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

Phoenix, Arizona's Chad Boat captured Sunday's victory in the 'Pennsylvania Midget Week' opener at BAPS Motor Speedway. (Chad Warner Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

York Haven, Pennsylvania.....August 5, 2018 - Chad Boat's switch from white to black was akin to the flick of a light switch in Sunday night's USAC P1 Insurance National and Eastern "Pennsylvania Midget Week" finale at BAPS Motor Speedway.

There was no trepidation whatsoever, however. The Phoenix, Arizona driver and his team rolled the black car out of the hauler at the 3/8-mile dirt oval with a myriad of confidence after a palate of struggles plagued them in the white ride during recent trips to Mid-America and the launch of the Pennsylvania swing.

Boat led all 30 laps and was undeniably dominant from start to finish despite a lengthy open-red situation that may have seemed like a three-hour tour to him as he sat in his seat, anticipating the final six-lap stretch.

However, Boat, as he had done time and time again on each restart throughout the 30-lapper, motored away from the competition to win his eighth career series feature.

"Honestly, we've been struggling these last five races," Boat admitted. "We knew we had this car sitting here and we knew it was fast. We ran it the last race of 'Indiana Midget Week' at Kokomo in early June, so, we said 'why not?' Obviously, when you're struggling, you have to change something. We brought it out and it worked. We have a lot of confidence in our cars, so there wasn't any worry."

Boat immediately grabbed the lead on the start from his outside front row starting position, surging past point leader and pole sitter Logan Seavey on the initial lap to gain a lengthy advantage that would be the theme throughout the whole deal.

The first stoppage for a calamity occurred on the eighth lap when series Rookie and fifth-running Kyle Craker flipped between turns three and four, catching up Tyler Courtney and Spencer Bayston in the carnage as well. Miraculously, all three were able to restart.

Throughout the mid-portion, Boat partook in no less than eight starts and restarts following yellows and reds, but each time, it would play out in a similar manner with Boat running roughshod on the field and splitting away.

"I knew the start would be crucial with Logan (Seavey)," Boat recalled. "On a big track like this, clean air is huge. Not from the standpoint of changing the car setup, but just being able to run your own race and not being in traffic, being able to run anywhere you want and do whatever you want to do with the car. I knew that was going to be huge, and once I got out front, I just tried to run my race. Obviously, with the restarts, I couldn't see behind me to see how close or how far they were. I never really saw anyone, so I kind of knew I was okay. But all the restarts had me worried."

Chad Boat (middle) stands in BAPS Motor Speedway victory lane following his 'Pennsylvania Midget Week' win alongside 2nd place finisher Zeb Wise (right) and 3rd place Brady Bacon (left). (Chad Warner Photo)

The only one able to hang in Boat's neighborhood for more than a moment was Saturday night's Lanco winner Zeb Wise. On the lap 23 restart, he set up shop about four lengths from the tail of Boat, but Boat slammed that opening for opportunity and was gonzo once again.

Two laps later, the final stoppage came in the most serious accident of the night when ninth-place Kenny Miller flipped over the turn three guardrail, coming to a rest upside down nestled between the back side of the wall and the sponsor billboards. Though Miller was awake and alert when emergency personnel arrived at the scene, he was transported via ambulance for further observation.

The ensuing cleanup and the transportation of Miller led to a lengthy, 40-minute red flag period in which crews were permitted to tend to their machines to tinker and make adjustments that could alter the outcome of the race.

Boat knew what he had to do. He had to run six laps as hard as he could - six qualifying laps as he put it - to close out the contest. However, with all the talent behind the wrenches entering the fray to make their impact, it became an open invitation to get beat, as Boat points out. But, that didn't kill the vibe in the driver who's won seven of his eight career races in the month of August, three of which have come in the "Keystone State."

"I was pretty confident in what we had," Boat said. "But we made a couple changes just because Zeb was coming and, obviously, the track had changed since the beginning of the race, so we could tighten it up a little bit. The big thing was just keeping me comfortable where I could run that high line and make speed up there."

It didn't make a difference before or after the changes during the red, Boat was headed out of Pennsylvania with a fatter wallet and another trophy in his case as he once again throttled away from Wise on the restart, closing out a pretty flawless performance with a 1.812 second victory over Wise, Brady Bacon, Eastern point leader Alex Bright and Tanner Carrick.

