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

Tyler Courtney won for the second-straight time and sixth overall in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway on Saturday night. (David Nearpass Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (September 26, 2020).........Tyler Courtney has gotten quite used to parking it in victory lane at Kokomo Speedway over the past few years.

His late-race duel with Brady Bacon during Saturday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature was the latest chapter added to his story as he prevailed with the winning move just three laps from the end to earn his sixth career series victory at the quarter-mile dirt oval, third all-time behind Kokomo greats Dave Darland (9) and Tony Elliott (8).

The two-time USAC National champion has seemingly been either snakebitten or victorious in USAC competition at Kokomo this season. He's encountered trouble three separate times while leading or running second this year alone.

During Indiana Midget Week, Courtney flipped while leading two-thirds of the way through. During Indiana Sprint Week, he clipped a turn two infield tire while leading and spun just three laps from the finish. In August's Sprint Car Smackdown IX opener, while running second, contact with a lapped car flattened his tire, putting him out of contention for victory once again.

The tide turned, so to speak, with his Smackdown finale score to close out the month of August and brought him into Saturday night's Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double as the most recent series winner at the track.

Starting fifth, Courtney was on the chase early as outside front row starter Brandon Mattox controlled the pace up front for the first six circuits. Bacon, meanwhile, made a charge from fourth to second on the opening lap and began to contend with Mattox for the race lead.

On lap six, Bacon presented a challenge to the outside, which caught Mattox's attention. Mattox noticed Bacon's nose to his outside and moved up a groove at the exit of turn four in response. Bacon countered back by shooting underneath Mattox on the entry into turn one to take over the point.

Courtney was on the move at that point as well, and on the 11th lap, overtook Mattox for the second position and began to lasso in Bacon as lapped traffic loomed in their path.

The two ringed the top around the tail end of lead lap traffic with Courtney making up just slivers of ground at a time while this year's track champion, Bacon, expertly navigated through the thick as he searched for his first career USAC National Sprint Car feature win at the track.

The highwire show in traffic came to a halt just after the halfway mark of the 30-lapper when 17th running Chase Johnson looped it between turns one and two to bring out the caution. At the resumption of activity, Courtney was now right on Bacon's rear bumper and sans traffic as far as the eye could see.

As Courtney pursued Bacon, Courtney stumbled on the turn four cushion on lap 21, but it didn't seem to deter his motive one iota as he charged back and set himself up for a slider in turn three on the 24th lap that stuck and sent him into the lead. That set off a classic duel between the two champs that proved unrelenting in the forthcoming laps.

Bacon used the bottom side of the racetrack while Courtney worked the top. Bacon ably pulled ahead at the exit of turns two and four on laps 25 and 26 each time with Courtney utilizing the high side momentum to beat him to the line each time. Bacon's relentlessness brought him back to the lead on the 27th lap as he surged to the front off the low line in turn two to hold a two car length advantage with three to go.

However, with the low line occupied by the two cars at the tail end of the field - last week's Haubstadt Hustler winner Kendall Ruble and USAC West Coast star Chase Johnson - Bacon was forced to go high in turn three on lap 28. Courtney went outside-in, following Bacon into turn three, then ducking underneath off turn four to slip by Bacon for the spot.

Bacon continued the chase that now ventured to the top where Courtney had roamed for much of the event, hanging in stride with Courtney just a couple car lengths back on the final lap. Courtney threaded the needle in turn two to the outside of Johnson and Critter Malone and just inside the outer retaining wall. Malone took evasive action to avoid contact as he was the meat in the middle of the sandwich. Bacon was just behind Malone at that exact moment and the two made bumper-to-bumper contact, impeding Bacon's momentum and ending an opportunity for one last effort for the victory.

Courtney closed it out with a 0.764 sec. interval over Bacon at the finish line with Chase Stockon third. Brandon Mattox earned a career-best fourth-place finish while Shane Cottle rounded out the top-five.

For Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), it was the 29th victory of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, equaling him with Robert Ballou for 14th all-time in his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Turbo - CSI - ZMax - Schoenfeld/Spike/Rider Chevy.

"The track changed a lot there from the start to the end," Courtney noted. "Brady started making the bottom work there at the end, but luckily, lapped traffic kind of played in my favor. This car really rolls around this place nice and it just makes my job so easy."

Tyler Courtney's win Saturday night at Kokomo was the 29th of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, equaling him with Robert Ballou for 14th all-time. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) extended his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point lead to 30 over ninth-place Kokomo finisher Chris Windom entering the October 3 season finale at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway. However, after leading a race-high 18 laps, this was one the two-time series champ felt slipped through his fingers aboard his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear - DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy.

"I felt we had a better car," Bacon readily admitted. "I got stuck out in the lead as kind of a sitting duck. I contemplated going to the bottom but it's kind of hard to leave what you're doing. We actually got the lead back and lapped traffic just kind of clogged the hole and (Courtney) was able to keep the lead. I'm disappointed to run second again but there's obviously a bright side with us gaining a lot of points for the championship."

Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) remained in the title hunt, just 40 points behind Bacon in third while piloting his KO Motorsports/Hutson John Deere - Ravens Manufacturing - AMSOIL/Velocity/Fisher Chevy.

"We've got a real fast hot rod. It's just hard to gain any points on these guys when they keep finishing in front of you," Stockon stated.

Dave Darland's fast qualifying run during Saturday's Fatheadz Eyewear time trials at Kokomo was the 62nd of his career, putting him just three behind Tom Bigelow for the all-time series lead.

While battling for the second position on the opening lap of the semi-feature, driver Tim Creech ramped over the right rear tire of another car and barrel-rolled into the turn four wall and fence. He was transported for further evaluation.

