. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio.........C.J. Leary seems more than poised for a breakout performance this Saturday in the 37th running of the "4-Crown Nationals" presented by NKT.TV at Eldora Speedway.

He's led in four of the past six races for a total of 69 laps, 38 more than any other driver during that span. The results have been there: a 2nd, 6th, 6th, 4th and 2nd. Yet, none of those include a 1st, a cage stand, a check or one of the other many spoils of victory.

Those "spoils" were something the Greenfield, Indiana driver got to experience in full effect last year after grabbing his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car "4-Crown" triumph at Eldora.

Leary is among six past winners expected to compete in Saturday's stacked field, including Dave Darland (1999), Robert Ballou (2007), Chris Windom (2013), Brady Bacon (2014) and Justin Grant (2016).

Darland, of Lincoln, Indiana, has been a revelation this year, scoring three victories and is fifth in points. Rocklin, California's Ballou has scored five of his 28 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car wins at Eldora, including the first three of his career back in 2007 & 2010. Windom, of Canton, Ill., got his in 2013, then won again in the Silver Crown car at Eldora in 2016. Ione, California's Grant punched in a W back in 2016.

The points race is tighter than a Chinese Finger Trap, with no driver in the top-three able to separate themselves from each other at the top. Cullman, Alabama's Kevin Thomas, Jr. leads the standings by 21 following his victory last Saturday at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. His venerable Dynamics, Inc. No. 69 has scored five wins in the "4-Crown' over the years, including 1999 with Darland, 2006 with Tracy Hines, 2009 with Jerry Coons, Jr., 2011 with Kyle Larson and 2014 with Bacon.

Tyler Courtney runs second in the standings behind Thomas and is having a banner year that includes a series-high nine wins. A victory Saturday at Eldora would put him on an exclusive list of drivers who've won double-digit races in a single season along with Tom Bigelow (14), J.J. Yeley & Robert Ballou (13), Larry Dickson & Pancho Carter (12), Bubby Jones (11), Dickson, Carter & Jay Drake (10).

Courtney's current tally of nine wins in a season is tied for the tenth winningest season in the history of the series, equaling Parnelli Jones (1961), Roger McCluskey (1966) and Rick Hood (1985).

One thing all those drivers have in common is that they've won a USAC National Sprint Car feature at Eldora in the very same year they accumulated double-digit wins. Courtney has yet to win at Eldora this season and Saturday marks his last shot. Bacon and Windom won the two most recent trips to Eldora back in May of this year.

Windom, of Canton, Ill., is third in points, only 54 out of the lead as he seeks his second career series title.

Leary's bid for a repeat USAC Sprint Car win at the "4-Crown" has been duplicated five previous times by Steve Kinser in 1981-82, Steve Butler in 1988-89, Jack Hewitt in 1990-91 & 1997-98 and Bud Kaeding in 2001-02.

This Saturday's event will mark the 199th USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car race held at Eldora Speedway, which is the most appearances at any track in series history.

On Saturday, pits open at 11:30am, spectator gates open at noon, a USAC autograph session will take place from 3-4pm in the fan zone, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and cars on track at 6pm. General admission tickets are $30 for ages 13 & up and $30 for ages 12 & under. Reserved tickets are $34 for ages 13 & up and $14 for ages 12 & under: $14.

Saturday's full events will have LIVE audio on the USAC app along with LIVE video on http://Live.EldoraSpeedway.com/.

PAST "4-CROWN NATIONALS" USAC SPRINT CAR WINNERS: 1981: Steve Kinser, 1982: Steve Kinser, 1983: Jack Hewitt, 1985: Larry Rice, 1986: Rich Vogler, 1987: Tony Elliott, 1988: Steve Butler, 1989: Steve Butler, 1990: Jack Hewitt, 1991: Jack Hewitt, 1992: Danny Smith, 1993: Tony Elliott, 1994: Kevin Doty, 1995: Tony Stewart, 1996: Jimmy Sills, 1997: Jack Hewitt, 1998: Jack Hewitt, 1999: Dave Darland, 2000: Tracy Hines, 2001: Bud Kaeding, 2002: Bud Kaeding, 2004: Dickie Gaines, 2005: Levi Jones, 2006: Tracy Hines, 2007: Robert Ballou, 2008: Brad Sweet, 2009: Jerry Coons Jr., 2010: Levi Jones, 2011: Kyle Larson, 2012: Tracy Hines, 2013: Chris Windom, 2014: Brady Bacon, 2015: Thomas Meseraull, 2016: Justin Grant, 2017: C.J. Leary