Contingency award winners Sunday night at BAPS Motor Speedway were Spencer Bayston (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Andrew Layser (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Zeb Wise (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Kyle Craker (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & USAC EASTERN MIDGET RACE RESULTS: August 5, 2018 - BAPS Motor Speedway - York Haven, Pennsylvania - 4th Annual "Pennsylvania Midget Week"

QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-18.257; 2. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian- 18.298; 3. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall/Wood-18.305; 4. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-18.316; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-18.339; 6. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-18.345; 7. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-18.352; 8. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-18.428; 9. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-18.494; 10. Kyle Craker, 76E, FMR-18.584; 11. Andrew Layser, 35, Bright-18.803; 12. Shawn Jackson, 7, Jackson-18.834; 13. Adam Pierson, 74m, Mancini-18.856; 14. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-18.917; 15. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, BundyBuilt-18.965; 16. Kenny Miller, 23m, Miller-19.104; 17. Ryan Wilson, 29, Clover-19.696; 18. Jason Rice, 57, Rice-20.069; 19. Brett Conkling, 0NJ, Conkling-20.347; 20. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-NT; 21. Brett Arndt, 12, Heckman-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Bayston, 2. Bacon, 3. Craker, 4. Seavey, 5. Miller, 6. Conkling. 2:30.50

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Layser, 2. Bright, 3. Carrick, 4. Lynch, 5. Courtney, 6. Wilson, 7. Arndt. 2:29.98

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Wise, 2. Boat, 3. Grant, 4. Jackson, 5. Mitchell, 6. Rice. 2:28.72 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Chad Boat (2), 2. Zeb Wise (8), 3. Brady Bacon (3), 4. Alex Bright (7), 5. Tanner Carrick (5), 6. Andrew Layser (10), 7. Adam Pierson (12), 8. Spencer Bayston (6), 9. Logan Seavey (1), 10. Shawn Jackson (11), 11. Jason Rice (17), 12. Kenny Miller (15), 13. Kyle Craker (9), 14. Tyler Courtney (19), 15. Ethan Mitchell (14), 16. Brayton Lynch (13), 17. Ryan Wilson (16), 18. Brett Conkling (18), 19. Justin Grant (4). NT
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**Craker flipped on lap 8 of the feature. Miller flipped over the turn 3 guardrail on lap 25 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Boat.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Zeb Wise (8th to 2nd)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Kyle Craker

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-820, 2-Bacon-722, 3-Bayston-718, 4-Boat-717, 5-Grant-679, 6-Courtney-669, 7-Carrick-642, 8-Thomas-624, 9-Wise-523, 10-Ryan Robinson-470.

NEW USAC EASTERN MIDGET POINTS: 1-Bright-1138, 2-Layser-1093, 3-Jackson-990, 4-Miller-908, 5-Pierson-901, 6-Wilson-581, 7-Ryan Greth-578, 8-Conkling-558, 9-Rice-544, 10-John Anderika-456.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: September 5-6 - The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - Speedway, Indiana - Driven2SaveLives "BC39" presented by NOS Energy Drink

NEXT USAC EASTERN MIDGET RACE: September 7 - Linda's Speedway - Jonestown, Pennsylvania

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

Zeb Wise's first race following a collarbone injury two months ago resulted in his first career USAC P1 Insurance National Midget victory. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Newmanstown, Pennsylvania.....August 4, 2018 - For the past two months, Zeb Wise waited patiently on the sidelines with a broken collarbone, watching as the summer racing months passed him by without a steering wheel in his grasp.

The long-awaited return for the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget Rookie came Saturday night during the "Pennsylvania Midget Week" opener at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway.

To some, after a long layoff from any circumstance in life, the prevailing thought would be to ease your way back in, dip the those into the water per se, working back in at a tepid pace to get reacclimated to the setting.

No such reacclimating period existed for the young Angola, Indiana native as he slipped on his Clauson-Marshall Racing/Vision Collision - Priority Aviation/Spike/Stanton SR-11 like a comfortable pair of shoes right from the get-go, working his way past reigning series champ Spencer Bayston with 11 laps remaining to win his first career USAC feature.

"I really wasn't expecting to win tonight, to be completely honest," a humble Wise said. "I figured it would take a little time to get back used to. I've always felt comfortable at this track; I've ran a micro here. After qualifying, I thought we might have a shot and we were pretty solid in the heat race. Then, once I got into the lead in the feature, I got into a zone and didn't look back."

At the start, though, it was Kevin Thomas, Jr. racing into the lead from the outside of the front row, sliding in front of series point leader Logan Seavey to take the top spot on the opening lap. Thomas would break away for a half-straightaway lead by the third lap before the first of a brigade of stoppages put the action to a halt when Brayton Lynch and Kenney Johnson collided in turn three on the fourth lap.

