KOKOMO, Ind. — Just about a month ago, Kevin Thomas Jr. switched streams and changed teams midway through the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season.
On Saturday night at Kokomo Speedway, he took BBI Motorsports to victory lane during round three of the 39th annual edition of USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters.
At the same time, the Cullman, Alabama native drove himself to his long-awaited first win of the 2026 USAC National Sprint Car season.
In late June, Thomas parted ways with the Rock Steady Racing team to join BBI, with whom he had earned considerable success with in the southwest. This season alone, he had won in both USAC CRA and USAC Southwest Sprint Car competition for the team at Arizona’s Mohave Valley Raceway and Central Arizona Raceway.
On Saturday at Kokomo, for the first time, Thomas and BBI all visited USAC National Sprint Car victory lane together in just their fifth series appearance since putting this program together. This one meant the world to KTJ as he went wire-to-wire, leading all 30 laps at the wheel of his BBI Motorsports/Driven Racing Oil – Inland Rigging – Indy Metal Finishing/DRC/Moyle Chevy No. 15.
“I’ve done this a few times, just wanting to be on my own. I’m not on my own right now. I said that wrong, but I do get a lot of leash and I appreciate that,” Thomas explained. “I met Chris, Jennifer, Kaycee, and Jamesyn (Bonneau) a long time ago. I stayed at their house when their first daughter was born. So, I’ve known them for a long time, along with Michael (Bryan) and J.T. (Imperial), and all the people who are involved in this. The BBI stands for three last names. So, it’s a family ordeal and I’m happy to drive it to victory lane.”
Thomas’ 49th career USAC National Sprint Car victory ranks as the fifth most all-time as he made his way to his eighth career Indiana Sprint Week score. Overall, his latest triumph was also his eighth career USAC National Sprint Car win at Kokomo’s 1/4-mile dirt oval. This one proved to be among the most rewarding of his career.
“Two weeks ago, I got back from Mid-America Midget Week, and we rebuilt this thing from the ground up in 10 days,” Thomas revealed. “For it to be rewarding right off the bat is pretty special.”
In what has been a trying season for Thomas, in all honesty, this was his first race day trip to victory lane during the 2026 USAC national season. He was declared a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget winner in late June during the prelim night of the BC39. But that declaration came the next afternoon after original winner Drake Edwards’ car was deemed illegal.
So, in all reality, this was KTJ’s first feeling of triumphant satisfaction in USAC competition since capturing the second night of Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo in August 2025, a full 11 months ago, and 29 events into the 2026 campaign.
“Well, now we got the monkey off our back, so I feel like we can be comfortable and just go race,” Thomas stated. “I qualified eighth today. I was bitching and I was like, I just want to win a race. Like, I’m over it. These guys had my back and they said, ‘you’re going to win.’ It’s pretty cool and I do have a lot of pride in this and working on my own stuff. It’s a lot of fun.”
With 55 drivers on hand, it was the largest Indiana Sprint Week car count at Kokomo since 2008, 18 years ago. Those 55 were pared down to a feature starting field of 24, where Thomas was slated to start from the outside of the front row. Thomas grabbed the early lead from pole sitter Briggs Danner and was never heavily challenged the remainder of the way.
Indiana Sprint Week point leader Kyle Cummins slipped under Danner off turn four on the second lap to slot into the runner-up spot. By lap six, Mitchel Moles had gained third from Danner as Gavin Miller passed Danner by on lap eight for fourth and Justin Grant for fifth on lap nine as Danner, the defending race winner, fell all the way to sixth in the blink of an eye.
Grant traveled topside to fourth by Miller on lap 12, then to third past Moles on lap 14 as he got the diamond line working in his favor, then ultimately, glided around Cummins in turn four for the second spot on lap 23, as Miller joined him in third one lap later.
While Grant and Miller duked it out for the “place” position, Thomas had run his lead out to roughly eight to 10 car lengths, mostly utilizing the lower portion of the racetrack for the majority of the distance.
“I was just watching where the crumbs were, and the lapped cars, and I felt good enough to where I could kind of focus on not necessarily hitting my marks,” Thomas said. “I had a great race car, so I was able to search and look and see where I was gaining speed and I could really feel the car. I could feel whenever I was a little bit slower here, a little bit slower there, and faster.”
