ROSSBURG, Ohio — Back in 2011 at the age of just five years old, Jakeb Boxell scored his first kart win at Little E, the small dirt track located on the northeast part of the property on the grounds of Eldora Speedway.
On Saturday night, all these years later, the 20-year-old Zanesville, Indiana native grabbed his first USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature victory just a stone’s throw away from the legendary half-mile dirt oval.
In a non-stop, caution-free race that lasted just seven minutes and 30.696 seconds, Boxell led all 25 laps from his outside front row starting position to capture a $15,000 winner’s share in his 4 Kings Racing/Metalloid1 – AccroSeal – AccroLube – MW Fabrication/LynK/Stanton SR-11x during Saturday night’s 44th running of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKTELCO at The Big E.
Boxell has won many a race on the Little E track driving karts owned and built by Matt Westfall. On Saturday, Westfall was serving as Boxell’s crew chief as they teamed up to put the red 54 in victory lane, a number and color scheme closely associated with Westfall throughout his racing career.
It was a proud moment for Boxell, who has been mentored by Westfall throughout his entire racing career, from his salad days at Little E to the biggest victory of his career to date at The Big E.
“To win at Eldora in the 54 car. Oh man. I don’t even really know how to describe it right now.”
Boxell became the first driver to win his first USAC National Midget main event during the 4-Crown Nationals since Danny Stratton in 2005. More recently, one year ago, Hayden Reinbold captured his first series win in the BeFour the Crowns event at Eldora.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise to those who’ve observed Boxell over the past couple of seasons. In his first two career Eldora USAC National Midget appearances a year ago, Boxell finished third and sixth. On Thursday, he placed fifth. This year with the series, he’s finished as the runner-up twice at Indiana’s Paragon Speedway and again at Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway.
Boxell finished off a 4 Kings Racing sweep of the Eldora weekend. Two nights earlier, Kevin Thomas Jr. drove the team to victory. Meanwhile, Boxell is the first driver to take the number 54 to a USAC National Midget victory in 43 years! Dana Carter, driving Rollie Helmling’s No. 54, scored a 100-lap triumph indoors at the Hara Arena in Dayton, Ohio in 1983.
Though his season has been a pretty solid first full campaign, four of Boxell’s past eight series starts have resulted in unsavory finishes outside the top 10. This win couldn’t have come a better time for Boxell and team any way slice it.
“I know it’s been a tough stretch these last few races,” Boxell explained. “But man, I’m really happy and I can’t wait to hang this check and trophy up at the shop later.”
Boxell’s primary nemesis was Logan Seavey, who interestingly enough, was utilizing a borrowed engine from the 4 Kings Racing stable after his primary powerplant from Abacus Racing experienced a major malfunction during Thursday’s program.
On lap 14 of 25, eighth starting Seavey zipped by Hayden Reinbold for the second spot off the exit of turn four. Armed with a full second gap on the field at that time, Boxell’s advantage soon began to dwindle as Seavey arrived within striking distance with just seven laps remaining.
With lappers looming on a track surface that was slick to the fence, rather than become stifled behind and alongside them, Boxell decided to use traffic to his advantage in any way could with Adam Taylor and Luke Wackerlin occupying the low line. Their position, for all intents and purposes, eliminated the slider line for Seavey for the time being, which was all to Boxell’s advantage.
Boxell was vigilant as he maintained a watchful eye on the video board between turns one and two in order to view how many laps remained down the stretch, all while putting every ounce of energy and concentration into accomplishing the task.
“I knew I was pretty good and I know (crew chief) Matt (Westfall) gives me a lot of crap about being 110% all the time,” Boxell stated. “Logan showed me a nose and I had to use those lapped cars as a pick. I knew if I wanted to be able to win this thing, I had to put those cars in between me and Logan so he couldn’t throw a slider on me.”
Boxell was next level throughout the final five laps as he sprinted away from Denney et al. to gain some much needed breathing room and extend his lead back to seven car lengths.
On the final lap, the battle for position was all behind Boxell’s back as Denney surged back to second after dipping to as low as fifth with just a handful of laps left to go. Grant also stormed by Seavey during the final quarter a lap to get to third.
Meanwhile, Boxell broke away to cross the stripe with a 0.826-second victory.
USAC National Midget point leader Jacob Denney extended his lead with his seventh top-two result of the year in a span of 17 series feature starts.
Grant finished third while Seavey fell to fourth in the order.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, Sept. 26, 2026
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kale Drake (#4 RMS) (2), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#14 4 Kings) (6), 3. Jakeb Boxell (#54 4 Kings) (4), 4. Gunnar Setser (#43 Arnold) (3), 5. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood) (5), 6. Colton Robinson (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (7), 7. Adam Taylor (#7T ATM) (8), 8. Bradley Cox (#45 Mason) (10), 9. Cord Kisthardt (#21K Kisthardt) (9), 10. Mack Leopard (#40L McDermand) (1). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus) (2), 2. Jacob Denney (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (4), 3. Brecken Reese (#20Q Reese) (3), 4. Daison Pursley (#86 CBI) (5), 5. Justin Grant (#87 CBI) (6), 6. Kyle Jones (#7TX Engler) (1), 7. Gavin Miller (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian) (7), 8. Devon Dobie (#23D Dobie) (10), 9. Jadon Rogers (#4p Binks) (9), 10. Luke Wackerlin (#7w Guithues (8). 2:13.360
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jakeb Boxell (2), 2. Jacob Denney (1), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Logan Seavey (8), 5. Daison Pursley (3), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 7. Hayden Reinbold (4), 8. Kale Drake (7), 9. Brecken Reese (9), 10. Gavin Miller (12), 11. Colton Robinson (11), 12. Bradley Cox (14), 13. Mack Leopard (16), 14. Kyle Jones (10), 15. Devon Dobie (15), 16. Adam Taylor (13), 17. Luke Wackerlin (17), 18. Cord Kisthardt (18), 19. Jadon Rogers (19).
