.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Brady Bacon earned his series-leading fifth USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory of the year Saturday night in the second feature at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Ind. (David Nearpass Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Putnamville, Indiana (September 12, 2020).........Brady Bacon and Lincoln Park Speedway have been a perfect match for each other ever since a mag issue sidelined he and the Dynamics, Inc. team prior to the start of the feature back on July 3.

Since that point, Bacon reeled off a victory there the following night, then recorded a runner-up finish in the first feature on Saturday, followed up by another victory in the second feature of the doubleheader to close out Saturday night at LPS with just about the best result any driver/team could ask for.

And, to add the cherry on top, Bacon and Dynamics, Inc. reclaimed the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car driver and owner point leads in the process after entering the weekend atop the standings, but falling back to third in the pecking order following a 10th place result Friday at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway.

"Lincoln Park - two features in one day, a first and a second," Bacon exclaimed. "You can ask for a little better than that but not much better. We'll definitely take it after we struggled last night at Bloomington."

The victory was Bacon's 34th in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition, putting him just one behind Jon Stanbrough and Rich Vogler for 10th all-time. Though Bacon leads the points, he aims not to just merely "point race." He intends to win races and let the points sort out however they may, and he's accomplished that better than anyone else in the series this year with the victory marking the Broken Arrow, Okla. driver's series-leading fifth triumph of the year.

"We're pretty fortunate to be in the battle at all," Bacon said. "We had some mistakes early in the year. To even be in the hunt, we're pretty fortunate for than and that other people had some misfortune. So, we're just taking it a day at a time, just going out here and winning races. Obviously, you have that in the back of your mind when you see other guys struggling a little bit. You kind of have to put it in a little bit of a conservative mode and not do anything stupid, but at the same time, you want to go out and win races."

Bacon started the second 30-lap feature from fifth on the grid, but it was frequent Lincoln Park weekly winner A.J. Hopkins taking off to the early advantage from the pole position for the first two corners on the opening lap. However, it was a resurgent Kevin Thomas Jr. who secured the lead on the opening lap, powering to the front with a big run off the top of turn four to lead by a car length at the line.

Bacon dropped back to 7th during the opening laps, cruising the top early on as he sought to figure out the best path forward to get to the front until discovering a trail a little bit lower than seemingly everyone in front of him was chasing.

"I got a little worried there at the beginning," Bacon admitted. "The top kind of got rolled in, then I thought, 'you know what, it's going to get dirty up there. They aren't going to be able to run up there.' So, I just started rolling the bottom, rolling the bottom and it came in and we got to hitting that bottom off turn two."

Trouble ensued for Hopkins, however on lap eight as he, C.J. Leary and Mario Clouser were involved in a fight for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Leary slid past Hopkins for 2nd off turn four. Behind him, however, Clouser's right front wheel climbed Hopkins' left rear, which resulted in damage to the left side nerf bar of Hopkins' ride and a flat left rear tire, ending Hopkins' night prematurely with a 22nd place result.

When racing resumed, Leary took the fight right to Thomas for the race lead. Leary drove by Thomas with a slider in turn three on the lap eight restart, providing him the lead at the line by a half car length. However, Thomas replied with a slider of his own in turn one, reclaiming the position, albeit briefly, before Leary ducked back under exiting turn two to retake the spot, which he'd hold throughout the mid-portion of the race.

As Thomas and Clouser chased Leary on the topside, Bacon utilized the catfish line to 3rd by Clouser on the tenth lap, then to 2nd by Thomas on the 13th lap. Another three-lap increment later, Bacon wheeled the Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear - DriveWFX.com/Triple X/Rider Chevy No. 69 underneath Leary in turn two on lap 16 to snare the lead once and for all, and the timing couldn't have been any better from Bacon's point of view.

"We're able to get to the lead, then it started laying rubber," Bacon recalled. "So, I thought we were pretty safe. I was worried about it laying rubber on the top, but you can't really give up what you're doing when you're in the lead."

Bacon stayed the course for the entirety of the second half of the event, hitting the bottom lap after lap. The top-four began to drift to the bottom of the surface as they tried to keep pace with Bacon as he continued to pull away from the rest of the field.

Shane Cottle, who started 17th and won at LPS with USAC back in early July, found the bottom early, and proceeded to drive all the way up to 3rd place with 10 laps remaining as Thomas opened the door by pushing up at the exit of turn two.

The victory was Brady Bacon's 34th in USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car competition, putting him just one behind Jon Stanbrough and Rich Vogler for 10th all-time.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

For Bacon, it was three sails to the wind as he posted a full-straightway advantage with five laps to go while beginning the process of entering the tail end of the field in traffic.

Despite that fact, Bacon's lead never dwindled as he executed a victorious performance with precision to score his third career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at LPS after earlier winning in 2015 and now twice with the series in 2020. He also captured a non-sanctioned Sprint Car victory at LPS in June of this year.

At the checkered, Bacon was 3.964 seconds ahead of Leary, Cottle, Thomas and Friday night's Bloomington winner Chris Windom. Cottle's 3rd place performance netted him B & W Auto Mart / KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors for the night after starting 17th in the feature.

Leary's series-leading fifth fast time of the year during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying was the 28th of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career, surpassing Dave Steele and Chase Stockon for sole possession of 12th all-time.

-----------------------------------

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

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.624; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-12.700; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.951; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.961; 5. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-13.021; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.084; 7. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.130; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.177; 9. Shane Cockrum, 24p, Paul-13.237; 10. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-13.245; 11. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.246; 12. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.308; 13. Ricky Lewis, 11, Lewis-13.312; 14. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.323; 15. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.342; 16. Matt McDonald, 5m, McDonald-13.564; 17. Josh Cunningham, 17c, Cunningham-13.627; 18. Slater Helt, 22s, Helt-13.667; 19. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.815; 20. Aric Gentry, 10, GBR-13.832; 21. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.871; 22. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-13.971; 23. Robert Carrington, 34c, Carrington-14.202; 24. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.752.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.885; 2. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.083; 3. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.122; 4. Max Adams, 37, Felker-13.151; 5. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.178; 6. Anton Hernandez, 17GP, Dutcher-13.189; 7. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.240; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-13.268; 9. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.333; 10. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-13.378; 11. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.388; 12. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-13.454; 13. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.454; 14. Travis Berryhill, 77s, Sturgeon-13.462; 15. Ben Knight, 16K, Knight-13.602; 16. Nate McMillin, 24, McMillin-13.691; 17. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-13.745; 18. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-13.787; 19. Shey Owens, 17s, SNO-13.814; 20. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.831; 21. Alec Sipes, 20, Bland-13.868; 22. Brandon Morin, 98, Morin-13.953; 23. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-14.807; 24. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. A.J. Hopkins, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Shane Cockrum, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Ricky Lewis, 8. Matt Westfall, 9. Brayden Fox, 10. Josh Cunningham, 11. Chris Phillips, 12. Robert Carrington. 2:21.084