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kevin Thomas-2132, 2-Tyler Courtney-2111, 3-Chris Windom-2078, 4-Brady Bacon-1852, 5-Dave Darland-1830, 6-Chase Stockon-1810, 7-C.J. Leary-1786, 8-Robert Ballou-1739, 9-Justin Grant-1703, 10-Isaac Chapple-1167.

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

Kevin Thomas, Jr. became the first three-time winner of the 'Haubstadt Hustler' Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway. (Neil Cavanah Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Haubstadt, Indiana......September 15, 2018 - An unprecedented accomplishment deserves an unprecedented celebration in Kevin Thomas, Jr.'s book.

Just moments after taking the checkered flag to become the first three-time winner of the "Haubstadt Hustler" at Tri-State Speedway, Thomas found himself sandwiched between a pile of racecars in turn one with heavy damage to the front end of his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - Jonathan Byrd/DRC/Speedway Chevy.

If it had been one lap earlier, it would've been a devastating heartbreaker for the Cullman, Alabama driver. Instead, it created a memorable celebration from the makeshift turn one junkyard as he emerged from the top of the roll cage to high-five his roommate and third-place finisher Jason McDougal who stacked his ride alongside that of Thomas.

"I've never had that happen. That was something special," Thomas exclaimed. "Immediately, I was kind of pissed off because I probably tore some crap up. But, at the end of the day, I'm the only person to win this race three times. I instantly went from a little frustrated to super pumped. When I got out, it was just a front end. We just won $10,000; we'll put another front end on it."

"Standing up in the middle of the corner on a wrecked racecar and doing a cage stand, it's not normal, but we got the job done," Thomas reflected. "Standing up on the four-wheeler with the crowd going nuts, that's something that'll definitely go down as something special in my memory, something that we'll still be talking about 10 years from now with our friends."

Thomas' voyage to get there began from the third spot behind front row starters Kent Schmidt and C.J. Leary. Schmidt sprinted to the lead on the opening lap, narrowly eclipsing Leary at the line by a foot. However, Leary took sole ownership of the lead entering turn one and would have a Master Lock on the spot for the bulk of the 40-lapper.

As Leary shined through much of the early stages, the night's most gnarly incident occurred on the 13th lap when third-running Schmidt's machine broke entering the third turn. Fourth-running and previous night's Terre Haute winner Brady Bacon was trailing just behind, but with nowhere to go, ramped over Schmidt's left rear wheel, snapped around backwards and flipped over. He was okay and, miraculously, restarted the race from the tail, ultimately finishing 14th.

Throughout the middle stages and within ten to go, Leary was in control, upping his lead to more than a second and a half while Thomas and McDougal duked it out for second. However, as can and will happen often in racing, lapped traffic came into play, at moments being a benefit to Leary and other times, ehh, not so much.

With four laps remaining, as soon as Leary's pace was stifled in traffic, it was almost as if you could hear the theme from the movie Jaws playing in the distance. As Leary drifted just a tad high off turn four, Thomas stuck his ride underneath Leary's, pulling side-by-side along each other in a drag race to the line to snare the lead, one in which he would not relinquish.

Thomas got a bit sideways between turns three and four coming to the checkered, but it was no harm, no foul, as he straightened it out, stood on the gas and finished out his fifth win of the year, followed by Leary, McDougal in his first ever visit to Tri-State, while Dave Darland and Carson Short rounded out the top-five.