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 26, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.235; 2. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble/Martin-13.318; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.321; 4. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.323; 5. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-13.399; 6. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.465; 7. Chase Johnson, 22, Goodnight-13.517; 8. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-13.563; 9. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-13.579; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.584; 11. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.626; 12. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-13.633; 13. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.715; 14. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.770; 15. Brandon Long, 02, Long-13.801; 16. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-13.837; 17. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-13.841; 18. Cole Bodine, 57x, Bodine/Crow-13.995; 19. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-14.005; 20. Davey Ray, 14AJ, FattFro-14.068; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.838.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.068; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.126; 3. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.213; 4. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.219; 5. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-13.229; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.250; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.282; 8. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.296; 9. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.349; 10. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-13.446; 11. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.448; 12. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.464; 13. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.488; 14. Max Adams, 57, Hazen-13.534; 15. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.636; 16. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-13.911; 17. Brayden Clark, 42G, Clark/Jackson-14.053; 18. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-14.080; 19. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-14.180; 20. Jack James, 99, James-14.279; 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.437.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Tim Creech, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Clinton Boyles, 8. Brandon Long, 9. Matt McCarthy, 10. Ryan Barr, 11. Robert Bell. 2:16.297

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Critter Malone, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Kendall Ruble, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Chase Jones, 8. Korbyn Hayslett, 9. Cole Bodine, 10. Davey Ray. 2:16.623

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Scotty Weir, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Carson Short, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 9. Tye Mihocko, 10. Brayden Clark, 11. Braydon Cromwell. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Mario Clouser, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Max Adams, 6. Brad Greenup, 7. Zack Pretorius, 8. Jack James, 9. Ricky Lewis. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Matt McCarthy, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Zack Pretorius, 5. Braydon Cromwell, 6. Ryan Barr, 7. Brayden Clark, 8. Jack James, 9. Robert Bell, 10. Davey Ray. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Carson Short, 4. Kendall Ruble, 5. Clinton Boyles, 6. Max Adams, 7. Jake Swanson, 8. Cole Bodine, 9. Brandon Long, 10. Chase Jones, 11. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 12. Zack Pretorius, 13. Korbyn Hayslett, 14. Tye Mihocko, 15. Ricky Lewis, 16. Matt McCarthy, 17. Brad Greenup, 18. Justin Grant, 19. Tim Creech. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (5), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Chase Stockon (3), 4. Brandon Mattox (2), 5. Shane Cottle (1), 6. Robert Ballou (9), 7. Kyle Cummins (7), 8. Dave Darland (6), 9. Chris Windom (18), 10. Justin Grant (21*), 11. Clinton Boyles (20), 12. C.J. Leary (12), 13. Logan Seavey (14), 14. Scotty Weir (10), 15. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 16. Mario Clouser (22), 17. Carson Short (13), 18. Jadon Rogers (19), 19. Chase Johnson (16), 20. Max Adams (23), 21. Critter Malone (17), 22. Kendall Ruble (11), 23. Thomas Meseraull (8). NT

* represents a provisional starter

**Ricky Lewis flipped during the fourth heat. Tim Creech flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-6 Brandon Mattox, Laps 7-23 Brady Bacon, Laps 24-26 Tyler Courtney, Lap 27 Brady Bacon, Laps 28-30 Tyler Courtney.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,658, 2-Chris Windom-1,628, 3-Chase Stockon-1,618, 4-Justin Grant-1,550, 5-C.J. Leary-1,542, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,302, 7-Dave Darland-1,214, 8-Carson Short-1,210, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,111, 10-Robert Ballou-1,067.

FINAL INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-45, 2-Tanner Thorson-16, 3-Cannon McIntosh-15, 4-Brady Bacon-15, 5-Buddy Kofoid-15, 6-Clinton Boyles-14, 7-Logan Seavey-13, 8-Robert Ballou-12, 9-Kyle Cummins-12, 10-Tyler Courtney-11.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-184, 2-Tanner Thorson-99, 3-Shane Cottle-95, 4-Kyle Cummins-90, 5-Logan Seavey-89, 6-Robert Ballou-85, 7-Justin Grant-84, 8-Cannon McIntosh-84, 9-Brady Bacon-76, 10-Andrew Layser-65.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 3, 2020 - Lawrenceburg Speedway - Lawrenceburg, Indiana - 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval - Fall Nationals

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Double Double ProSource Passing Master: Chris Windom

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Dave Darland

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Scotty Weir

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chris Windom (18th to 9th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Jake Swanson

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Chris Windom

ProSource Hard Work Award: Max Adams

BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Shane Cottle

Schoenfeld Ahead of the Game Award: Chris Windom

MPI BCForever Up on the Wheel Highest Finishing Semi-Feature Transfer: Clinton Boyles

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

C.J. Leary led the final three laps to score Friday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at Gas City I-69 Speedway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Gas City, Indiana (September 25, 2020).........C.J. Leary saved up a little bit of late-race magic en route to Friday night's James Dean Classic USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at Indiana's Gas City I-69 Speedway, night one of the Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double.

Taking full advantage of a second wind provided by a caution with four laps remaining, Leary swept around the outside of Justin Grant exiting turn four on lap 28 of the 30-lap feature to secure and lock down the lead for good, piloting the Leary Racing/Valvoline - Gray Auto - Leary Construction/DRC/1-Way Chevy to his third series win of the year and the 12th of his career, tying him with Eric Gordon for 46th all-time.

One year removed from his championship campaign, Leary's season has taken a number of turns, bringing him into Friday night's event without a crew chief and with a recently repaired car that had taken a hard tumble on the opening lap at Terre Haute exactly one week earlier.

Affixed with a new front clip on his family-owned ride, the conclusion looked just like old times - hoisting the trophy and celebrating the thrill of victory for the second time with USAC at Gas City following an Indiana Sprint Week win at the quarter-mile dirt oval in 2017.

"This No. 30 car was on rails tonight," Leary exclaimed. "We're crew-chiefless tonight. My dad's not here; it's just me and some good friends. To come out and win and to beat Justin is great; he was really good there. Somehow, I was making the middle work. I found that in lapped traffic while trying to slide myself and hitting some moisture on exit."

Although Leary started from the pole position, he wound up chasing for much of the race while outside front row starter Dave Darland jumped out the advantage to lead the first seven laps.

An early caution put an end to July's Gas City USAC Sprint winner, Logan Seavey, who suffered a flat left rear and required a ride on a hook back to the pits after contact with Brady Bacon while battling for the fifth position on the sixth lap.

Meanwhile, Justin Grant, slated to start fourth, but penalized two rows for being late to the track prior to the race, spurted from his new eighth starting spot following the restart into the lead on the eighth go-around underneath Darland on the back straightaway.

Leary charged back by Darland on the 10th lap for the second spot while Bacon moved to third in the running order on the 15th circuit for third. At that point, Grant held a near two second lead, but as the leaders began making headway in traffic, the interval Grant held began to be whittled down slowly, but surely.

Grant's lead over Leary and Bacon was sliced in half to a second with under 10 laps remaining, with tenths ticking off each lap thereafter. Nonetheless, time was running short, and hope for another shot for either Leary or Bacon at Grant was withering away and may not have been in the cards without Grant's ultimate nemesis on this night - the yellow flag.