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tye Mihocko, 2. Dave Darland, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Justin Grant, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Matt McDonald, 8. Aric Gentry, 9. Sterling Cling, 10. Slater Helt, 11. Robert Bell, 12. Jesse Vermillion. 2:22.755

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mario Clouser, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Carson Short, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Alec Sipes, 9. Michael Clark, 10. Ben Knight, 11. Anthony D'Alessio, 12. Shey Owens. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brent Beauchamp, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Brandon Morin, 5. Nate McMillin, 6. Blake Vermillion, 7. Colten Cottle, 8. Max Adams, 9. Jake Swanson, 10. Harley Burns, 11. Travis Berryhill. NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Josh Cunningham, 2. Slater Helt, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Chris Phillips, 5. Matt McDonald, 6. Stevie Sussex, 7. Nate McMillin, 8. Ben Knight, 9. Alec Sipes, 10. Michael Clark, 11. Harley Burns, 12. Robert Carrington, 13. Robert Bell, 14. Shey Owens. 2:39.068

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Max Adams, 4. Chris Phillips, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Josh Cunningham, 11. Carson Short, 12. Travis Berryhill, 13. Ricky Lewis, 14. Anthony D'Alessio, 15. Slater Helt, 16. Blake Vermillion, 17. Shane Cockrum, 18. Logan Seavey. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (5), 2. C.J. Leary (6), 3. Shane Cottle (17), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 5. Chris Windom (2), 6. Mario Clouser (8), 7. Jake Swanson (10), 8. Tye Mihocko (7), 9. Jadon Rogers (18), 10. Brandon Mattox (15), 11. Chase Stockon (19), 12. Justin Grant (11), 13. Brent Beauchamp (9), 14. Max Adams (16), 15. Kyle Cummins (3), 16. Chris Phillips (22), 17. Matt Westfall (23), 18. Thomas Meseraull (21), 19. Brandon Morin (20), 20. Anton Hernandez (13), 21. Dave Darland (12), 22. A.J. Hopkins (1), 23. Robert Ballou (14). NT

**Logan Seavey flipped during the semi.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-7 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 8-15 C.J. Leary, Laps 16-30 Brady Bacon.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,384, 2-Chris Windom-1,375, 3-Chase Stockon-1,351, 4-C.J. Leary-1,344, 5-Justin Grant-1,305, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,139, 7-Carson Short-1,061, 8-Dave Darland-979, 9-Kyle Cummins-969, 10-Logan Seavey-909.

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

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

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: A.J. Hopkins

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Tye Mihocko

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Mario Clouser

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brent Beauchamp

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Justin Grant

KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (17th to 3rd)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Brent Beauchamp

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Brayden Fox

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Anthony D'Alessio

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Chris Windom (bottom) takes the lead from Kyle Cummins (top) in the early stages of Friday's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Bloomington Speedway.
(Ryan Sellers Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Bloomington, Indiana (September 11, 2020).........After a victory slipped through his fingertips on the final lap of a midget race last weekend, Chris Windom was determined not to play it as conservatively this time around in Friday's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature at Bloomington (Ind.) Speedway.

"I learned that lesson last week in the midget race," Windom testified after taking the lead at Bloomington on third lap from Kyle Cummins, then held off Cummins' pesky resurgence down the stretch to claim his 27th career USAC National Sprint Car feature win, equaling him with Kevin Thomas Jr. for 18th all-time.

The triumph was Windom's second career USAC score at Bloomington, and first since the 2011 season in his Hayward Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - OilFire - B & H Contractors/DRC/Claxton Mopar. On that occasion, Windom rolled the bottom to victory. This time, the path required a road of a different kind.

"I've always felt like I've been pretty good here; I just never got that second USAC win," Windom explained. "Notoriously, I feel like I'm better at running the bottom here, but it was cool to get a win running the top."

In the process, Windom took over the point lead in the new USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car standings, making it two different series he currently leads along with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship.

Windom came into the night 2nd, trailing by four points to Bacon, but the beginning of the feature also saw him trailing in an unexpected way. The first two tries at the start of the feature saw both instances aborted by race officials. Windom, who was determined to have jumped both starts, was moved back a row from his 2nd place starting position to the outside of row two when the green flag finally put the race into motion.

Cummins, who had been elevated into Windom's slot on the front row, stepped out to the early lead around the outside of pole sitter Brent Beauchamp in turn three on the opening lap. As Beauchamp slid up the track on entry in the third turn, Windom ducked under to move back into 2nd with Cummins just ahead.

On the third lap, the door swung wide open for Windom as Cummins slid up the racing surface himself in turn two. Windom cut under and took off with the lead like a thief in the night.

From there forward, Windom constructed a one second lead that ultimately ballooned to two seconds as he cut through lapped traffic in the midst of the middle stages of the 30-lap main event. All the while, Windom was persuaded by his surroundings to change his exploration route, and adjusting accordingly on the fly.

"I was running the bottom early on and I felt like we had really good speed," Windom recalled. "The longer the race went on, the track started going away. It was tough to run the bottom because there was grease and it was slick. If you didn't hit it just right, you'd lose all your time in the corners. I felt like, once I got to lapped traffic, some of the lapped cars were maintaining speed up top so I thought the top was probably the better place to go. So, I moved up at the point."

Windom's multiple second lead evaporated on the 19th lap when 10th running Sterling Cling levitated over the banking between turns three and four, landing on all fours before coming to a complete stop to bring out the yellow.

That instance changed the ballgame for Windom, and for Cummins too, who now had a shot at redemption without the hindrance of traffic. Just the open road and thoughts of victory racing through his mind. Cummins took a run on the bottom of turns one and two on the lap 19 restart, pulling even alongside with Windom for the length of the back straightaway. Windom utilized the constant speed of the high line in this case and ripped around Cummins to put a lockdown on the position.

"I knew Kyle was going to be good here; he's always good here," Windom reinforced. "They can get their car really good about anywhere through the middle. He showed that on that restart where he was able to slide up next to me, but I felt that if I stayed on the top and didn't make a mistake, the momentum was going to prevail."

Three stoppages occurred in the stretch run during the final 12-lap run, including one for Shane Cottle who went up in smoke with an engine issue while running in the 5th position with five laps remaining, plus Anton Hernandez's flip over the turn three banking on lap 25. On each said restart, Windom's theory proved true, as he carried the momentum topside to establish a five-car length lead on what would be the final, lap 25 restart.

The triumph was Chris Windom's second career USAC score at Bloomington, and first since the 2011 season in his Hayward Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink - OilFire - B & H Contractors/DRC/Claxton Mopar. It was his 27th career USAC National Sprint Car feature win, equaling him with Kevin Thomas Jr. for 18th all-time.(David Nearpass Photo)

However, Cummins began to inch closer to Windom on each successive circuit, and coming to the white flag, Cummins took aim for the race lead in turn three. Nonetheless, with one shot to take and one shot only, Cummins fired that shot with an attempted slider on the bottom of the third turn that sent him sliding straight up the racetrack as Windom opened up his advantage to secure the position once and for all.