Cullman, Alabama's Kevin Thomas, Jr. takes his second Tri-State Speedway USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the year in front of a packed house Saturday night in the 'Haubstadt Hustler.' (Neil Cavanah Photo)

"I've been in the same situation the past couple of weeks," Thomas admitted. "Leading is not necessarily the best place to be. C.J. skated up just a little bit off four and kind of got caught behind a lapped car. We were able to get up underneath him and beat him to one. As narrow as the track was, it wasn't necessarily blocking, but you could run a safe line where you don't have to run balls out and you can still make your car work and it makes it really hard to pass you. It's just one of those mind games. We were just trying to figure out the racetrack and it all played out in our favor tonight. We could do it all over again tomorrow and C.J. probably wins this race. We had a good racecar and luck on our side, finally."

Though he carried the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point lead coming into Tri-State, Thomas' name was MIA on the winners' list for quite a while. He was certainly well aware that it had been just a few days shy of three months since his last triumph. He's had many a good run, qualified well - 14 fast times, in fact - but just wasn't able to get over the hump. Now with a win under his belt and a 21-point advantage in the standings, he's now back at the top of his game heading to next Saturday's "4-Crown Nationals" at Eldora Speedway where he knows the gameplan.

"You have to win races in order to win this deal," Thomas point blanked. "Sunshine (Tyler Courtney) is right behind and he wins every three races it seems like. If you're not winning races, eventually those third places aren't going to do the job. With the way this championship is going, the consistency is what's got us back to the lead, but if you want to secure that lead, you're going to have to win. You have to score the most points every single night and you have to run away with it. As good as they are, when you have one bad night, have one flat tire, or have one little thing go wrong, there's 30 points. You have to give yourself a cushion. You can't bank on a 10-point cushion getting you through the year because it ain't."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway were Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Stephen Schnapf (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Carson Short (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Chet Williams (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Kendall Ruble (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 15, 2018 - Tri-State Speedway - Haubstadt, Indiana - "Haubstadt Hustler" (Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series)

QUALIFYING: 1. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.810; 2. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.829; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.847; 4. Stephen Schnapf, 61m, Edwards-13.904; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.906; 6. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.920; 7. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-13.960; 8. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.966; 9. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-13.979; 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-13.979; 11. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-13.989; 12. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.046; 13. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble-14.058; 14. Dakota Jackson, 3, Jackson-14.073; 15. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-14.085; 16. Carson Short, 5B, Briscoe-14.112; 17. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-14.260; 18. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-14.287; 19. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-14.310; 20. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-14.331; 21. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-14.341; 22. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-14.378; 23. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-14.411; 24. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-14.456; 25. Josh Hodges, 11H, Pottorff/Short-14.564; 26. Daron Clayton, 5o, Schmidt-14.739; 27. Collin Ambrose, 36, Ambrose-14.748; 28. Shawn Arriaga, 56, Arriaga-14.759; 29. Brian Wallace, 27, Wallace-14.817; 30. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-14.950; 31. Chad Boespflug, 11p, Pottorff/Short-15.147; 32. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-15.237; 33. James Lyerla, 11, JL-15.328; 34. Eric Perrott, 45, Perrott-16.021.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Bacon, 2. Leary, 3. Cummins, 4. Brackett, 5. Gentry, 6. DiMattia, 7. Boespflug, 8. Mattox, 9. Hayhurst. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Schnapf, 2. Schmidt, 20 Ballou, 4. Chapple, 5. Clayton, 6. Arriaga, 7. Hodges, 8. Sussex, 9. Ambrose. 2:18.38

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Windom, 2. Darland, 3. Stockon 4. Short, 5. Williams, 6. Jackson, 7. Budde, 8. Perrott. 2:19.48

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas, 2. McDougal, 3. Grant, 4. Courtney, 5. Ruble, 6. Malone, 7. Wallace, 8. Lyerla. 2:16.96

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Clayton, 2. Gentry, 3. Williams, 4. Ruble, 5. Malone, 6. DiMattia, 7. Jackson, 8. Hodges, 9. Boespflug, 10. Mattox, 11. Lyerla, 12. Budde, 13. Arriaga, 14. Hayhurst, 15. Perrott, 16. Wallace, 17. Sussex. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3), 2. C.J. Leary (2), 3. Jason McDougal (8), 4. Dave Darland (7), 5. Carson Short (15), 6. Tyler Courtney (16), 7. Robert Ballou (10), 8. Chase Stockon (11), 9. Kyle Cummins (9), 10. Donny Brackett (13), 11. Stephen Schnapf (5), 12. Isaac Chapple (14), 13. Chet Williams (19), 14. Brady Bacon (6), 15. Critter Malone (21), 16. Kendall Ruble (20), 17. Chris Windom (4), 18. Daron Clayton (17), 19. Justin Grant (12), 20. Tony DiMattia (22), 21. Brandon Mattox (23), 22. Kent Schmidt (1), 23. Aric Gentry (18). NT
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**Bacon flipped on lap 13 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Schmidt, Laps 2-36 Leary, Laps 37-40 Thomas.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Carson Short (15th to 5th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Chet Williams