Following the restart, Tyler Courtney and Brady Bacon walloped each other in turn four while battling for the fifth position, sending Courtney into a barrel roll. Not only would Courtney return the race, he would race his way back into the top-ten by the end of the 40-lap main event.

Bacon's misfortune came as part of a tumultuous event on lap 17 as Thomas worked lapped traffic, clipping Andrew Layser on the bottom of turn three and sending KTJ sideways toward the top of the track. Bacon had no room to escape the quagmire and flipped to produce another red before rejoining the fray.

That put Bayston in the lead where he would crack open a full-straightaway lead on the ensuing restart while Seavey, Wise and Grant tussled for the second, third and fourth positions as they worked to wade through the lapped traffic that formed a three-car buffer between Bayston and his nearest competition on the restart.

Wise pulled off the slider on Seavey in turn two on the 21st lap while Grant squeaked by the outside of Seavey for third exiting turn four a half-lap later. Grant's charge to the front would be stifled when the lapped car of Kevin Woody, Jr. slipped sideways in turn three. Grant tagged him, sending him into a series of flips that also collected top-five-running Timmy Buckwalter.

After a minor tangle between Chad Boat, Brenden Bright and Jason Rice between turns one and two on lap 28, finally, for Wise, the seas began to part with no lapped traffic separating he and Bayston on the restart.

"I followed Spencer for a little bit," Wise recalled. "I knew if we got into lapped traffic, I wasn't going to get by him. It was just so tight through traffic. Even if there are cars running the bottom, there's really no way to throw a slider. A slider would already be tight, let alone when there's a car on the bottom."

Wise put the full assault on Bayston, sliding him in turn three on lap 29 for the lead, momentarily. Bayston would return the favor in turn three on the following lap, however, Wise countered to the inside and recaptured the flag to secure the spot at the top of the leaderboard.

At 15 years, 8 months & 21 days old, Zeb Wise surpassed the late Bryan Clauson as the youngest driver to win a National feature in the history of USAC. Clauson won his first in a USAC Midget at the age of 16 years, 3 months and 23 days on October 8, 2005 at Ohio's Columbus Motor Speedway. (Michael Fry Photo)

Yet, at a place like this, there's no time to rest on your laurels, set the dials on cruise control and let it ride. Lanco is basically a dirt track jungle with rabid, ravenous racecar drivers salivating at the opportunity to eat you alive if given the opportunity.

Everybody and everything is in play at all times on this 1/8-mile speed bowl. Case in point: Courtney, Bacon and Grant are among the three drivers who flipped during the feature who recovered to finish in the top-ten, perhaps the only occasion of that occurring in USAC history. Courtney finished 10th. Bacon, who flipped on lap 16, finished 5th and Grant, who flipped on the 25th lap, came home with a 7th place finish.

"Anywhere we go with the USAC Midgets, there's no time to rest, especially with a veteran like Spencer," Wise said. "He's a great racecar driver. I knew he'd be there the whole time and, as soon as I passed him, he wanted it back. I think that goes for any racecar driver."

Bayston began reeling Wise in as the laps wore down to two to go, searching high low and middle as the leaders encroached constant traffic. Bayston peeked to the outside on the back straight while Wise refused to relinquish a single grain of sand, trying to split that grain between the two lappers, tapping Kenny Miller around who, in turn, collected Bayston.

Meanwhile, in one of the most amazing, unspeakable moments that you'll ever see, outside of a Travis Pastrana, Evel Knievel, Joie Chitwood or Tommy Bartlett show, occurred when Seavey put "four on the fence" and literally drove on the chain link, completely horizontal, between turns three and four to avoid the carnage unscathed.

On the final restart, Wise had clamped down the lead with vise grips as he drove to a one-second win over hard-charging USAC Eastern Midget point leader Alex Bright and USAC National Midget point leader Logan Seavey, followed by a career-best result for Adam Pierson while Brady Bacon rounded out the top-five.

The victory for Wise was also monumental in the realm of auto racing history as no driver that young has ever won a National Series feature under the USAC banner. At 15 years, 8 months and 21 days old, Wise surpasses the former record held by the late Bryan Clauson, who won his first in a USAC Midget at the age of 16 years, 3 months and 23 days on October 8, 2005 at Ohio's Columbus Motor Speedway.

