SPEEDWAY, Ind. — A new venture awaits the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship this weekend in the state of Illinois.
Rain washed out Friday night’s series opener at Coles County Speedway in Mattoon, Ill., however, night two of the scheduled two-night stand at the fifth-mile track will go on as scheduled on Friday.
Saturday’s 40-lapper will pay a winner’s share of $6,000.
On Sunday, August 16, the series heads west to Jacksonville Speedway’s quarter-mile dirt oval for The Premiere where competitors will face off for 30 laps and $6,000-to-win.
DENNEY LEADS THE WAY
Jacob Denney has turned up the wick as of late, which has seen him convert what was once a 21-point deficit into a 68-point lead in the USAC National Midget standings.
Over his past five series starts, he’s laid down five consecutive podium finishes with a third, third, first, first, second stretch aboard his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports No. 67.
It’s the Ohioan’s third different stint as the series point leader during the 2026 season. Over his past five years in the series, he’s tallied points finishes of 40th in 2021, eighth in 2022, seventh in 2023, fifth in 2024, and fourth in 2025. Now, the next step of Jacob’s ladder is within his grasp, and he’s in the driver’s seat entering this weekend.
MAKIN’ IT HAPPEN
The only driver who can rival Denney’s prowess over the past five USAC National Midget races is Kale Drake, who’s put together a stretch of fifth, fourth, third, fifth, first in that time frame.
He’s the most recent USAC National Midget winner, taking July’s Midwest Midget Championship at Fairbury, Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway. That proved to be his first USAC win since joining RMS Racing at the start of the 2026 campaign.
This recent stretch has risen Drake from sixth to third in the standings, just seven points behind Kevin Thomas Jr. for second.
WINNERS & CONTENDERS
Nine different drivers have already reached victory lane during the USAC National Midget season.
2024 Jacksonville POWRi winner Jacob Denney and Justin Grant have each won three USAC National Midget main events apiece thus far this season.
Possessing one USAC National Midget score thus far in 2026 are Briggs Danner, Kale Drake, Hayden Reinbold, Karter Sarff, Logan Seavey, Kevin Thomas Jr., and Gavin Miller, a 2024 Xtreme Midget winner at Jacksonville in 2024.
Danner and Sarff are among the first-time USAC National Midget winners who’ve emerged thus far in 2026. There are a myriad of other drivers waiting in the wings to pick off USAC win number one this weekend, namely Jakeb Boxell (sixth in points), Brecken Reese (ninth), and Colton Robinson (10th), all of whom reside inside the top 10 of the standings, along with series veterans Ethan Mitchell, Gunnar Setser, Kyle Jones, and Mack Leopard, just to name a few.
DAUMINATION
Illinoisan Zach Daum will jump into Pat O’Dell’s No. 1 for this weekend’s slate of racing, a ride which had previously been driven by Zach Wigal throughout the early portion of the year.
Daum, the owner of four career USAC National Midget wins, has run well at both tracks on this weekend’s USAC docket. He finished third with Xtreme and POWRi at Coles County back in 2024. At Jacksonville, he’s won twice, first with POWRi in 2016 and again with Xtreme in 2024.
In his USAC career, Daum has won twice in Indiana and twice in Kansas, but an win in his home state of Illinois would be pretty sweet.
MR. ROBINSON’S NEIGHBORHOOD
Florida’s Colton Robinson leads the USAC National Midget Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year standings entering this weekend, by a 119-point margin over Brandon Carr.
Bradley Cox, Trevor Cline, Drew Sherman, and Adam Taylor are among the other series Rookies in this weekend’s field who are in the mix, currently ranking third through sixth in the pecking order.
Robinson has had a solid freshman campaign, sitting 10th in the overall standings while garnering best finishes of 6th at Sweet Springs and seventh at Bloomington.
Robinson is also well on his way to becoming the first ever USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year hailing from the state of Florida. At press time, he’s just three spots shy of equaling the best series points finish by a Floridian, a seventh set by Dave Steele in 2004.
ILLINOIS MIDGET HISTORY
Four-hundred-twenty-three points-paying USAC National Midget races have been held in Illinois dating back to Shorty Templeman’s victory on June 1, 1956, at Blue Island, Illinois’ Raceway Park.
It’s been nearly three years to the day since USAC National Midgets last made a voyage to Illinois, when Logan Seavey scored at Macon Speedway on August 19, 2023.
It’s been nine years since USAC National Midgets last took part in a tripleheader Illinois weekend with three races in the Land of Lincoln across three nights. In 2017, Christopher Bell took the first two nights at Macon and Lincoln Speedway, while Tyler Courtney captured the weekend capper at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield.