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Kendall Ruble

SALDANA RACING PRODUCTS FIRST NON-TRANSFER: Dakota Jackson

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Thomas-2132, 2-Courtney-2111, 3-Windom-2078, 4-Bacon-1852, 5-Darland-1830, 6-Stockon-1810, 7-Leary-1786, 8-Ballou-1739, 9-Grant-1703, 10-Chapple-1167.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 22 - Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio - 37th "4-Crown Nationals" presented by NKT.TV

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

Brady Bacon captured his second career 'Jim Hurtubise Classic' victory Friday night at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Terre Haute, Indiana......September 14, 2018 - It's certainly been a whirlwind week-plus of highs for Brady Bacon.

Last Thursday, he picked up a victory worth $15,000 in the BC39 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Monday, he became a father for the third time with the birth of daughter, Linley. And Friday, he hit the jackpot once again, winning his second career "Jim Hurtubise Classic" USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at the Terre Haute Action Track.

"They say when it rains, it pours, and we needed some rain on our crops at home," Bacon said. "This has been a good little stretch. For some reason, new kids bring a lot of wins it seems like. We've won two championships the year the last two kids were born and now we got this one. We can win a lot of money from here to the end of the year with a lot of big paying races, so this is a good time to get momentum."

Bacon rolled off fifth in his own Brady Bacon Racing/Fatheadz Eyewear - Tel-Star Technologies/Triple X/Rider Chevy. Pole sitter Shane Cottle set the pace into turn one on the opening lap, but it was outside front row starter C.J. Leary who won the race to turn three to grab the lead where he'd remain for the first five circuits.

On lap six, Nick Bilbee and Josh Hodges tangled in turn one, sending Bilbee hard into the outside concrete to bring out the first stoppage of the night. Both were uninjured, but both were finished for the evening.

The caution closed the gap between Leary and the rapidly climbing Bacon for the lap six restart. Leary held the advantage when racing returned to green, but Bacon was close enough to apply pressure. Leary drifted a bit high on the exit of four and Bacon was there to capitalize on the bottom, ripping the lead away and, immediately, carving out a half-straightaway lead nearing the halfway point when Dave Darland slowed to a stop in turn two on lap 13.

When action resumed, second-place Robert Ballou was able to stay in touch with Bacon, bouncing along the bottom between turns three and four as he trailed five car lengths back.

The 2014 (Bacon) and 2015 (Ballou) "Hurtubise" winners were now set one/two with Bacon relentlessly attacking the top lap-after-lap, four wheels above the cush as Ballou put the chase on. But, with six laps remaining, Bacon nearly lost all those gains on the track and nearly gained a migraine, getting completely sideways between turns one and two. Bacon gathered up his mount and motored on, while Ballou was unable to erase any ground.

'They say when it rains, it pours, and we needed some rain on our crops at home. This has been a good little stretch. For some reason, new kids bring a lot of wins it seems like. We've won two championships the year the last two kids were born and now we got this one. We can win a lot of money from here to the end of the year with a lot of big paying races, so this is a good time to get momentum.' (Dallas Breeze Photo)

"We were kind of getting in above the cushion and got up a little too high," Bacon explained. "There must've been a big clump up there or some heavy stuff and it caught us and turned us sideways. Luckily, we were able to get it pointed straight."

What first appeared like a bout of misfortune turned into good fortune for the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native as he simultaneously danced with lapped traffic with Ballou hot on the trail.

"I squeezed by the 11 car (James Lyerla) and there wasn't a whole lot of extra room," Bacon recalled. "I had all four wheels above the cushion. But when things are going your way, you can get by with stuff that maybe you shouldn't be able to. Sometimes that's just the way it works and I'm glad it's my turn right now."