Wise accomplished the feat in none other than the No. 39BC, the same number that was synonymous with Bryan, sports his initials and is owned by Bryan's father, Tim.

"I'm kind of speechless," Wise acknowledged. "I didn't even know Bryan had that record before me. To do it in the 39BC is very cool. He's the one who picked me, so I'm glad to get a win for him. I know he's watching up there and I'm sure he's happy. Thank you, Bryan, for everything you did for me."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway were Chad Boat (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Logan Seavey (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Andrew Layser (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Brayton Lynch (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 4, 2018 - Lanco's Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway - Newmanstown, Pennsylvania - 4th Annual "Pennsylvania Midget Week"

QUALIFYING: 1. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.129 (New Track Record); 2. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.136; 3. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-10.293; 4. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.324; 5. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-10.332; 6. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.376; 7. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall/Wood-10.446; 8. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.487; 9. Adam Pierson, 74m, Mancini-10.612; 10. Timmy Buckwalter, 29, Seymour-10.653; 11. Alex Bright, 77, Bright-10.667; 12. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-10.704; 13. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-10.836; 14. Kenny Miller, 23m, Miller-10.965; 15. Tommy Kunsman, 21, TK-11.014; 16. Kenney Johnson, 46, Johnson-11.053; 17. Kevin Woody, Jr., 0, Buckwalter-11.053; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, BundyBuilt-11.231; 19. Andrew Layser, 35, Bright-11.265; 20. Jason Rice, 57, Rice-11.365; 21. Shawn Jackson, 7, Jackson-11.428; 22. Brenden Bright, 92, Bright-11.544; 23. John Anderika, 96, Anderika-14.464; 24. Kyle Craker, 76E, FMR-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Boat, 2. Bayston, 3. Wise, 4. Grant, 5. Buckwalter, 6. Johnson, 7. Layser, 8. B. Bright. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Carrick, 3. Thomas, 4. A. Bright, 5. Miller, 6. Woody, 7. Rice. 1:46.75 (New Track Record)

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to feature) 1. Seavey, 2. Mitchell, 3. Bacon, 4. Lynch, 5. Pierson, 6. Kunsman, 7. Jackson. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Zeb Wise (3), 2. Alex Bright (11), 3. Logan Seavey (1), 4. Adam Pierson (9), 5. Brady Bacon (4), 6. Tanner Carrick (8), 7. Justin Grant (7), 8. Andrew Layser (19), 9. Spencer Bayston (6), 10. Tyler Courtney (5), 11. Chad Boat (13), 12. Kenny Miller (14), 13. Brayton Lynch (12), 14. Ethan Mitchell (18), 15. Tommy Kunsman (15), 16. Shawn Jackson (21), 17. Jason Rice (20), 18. Brenden Bright (22), 19. Timmy Buckwalter (10), 20. Kevin Woody, Jr. (17), 21. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2), 22. Kenney Johnson (16). NT
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**Courtney flipped on lap 4 of the feature. Bacon flipped on lap 16 of the feature. Grant flipped on lap 25 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-16 Thomas, Laps 17-28 Bayston, Laps 29-40 Wise.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Andrew Layser (19th to 8th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Brayton Lynch

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-769, 2-Bayston-655, 3-Bacon-648, 4-Grant-644, 5-Boat-639, 6-Courtney-628, 7-K. Thomas-614, 8-Carrick-573, 9-Ryan Robinson-470, 10-Jerry Coons, Jr.-464.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 5 - BAPS Motor Speedway - York Haven, Pennsylvania - "Pennsylvania Midget Week"

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

Logan Seavey earned his second career USAC P1 Insurance National Midget victory in the 'John Hinck Championship' Sunday night at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Sweet Springs, Missouri.....July 15, 2018 - Second, second, second. That's what the Logan Seavey personal box score read night after night following three consecutive runner-up finishes leading into Sunday's USAC P1 Insurance National Midget debut at the Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.

Late in the game, it appeared Seavey would have another bridesmaid honor to add to his resume. But with four laps to go, the Rookie sensation from Sutter, California was in prime position to pounce when the door cracked open, slipping by fellow Rookie Cole Bodine to win the "John Hinck Championship."

"I got déjà vu there at the end; it feels pretty good to be on the other end of that," Seavey said. "My teammate Tanner Carrick showed me the top early in the race in (turns) three and four. I was able to make it work for a while and then I felt like the bottom started coming back in three and four. I just went to the bottom and watched what Cole was doing and found a little mistake he was making. Down the straightaways, he was coming up just a little too high. I was really coming by the end of the straightaway and just tried to get as close as I could, then when I was there, I dove underneath him and got to the entry before he did. It's just one of those deals when you're leading, it's hard to try to change up what you're doing."