"I actually didn't see him," Windom said, referring to Cummins on his bid for the lead. "I was focused hard on not running off the curb there. I knew he was probably close if he was hitting the bottom just right, but I was watching and waiting until I saw someone. If I had to dive down, I was going to dive down, but I felt if I kept running smooth laps up there, we were going to be okay."

Windom's margin of victory was 0.948 as his second series victory of 2020 propelled him to the point lead by 23 points over Chase Stockon. Cummins finished 2nd - his fifth consecutive top-2 finish with the series dating back to August 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. finished 3rd, his best result with the series since mid-June. Stockon was 4th after starting 13th to earn KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger honors. Brent Beauchamp finished 5th and has top-seven results in all three of his USAC starts this season.

Kevin Thomas Jr., meanwhile, earned the 29th quick time of his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car career during Fatheadz Qualifying Friday night at Bloomington. That puts KTJ just one behind Pancho Carter for 10th all-time in that category.

-----------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 11, 2020 - Bloomington Speedway - Bloomington, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-11.326; 2. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-11.509; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-11.535; 4. A.J. Hopkins, 04, Burton-11.545; 5. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-11.576; 6. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-11.616; 7. Brent Beauchamp, 34B, Olson-11.626; 8. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.632; 9. Anton Hernandez, 17GP, Dutcher-11.647; 10. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-11.656; 11. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-11.676; 12. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-11.694; 13. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-11.719; 14. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-11.719; 15. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.719; 16. Dakota Jackson, 17G, On The Gass-11.729; 17. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-11.778; 18. Zach Hampton, 35, Hampton-11.858; 19. Jonathan Vennard, 54, KO-11.880; 20. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-11.891; 21. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-11.905; 22. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-11.939; 23. Jordan Kinser, 70, Hurst-11.941; 24. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-11.957; 25. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-11.964; 26. Brady Short, 11p, Short/Pottorff-11.987; 27. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-12.000; 28. Alec Sipes, 20, Bland-12.038; 29. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-12.128; 30. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-12.153; 31. Chris Phillips, 6, Phillips-12.367; 32. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-13.114.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Brayden Fox, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Anton Hernandez, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Carson Short, 8. Brandon Mattox. 1:58.936

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Chris Windom, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Brady Short, 7. Harley Burns, 8. Zach Hampton. 2:01.754

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jordan Kinser, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Brent Beauchamp, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Jonathan Vennard, 6. Tye Mihocko, 7. Justin Grant, 8. Chris Phillips. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Sterling Cling, 2. Dave Darland, 3. A.J. Hopkins, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Dakota Jackson, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Alec Sipes, 8. Robert Bell. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Carson Short, 3. Dakota Jackson, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Brady Short, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. Isaac Chapple, 8. Brandon Mattox, 9. Tye Mihocko, 10. Jonathan Vennard, 11. Alec Sipes, 12. Justin Grant, 13. Harley Burns, 14. Zach Hampton, 15. Robert Bell, 16. Chris Phillips. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chris Windom (2), 2. Kyle Cummins (4), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 4. Chase Stockon (13), 5. Brent Beauchamp (1), 6. Stevie Sussex (5), 7. C.J. Leary (9), 8. Justin Grant (24), 9. Robert Ballou (17), 10. Brady Bacon (14), 11. Dave Darland (16), 12. Dakota Jackson (18), 13. Jake Swanson (22), 14. A.J. Hopkins (3), 15. Jadon Rogers (20), 16. Carson Short (15), 17. Shane Cottle (7), 18. Anton Hernandez (12), 19. Sterling Cling (8), 20. Brayden Fox (19), 21. Jordan Kinser (10), 22. Brady Short (21), 23. Logan Seavey (11), 24. Brandon Mattox (23). NT

**Zach Hampton flipped during the semi. Anton Hernandez flipped on lap 25 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Kyle Cummins, Laps 3-30 Chris Windom.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-1,255, 2-Chase Stockon-1,232, 3-Brady Bacon-1,230, 4-Justin Grant-1,224, 5-C.J. Leary-1,196, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1,010, 7-Carson Short-1,000, 8-Dave Darland-880, 9-Kyle Cummins-878, 10-Logan Seavey-833.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-130, 2-Tanner Thorson-83, 3-Kyle Cummins-76, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Cannon McIntosh-69, 6-Shane Cottle-68, 7-Andrew Layser-65, 8-Kyle Larson-62, 9-Logan Seavey-62, 10-Robert Ballou-59.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: September 12, 2020 - Lincoln Park Speedway - Putnamville, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - "Double Features"

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr.

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: C.J. Leary

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Shane Cottle

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Jordan Kinser

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Sterling Cling

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Logan Seavey

KSE Racing Products / B & W Auto Mart Hard Charger: Chase Stockon (13th to 4th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jake Swanson

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Isaac Chapple

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Robert Ballou

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Winner Tyler Courtney (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (August 29, 2020)………Snakebitten is a word that has been used to describe Tyler Courtney’s misfortunes at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway throughout the 2020 season. It’s almost hard to imagine that fact for a driver who has become synonymous with victory lane at the track in recent years.

Courtney rediscovered the fountain of success once again Saturday night in the Sprint Car Smackdown IX finale at Kokomo, a track in which he had won at six times in his USAC National career between sprint cars and midgets, and an event in which he had hoisted the coveted champion’s belt at twice before in 2017 and 2019.

The Indianapolis, Ind. native tracked down Brady Bacon 13 laps from the conclusion to score his 28th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car feature victory, equaling the total of fellow series champions Levi Jones and J.J. Yeley for 15th all-time, in his efforts worth $11,000 aboard his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Turbo - CSI - ZMax - Schoenfeld/Spike/Rider Chevy.

In the process, Courtney became the second driver ever to win Smackdown three times in his career, joining the series’, and Kokomo’s, winningest sprint car driver, Dave Darland, who won three-straight in 2013-14-15.

“Dave’s a guy I grew up watching and I watched him win all three of his Smackdowns,” Courtney recalled. “To tie a guy like that here at his home track, it’s just unreal. I never would’ve thought that, when I started racing sprint cars, or started racing Smackdown nine years ago, that I’d even win one of these things, let alone three. To tie a guy like Dave Darland is something that will probably take a while to sink in.”

Back to the snakebitteness, however, the two-time USAC National champion had encountered trouble three separate times while leading or running second at the track in USAC competition this year. During Indiana Midget Week, he flipped while leading two-thirds of the way through. During Indiana Sprint Week, he clipped a turn two infield tire while leading, sending him spinning and stopping just three laps from the finish. In Thursday’s Smackdown opener, while running second, contact with a lapped car flattened Courtney’s tire, putting him out of contention for victory once again.