The caution flew for seventh running Kyle Cummins who was stopped atop turn two with four laps to go, setting up a dash for the win amongst the leaders without the attendance of other foes in front of them - something that Leary, in second at the time, was mightily thankful for although he didn't exactly know how many trips around the circumference of the track were left.

"My RACEceiver batteries died, so I had no idea how many laps there were to go, but I felt like the race was almost over," Leary revealed. It definitely bunched us up and we got a good run off two. Justin kind of threw a curveball at me. I thought he was going to slide himself like what I did (in turn three), but he tried to run the bottom and we just got a good run through the middle (of turns three and four). Typically, we're not very good right in the slick, but this was really good all night. I lost the lead at the start and I felt like it just wasn't our night. To drop back and come back, it's a great feeling."

Immediately after taking the spot front Grant on the outside, Leary locked up the bottom, shutting the door at the entry to turn one. From there, the race belonged to Leary who closed out 0.539 sec. margin of victory over Grant, Bacon, Chase Stockon and KSE Racing Products Hard Charger, Chris Windom, who started 22nd and rounded out the top-five. Interestingly, the top-five feature finishers also occupy the top-five positions in the series point standings.

Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) is proud of where his car is at this point with his best finish in the series in nearly two months, but the disappointment was hard to hide after leading a race-high 20 of the 30 laps in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - TOPP Industries - The Bow Foundation/Maxim/Claxton Chevy.

Friday night's Gas City victory was C.J. Leary's third USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win of the year and the 12th of his career, tying him with Eric Gordon for 46th all-time. (David Nearpass Photo)

"The car is back where it needs to be," Grant said. "It was fast all night and we've got our motors running and have everything operating how it should be. We're back fighting for wins, but I just let that one get away at the end. I just made bad decisions there on the restart. I'm still a bit salty at myself over it."

Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) emerged as the point leader by a mere five points over Chris Windom following Friday night's event as he chases a third career USAC National Sprint Car title after previous reaches of the pinnacle in both 2014 and 2016. Despite a podium run, Bacon felt it was performance that could've been smoother in his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear - DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy.

"I'm actually a little disappointed with third tonight," Bacon expressed. "We had the third best car, but figured we'd be a little better than that tonight. We'll definitely take it. We had a solid night all night."

Earlier Friday, Bacon recorded the 37th fast qualifying time of his USAC National Sprint Car career, passing Bryan Clauson to move into fifth all-time alongside 1968-70-75 series champion, Larry Dickson.

Three drivers made their first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature starts Friday night at Gas City: 17th place finisher Brandon Long (Wichita Falls, Texas), 19th place finisher Ricky Lewis (Ventura, Calif.) and Evan Mosley (Lapel, Ind.) who ran 20th.

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 25, 2020 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - James Dean Classic / Indiana Donor Network Driven2SaveLives Double Double

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-12.346; 2. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.359; 3. Brandon Long, 02, Long-12.387; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.411; 5. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-12.428; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.428; 7. Chase Johnson, 22, Goodnight-12.458; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.542; 9. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.609; 10. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble/Martin-12.676; 11. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-12.714; 12. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-12.728; 13. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-12.731; 14. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.734; 15. Slater Helt, 22s, Simon/Helt-12.747; 16. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-12.778; 17. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-12.919; 18. Jack James, 99, James-13.026; 19. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-13.040; 20. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.055; 21. Tayte Williamson, 20R, Williamson-13.428; 22. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-14.702.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.195; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.253; 3. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-12.306; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.378; 5. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.436; 6. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-12.465; 7. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-12.519; 8. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-12.520; 9. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-12.521; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.523; 11. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-12.525; 12. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-12.526; 13. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-12.659; 14. Max Adams, 57, Hazen-12.708; 15. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-12.728; 16. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-12.736; 17. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-12.778; 18. Brad Greenup, 4G, Greenup-12.960; 19. Brayden Clark, 42G, Clark/Jackson-12.993; 20. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Shipley-13.061; 21. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-13.738.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Chase Johnson, 5. Korbyn Hayslett, 6. Brandon Long, 7. Slater Helt, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Ryan Barr, 10. Tayte Williamson, 11. Mario Clouser.

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Kendall Ruble, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Matt McCarthy, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Matt McDonald, 9. Jack James, 10. Zack Pretorius, 11. Kevin Thomas Jr.

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Scotty Weir, 5. Evan Mosley, 6. Tim Creech, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 8. Cole Ketcham, 9. Brayden Clark, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Robert Bell.

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Carson Short, 6. Ricky Lewis, 7. Max Adams, 8. Brad Greenup, 9. Dustin Ingle, 10. Kyle Shipley.

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Dustin Ingle, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Matt McDonald, 4. Ryan Barr, 5. Matt Goodnight, 6. Jack James, 7. Braydon Cromwell, 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 9. Robert Bell, 10. Brayden Clark, 11. Tayte Williamson.

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Carson Short, 4. Ricky Lewis, 5. Brandon Long, 6. Evan Mosley, 7. Korbyn Hayslett, 8. Tim Creech, 9. Mario Clouser, 10. Matt McCarthy, 11. Max Adams, 12. Cole Ketcham, 13. Matt McDonald, 14. Ryan Barr, 15. Zack Pretorius, 16. Slater Helt, 17. Dustin Ingle, 18. Thomas Meseraull.

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (1), 2. Justin Grant (8), 3. Brady Bacon (5), 4. Chase Stockon (3), 5. Chris Windom (22), 6. Shane Cottle (15), 7. Dave Darland (2), 8. Jadon Rogers (4), 9. Robert Ballou (18), 10. Mario Clouser (23*), 11. Carson Short (17), 12. Brandon Mattox (10), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 14. Chase Johnson (16), 15. Scotty Weir (19), 16. Kyle Cummins (7), 17. Brandon Long (11), 18. Clinton Boyles (9), 19. Ricky Lewis (14), 20. Evan Mosley (21), 21. Kendall Ruble (20), 22. Logan Seavey (6), 23. Anton Hernandez (13). NT

* represents a provisional starter

**Kyle Shipley flipped during the fourth heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Dave Darland, Laps 8-27 Justin Grant, Laps 28-30 C.J. Leary.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,580, 2-Chris Windom-1,575, 3-Chase Stockon-1,544, 4-Justin Grant-1,507, 5-C.J. Leary-1,503, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,269, 7-Carson Short-1,179, 8-Dave Darland-1,154, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,051, 10-Robert Ballou-1,004.