Upstart Bodine, who had a mere six stars in a full midget prior to Sweet Springs, took the lead from the pole position for the first four circuits. On the fifth lap, Carrick powered around the outside of Bodine, sneaking by at the start/finish line where he would lead the next eight laps.

Bodine looked the part of a veteran on the 13th lap when he got the bottom mo working and was able to reengage the battle with Carrick, beating the 2017 series Rookie of the Year to the entry of turn one to recapture the lead.

On the 19th lap, seventh-starting Seavey was running fourth, and on the chase, when teammate Carrick stumbled atop turn two. Seavey got by underneath as Carrick jumped back on the horse, gaining all the ground back on the high road where, in turns one and two on lap 24, he did his best impersonation of an airplane tipping its wing to the crowd at an air show. Somehow, someway, Carrick avoided getting upside down, dropping from sixth to third and out of contention for the victory.

Meanwhile, Seavey capitalized to third and, two laps later, jumped past Bacon to secure the second spot behind leader Bodine. When Kyle Craker backed into turn three to bring out the caution on lap 30, the question was whether Bodine would be sufficient on the restarts with the point leader on his rear bumper.

On the ensuing restart, Bodine left the door slightly ajar, leaving a car width of daylight open on the bottom, but Seavey wasn't able to get there in time to snag the position. One lap later, though, Jake Neuman got upside down between turns one and two, forcing another Bodine restart.

This time, though, Bodine was flawless, sticking a doorstop underneath the crack in the doorway, keeping Seavey from making any kind of move on the lap 32 restart. Yet, Seavey didn't stand and wait by idly. Instead, he remained within a car length of Bodine for the next four laps until Bodine entered turn one a step off the bottom on lap 37.

Seavey has led the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget standings for all but one race this season and now holds a commanding 100-point lead as he aims to become just the third driver to win the championship in his first season, following in the footsteps of Danny Caruthers (1971) and Christopher Bell (2013). (Rich Forman Photo)

Seavey was able to get a hand in the cookie jar and the lid would not be reclosed as the two hit the back straightaway. Bodine was unable to get back to the bottom of turn three with Seavey's front bumper occupying the bottom lane, allowing Seavey to have total control of his destiny as he passed Bodine and led the remaining four laps to win by eight-tenths of a second over Bodine, Ryan Robinson, Brady Bacon and Tyler Courtney.

Seavey is a student of the game and, and the Rookie had his nose in the books as he observed Bodine's tendencies that he felt he could eventually take advantage of if the opportunity arose.

"On the restarts, he would pull up right about the flag stand and I was able to shoot underneath him there," Seavey detailed. "He would close the door just in time and I couldn't quite get all the way there. I kind of studied him and watched when he was making mistakes. I'm sure there were a lot of nerves running through his head when he's about to win his first USAC race. I was able to pounce right at the end. I moved down at the right time. It's a huge advantage when you're in second. You get to search and you're able to watch the leader and see what he's doing. You can always go back to that line if you need it."

Seavey has led the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget standings for all but one race this season and now holds a commanding 100-point lead as he aims to become just the third driver to win the championship in his first season, following in the footsteps of Danny Caruthers (1971) and Christopher Bell (2013).

"I definitely feel like I'm still a rookie," Seavey admits. "But at the same time, I get into these fast racecars and Keith (Kunz) and Pete (Willoughby) believe in me to win these races. I just have to do my job and run good, smart races and I was able to do that tonight. "I do struggle with these racetracks the first time, but at a place like this, I don't feel like I'm at a disadvantage. For the most part, by feature time, I feel like I should be adapted. That's what these guys brought me over to do, to win races, so I have to figure it out."