“I told my guys I’ll take a little bit of bad luck from the last three races if it meant I could win this one,” Courtney said. “This is one you put on the calendar, especially when we were putting our schedule together this year with us not running full-time. We had a gameplan coming into tonight and stuck to it and it worked out. We got a technical racetrack and it almost bit me a little bit, but somehow, I made it through a couple of those situations, and it worked out.”

Courtney started sixth on the grid for the 40-lap feature, and for much of the first half of the race, remained relatively stagnant, holding the fifth position nearing the midway point. Up front, however, the night’s B & W Auto Mart “King of the Hill” winner and pole sitter, Brady Bacon, was in control of the 23-car field as C.J. Leary and Kyle Cummins gave chase in second and third, respectively.

The first of two reds during the feature was displayed on the ninth lap when 19th running Carson Short rode out a flip down the front straightaway from which he walked away unscathed.

Under the ensuing stoppage, 12th running Justin Grant’s misfortune continued when his car didn’t re-fire following the red, ending his night prematurely with a 21st place finish.

When racing resumed, Cummins, who was aiming to become the first driver to win four USAC Sprint races in a row since Rick Hood in 1985, made his way to 2nd past Leary while race Rookie Buddy Kofoid, in just his 3rd career series start, flexed his muscle to take 3rd as Leary got shuffled back to 4th.

The second and final red flag period of the feature arrived on lap 15 when 14th running Clinton Boyles barrel rolled near the outside wall in turn four. The incident also collected the 15th place car of Jake Swanson who spun and stopped in the melee. Both were uninjured, but both were finished for the remainder of the evening.

On the race’s resumption on the 15th lap, Cummins showed Bacon a nose below in turn two, then did so again on the 16th lap. However, quickly shooting into the frame was Courtney, who had exploded from 5th to 3rd on the restart, then was just within arm’s reach of both Cummins in 2nd and Bacon, the race leader, as the top-three ran nose-to-tail on the topside on lap 17.

“We were getting close to halfway there and I knew I needed to start making my moves and not let Brady (Bacon) get too far out because his car was pretty good and Cummins was running 2nd, and obviously, he’s been good the first two nights,” Courtney explained. “I wanted to get by those guys and be able to run my own race. I could tell when I was running behind them that I was a lot better, so I knew if I could just get out and make some clean laps, I’d probably be all right.”

Courtney’s next move came on the 21st lap when he slid past Cummins for second in turn four, gliding from the bottom of turn three all the way up to the outside concrete at the exit of turn four to complete the pass, then, in no time, was challenging Bacon for the race lead.

Courtney hounded Bacon, the two-time USAC National Sprint Car champ, for the next several circuits, seemingly stalking his prey as he readied himself to pounce on any inkling of a misstep. That came on the 28th circuit when Bacon snagged his right rear tire on the lip exiting turn two, knocking him slightly askew as Courtney shot under to snag the lead going away. A reeling Bacon slipped back to 2nd, 3rd and 4th over the next three laps as Cummins, then a resurging Leary, slotted back into the top-three.

“Brady messed up a little bit off two, and I got by him closely, but we got by clean,” Courtney remembered. “I just put the hammer down and tried to put a gap between us because I knew my car was better.”

Courtney quickly gapped his challengers with a 3.6 sec. advantage as he worked traffic around the quarter mile with the race dwindling down to the final four laps.

With the race, and victory, seemingly in hand, Courtney had a couple “moments” down the stretch while possessing a fairly substantial gap between he and Cummins. None bigger than the one he experienced in turn one coming to the white flag as he got some airtime after hitting the cushion, and nearly knocked down the wall and dumped the No. 7BC, before gathering it up and motoring on, albeit while his heart was in the process of skipping a beat.

“That was wild,” Courtney exclaimed. “I got in, biked and got tight up on the wall and thought, ‘Oh my god, you’re really going to throw it away with three laps to go. Come on.’ Luckily, I got down off that and made a couple clean laps at the end. I love Kokomo. I love Smackdown. It was a really, really cool night.”

That “really, really cool night” concluded with Courtney taking a 3.699 sec. margin of victory in the end over Cummins, Leary, Bacon and Kofoid. For Courtney, it was his seventh career USAC National victory at Kokomo, and his five career USAC National Sprint Car feature wins at the track have him third on the all-time list, trailing only the two greatest masters in Kokomo Speedway history, Dave Darland (9) and Tony Elliott (8).

Earlier in the evening, Bacon became the first three-time B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill champion in a series of two-car, three-lap elimination races to determine the starting field. Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) defeated Leary in the final round to win the pole, after previously doing so in both 2014-15.

Meanwhile, a big shuffle in the points saw Grant fall from first to third while Bacon shot from third to first. In fact, the top-four in the standings are only separated by a mere 18 points with Bacon leading Chris Windom (-4), Grant (-7) and Chase Stockon (-18).

-----------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 29, 2020 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Sprint Car Smackdown IX

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#9K KT), 3. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP), 4. Carson Short (#71p Daigh-Phillips), 5. Dakota Jackson (#17 On The Gass), 6. Stevie Sussex (#77w Wingo), 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (#51T Tafoya), 8. Brian VanMeveren (#24 VanMeveren), 9. Chris Phillips (#6p Phillips). 2:17.410

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 2. Clinton Boyles (#57 Hazen), 3. Jake Swanson (#34AZ Team AZ), 4. Brandon Mattox (#28 Mattox), 5. Colten Cottle (#5c Cottle), 6. Chase Jones (#11AG Gray), 7. Damion Gardner (#5 Baldwin), 8. Max Adams (#5m Adams), 9. Jack James (#99 James). NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland (#36d EZR/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Charles Davis Jr. (#47c Davis), 3. Shane Cottle (#74x Hodges), 4. Tyler Thomas (#17GP Dutcher), 5. Austin Williams (#92 Sertich), 6. Jadon Rogers (#61m Edwards), 7. Tye Mihocko (#5T Mihocko), 8. Anthony D’Alessio (#01 D’Alessio), 9. Corey Smith (#77 LG), 10. Robert Bell (#71 Bell). NT

B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL QUARTERFINALS: #8 C.J. Leary (#30 Leary) defeats #1 Kyle Cummins (#3R Rock Steady); #4 Thomas Meseraull (#47 Eades) defeats #5 Tyler Courtney (#7BC Clauson/Marshall/Newman); #3 Buddy Kofoid (#19A Reinbold/Underwood) defeats #6 Chase Stockon (#5s KO) & #2 Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics) defeats #7 Chris Windom (#19 Hayward)

B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL SEMIFINALS: #8 C.J. Leary defeats #4 Thomas Meseraull & #2 Brady Bacon defeats #3 Buddy Kofoid

