ROSSBURG, Ohio — The best off all dirt open-wheel racing worlds converge at Eldora Speedway this weekend for the 43rd running of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO September 18-20.
The pits inside the half-mile dirt oval will be filled to the brim with open wheel machinery from USAC’s stable of NOS Energy Drink National Midget, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and Silver Crown divisions to the winged variety of the Kubota High Limit Racing Sprint Cars as well as the Great Lakes Super Sprints.
Each USAC division and High Limit will be racing for $15,000-to-win in their respective features during Saturday night’s program.
PURSLEY IS BUSY
Daison Pursley will be chasing history this week as he competes in five divisions throughout 4-Crown weekend. Last year on this weekend, he picked off USAC National Midget wins on back-to-back nights, then scored a USAC National Sprint Car victory and finished the weekend fourth in the USAC Silver Crown finale after starting from the pole and leading the initial 12 laps.
This week, the Locust, Grove, Oklahoma racer will pilot a USAC Midget and USAC Sprint Car for CB Industries, a USAC Silver Crown car for Chris Dyson Racing, plus a High Limit winged sprint car for Buch Motorsports.
Furthermore, on Friday night, he’ll run a winged 360 sprint car with the Great Lak0es Super Sprints for the CBI team.
Jack Hewitt remains the only driver to win all four divisions at the 4-Crown in a single night, doing so in 1998 with the USAC National Midgets, USAC National Sprint Cars, UMP Modifieds and USAC Silver Crown.
TRIPLE CROWNS
At least five drivers are expected to pull triple duty across all three USAC national divisions this week at Eldora – Silver Crown, sprint car and midget. That’s Justin Grant, Daison Pursley, Logan Seavey, Chase Stockon and Kevin Thomas Jr.
Seavey has won across all three divisions in his career at Eldora, getting it done all in one night at the 4-Crown back in 2023. Pursley has won all but the Silver Crown portion. Grant has won six Eldora races, all in the sprint car, and twice at the 4-Crown in 2016 and 2022.
While Chase Stockon has never won a USAC race at Eldora, he has won with the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series at the track in 2014. He finished as the runner-up with the USAC Sprints at Eldora that same year.
Kevin Thomas Jr. is in a similar vein, finishing a best of second at Eldora with the USAC Silver Crown series in both 2018 and 2019, and then took a runner-up spot with the USAC Sprints at the 2024 4-Crown after leading four laps.
To date, just three drivers have swept the USAC portion of the 4-Crown in a single night: Jack Hewitt (1998), Kyle Larson (2011) and Logan Seavey (2023).
THREE DAYS
The last time the 4-Crown Nationals were spread across three different days was 30 years ago — in 1995.
That year’s format featured qualifying on night one, heat races on night two, then the semi-feature and feature events during the daytime on day three.
This year’s new expanded format will present full programs for both the USAC National Sprint Cars and USAC National Midgets on Thursday.
USAC Silver Crown will take the track on Friday for practice, qualifying and the qualifying race only, plus full programs for both the Kubota High Limit Racing Sprint Cars and the Great Lakes Super Sprints.
Saturday’s finale will bring a more concise format with no qualifying for any of the series. In essence, Thursday’s USAC finish and Friday’s High Limit finish will act as the qualifying times for Saturday’s program, and starting lineups will be based on that. Each of Saturday’s four features will pay $15,000-to-win.
THE MIDGET LOWDOWN
Midget racing is simply spectacular at Eldora Speedway and serves as the only half-mile venue on the series schedule. A field expected in the low to mid-20s is anticipated for the event, which will feature 25-lap main events on Thursday and Saturday.
Daison Pursley enters the event having swept both events in 2024. In fact, his CB Industries team has won a midget race on 4-Crown weekend in each of the past four years. This year, CBI will have a three-car lineup featuring Pursley, Justin Grant and Drake Edwards.
Two past Eldora USAC Midget winners are slated to compete, with Pursley being joined by 2023 4-Crown victor Logan Seavey.
Cannon McIntosh enters as the series championship leader with a 39-point edge over Justin Grant. Gavin Miller has been the hottest driver of late, winning each of the past two events and three of the last four overall.
SPRINT CAR HOME
Eldora is USAC Sprint Car racing’s most prevalent track, having hosted 211 previous points-paying series events at the track dating back to 1962.
This week’s 4-Crown USAC Sprint Car field of around 40 entries consists of five past 4-Crown winners in the division: Brady Bacon (2014), Justin Grant (2016 & 2022), C.J. Leary (2017), Logan Seavey (2023) and Daison Pursley (2024), plus one Eldora USAC Sprint Car winner seeking a first 4-Crown win, Matt Westfall.
Bacon won at Eldora this past May during #LetsRaceTwo and will return in his Chris Dyson Racing machine.
Kyle Cummins comes into the event with a hefty 245-point lead over Mitchel Moles. Cummins is seeking his first Eldora victory after finishing a narrow second in 2022. Moles has already added USAC Midget and USAC Silver Crown triumphs at Eldora in his career. He would like to fill the void with a USAC Sprint Car score this week.
SILVER CROWN FINALE
It comes down to Eldora to decide the USAC Silver Crown champion for 2025 with Justin Grant holding a 65-point lead as he seeks to close out his second career champ car title (2020).
The objective is clear. Second place occupant C.J. Leary must win the pole position, worth 3 points, during Friday’s qualifying session in order to stay alive in the points race. If Leary does not, Grant would automatically clinch the title.
Mitchel Moles is among the four past 4-Crown Silver Crown winners in this week’s field as he looks to defend his throne from a year ago, which was the first victory of his career in the big cars.