Contingency award winners Sunday night at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex were Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Zach Daum (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner & Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher), Tyler Thomas (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Spencer Bayston (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Maria Cofer (Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 15, 2018 - Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex - Sweet Springs, Missouri - "John Hinck Championship"

QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.252 (New Track Record); 2. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-12.323; 3. Maria Cofer, 35, Petry/Goff-12.446; 4. Ryan Robinson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.447; 5. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-12.481; 6. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.534; 7. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.606; 8. Riley Kreisel, 93K, DKR-12.772; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-12.772; 10. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.784; 11. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.859; 12. Holley Hollan, 14, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.880; 13. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.894; 14. Hudson O'Neal, 51B, Neuman-12.899; 15. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall/Wood-12.911; 16. Wesley Smith, 44, Smith-12.935; 17. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.940; 18. Christopher Bell, 21, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.980; 19. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-12.985; 20. Karter Sarff, 21KS, Reynolds-12.989; 21. Jake Neuman, 3N, Neuman-13.008; 22. Kyle Craker, 76E, FMR-13.008; 23. Zach Daum, 5D, Daum-13.009; 24. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-13.017; 25. Holly Shelton, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.039; 26. Joe B. Miller, 51, Miller-13.056; 27. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.090; 28. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-13.124; 29. Tyler Nelson, 88, Nelson-13.142; 30. Chase Porter, 81, Shields-13.157; 31. Casey Shuman, 4A, RAMS-13.319; 32. Presley Truedson, 5T, Daum-13.496; 33. Chad Frewaldt, 4F, Frewaldt-13.576; 34. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-13.640; 35. Dave Darland, 21H, TKH-13.696; 36. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-13.697; 37. Clinton Boyles, 98, Boyles-13.892; 38. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-13.949; 39. Todd McVay, 89JR, McVay-NT; 40. Chad Winfrey, 321, Winfrey-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to feature) 1. Bacon, 2. Neuman, 3. Johnson, 4. Boat, 5. K. Thomas, 6. Seavey, 7. Frewaldt, 8. Nelson, 9. Shelton, 10. Boyles. 2:05.78 (New Track Record)

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to feature) 1. Courtney, 2. Craker, 3. McDougal, 4. Carrick, 5. O'Neal, 6. Miller, 7. Bell, 8. Porter, 9. Waterland, 10. Shapel. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to feature) 1. Daum, 2. Bodine, 3. Hendricks, 4. Bayston, 5. Klaasmeyer, 6. Grant, 7. Darland, 8. Cofer, 9. Shuman. 2:11.31

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to feature) 1. T. Thomas, 2. Sarff, 3. Coons, 4. Robinson, 5. Hollan, 6. Lynch, 7. Truedson, 8. Kreisiel, 9. Smith. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Shuman, 2. Truedson, 3. Frewaldt, 4. Darland, 5. Lynch, 6. Shapel, 7. Boyles, 8. Lynch. 2:18.45

SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer) 1. Seavey, 2. Grant, 3. Bell, 4. Klaasmeyer, 5. K. Thomas, 6. Kreisel, 7. Cofer, 8. Smith, 9. Hollan, 10. Shelton, 11. Shuman, 12. Miller, 13. Darland, 14. Nelson, 15. Truedson, 16. Frewaldt, 17. O'Neal, 18. Porter. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (7), 2. Cole Bodine (1), 3. Ryan Robinson (5), 4. Brady Bacon (4), 5. Tyler Courtney (3), 6. Christopher Bell (14), 7. Spencer Bayston (21), 8. Tanner Carrick (2), 9. Justin Grant (12), 10. Chad Boat (11), 11. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10), 12. Sam Johnson (13), 13. Zach Daum (19), 14. Jerry Coons, Jr. (22), 15. Brayton Lynch (24), 16. Tucker Klaasmeyer (8), 17. Holly Shelton (23), 18. Riley Kreisel (9), 19. Tyler Thomas (20), 20. Zane Hendricks (15), 21. Kyle Craker (18), 22. Jake Neuman (17), 23. Karter Sarff (16), 24. Jason McDougal (6). NT
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**Neuman flipped on lap 32 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Bodine, Laps 5-12 Carrick, Laps 13-36 Bodine, Laps 37-40 Seavey.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Spencer Bayston (21st to 7th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Zach Daum

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-696, 2-Bayston-596, 3-Boat-590, 4-Grant-587, 5-K. Thomas-583, 6-Bacon-580, 7-Courtney-572, 8-Carrick-511, 9-Robinson-470, 10-Coons-464.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 2 - Path Valley Speedway Park - Spring Run, Pennsylvania - "Pennsylvania Midget Week"

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

Justin Grant celebrates his first USAC P1 Insurance National Midget victory of the year Saturday night at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska. (Rich Forman Photo)

MIDWEST MIDGET CHAMPIONSHIP UNFOLDS IN GRANT FASHION

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Fairbury, Nebraska.....July 14, 2018 - Justin Grant busted his way into the win column Saturday night in the Inaugural Riverside Chevrolet "Midwest Midget Championship" presented by Westin Meats and Schmidt's Sanitation at Jefferson County Speedway to become the eighth different winner in the first nine races of the USAC P1 Insurance National Midget season.