Thomas proved to be untouchable throughout the 30-lap distance as he crossed under the checkered flag 1.032 seconds ahead of Grant in the runner-up position. Miller earned his best career USAC National Sprint Car finish of third in just his eighth career series start. Cummins came home fourth and Jake Swanson rounded out the top five for the second consecutive night.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championhip, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Indiana, July 25, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.570; 2. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-12.707; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.739; 4. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-12.761; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.815; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.880; 7. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-12.944; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-12.960; 9. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.967; 10. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.975; 11. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.977; 12. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.029; 13. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-13.057; 14. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-13.097; 15. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-13.112; 16. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.119; 17. Hunter Schuerenberg, 3R, Rock Steady-13.153; 18. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.160; 19. Logan Prickett, 37, Prickett-13.173; 20. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell/Boyd-13.175; 21. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-13.180; 22. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo/Bishop-13.222; 23. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-13.225; 24. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-13.261; 25. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-13.269; 26. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-13.292; 27. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.332; 28. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.348; 29. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-13.352; 30. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-13.387; 31. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-13.387; 32. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-13.416; 33. Brayden Clark, 4c, Clark-13.421; 34. J.J. Yeley, 51, Wood-13.423; 35. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-13.557; 36. Todd Moule, AU26, Moule-13.584; 37. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.609; 38. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-13.650; 39. Keith Sheffer II, 86, Sheffer-13.673; 40. James Turnbull II, 5, Baldwin/Fox-13.741; 41. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.774; 42. Dalton Stevens, 2B, 2B Racing-13.776; 43. R.J. Miller, 34m, Miller-13.835; 44. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.841; 45. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-13.846; 46. Colten Cottle, 57H, Hazen-13.914; 47. Travis Oldfield, 38, Oldfield-13.918; 48. Parker Frederickson, 76s, Samson-14.012; 49. Brennon Marshall, 43, Miller-14.033; 50. Aidan Salisbury, 21s, Hajduk-14.078; 51. Devan Myers, 75, Myers-14.116; 52. Kyle Johnson, 99J, Johnson-14.209; 53. Austin Nigh, 97, Ninety Seven-14.192; 54. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-NT; 55. Rylan Gray, 1, Gray-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Harley Burns (1), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. Logan Seavey (3), 4. Robert Ballou (4), 5. Jake Swanson (6), 6. Cale Coons (7), 7. Beau Brandon (2), 8. Colten Cottle (10), 9. Brandon Mattox (9), 10. Todd Moule (8), 11. Devan Myers (11). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Hayden Reinbold (4), 2. Brady Bacon (6), 3. Hunter Schuerenberg (3), 4. Zack Pretorius (1), 5. Jack Hoyer (5), 6. Charles Davis Jr. (8), 7. Austin Nigh (11), 8. Dalton Stevens (9), 9. Troy Carey (7), 10. Travis Oldfield (10). 2:14.234
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Trey Osborne (2), 2. C.J. Leary (4), 3. Mitchel Moles (6), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 5. Jadon Rogers (3), 6. Kobe Simpson (1), 7. Brayden Clark (7), 8. Jesse Vermillion (8), 9. Kyle Johnson (11), 10. Parker Frederickson (10), 11. R.J. Miller (9). 2:11.794
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chase Stockon (2), 2. David Gasper (1), 3. Briggs Danner (5), 4. Keith Sheffer II (8), 5. Logan Prickett (3), 6. Wyatt Burks (4), 7. Matt Goodnight (9), 8. Blake Vermillion (11), 9. Gunnar Setser (6), 10. Brennon Marshall (10), 11. J.J. Yeley (7). NT
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gavin Miller (5), 2. Thomas Meseraull (1), 3. Eli Wilhelmus (4), 4. Justin Grant (6), 5. Braydon Cromwell (3), 6. Colin Parker (7), 7. Aidan Salisbury (10), 8. James Turnbull II (8), 9. Dakota Earls (9), 10. Logan Calderwood (2). NT
COOK OUT C MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jesse Vermillion (1), 2. Colten Cottle (4), 3. Troy Carey (6), 4. Brandon Mattox (7), 5. James Turnbull II (2), 6. Todd Moule (11), 7. Parker Frederickson (13), 8. Kyle Johnson (9), 9. Dakota Earls (8), 10. Blake Vermillion (5), 11. Devan Myers (16), 12. Travis Oldfield (12), 13. Brennon Marshall (14), 14. Dalton Stevens (3), 15. R.J. Miller (15), 16. Logan Calderwood (10). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (1), 2. Gunnar Setser (2), 3. Jack Hoyer (3), 4. Jadon Rogers (4), 5. Braydon Cromwell (6), 6. Kobe Simpson (8), 7. Wyatt Burks (7), 8. Charles Davis Jr. (11), 9. Logan Prickett (5), 10. Beau Brandon (12), 11. Brayden Clark (13), 12. Aidan Salisbury (15), 13. Austin Nigh (16), 14. Matt Goodnight (14), 15. Jesse Vermillion (17), 16. Colin Parker (10), 17. Brandon Mattox (20), 18. Troy Carey (19), 19. Colten Cottle (18), 20. Cale Coons (9). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 2. Justin Grant (4), 3. Gavin Miller (7), 4. Kyle Cummins (3), 5. Jake Swanson (11), 6. Brady Bacon (6), 7. Mitchel Moles (5), 8. Robert Ballou (14), 9. Briggs Danner (1), 10. Chase Stockon (9), 11. Gunnar Setser (12), 12. Harley Burns (10), 13. Jadon Rogers (19), 14. Hunter Schuerenberg (18), 15. Thomas Meseraull (22), 16. C.J. Leary (15), 17. Logan Seavey (17), 18. Hayden Reinbold (8), 19. Zack Pretorius (20), 20. Jack Hoyer (13), 21. Keith Sheffer II (23), 22. David Gasper (21), 23. Eli Wilhelmus (16), 24. Trey Osborne (24).