B & W AUTO MART KING OF THE HILL FINALS: #2 Brady Bacon defeats #8 C.J. Leary

INDY RACE PARTS / INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (15 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Thomas, 2. Carson Short, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Dakota Jackson, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Max Adams, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Austin Williams, 9. Colten Cottle, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Damion Gardner, 12. Anthony D’Alessio, 13. Brian VanMeveren, 14. Jadon Rogers, 15. Jack James, 16. Chase Jones, 17. Tye Mihocko. NT

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Tyler Courtney (6), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. C.J. Leary (2), 4. Brady Bacon (1), 5. Buddy Kofoid (3), 6. Chris Windom (8), 7. Logan Seavey (10), 8. Thomas Meseraull (4), 9. Chase Stockon (7), 10. Shane Cottle (17), 11. Tyler Thomas (18), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 13. Dave Darland (11), 14. Robert Ballou (9), 15. Dakota Jackson (21), 16. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 17. Brandon Mattox (20), 18. Jadon Rogers (23), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (22), 20. Clinton Boyles (13), 21. Jake Swanson (16), 22. Justin Grant (15), 23. Carson Short (19). NT

**Chase Jones flipped during the semi. Carson Short flipped on lap 9 of the feature. Clinton Boyles flipped on lap 14 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-27 Brady Bacon, Laps 28-40 Tyler Courtney.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-1,182, 2-Chris Windom-1,178, 3-Justin Grant-1,175, 4-Chase Stockon-1,164, 5-C.J. Leary-1,136, 6-Carson Short-964, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-935, 8-Dave Darland-832, 9-Logan Seavey-806, 10-Kyle Cummins-800.

FINAL SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-22, 2-Tyler Thomas-16, 3-Brady Bacon-10, 4-Kyle Cummins-9, 5-Tyler Courtney-9, 6-Justin Grant-9, 7-Buddy Kofoid-7, 8-Chase Stockon-7, 9-Jake Swanson-7, 10-Shane Cottle-7.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-121, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Kyle Cummins-74, 4-Justin Grant-73, 5-Shane Cottle-68, 6-Kyle Larson-62, 7-Logan Seavey-62, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Robert Ballou-51, 10-Daison Pursley-48.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 11, 2020 – Bloomington Speedway – Bloomington, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval

CONTINGENCY & AWARD WINNERS:

Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Winning Bonus: Tyler Courtney
Smackdown IX Rookie of the Year: Buddy Kofoid
ProSource Smackdown IX Passing Master: Chris Windom
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Dave Darland
Indy Race Parts / Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: Tyler Thomas
KSE Racing Products/Circus City Speedway/Irvin King Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (17th to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Dave Darland
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Max Adams
ProSource Hard Work Award: Dakota Jackson

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) captured his second USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Smackdown IX win in as many nights on Friday at Kokomo Speedway (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (August 28, 2020).........Entering Friday's second night of Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo Speedway, no driver had ever swept victories on both prelim nights of the event.

And then came Kyle Cummins, who became the first to accomplish the feat after earlier capturing Thursday's opener. In fact, dating back to early August of this year, Friday marked the Princeton, Indiana driver's third consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, the first to "triple-up" in nearly four years with the series with Chris Windom being the most recent in late 2016.

Despite a similar victory just 24 hours earlier at Kokomo, Cummins' Friday night's score had the now nine-time series winner even more jubilant than did his most recent winning effort aboard the Rock Steady Racing/Mid-America Safety Solutions - Greenwell Auto Body - Lucas Oil Center/Mach-1/Foxco Chevy.

"Oh definitely," Cummins exclaimed when asked if this win had him even more excitable than Thursday's score. "Last night, we started a little bit back and then we got the lead, then it was just running it as hard as you can. Even though that one was exciting, everybody was in this one until the end tonight."

Always changing, always evolving, Cummins and team refused to rest on their laurels of success from the night before, and instead, tried a different approach to their setup for the 30-lapper which saw them occupy the outside of the front row. However, things weren't exactly hunky-dory in the early stages with the approach, which ultimately worked.

"At the beginning of the race, I was too tight to even get close to the cushion, so I knew I wasn't going to mess with it," Cummins revealed. "The whole time, I knew I was hanging, hanging, hanging, I'm out leading, and if they pass me on the top, then I'll move up. But I was not going to go up until then."

However, a lack of rhythm marked the first several laps of the feature with a number of cautions stifling the action. On the opening lap, an incident between turns three and four stacked up four past Kokomo Sprint Car track champions running near the front of the field. Third-running Shane Cottle biked entering turn three, and when he landed, collected series point leader Justin Grant (4th), Dave Darland (9th) and C.J. Leary (11th). All eventually rejoined the field.

On the second lap resumption, a turn two kerfuffle involving four cars collected Brandon Mattox (17th), Robert Ballou (18th), Matt Westfall (19th) and Damion Gardner (21st). Only Westfall did not restart.

In the meantime, Cummins, who was the first driver to get dunked in the water tank for charity earlier in the day, made a splash on track as he rocketed around pole sitter Carson Short to occupy the lead on the opening lap. On lap four, Kevin Thomas Jr. was on the move as he slid under Short in turn three for 2nd while Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier Thomas Meseraull instantaneously went topside around Short for third.

A lap seven incident involved two perennial frontrunners who had already encountered their share of trouble early on. Grant flipped at the exit of turn four, which collected Ballou, who also made contact with the outside front straightaway wall after glancing off Grant's flipping car. Both drivers were okay, but Grant's incident did tighten up the series points race with the top-four of Grant, Chris Windom, Brady Bacon and Chase Stockon separated by just 34 points.

Under yellow, second running Kevin Thomas Jr. slowed to a stop on the front straightaway. After a push around the track, his race came to an early end as he was pushed back to the pits without re-firing, ultimately finishing 21st in the 24-car field.

On the lap eight restart, Cummins soon reestablished his half-straightaway lead (1.7 sec.), which he'd retain until just before the middle stages of the event while those behind him jockeyed for position from second on back.

Following a yellow on lap 14 for the slowing Anthony D'Alessio, running 19th at the time, the restart saw Meseraull, now 2nd, go on the attack, pouncing on Cummins for the lead with a turn three slider. As Meseraull slid past and up to the top at the exit of turn four, Cummins ducked back underneath to retake the lead at the stripe. There, Cummins withstood the challenge, then quickly reopened his half-straightaway lead once again.

A see-saw battle for 2nd between Meseraull and Windom developed with Windom gaining the upper hand and the runner-up position on lap 19 with a diamond maneuver off the top of three to the bottom of four to drive past Meseraull for 2nd, then put on the chase for Cummins and the race lead.

A slight stumble in turn two by Cummins on the 21st lap allowed Windom to close up the gap to Cummins to under a second and quickly shrinking. With five to go, Windom was now draped over Cummins, pulling ahead of Cummins on the back straightaway by a car length momentarily as the two sped into the third turn, Cummins occupying the low line and Windom working up top as the pair began to encounter traffic.