It's admittedly been an up-and-down 2018 racing season for Justin Grant.

One year ago, the Ione, California native shot off the launching pad to become the first driver to win both the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car and USAC P1 Insurance National openers in a single season.

This year hasn't exactly taken off like a rocket ship, save a Silver Crown victory at April's "Sumar Classic" in Terre Haute, Ind. But, following an MSCS victory last Saturday in Putnamville, Ind. and now garnering his first USAC Midget win in nearly a calendar year, the tide may very well have turned for Grant to create his own new narrative and make this "The Summer of Justin."

"This year's been a bit of a struggle on kind of more than one front for me," Grant acknowledged. "We picked up a win last week in a sprint car and, hopefully, it feels like things are starting to turn around and I can start putting these cars where they need to be, up front."

Grant was a force right from the get-go, powering off the top in his Clauson-Marshall Racing - Matt Wood/NOS Energy Drink - Elk Grove Ford/Spike/Stanton SR-11 to the lead past pole sitter and teammate Tyler Courtney on the opening lap as Courtney, Kevin Thomas, Jr. and Logan Seavey tussled for the second spot in a three-wide manner just behind.

Just like the initial take off, Grant was smoking the field on each and every restart during the 40-lapper. The question that remained during the first half was whether anybody could overcome the deficit on a longer run, which never actually came to fruition.

Following a Jerry Coons, Jr. spin at the halfway point, Courtney was on Grant's tail for the ensuing restart, and three laps later, was peeking a nose underneath Grant entering turn one. Grant countered that action with an opposite and equal reaction, scooting down to the bottom line as he sensed the track, and the pressure, change.

"It's a little bit of both because you can tell when a lane's starting to slow down," Grant explained. "When I started out, I was on the top and I felt like (turns) three and four were starting to slow down. You start listening and looking for somebody coming on the other lane. I saw Sunshine slow on the bottom of one and two. When he pulled alongside me into one, I thought, 'okay it's time to abandon the top.' You kind of feel you need to anyway, and you're just waiting for confirmation to do it."

As Grant began to add some groundage between he and Courtney, Seavey came right at Courtney and the two made contact at the start/finish line on the 24th lap. Both continued without much interruption of any kind despite the close call.

Following a Zane Hendricks flip on lap 27, Grant once again was a monster on the restart, distancing himself from Courtney and Seavey as he played the balancing act of the high line in turns one and two and the bottom in three and four.

On the 30th go-around, Seavey managed to slip by Courtney by the width of a cat whisker between he, Courtney and the outside concrete at the stripe. Once Seavey found second, the race was off to find first as he roped in Grant in a fraction of a moment, eating up Grant's interval like a Number Muncher eats up an integer.

'This year's been a bit of a struggle on kind of more than one front for me,' Grant acknowledged. 'We picked up a win last week in a sprint car and, hopefully, it feels like things are starting to turn around and I can start putting these cars where they need to be, up front.' (Rich Forman Photo)

On the 34th lap, Seavey used a large run off four to set up slider on Grant. Seavey slid past Grant up to the turn two curb. Grant immediately ducked underneath as Seavey pulled the wheels up, losing ground to Grant who dove to the bottom in turn three with a two-car length advantage.

"I went to the bottom and that was pretty good for a while," Grant said. "I started thinking, 'hey that's getting awfully slow in the center and the bottom down here,' so I was thinking about moving and Seavey fired a slider at me into one. You know he can't get that big of a run off the bottom behind you, so you knew you had to come from the top. We were able to cross him over and fire back to the top. Then, I think it was pretty smooth sailing from there."

A yellow flag for an incident involving Hendricks and third-place Courtney with five laps remaining put a stoppage to the battle at the front just as the leaders were opening the door to lapped traffic.

While Grant was in the midst of dancing with the unknowns of lapped traffic, he was pursuing it admirably. Yet, with the caution lights reflecting off his visor, Grant now had the exodus of gridlock and a restart, which he had displayed his prowess on time and time again, awaiting. Not that the choice was his to make, but the preference for Grant in this situation was a toss-up.

"I wasn't sure what I wanted," Grant admitted. "I felt like we were getting through lapped traffic really well. I felt like the guys had the car pretty good through the slick and I could really peel off the cushion and get by some of those lapped guys. I don't know how well they were able to do that behind me, but I felt pretty confident in my car doing it. But you never know with lapped traffic. You're relying on those guys to keep everything straight and pointed in the right direction. It's a bit more comfortable to be out in the open water and be able to just run hard."