INDIANA DONOR NETWORK DRIVEN2SAVELIVES DOUBLE DOUBLE PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-23, 2-Brady Bacon-13, 3-Tanner Thorson-13, 4-Buddy Kofoid-11, 5-Shane Cottle-9, 6-Robert Ballou-9, 7-Justin Grant-8, 8-Kyle Cummins-8, 9-Carson Short-6, 10-Clinton Boyles-5.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-162, 2-Tanner Thorson-96, 3-Shane Cottle-95, 4-Kyle Cummins-86, 5-Justin Grant-84, 6-Robert Ballou-82, 7-Logan Seavey-77, 8-Brady Bacon-74, 9-Cannon McIntosh-72, 10-Andrew Layser-65.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 26, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Donor Network / Driven2SaveLives Double Double

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brandon Mattox

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.

KSE Racing Products Hard Charger: Chris Windom (22nd to 5th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kevin Thomas Jr.

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer / Wilwood Tough Brake Award: Korbyn Hayslett

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Ricky Lewis

ProSource Hard Work Award: Chris Windom

BC Saved 5 Lives 5th place Midget Feature Finisher: Chris Windom

Schoenfeld Ahead of the Game Award: Ricky Lewis

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

Kendall Ruble earned his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win, and the $10,000 check, Saturday night in the Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State Speedway.
(David Nearpass Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Haubstadt, Indiana (September 19, 2020).........In a year that had produced one first-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner at Tri-State Speedway this past June, lightning struck twice at the Haubstadt, Ind. quarter-mile dirt oval Saturday night when Kendall Ruble reached victory lane for the first time, collecting $10,000 at the 13th annual Haubstadt Hustler co-sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series.

Ruble (Vincennes, Ind.) joined Stephen Schnapf as the second first-time winner with the series this season, and became the sixth-ever driver to earn his first USAC National Sprint Car feature triumph at Tri-State along with Schnapf, Daron Clayton (2006), Hunter Schuerenberg (2008), Blake Fitzpatrick (2010) and Carson Short (2016).

Prior to Ruble, the most recent driver to win his first career USAC National Sprint Car in a 40-lapper was current USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader, Chris Windom, who won at Pennsylvania's Big Diamond Speedway in 2010.

Making just his eighth career USAC National Sprint Car feature start, Ruble lined up fourth on the starting grid for the 40-lap feature event aboard his Ruble-Martin Motorsports/Martin's Auto Care - Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance/DRC/SPEC Chevy. Meanwhile, he had two-time Haubstadt Hustler winner Kyle Cummins and 2016 TSS USAC winner Chase Stockon in front of him, plus three-time Haubstadt Hustler winner Kevin Thomas Jr. to his inside in the second row.

To the surprise of many, by the exit of turn two on the opening lap, Cummins had dropped from the pole to third as Stockon raced around the outside to the lead while Ruble pulled a wheel stand as he shot underneath Cummins on the back straightaway to move to second.

Early on, Ruble found the bottom of the racetrack to his liking, and on the third lap, edged Stockon to lead by a car length at the stripe. Stockon, however, reestablished the grip through the middle and cruised back around Ruble to retake the position. Ruble, nonetheless, never wavered from his stranglehold of the bottom.

"In the middle and on the top, if you keep your momentum up around here, you can be very fast," Ruble explained. "But on the bottom, if you can come off the corner here, you're going to be really fast. Also, it kind of helps you protect against people from passing you entering the corner."

Ruble continually badgered Stockon following a caution for Jonathan Vennard, who spun sideways in turn two on the seventh lap where he was then clipped by Chayse Hayhurst, resulting in terminal front end damage to Vennard's ride. Ruble was able to pull even with Stockon several times but was unable sew up the spot, and on lap 13, Stockon closed the door on him in turn one as traffic loomed, securing his escape from the clutches of Ruble for the time being.

"When Stockon got in front of me, he was pretty stinking fast, and he kept pulling on me and pulling on me," Ruble recalled. "With me being a little less experienced driver, every time I got up to lapped traffic, I was hoping somebody would mess up or slow him down a little bit. But, with him being more experienced, he always seemed to get through it a little better than I was."

Following that early caution, Ruble had to talk himself into calming down and letting the race come to him without forcing the issue. That, plus a bit of an adjustment on the shocks, allowed Ruble to stalk Stockon through the halfway point and onto the 31st lap where Ruble stuck it in turns one and two while Stockon swung just a bit wide at the exit of turn two.

As Ruble shot underneath for the lead, Stockon kissed the back straightaway concrete with his right side tires, which scrubbed his speed and also opened the door for Cummins to pounce for the second spot with an inside turn four pass of Stockon.

With six laps remaining, as Ruble tried to negotiate Dakota Jackson on the tail end of the lead lap, Ruble misjudged just slightly, closing a tad too fast on corner entry in turn one, which sent his car straight up the hill just as Cummins peeked underneath to overtake Ruble for the lead. Ruble recalibrated and immediately went to the outside of Cummins exiting turn two while Cummins' surge became stifled as he tried to maneuver under Jackson on the back straightway.

When Cummins and Ruble entered the bottom of turn three side-by-side just moments later, the two grazed wheels with Ruble's left rear tire and Cummins' right rear rubber grazing sidewalls against each other. That sent Cummins into a 90-degree spin backward up the track that also collected 15th running Dave Darland and 16th place Carson Short. Kevin Thomas Jr., running fourth at the moment, also careened into Short, but kept on going, albeit briefly as he pulled into the infield under the ensuing yellow flag, putting him out of the race and out of contention for a record fourth career Haubstadt Hustler victory.

"It was a little bit of racing deal," Ruble admitted. "I could hear an engine behind me and I knew it was either Cummins or Stockon. Once I saw the red nose, I knew it was Cummins. I think he was trying to not nudge me but trying to scare me away from the bottom a little bit and I came down a little bit too much. I got into him, unlike I should've, and I feel pretty bad about that. Not the way I wanted to do it, but here we are."

With a clear path ahead, and just seven laps remaining, Ruble could feel his heart pounding like a jackhammer under his firesuit. Just six laps now stood in the way of him becoming the 258th different driver to win a USAC National Sprint Car race. Once the green flag dropped, Ruble showed no nerves in keeping Stockon at bay lap-after-lap with Stockon seemingly following and setting up one final shot at Ruble and the race lead.