"When the lapped cars got there, I kind of moved up a little bit and that made me better in three and four for sure," Cummins explained. "I was better through three and four in the middle, but I went to the top in one and two and just kind of floated it in to make sure everything was alright. I had just gotten into the cushion and I saw Chris (Windom) there, then I knew I had to hustle a little bit harder."

Coming to the line with four to go, however, Cummins drifted up off turn four in front of Windom while working around the car of Dustin Smith at the tail end of the lead lap. That stifled Windom's drive of momentum at the top and vice versa'd each driver's role with Cummins now high and Windom low. Windom edged ahead off two but was slightly boxed in behind Smith while Cummins established a line right through the middle to lock down the lead as Windom remained just two car lengths back.

The throng of traffic allowed Cummins to discover something on the surface of the quarter-mile dirt oval, much to his liking, while also elevating his game in crunch time.

Dating back to early August, Friday marked Kyle Cummins' third consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory, the first to 'triple-up' in nearly four years with the series with Chris Windom being the most recent in late 2016 (Brandon Murray Photo)

"The lapped car took me all the way up to the cushion in three and four," Cummins remembered. "I ran around there, and it was even better than it was in the middle. Even in one, I got a little sideways; I just didn't want to get in there and hop the front end. I knew as long as I did that, I could keep my nose down and at least beat them through three and four. Once I saw a nose (from Windom) right there at the end, I picked it up those last couple laps. I could've really went pretty hard and I could've probably picked it up a little bit if I had seen him a little bit earlier."

Windom fired his shots at Cummins in the final laps, but could never quite get enough of a run to reel in Cummins for the taking, Instead, it was Cummins taking it all for his own, closing out his third career Kokomo USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory over Windom, Tyler Courtney, Buddy Kofoid and Brady Bacon.

Cummins is at the head of the class in terms of points after the first two nights of Smackdown IX, and is one of eight drivers locked into Saturday night's 40-lap feature event and also the B & W Auto Mart King of the Hill along with Brady Bacon, Buddy Kofoid, Thomas Meseraull, Tyler Courtney, Chase Stockon, Chris Windom and C.J. Leary.

"I'm glad it worked out how it did," Cummins said. "It's pretty exciting driving under the checkered flag there to get that one and winning too. But I'm here to win three, and to really put a staple on it."

-----------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 28, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Sprint Car Smackdown IX

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.155; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.218; 3. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.271; 4. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.285; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.317; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.336; 7. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.352; 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.421; 9. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.422; 10. Damion Gardner, 5, Baldwin-13.507; 11. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.510; 12. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.516; 13. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.516; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.517; 15. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-13.628; 16. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.645; 17. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Shipley-13.648; 18. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.673; 19. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.725; 20. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.765; 21. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-13.836; 22. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.840; 23. Cody Gardner, 9G, Appco-14.139; 24. Cole Bodine, 57x, Bodine/Crow-14.217; 25. Robert Brown Jr., 13, Brown-14.615.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-13.086; 2. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.142; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.249; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.296; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.320; 6. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.498; 7. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.589; 8. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-13.633; 9. Bill Balog, 17B, Lein-13.645; 10. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.659; 11. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-13.660; 12. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.698; 13. Dakota Jackson, 17, On The Gass-13.728; 14. Charles Davis Jr., 47c, Davis-13.729; 15. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-13.872; 16. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.884; 17. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.894; 18. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.910; 19. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.943; 20. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.999; 21. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-14.042; 22. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-14.069; 23. Brandon Long, 02, Long-14.131; 24. Jack James, 99, James-14.599; 25. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Logan Seavey, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Kyle Shipley, 9. Noah Gass, 10. Brian VanMeveren, 11. Cody Gardner, 12. Robert Brown Jr., 13. Chase Jones. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Damion Gardner, 3. Carson Short, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Anthony D'Alessio, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Robert Ballou, 8. Clinton Boyles, 9. Cole Ketcham, 10. Brayden Fox, 11. Cole Bodine, 12. Brandon Mattox. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Bill Balog, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Tyler Thomas, 5. Buddy Kofoid, 6. Austin Williams, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Max Guilford, 9. Matt Goodnight, 10. Dustin Smith, 11. Brandon Long, 12. Tye Mihocko. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Dave Darland, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Jake Swanson, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Max Adams, 8. Jadon Rogers, 9. Chris Phillips, 10. Dustin Clark, 11. Jack James, 12. Colten Cottle. NT

THE FROLIC BAR & GRILL C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 2. Brian VanMeveren, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Clinton Boyles, 5. Brayden Fox, 6. Max Guilford, 7. Chris Phillips, 8. Noah Gass, 9. Kyle Shipley, 10. Brandon Long, 11. Dustin Smith, 12. Jack James, 13. Cody Gardner, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Robert Brown Jr. NT

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Buddy Kofoid, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Anthony D'Alessio, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Dakota Jackson, 8. Max Adams, 9. Chase Jones, 10. Brandon Mattox, 11. Clinton Boyles, 12. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 13. Jadon Rogers, 14. Charles Davis Jr., 15. Tye Mihocko, 16. Austin Williams, 17. Brian VanMeveren, 18. Sterling Cling. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. Chris Windom (9), 3. Tyler Courtney (7), 4. Buddy Kofoid (11), 5. Brady Bacon (13), 6. Tyler Thomas (14), 7. C.J. Leary (12), 8. Chase Stockon (10), 9. Thomas Meseraull (6), 10. Dave Darland (8), 11. Carson Short (1), 12. Bill Balog (18), 13. Logan Seavey (15), 14. Jake Swanson (20), 15. Stevie Sussex (16), 16. Brandon Mattox (21), 17. Damion Gardner (23), 18. Dustin Smith (22), 19. Shane Cottle (4), 20. Anthony D'Alessio (17), 21. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 22. Justin Grant (3), 23. Robert Ballou (24), 24. Matt Westfall (19). NT

**Brian VanMeveren flipped during the semi. Justin Grant flipped on lap 7 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kyle Cummins.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1,152, 2-Chris Windom-1,123, 3-Brady Bacon-1,121, 4-Chase Stockon-1,118, 5-C.J. Leary-1,072, 6-Carson Short-941, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-896, 8-Dave Darland-795, 9-Logan Seavey-754, 10-Kyle Cummins-733.

SMACKDOWN POINTS: (Top-8 locked into Saturday night's feature) 1-Kyle Cummins-697, 2-Brady Bacon-666, 3-Buddy Kofoid-654, 4-Thomas Meseraull-646, 5-Tyler Courtney-633, 6-Chase Stockon-631, 7-Chris Windom-625, 8-C.J. Leary-608.

SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-20, 2-Brady Bacon-10, 3-Tyler Thomas-9, 4-Justin Grant-9, 5-Buddy Kofoid-7, 6-Chase Stockon-7, 7-Jake Swanson-7, 8-Kyle Cummins-6, 9-Robert Ballou-6, 10-C.J. Leary-6.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-119, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Justin Grant-73, 4-Kyle Cummins-71, 5-Kyle Larson-62, 6-Shane Cottle-61, 7-Logan Seavey-59, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Robert Ballou-51, 10-Daison Pursley-48.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 29, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Sprint Car Smackdown IX

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts Winning Bonus: Kyle Cummins

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Thomas Meseraull

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Chris Windom

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Chase Stockon

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Tyler Courtney

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Dave Darland

The Frolic Bar & Grill C-Main Winner: Eddie Tafoya Jr.

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary

KSE Racing Products/Circus City Speedway/Irvin King Hard Charger: Brady Bacon (13th to 5th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Logan Seavey

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Dakota Jackson

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Anthony D'Alessio

ProSource Hard Work Award: Robert Ballou

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

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

Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) led the final 17 laps to capture Thursday night's USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Smackdown IX at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
(Brandon Murray Photo)

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Kokomo, Indiana (August 27, 2020).........Without a caution on the aborted initial start of Thursday night's feature at Kokomo Speedway, Kyle Cummins said he felt like he would've had the lead coming out of turn four on that opening lap. That came, albeit while starting sixth on the grid in the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Smackdown IX opener at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.

The Princeton, Ind. native was confident that the symbiosis between his car and his abilities were such to make that a reality. With an opening lap caution forcing him to try it again, Cummins only took a mere four laps to attain 2nd, and just 13 laps to assume the lead from Tyler Courtney.

Cummins then stifled a late-race challenge courtesy of Brady Bacon on a green-white-checkered finish to score the victory, his second straight with the series and the eighth of his career, equaling Mike Bliss, Chet Fillip, Johnny Rutherford and Joe Saldana for 55th all-time.

While Cummins' well-established dominance of Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. is known far and wide, where he won earlier this August during the Indiana Sprint Week finale, Thursday's victory marked the second of his USAC career at Kokomo, the very same venue he won his first career USAC Sprint feature at in 2016.

Cummins credits the "little bitty" things that got him to this point, a first career triumph during Sprint Car Smackdown. The changes aren't anything he considers "out of control," nothing the naked eye can see per se, but a few turns of the wrench here and there that have led to another celebration for him in victory lane.

"We've actually been experimenting and trying different stuff all year," Cummins revealed. "Last year, we had a great year, but there were things we struggled at that I wanted to get better at. We just decided everywhere we've been going, we've been trying something a little different here and there. We kept our same stuff at Tri-State Speedway, but everywhere else, we've kind of ventured out to some different stuff. We're slowly getting a handle on it, which is making me a lot more comfortable to drive it as hard as I can at the beginning and at the end instead of just the end."

At the beginning, Cummins was simply hooked up. The night's Fatheadz Fast Qualifier was on the move when a stackup in turn two near the tail of the field saw Shane Cottle get turned around in turn two, stopping to bring out the yellow. Meanwhile, provisional starter Carson Short also stopped with trouble after being involved in the incident, ending his evening along with Stevie Sussex's as well

A complete restart forced Cummins back to his original starting position outside row three for the restart, which saw him utilize his rapid fire, methodical approach on the first four laps of the feature, moving up one spot per lap to the 2nd position by lap four to post a challenge to 2017 & 2019 Smackdown champion, Tyler Courtney, throughout much of the first half of the 30-lap event.

From lap five onward, Cummins was all over Courtney like white on rice as he stalked the two-time USAC National champion around the quarter-mile and the two swapping lines high/low as Courtney fought to stay in control and Cummins sought an avenue past.

On the 11th and 12th lap, Cummins found a bit of a groove that witnessed him getting a run on the bottom underneath Courtney for the position exiting turn four, ultimately coming up short in his bid by a single car length at the line each time. On the 13th circuit, however, Cummins got the run he needed after putting together a high-quality set of turns in one and two, pulling even alongside Courtney on the back straightaway before surpassing him on the bottom of three and four to make the pass stick and overtake the top position.

As Cummins performed his high-wire act on the topside of the racetrack in traffic throughout the second half of the race, Courtney remained just three car lengths behind in second with only three laps remaining.

As Courtney diamonded off turn one on lap 28, he encountered the lapped cars of Damion Gardner and Tyler Thomas in turn two. With the gap between Gardner and Thomas closing rapidly, Courtney and Thomas made contact with Courtney's left rear tire ramping over Thomas' right front. The result sent Courtney sideways and plowed into by the incoming Shane Cottle while second-running Bacon became airborne and bouncing off the track surface twice. Thomas, meanwhile, stopped backward with a collapsed front end.

Bacon, along with Cottle, continued onward. However, Courtney's left rear tire was now flat, forcing him to the work area where his crew changed the tire before ultimately returning to finish 15th. It was yet another Kokomo heartbreak for Courtney who has now encountered trouble three separate times while leading or running second at the track in USAC competition this year. During Indiana Midget Week, he flipped while leading two-thirds of the way through. And during Indiana Sprint Week, he clipped a turn two infield tire while leading and spun just three laps from the finish.

The first attempt at the resumption of racing saw fourth-running Kevin Thomas Jr. suffer heartbreak of his own on the 28th lap when he slowed on the front straightaway before stopping in turn two, ending a solid run for the 2016 Smackdown winner and Kokomo track champion, thus setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

When racing resumed, Bacon showed his involvement in the incident did not hamper the drive of his car or himself personally as he dug in on the bottom, surging off the final set of corners to nearly pull even with Cummins. As the two raced to the line side-by-side, with Cummins ahead by a wheel at the stripe, the two were greeted by the yellow flag instead of the checkered flag due to Bill Balog performing a 360-degree spin in turn two, which by rule, instantly brought out the yellow flag each time. Balog ultimately came to a complete stop.

Cummins then stifled a late-race challenge courtesy of Brady Bacon on a green-white-checkered finish to score the victory, his second straight with the series and the eighth of his career, equaling Mike Bliss, Chet Fillip, Johnny Rutherford and Joe Saldana for 55th all-time.
(Rich Forman Photo)

Cummins' sight of Bacon underneath him in turn four just before the yellow was a bit of a surprise to him, as it turned out.

"I felt like on the restarts, I was pretty good," Cummins admitted. "I was loose in traffic, but I was holding them off, so I didn't want to do much different. I thought if I could just keep my momentum up, they couldn't pass me because it was super slick getting in both corners. Coming off four, it was slick on the bottom, and I didn't want to get hung up in there. I just thought I could run more through the middle. I got in there, got it turned and here he came on the bottom. Then, I figured the bottom must be pretty good!"