The latter would be true once again, and Grant, for the umpteenth time, stomped the throttle and stomped the competition following the restart, to swat away any possible challenge that Seavey might have in store. Grant cruised the top down the stretch to a half-second victory, the third of his USAC National Midget career, over Seavey, K. Thomas, Tanner Carrick and Brady Bacon.

"These midget races are tough, and these midget racers are really tough," Grant praised. "Late race restarts can cause some havoc and you got to make sure and nail them. We got one there at the end and we were going to be out of lapped traffic 'til the end. I had to nail the restart and get out in front of those guys because you can pretty easily fade back to fifth or sixth in a lap or two if you catch a slider on a restart. I knew I had to get off good enough to be able to clear anything that anybody threw at me. I was pretty confident once we cleared turn two that I would be able to stay out front. The car was really good, and I was confident in that."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Jefferson County Speedway included Brady Bacon (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Chad Boat (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Maria Cofer (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner) and Brayton Lynch (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 14, 2018 - Jefferson County Speedway - Fairbury, Nebraska - Inaugural Riverside Chevrolet "Midwest Midget Championship" presented by Westin Packaged Meats and Schmidt's Sanitation

QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.742 (New Track Record); 2. Spencer Bayston, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.747; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 63, Dooling-10.781; 4. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry/Goff-10.818; 5. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-10.893; 6. Justin Grant, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall/Wood-10.908; 7. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-10.959; 8. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-10.968; 9. Jason McDougal, 15, Petry/Goff-10.976; 10. Brady Bacon, 76m, FMR-11.008; 11. Tyler Thomas, 91T, Thomas-11.053; 12. Brayton Lynch, 1K, RKR-11.063; 13. Zane Hendricks, 27z, Tucker/Boat-11.091; 14. Sam Johnson, 72, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.103; 15. Kyle Craker, 76E, FMR-11.266; 16. Cole Bodine, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.320; 17. Maria Cofer, 35, Petry/Goff-11.358; 18. Lance Bennett, 10, Bennett-11.368; 19. Brett Becker, 2B, Becker-11.817; 20. Dustin Weland, 88w, Weland-11.837; 21. Glenn Waterland, 11c, Waterland-11.934; 22. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-12.067; 23. Curtis Spicer, 4, Spicer-12.715; 24. Olivia Bennett, 77, Bennett-13.635; 25. Dave Darland, 85, Central-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Bacon, 2. Courtney, 3. Seavey, 4. Bodine, 5. Hendricks, 6. B. Bennett, 7. Becker, 8. Coons, 9. Darland. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. Boat, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Bayston, 4. Carrick, 5. Johnson, 6. Weland, 7. Spicer, 8. Cofer. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer) 1. K. Thomas, 2. Grant, 3. McDougal, 4. Lynch, 5. Craker, 6. L. Bennett, 7. Waterland, 8. O. Bennett. NT

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-7 transfer) 1. Cofer, 2. Coons, 3. Weland, 4. L. Bennett, 5. Spicer, 6. B. Bennett, 7. Waterland, 8. Darland, 9. Becker. 1:59.34 (New Track Record)

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Logan Seavey (6), 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4), 4. Tanner Carrick (3), 5. Brady Bacon (10), 6. Jerry Coons, Jr. (7), 7. Jason McDougal (9), 8. Tyler Thomas (11), 9. Spencer Bayston (5), 10. Kyle Craker (15), 11. Cole Bodine (16), 12. Chad Boat (8), 13. Brayton Lynch (12), 14. Sam Johnson (14), 15. Tyler Courtney (1), 16. Maria Cofer (17), 17. Dustin Weland (19), 18. Glenn Waterland (20), 19. Lance Bennett (18), 20. Zane Hendricks (13), 21. Blaze Bennett (21), 22. Curtis Spicer (22). NT
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**Hendricks flipped on lap 27 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Grant.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Brady Bacon (10th to 5th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Brayton Lynch

NEW USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Seavey-616, 2-Boat-542, 3-K. Thomas-541, 4-Bayston-539, 5-Grant-538, 6-Bacon-509, 7-Courtney-505, 8-Carrick-457, 9-Coons-423, 10-Ryan Robinson-398.

NEXT USAC P1 INSURANCE MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 15 - Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex - Sweet Springs, Missouri - "John Hinck Championship"