Tenth-running Justin Grant's car went up in smoke with five laps remaining to bring out the final yellow. On the ensuing restart, Bacon had the buffer of a lapped car in Isaac Chapple between he and Ballou to break away with any increment of a gain he could pocket. Bacon was as precise as the arc of an Olympic high diver while Ballou got around Chapple with relative ease, but he was playing catchup now and Bacon had no intentions of getting run down on this night, holding a steady interval and never missing a beat down the stretch to win for the 22nd time in his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, tying him for 22nd on the all-time list alongside Rick Hood, Bubby Jones & Sam Sessions.

"We've struggled by my standards here this year," Bacon admitted. "We made some changes of what we thought would make it better and we really had a good racecar. I had a new shock on that we were trying tonight, and it was really good. We could stick anywhere we wanted at the beginning of the race and had a lot of grip into the center. That dictates your speed here, and I could carry momentum and not have to overdrive it to carry a lot of speed. We used our tire up a little bit, but that's kind of part of it here. I felt like if someone challenged me I could've gone a little bit harder, but it was nice to be able to get to the front as quick as we did."

Contingency award winners Friday night at the Terre Haute Action Track were Robert Ballou (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Josh Hodges (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Dave Darland (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Isaac Chapple (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher) and Carson Short (Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 14, 2018 - Terre Haute Action Track - Terre Haute, Indiana - "Jim Hurtubise Classic"

QUALIFYING: 1. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.621; 2. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-19.746; 3. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-19.877; 4. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-19.941; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.017; 6. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-20.062; 7. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-20.099; 8. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-20.126; 9. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-20.182; 10. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.184; 11. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-20.188; 12. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-20.197; 13. Carson Short, 21, RCM-20.211; 14. Nate McMillin, 24m, McMillin-20.234; 15. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-20.353; 16. Bill Rose, 6, Rose-20.399; 17. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-20.444; 18. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-20.579; 19. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-20.712; 20. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-20.788; 21. James Lyerla, 11, JL-20.801; 22. Shawn Arriaga, 56, Arriaga-21.010; 23. Gabe Griffith, 37, Griffith-22.112; 24. Patrick Budde, 90, Budde-22.413.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Ballou, 2. Thomas, 3. Short, 4. Courtney, 5. Rose, 6. Grant, 7. VanMeveren, 8. Arriaga. 2:45.44

COMPETITION SUSPENSION, INC. (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Hodges, 2. Bacon, 3. Windom, 4. Leary, 5. Chapple, 6. McMillin, 7. Andretti, 8. Griffith. NT

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Darland, 2. Bilbee, 3. McDougal, 4. Cottle, 5. Stockon, 6. Sussex, 7. Lyerla, 8. Budde. 2:47.59

FEATURE: (30 laps - starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (5), 2. Robert Ballou (6), 3. Chris Windom (7), 4. C.J. Leary (2), 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (12), 6. Shane Cottle (1), 7. Tyler Courtney (3), 8. Chase Stockon (4), 9. Stevie Sussex (11), 10. Jason McDougal (17), 11. Jarett Andretti (10), 12. Bill Rose (15), 13. Isaac Chapple (19), 14. James Lyerla (20), 15. Shawn Arriaga (21), 16. Brian VanMeveren (18), 17. Patrick Budde (23), 18. Carson Short (13), 19. Justin Grant (9), 20. Dave Darland (8), 21. Gabe Griffith (22), 22. Nick Bilbee (14), 23. Josh Hodges (16). NT
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**McMillin flipped during the second heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Leary, Laps 6-30 Bacon.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (12th to 5th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple

ROGER & BARB TAPY 13TH FASTEST QUALIFIER: Carson Short

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-K. Thomas-2062, 2-Courtney-2056, 3-Windom-2049, 4-Bacon-1817, 5-Darland-1769, 6-Stockon-1761, 7-Leary-1719, 8-Ballou-1687, 9-Grant-1678, 10-Chapple-1128.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 15 - Tri-State Speedway - Haubstadt, Indiana - "Haubstadt Hustler"