KUTZTOWN, Pa. — Kyle Cummins made history by winning Sunday’s Eastern Storm finale for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship at Action Track USA.
As the night’s fast qualifier, Cummins tracked down Eastern Storm champion Emerson Axsom 16 laps from the finish line to become the first USAC National Sprint Car feature winner at the fifth-mile track.
It was Cummins first Eastern Storm triumph and his 17th USAC sprint car score.
Cummins and his Rock Steady Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – Tim Mason ReMax/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy became the third three-time winning combination on the USAC National Sprint Car tour this season, joining Jake Swanson and Justin Grant.
Starting sixth on the tight confines, Cummins had to stand up in the seat and go to work immediately at the drop of the green flag with laps regularly being clicked off at just a tick over 10 seconds a clip.
Up front, Axsom, remarkably making a front row start for the fourth consecutive night, was the early race leader as he sped away while playing with house money, so to speak. Sunday’s event paid 50 appearance points to all competitors toward both the overall USAC National Sprint Car standings as well as the Eastern Storm tally, regardless of their finishing position.
As a result, when Axsom pushed off for hot laps at Action Track USA, he clinched the Eastern Storm title.
Axsom remained focused on finishing the grueling week with gusto by posting yet another feature victory to put an exclamation mark on his phenomenal week. Axsom set sail ahead, leading comfortably for the first 20 laps, which unfolded in rapid-fire succession.
Cummins, meanwhile, was hustling and bustling as he surged under Justin Grant for the fourth spot in turns one and two on lap nine. On the 13th go-around, Cummins found a quality drive off the bottom of three and four to swipe the third position from C.J. Leary.
One lap later, Cummins powered his way into second under Alex Bright, the top contender in the field utilizing a 360 c.i. engine against the majority 410 field.
Cummins had found the right formula, and with a slight adjustment on his shocks amid the flurry of activity surrounding him, he had positioned himself in a prime position with half the race complete and half the race left to go.
“I didn’t feel like I was as good middle to top,” Cummins explained. “These boys put the super-tune on it and had me just tight enough to where I could run the middle. I didn’t feel great because I was just a little too tight, but everyone’s car was going away just a little bit. I grabbed a handful of shock halfway through the race, and that thing was digging unbelievably in both corners. I could get it whoa’d up and turned without spinning out, but it was kind of close a couple times.”
On the 24th lap, Axsom had caught up with the tail-end lead lap cars of Billy Pauch Jr. and Carmen Perigo who ran two-wide in their own personal battle for position. As Axsom tried to navigate, Cummins pounced. By turn two of lap 25, Cummins was completely clear of Axsom, and rode the bottom line straight to a lead he wouldn’t and didn’t relent.
From that point forward, the race was on for second as Leary made a valiant effort to return to contention.
On lap 36, the low-line-riding Leary and Axsom banged wheels, knocking both askew briefly at the exit of turn four. However, Leary quickly recovered and drove right back by Axsom for the position one lap later on the 37th circuit to secure the runner-up spot.
Back to the front, Cummins was closing out a mightily impressive performance, winning by 3.03 seconds over Leary, Axsom, Robert Ballou and Grant.
Cummins was beyond thrilled to close out the week of Eastern Storm on a winning note.
“It was tough for us all to come out and leave work, and we’re super behind,” Cummins explained of his dilemma of balancing racing and his self-owned business back home. “We started off decent the first night but struggled through the week. We had some failures throughout the week, and we had something we found that kept binding us up. But tonight, everything was clean and clear, and we can go home $6,0000 richer.”
For many, the experience of racing a sprint car at Action Track USA was a blast after a sense of trepidation was in the air entering the event from fans and competitors alike. In a 40-lap feature that went straight through without a single incident in a mere 7:16.25, the event was a rousing success, most notably for Cummins and his personal, firsthand experience.
“This is a sweet race track,” Cummins exclaimed. “When you go to the big tracks, and your car is all over the place, it’s pretty sketchy. We’re not the best on the big tracks, but we can kind of hold our own. I like these little bullrings where you hit the cushion, bounce around and your car is all over the place. That’s kind of our setup.”
Axsom completed Eastern Storm nearly flawlessly with a championship in hand following five consecutive podium finishes boosted by a pair of wins at Big Diamond and Williams Grove, two more runner-up results at Grandview and Port Royal, and culminating in a third place run at Action Track USA in his Clauson Marshall Newman Racing/Driven2SaveLives – ZMax Race Lubricants/Spike/Kistler Chevy.
The Boxscore
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Action Track USA, Kutztown, Pa., June 18, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-10.406 (New Track Record); 2. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-10.554; 3. Logan Seavey, 2B, 2B Racing-10.634; 4. Daison Pursley, 5p, KO-10.637; 5. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-10.672; 6. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-10.683; 7. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-10.685; 8. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-10.700; 9. Alex Bright, 27, Heffner/Hummer-10.709; 10. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-10.710; 11. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-10.714; 12. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-10.748; 13. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-10.748; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-10.772; 15. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-10.787; 16. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-10.790; 17. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-10.938; 18. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-10.941; 19. Joey Amantea, 88J, Amantea-11.010; 20. Preston Lattomus, 23B, Lattomus-11.226; 21. Billy Pauch Jr., 27H, Heffner-11.304.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Daison Pursley, 7. Joey Amantea.
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Charles Davis Jr., 4. Preston Lattomus, 5. Tom Harris, 6. Mitchel Moles, 7. Briggs Danner.
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Carmen Perigo, 3. Alex Bright, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Billy Pauch Jr., 7. Timmy Buckwalter.
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. C.J. Leary (3), 3. Emerson Axsom (1), 4. Robert Ballou (7), 5. Justin Grant (4), 6. Alex Bright (2), 7. Logan Seavey (5), 8. Chase Stockon (9), 9. Brady Bacon (16), 10. Jake Swanson (8), 11. Daison Pursley (11), 12. Mitchel Moles (12), 13. Joey Amantea (19), 14. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 15. Carmen Perigo (15), 16. Billy Pauch Jr. (21), 17. Briggs Danner (10), 18. Tom Harris (13), 19. Matt Westfall (17), 20. Preston Lattomus (20), 21. Timmy Buckwalter (18).