On the final circuit, Stockon maintained a two car length gap behind Ruble, and when the time came to fire his shot, Stockon made a run at him to the bottom of turn three. However, Ruble nailed the bottom perfectly, leaving no gap for Stockon to take advantage of as he pitched his car sideways and slid up the racetrack with Ruble closing out the victory by a 0.830 sec. margin over Stockon.

Prior to Ruble, the most recent driver to win his first career USAC National Sprint Car in a 40-lapper was current USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader, Chris Windom, who won at Pennsylvania's Big Diamond Speedway in 2010. (David Nearpass Photo)

Jadon Rogers finished a career-best 3rd as he extended his lead in the series' Rookie of the Year race to 55 points. Robert Ballou earned KSE Racing Products/The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger honors by advancing from his 18th starting position to finish 4th. Critter Malone earned Hard Work on his way to a 5th place finish, which was his first top-five result with the series since a November 2006 prelim night for the Oval Nationals at Perris (Calif.) Auto Speedway.

With his late-race surge to a 6th place finish, Chris Windom extended his point lead in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship standings from two to eight over Brady Bacon with only three events remaining in the 2020 season. Windom's charge included a pass of Bacon for the 7th position just three laps from the end of the 40-lap feature. Bacon finished 8th. Runner-up finisher Stockon is third in the standings, just 36 markers out of the lead.

The night's most serious accident occurred on the final lap of the first heat race where Stan Beadles and Brandon Mattox were battling for the fourth and final transfer spot. Beadles ramped over the right rear tire of Mattox at the exit of turn four and slammed into the outside retaining wall along the front straightaway. The contact ignited a fire which engulfed Beadles' car in flames from which he ultimately escaped under his own power.

In the aftermath, Beadles was attended to by medical personnel, then loaded into an ambulance via stretcher and transported to Ascension St Vincent Hospital in nearby Evansville, Ind. and flown via helicopter to a burn center in Indianapolis for further treatment. A report from the family on social media stated that Beadles had suffered second degree burns to his hands, arms, knees, and face in the accident.

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 19, 2020 - Tri-State Speedway - Haubstadt, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.739; 2. Kendall Ruble, 17K, Ruble/Martin-13.839; 3. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.870; 4. Stephen Schnapf, 38, Williams-13.967; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.967; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.008; 7. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-14.045; 8. Kent Schmidt, 5K, KO-14.071; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-14.150; 10. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-14.169; 11. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-14.221; 12. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.225; 13. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-14.248; 14. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-14.300; 15. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-14.360; 16. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-14.389; 17. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.442; 18. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-14.458; 19. Stan Beadles, 84, Beadles-14.498; 20. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-14.611; 21. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.638; 22. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.658; 23. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.738; 24. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-14.751; 25. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-14.783; 26. Critter Malone, 7, Seven-14.835; 27. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-14.843; 28. Ryan Bond, 7R, Bond-15.083; 29. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-15.216; 30. Sam Scott, 7s, Scott-15.464; 31. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-16.408.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kendall Ruble, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Clinton Boyles, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Chayse Hayhurst, 8. Stan Beadles. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Kent Schmidt, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Jonathan Vennard, 8. Critter Malone. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Stephen Schnapf, 4. Carson Short, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Sam Scott, 7. Robert Bell, 8. Ryan Bond. 2:18.996

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Austin Williams, 7. Chris Phillips. 2:20.483

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Dakota Jackson, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Critter Malone, 4. Aric Gentry, 5. Shane Cottle, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Chayse Hayhurst, 8. Sam Scott, 9. Austin Williams, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Logan Seavey, 12. Jonathan Vennard, 13. Ryan Bond, 14. Robert Bell. 2:48.979

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kendall Ruble (4), 2. Chase Stockon (2), 3. Jadon Rogers (14), 4. Robert Ballou (18), 5. Critter Malone (19), 6. Chris Windom (8), 7. Justin Grant (7), 8. Brady Bacon (12), 9. C.J. Leary (10), 10. Kyle Cummins (1), 11. Brandon Mattox (13), 12. Kent Schmidt (6), 13. Dave Darland (5), 14. Anton Hernandez (16), 15. Dakota Jackson (17), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 17. Carson Short (15), 18. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (22), 19. Chayse Hayhurst (24), 20. Aric Gentry (20), 21. Clinton Boyles (9), 22. Shane Cottle (21), 23. Jonathan Vennard (23), 24. Stephen Schnapf (11). NT

**Stan Beadles flipped during the first heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Chase Stockon, Lap 3 Kendall Ruble, Laps 4-30 Chase Stockon, Laps 31-40 Kendall Ruble.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,511, 2-Brady Bacon-1,503, 3-Chase Stockon-1,475, 4-Justin Grant-1,430, 5-C.J. Leary-1,425, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,228, 7-Carson Short-1,136, 8-Dave Darland-1,092, 9-Kyle Cummins-1,012, 10-Logan Seavey-971.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-139, 2-Shane Cottle-86, 3-Tanner Thorson-83, 4-Kyle Cummins-78, 5-Justin Grant-76, 6-Logan Seavey-76, 7-Robert Ballou-73, 8-Cannon McIntosh-69, 9-Andrew Layser-65, 10-Chase Stockon-63.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 25, 2020 - Gas City I-69 Speedway - Gas City, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Indiana Donor Network-Driven2SaveLives Double Double / James Dean Classic

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Cummins

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kendall Ruble

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Dakota Jackson

KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (18th to 4th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Dave Darland

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Chayse Hayhurst

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Jonathan Vennard

ProSource Hard Work Award: Critter Malone

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

Chris Windom became the first 4-time winner of the Jim Hurtubise Classic Friday night at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Terre Haute, Indiana (September 18, 2020).........In the long, storied history of the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, few drivers have had the amount of success that Chris Windom has accrued in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition at the half-mile dirt oval.

Friday night at Terre Haute, Windom pounced early, shooting to the lead on the opening lap from his starting spot inside the second row, then carved his way through a gridlock of traffic to become the first four-time winner of the Jim Hurtubise Classic, surpassing the three accumulated by Jack Hewitt in 1990-91-95.

"With how good he was here, that's pretty special." Windom reflected. "I honestly didn't know that could be broken tonight, so that was really cool to find that out after the race. This place has been so good to me throughout my whole career. I love coming here and racing. We've always had a fast car here all those years."