"It was a little nerve wracking," Cummins continued. "When I was coming through three and four, I thought I was fine. All of a sudden, here he comes up and I'm pretty sure I had him at the line if it would've went checkered then, but it feels better when you win and they're not right to the side of you."

Under the caution, Cummins made a few final adjustments both on the car and with his approach.

"I took a half turn out of both front shocks just to say I did something and give myself just a little bit extra," Cummins said. "Then, I slowed my entry down just a little bit in both corners and was going to make him pass me on the top. I wanted to stay a little bit more in the moisture down the back stretch and just not open it up for him to drive by me."

All went according to Cummins' blueprint when racing resumed, remaining closer to the bottom and denying Bacon any sensation of daylight to take advantage of underneath Cummins at the exits of turn two and four.

Cummins staved off the competition to capture the victory by 0.259 sec. over Bacon and Robert Ballou, who rounded out the podium. Outside front row starter Buddy Kofoid, making his USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car debut, finished 4th, while 2019 Smackdown opening night winner, Thomas Meseraull, rounded out the top-five.

-----------------------------------------

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Sprint Car Smackdown IX

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT ONE: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.957; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.998; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.093; 4. Cole Ketcham, 41, Ketcham-13.159; 5. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.214; 6. Bill Balog, 17B, Lein-13.216; 7. Damion Gardner, 5, Baldwin-13.300; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.316; 9. Charles Davis Jr., 47c, Davis-13.439; 10. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.478; 11. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.545; 12. Noah Gass, 20G, Gass-13.547; 13. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.577; 14. Cody Gardner, 9G, Appco-13.649; 15. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.663; 16. Max Adams, 5m, Adams-13.680; 17. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.689; 18. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.689; 19. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.701; 20. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Shipley-13.708; 21. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-13.716; 22. Chase Jones, 11AG, Gray-13.736; 23. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-13.868; 24. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-14.176; 25. Robert Brown Jr., 13, Brown-NT.

FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING FLIGHT TWO: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.024; 2. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.070; 3. Buddy Kofoid, 19A, Reinbold/Underwood-13.086; 4. Logan Seavey, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.167; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 47, Eades-13.246; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.260; 7. Stevie Sussex, 77w, Wingo-13.416; 8. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.439; 9. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.475; 10. Carson Short, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.524; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.524; 12. Jake Swanson, 34AZ, Team AZ-13.526; 13. Jadon Rogers, 61m, Edwards-13.539; 14. Tyler Thomas, 17GP, Dutcher-13.551; 15. Cole Bodine, 57x, Bodine/Crow-13.592; 16. Tye Mihocko, 5T, Mihocko-13.609; 17. Austin Williams, 92, Sertich-13.614; 18. Dustin Smith, 77, LG-13.648; 19. Dave Darland, 36d, EZR/Curb-Agajanian-13.700; 20. Chris Phillips, 6p, Phillips-13.741; 21. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.792; 22. Jack James, 99, James-14.343; 23. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-14.780; 24. David Hair, 44, Hair-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Chris Windom, 6. Damion Gardner, 7. Colten Cottle, 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 9. Dustin Clark, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Eddie Tafoya Jr. 2:18.708

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Bill Balog, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Max Adams, 6. Noah Gass, 7. Chase Jones, 8. Sterling Cling, 9. Cole Ketcham, 10. Kyle Shipley, 11. Cody Gardner, 12. Brian VanMeveren. NT

AUTOMETER THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Clinton Boyles, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Buddy Kofoid, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Austin Williams, 9. Dave Darland, 10. Brayden Fox, 11. Cole Bodine, 12. Robert Bell. NT

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Tyler Thomas, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Carson Short, 8. Tye Mihocko, 9. Dustin Smith, 10. Chris Phillips, 11. Jack James. NT

THE FROLIC BAR & GRILL C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Max Adams, 2. Austin Williams, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Sterling Cling, 6. Kyle Shipley, 7. Brayden Fox, 8. Anthony D'Alessio, 9. Chase Jones, 10. Dustin Smith, 11. Dustin Clark, 12. David Hair, 13. Jack James, 14. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 15. Chris Phillips. 2:19.816

INDY METAL FINISHING SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Damion Gardner, 6. Justin Grant, 7. Carson Short, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Jadon Rogers, 10. Colten Cottle, 11. Tye Mihocko, 12. Max Adams, 13. Matt Goodnight, 14. Noah Gass, 15. Austin Williams, 16. Cole Ketcham, 17. Cody Gardner, 18. Cole Bodine. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. Brady Bacon (4), 3. Robert Ballou (8), 4. Buddy Kofoid (2), 5. Thomas Meseraull (7), 6. Logan Seavey (1), 7. Chase Stockon (12), 8. Chris Windom (21), 9. Jake Swanson (10), 10. C.J. Leary (11), 11. Justin Grant (20), 12. Clinton Boyles (18), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 14. Charles Davis Jr. (9), 15. Tyler Courtney (3), 16. Damion Gardner (15), 17. Shane Cottle (17), 18. Dave Darland (24), 19. Brandon Mattox (14), 20. Bill Balog (13), 21. Tyler Thomas (22), 22. Matt Westfall (19), 23. Stevie Sussex (16), 24. Carson Short (23). NT

**David Hair flipped during qualifying. Robert Bell flipped during the third heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Tyler Courtney, Laps 13-30 Kyle Cummins.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1,121, 2-Chase Stockon-1,061, 3-Brady Bacon-1,057, 4-Chris Windom-1,048, 5-C.J. Leary-1,015, 6-Carson Short-894, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-864, 8-Dave Darland-744, 9-Logan Seavey-715, 10-Brandon Mattox-669.

SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-13, 2-Justin Grant-9, 3-Clinton Boyles-6, 4-Kyle Cummins-5, 5-Robert Ballou-5, 6-Chase Stockon-5, 7-Brady Bacon-2, 8-Thomas Meseraull-2, 9-Jake Swanson-1, 10-C.J. Leary-1.

OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-112, 2-Tanner Thorson-76, 3-Justin Grant-73, 4-Kyle Cummins-70, 5-Kyle Larson-62, 6-Shane Cottle-61, 7-Logan Seavey-57, 8-Cannon McIntosh-57, 9-Robert Ballou-50, 10-Daison Pursley-48.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 28-29, 2020 - Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana - 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval - Sprint Car Smackdown IX

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Elliott's Custom Trailers & Carts Winning Bonus: Kyle Cummins

Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Cummins

Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Charles Davis Jr.

Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou

AutoMeter Third Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull

Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Jake Swanson

The Frolic Bar & Grill C-Main Winner: Max Adams

Indy Metal Finishing Semi Winner: C.J. Leary

KSE Racing Products/Circus City Speedway/Irvin King Hard Charger: Chris Windom (21st to 8th)

Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Kevin Thomas Jr.

Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Carson Short

Roger & Barb Tapy 13th Fastest Qualifier: Damion Gardner

ProSource Hard Work Award: Tyler Thomas