Windom (Canton, Ill.) also became just the sixth driver to win at least six USAC Sprint Car features at Terre Haute. Gary Bettenhausen and Hewitt each won eight while his half-a-dozen ranks right alongside Bubby Jones, Sheldon Kinser and J.J. Yeley for third all-time at the track.

Furthermore, the triumph marked Windom's 28th overall career USAC National Sprint Car victory, surpassing Kevin Thomas Jr. to move him to 15th all-time with Tyler Courtney, Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley.

Windom had previously won the Hurtubise Classic in 2011-16-17, the latter of which came during his USAC National Sprint Car championship season. Windom is mired in a similar dogfight this year as well, and his performance at Terre Haute elevated him into the series point lead by just two markers over Brady Bacon with four events remaining over the next three weekends.

It was evident from the word "go" that Windom had turned on the proverbial switch on this night. After qualifying fourth to pick up three points, in his heat race, he charged from his sixth starting spot to first in quick succession to earn another eight for that victory. In the feature, again, he wasted no time getting to the front and stayed there for the entire duration to gain 70 points, thus turning a nine-point deficit to Brady Bacon into a two-point lead.

Windom knows this game, as he's been here before as recently as three years ago. The phrase "points racing" has a sour connotation, but for him, points racing refers to being on the attack to gain every point possible rather than sitting back, riding it out cautiously and playing it safe.

"Right now, with how tight the points battle is, every point matters." Windom explained. "I needed to win that heat and I needed to win the feature. If we just keep doing that every night, we should put ourselves in good shape. "We just got to keep showing up and preparing cars to win the race every night and the points will work itself out. It's going to be fun. It's going to change every night. Hopefully, it doesn't change again for me, but It's so tight, one heat race position or one qualifying spot can change it."

The opening lap of the 30-lap feature saw sixth-starting C.J. Leary, who earlier had moved into a tie with Kevin Thomas Jr. for 11th all-time with his 29th career Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifying time, saw his bid for a repeat championship take a major hit when he flipped in turn two, ending his night with a 22nd place result. He came into the evening fourth in the standings with a 40-point deficit, but now trails by 77 points.

On the complete restart, Windom punched the throttle and slid from his third starting spot past pole sitter Dave Darland for the initial lead. Darland countered back underneath Windom exiting turn two with nary a credit card's width separating the two to retake the position, albeit briefly. Windom reloaded and returned fired as he dove to the inside guardrail in turn three to snag the lead for good.

Windom opened up a near straightaway advantage by lap eight when the action slowed for Kevin Thomas Jr. who stopped at the entrance to turn three with a flat right rear tire while running 11th at the time. Thomas restarted and worked his way back to a 7th place finish.

On the ensuing restart, recent California to Indiana transplant Jake Swanson and Carson Short, in his debut for Michael Dutcher Motorsports, locked horns in turn two while tussling for the 8th position, with Short's front bumper and Swanson's rear bumper becoming connected as they grinded to a stop midway down the back straightaway. Both restarted with Short finishing 11th and Swanson 15th.

By halfway, Windom was cruising, notching a 10-car length advantage of 1.5 sec. as traffic from the tail end of the lead lap cars loomed. With the preferred top groove mostly occupied, Windom had to split, dip and dive to escape from the snarling clutches of the ever-closing pack in which Darland was the closest. With 10 to go, the gap between Windom and Darland had been cut in half until Windom flew underneath Tye Mihocko in turn three, then split between Max Adams and Jonathan Vennard to regain what he had nearly lost, negotiating the fine high-wire balancing act between patience and urgency throughout.

"Toward the end of the race, it got really technical to pass lapped cars because it was so slick to the cushion," Windom relayed. "When you went to slide somebody, you had nothing to stop you but that little cushion or the wall. You really had to pick and choose your battles there. You had to get to the lapped car to slide them. A couple times, I had the wrong timing and the wrong spacing on them, and I had to tuck in behind them rather than throw a slider that wasn't going to clear them. That was making me nervous because I figured everyone was coming at that point. Once I cleared those guys, I figured the next guys behind me would have to do the same thing I just did, so I just tried to stay calm and hit my marks as much as possible."

The triumph marked Chris Windom's 28th overall career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, surpassing Kevin Thomas Jr. to move him to 15th all-time alongside Tyler Courtney, Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley. (David Nearpass Photo)

With Windom now in the clear, he gained his largest lead of the race at 2.252 sec. until the advantage was eradicated by a turn two Swanson spin on the 24th lap, which brought out the final caution of the night. While Windom was already seeing a clear path ahead, the yellow gave new life to the rest of the top-five contenders in Darland, along with past Hurtubise Classic winners Justin Grant, Robert Ballou and Brady Bacon, who were plucked out of their fight with traffic and provided a new shot at the leader.

However, none of that deterred Windom who forcefully put his foot down and ended all thoughts of being beaten on this occasion as he took off to claim his second Terre Haute USAC Sprint Car feature win of 2020 by a 0.752 sec. margin over Darland, Grant, Ballou and Bacon. Tuna, Windom's new dog, joined the victory lane celebration in the first race the pup has ever attended.

Logan Seavey, whose Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports car had suffered a mechanical issue during hot laps, was forced into a backup car for the team. After a qualifying run in the backup which bellowed popping and sputtering noises throughout both laps, the car did not meet the minimum weight requirements in post qualifying tech inspection. After that misfortune, the team's night turned around with Seavey transferring through his heat race to earn the $200 ProSource Hard Work Award, then advanced from his 22nd starting spot to finish 9th in the feature to score KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger honors.

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 18, 2020 - Terre Haute Action Track - Terre Haute, Indiana - 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval - Jim Hurtubise Classic

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-20.061; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.246; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.421; 4. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-20.453; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.455; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-20.469; 7. Anton Hernandez, 36, Darland-20.489; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-20.516; 9. Carson Short, 17GP, Dutcher-20.549; 10. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.588; 11. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-20.606; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-20.608; 13. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-20.652; 14. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-20.672; 15. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-20.685; 16. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-20.715; 17. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-20.818; 18. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-20.821; 19. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-20.833; 20. Clinton Boyles, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-21.032; 21. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-21.073; 22. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-21.108; 23. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-21.109; 24. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-21.171; 25. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-21.315; 26. Kyle Robbins, 17R, KR-21.489; 27. Mitch Wissmiller, 29, RMB-21.584; 28. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-21.707; 29. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-22.044; 30. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-24.386; 31. Will Barnett, 88, Barnett-NT; 32. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-(Time of 21.616 disallowed - light at the scales).

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Carson Short, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Nate McMillin, 7. Matt McCarthy. 2:48.253

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. J.J. Hughes, 7. Kyle Robbins, 8. Will Barnett. 2:48.235

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Max Adams, 5. Anton Hernandez, 6. Jonathan Vennard, 7. Evan Mosley, 8. Austin Williams. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Chris Phillips. 2:49.914

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Jonathan Vennard, 3. J.J. Hughes, 4. Austin Williams, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Matt McCarthy, 9. Kyle Robbins, 10. Evan Mosley, 11. Chris Phillips, 12. Robert Bell, 13. Nate McMillin, 14. Will Barnett. 4:28.048

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (3), 2. Dave Darland (1), 3. Justin Grant (2), 4. Robert Ballou (4), 5. Brady Bacon (5), 6. Shane Cottle (9), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 8. Chase Stockon (7), 9. Logan Seavey (22), 10. Anton Hernandez (8), 11. Carson Short (10), 12. Clinton Boyles (19), 13. Austin Williams (18), 14. J.J. Hughes (14), 15. Jake Swanson (12), 16. Jadon Rogers (17), 17. Tye Mihocko (16), 18. Max Adams (21), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (20), 20. Brandon Mattox (11), 21. Jonathan Vennard (15), 22. C.J. Leary (6). NT

**C.J. Leary flipped on lap 1 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Chris Windom.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,456, 2-Brady Bacon-1,454, 3-Chase Stockon-1,408, 4-C.J. Leary-1,379, 5-Justin Grant-1,378, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,197, 7-Carson Short-1,107, 8-Dave Darland-1,055, 9-Kyle Cummins-969, 10-Logan Seavey-961.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-137, 2-Shane Cottle-86, 3-Tanner Thorson-83, 4-Kyle Cummins-78, 5-Justin Grant-76, 6-Logan Seavey-76, 7-Cannon McIntosh-69, 8-Andrew Layser-65, 9-Chase Stockon-63, 10-Kyle Larson-62.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 19, 2020 - Tri-State Speedway - Haubstadt, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Haubstadt Hustler - Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Sprint Car Series

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Dave Darland

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Robert Ballou

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Chris Windom

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Anton Hernandez

KSE Racing Products / The Frolic Bar & Grill Hard Charger: Logan Seavey (22nd to 9th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Austin Williams

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Sterling Cling

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Chase Stockon

ProSource Hard Work Award: Logan Seavey

HARF 6th Place Finisher in Honor of Bob Laycock Sr.: Shane Cottle

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

Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) won his first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature of the 2020 season Saturday night in feature #1 at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. (Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Putnamville, Indiana (September 12, 2020).........Exactly six weeks after basking in the limelight as the Indiana Sprint Week champion,, Chase Stockon finally achieved that long sought after first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the season during the first of two features run Saturday night at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind.

While Stockon's triumph won't officially go in in the books as an official Indiana Sprint Week victory, it did come in an event that resumed Saturday, having been suspended for a month and a half following a heavy storm on the final night of July when it was then part of the ISW series, the night in which nearly all the preliminary events had been completed.

"I know it's a bit delayed, but I'm definitely glad to get another (Indiana) Sprint Week win," Stockon said with a grin.

The win also continued one of the most impressive streaks with the series by a driver who is known for setting records. Stockon, the series' "Ironman" from Fort Branch, Ind., in making his 316th consecutive feature start, ran his annual checkmark in the win column to nine consecutive years, picking up a USAC win each year since the 2012 season, an active streak that is second only by Brady Bacon's 10 straight years dating back to 2011.

Stockon's 13th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win surpassed Eric Gordon and tied both Don Branson and Steve Chassey for 43rd all-time.

Lincoln Park is the place where Stockon began his driver/owner relationship with KO Motorsports in terms of USAC competition back in early July. A pair of top-five runs in the KO Motorsports/Hutson John Deere - Ravens Manufacturing - AMSOIL/Velocity/Fisher Chevy that weekend has led Stockon to elevate his game and put him in contention for a first career series title, while also providing the KO team its first career USAC victory on Saturday at LPS.

Pole sitter Stockon initially shared the front row alongside Darland, the winningest USAC Sprint Car driver at the 5/16-mile dirt oval with six victories. Stockon grabbed the early lead while Darland fought with Carson Short before emerging with the second position in the early going.

Meanwhile, defending series champ and fourth starting C.J. Leary made the topside work to his liking and surged up through the thick to beat Stockon to the line by one car length at the stripe on the 10th lap. Stockon called it a comeback and was able to stick even Steven with Leary at the exit of turns two and four before, ultimately eking out his own one car length advantage at the conclusion of lap 14.

As Leary fought to regain the position, Stockon nipped Leary again at the line under the crossed flags indicating halfway to completion of the 30-lap feature. Nonetheless, Leary was undeterred, digging in to supplant Stockon from the top of the throne once again by a single car length at the line. That proved short lived as Stockon gained a big drive off the bottom of four to re-corral the race lead once and for all on the 17th circuit.

In that instant, it became more than just a two-horse race with Darland, Logan Seavey and Brady Bacon each joining the fray along with Leary, while Stockon suddenly left his home on the bottom to try the top. Darland nearly took advantage of Stockon's switch with 10 laps remaining by securing the bottom line, just missing out on leading the 20th lap by inches.

Darland became pinned behind the car of Colten Cottle on the tail end of the lead lap on the bottom of turn two as he raced side-by-side with Leary for the race lead. Nose-to-tail contact was made between Darland and C. Cottle, sending Cottle sideways and veering off into the infield to maintain control while Darland lost his stride of momentum, allowing Seavey to shoot the gap into second.

A lap later, the event's fastest qualifier, Brent Beauchamp, slowed to a stop on the back straightaway to end the lengthy green flag run and restack the deck in a single file manner without the aid, or hindrance of traffic, in the distance. Stockon continued to tiptoe around the tires of the infield variety when racing resumed with nine laps left. Darland followed Stockon on the limbo line while Bacon jostled into third on lap 24, then to the runner-up spot on lap 25 when Darland left the door open on the bottom of turn two for Bacon to scoot on by.

Bacon made every attempt to try to reel himself into lead contention at the end, but a slight issue with a cut tire placed him into conservation mode instead of attack mode for the final five-lap run to the checkered. Searching high and also stalking the bottom, Bacon couldn't catch Stockon, who was the picture of perfection on the low line to win by a 0.819 second margin over Bacon, Darland, Leary and Seavey.

"I could feel those guys breathing on me there toward the end of the race. I was just trying to hit my marks and make no mistakes," Stockon revealed after leading a race-high 25 laps. "The topside around here was just a little bit too far around for me tonight."

Chase Stockon has now picked up a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win in nine consecutive years, an active streak that dates back to 2012 and is second only to Brady Bacon's 10-year winning streak which started in 2011. (David Nearpass Photo)

Bacon's journey from 8th to 2nd earned him B & W Auto Mart / KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors in the Broken Arrow, Oklahoma native's Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear - DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy."

"We got a cut in our tire there at the end," Bacon explained. "I kind of felt it getting soft, so I had to get a little conservative. It was really good on the bottom of three and four and I hadn't been down there as much as them, so I didn't exactly know what to do. We were better than them in one and two, but (Stockon) got to start in front and keep his nose clean. We might've used our stuff up a little bit to get there."

Darland's best 2020 USAC finish came in a 3rd place performance Saturday night for the driver who earned a pair of Lincoln Park Speedway Sprint Car track championships during the 1990-91 seasons, piloting the EZR-Curb-Agajanian/Marchand's Window Tinting - Fox Paving - Windmill Grill/DRC/Claxton Chevy.

"We had a good race, but those guys just beat me a little bit," Darland said. "I didn't really want to see that yellow; traffic was going to help me. We were decent, but they were too. I knew Chase wouldn't screw up too many times too often. Then brady came through and he had a good racecar too. There on that yellow, I was just hoping I could run real low around one and two on the restart and maybe get Chase out in the slick or something, but it was better to be up in the middle off turn two. He was in the right spot and he knew what he was doing, so there's always a lot going through your mind of just what you're going to do and what's going to happen. It didn't work out for the win, but we had a good run, a good finish and we're happy about that."

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 31 & September 12, 2020 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-12.688; 2. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-12.716; 3. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.784; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.800; 5. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-12.848; 6. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-12.851; 7. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-12.915; 8. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.922; 9. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-12.981; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.994; 11. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.019; 12. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-13.051; 13. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-13.074; 14. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin-13.081; 15. Jake Bland, 20B, Bland-13.112; 16. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.162; 17. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-13.167; 18. Logan Hupp, 69JM, Gindling-13.232; 19. Kurt Gross, 1x, Gross-13.238; 20. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.251; 21. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.264; 22. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.306; 23. Shelby VanGilder, 22v, VanGilder-13.631; 24. Chayse Hayhurst, 20, Hayhurst-13.654.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.392; 2. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.595; 3. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-12.632; 4. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-12.653; 5. Chase Johnson, 68, Thomas-12.802; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.869; 7. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-12.913; 8. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-12.940; 9. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-12.941; 10. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.947; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.949; 12. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-12.955; 13. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-13.085; 14. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.118; 15. Max Adams, 37, Felker-13.141; 16. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.167; 17. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-13.211; 18. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.242; 19. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.248; 20. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.427; 21. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-13.469; 22. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.584; 23. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-14.290; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.375.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brent Beauchamp, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Colten Cottle, 6. Tony DiMattia, 7. Brandon Morin, 8. Kurt Gross, 9. Sterling Cling, 10. Jonathan Vennard, 11. Jake Bland, 12. Shelby VanGilder. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Carson Short, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Dustin Smith, 8. Chayse Hayhurst, 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 10. Logan Hupp, 11. Jadon Rogers, 12. Travis Berryhill. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Dave Darland, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Max Adams, 8. Matt McDonald, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Harley Burns, 11. Evan Mosley. 2:49.862

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Chris Phillips, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Max Guilford, 8. Brayden Fox, 9. Tyler Thomas, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Robert Bell, 12. A.J. Hopkins. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Matt McDonald, 2. Brandon Morin, 3. Logan Hupp, 4. Max Guilford, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Sterling Cling, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Harley Burns, 9. Chayse Hayhurst, 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 11. Robert Bell, 12. Charles Davis Jr., 13. Kurt Gross. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, final 4 laps completed on Sept. 12, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Brayden Fox, 4. Mario Clouser (#69JM), 5. Colten Cottle, 6. Max Adams, 7. Brandon Morin, 8. Matt McDonald, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Tony DiMattia, 11. Chase Johnson, 12. Anton Hernandez, 13. Max Guilford, 14. Jonathan Vennard, 15. Evan Mosley, 16. Dustin Smith, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Jake Bland. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses, completed on Sept. 12) 1. Chase Stockon (1), 2. Brady Bacon (8), 3. Dave Darland (2), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Shane Cottle (7), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 8. Chris Windom (13), 9. Carson Short (3), 10. Kyle Cummins (12), 11. Robert Ballou (9), 12. Brandon Mattox (17), 13. Stevie Sussex (16), 14. Brayden Fox (10), 15. Justin Grant (18), 16. Mario Clouser (#69JM) (22), 17. Thomas Meseraull (15), 18. Brent Beauchamp (5), 19. Jake Swanson (14), 20. Max Adams (20), 21. Aric Gentry (#17) (21), 22. Colten Cottle (19), 23. Jadon Rogers (23). NT

**Justin Grant flipped during qualifying. Nate McMillin flipped during qualifying. Travis Berryhill flipped during the second heat. A.J. Hopkins flipped during the fourth heat. Jake Bland flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Chase Stockon, Laps 10-13 C.J. Leary, Laps 14-15 Chase Stockon, Lap 16 C.J. Leary, Laps 17-30 Chase Stockon.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,311, 2-Chase Stockon-1,309, 3-Brady Bacon-1,305, 4-C.J. Leary-1,264, 5-Justin Grant-1,260, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,068, 7-Carson Short-1,051, 8-Dave Darland-949, 9-Kyle Cummins-927, 10-Logan Seavey-899.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-135, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-78, 4-Justin Grant-76, 5-Shane Cottle-69, 6-Andrew Layser-65, 7-Logan Seavey-63, 8-Kyle Larson-62, 9-Robert Ballou-59, 10-Chase Stockon-55.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 12, 2020 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 5/16-Mile Dirt Oval

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Shane Cottle

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Brandon Mattox

KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Brady Bacon (8th to 2nd)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Stevie Sussex

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Brandon Morin

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Jake Swanson