QUINCY, Mich. — After three months and 20 starts without a victory, Kyle Cummins was beginning to wonder if he’d ever win again in USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship competition.
Couple that with the fact that he’s finished as the runner-up in seven of his last 10 series starts, the Princeton, Indiana driver was pondering what exactly he could do to push himself back to the top, especially after missing out on a win by mere inches 24 hours earlier.
Saturday’s event proved to be everything Cummins had wished and hoped it would be, even when it looked like he had let the opportunity slip from his grip for a brief moment during the midway point of the 30-lap feature.
Just as soon as Cummins took over the top spot from Justin Grant on the 13th circuit, he saw his lead escape the following lap. However, Cummins rediscovered his groove once more, then sprinted back by Grant to slot into the lead before patrolling the final 15 laps to earn his eighth victory of the USAC National Sprint Car season.
“Finally, finally! Holy moly,” Cummins exclaimed after capturing his first series win since June 29 ear at Ohio’s Millstream Speedway. “It felt like a long time coming. We’ve got some wins this year, but when it doesn’t come for a long time, it feels like you might never win again, but we just kept pushing.”
Cummins’ 28th career USAC National Sprint Car win moved him inside the top-20 on the all-time list alongside series champions A.J. Foyt, Don Branson, J.J. Yeley and Levi Jones. While not a USAC National Sprint Car champion yet, Cummins is sure on his way, currently possessing a commanding 297-point lead with seven races remaining this season.
Speaking of lengthy absences, Saturday’s event was the first time USAC had visited Butler’s three-eighths-mile since August of 1990, 35 years ago when Hank Lower was victorious in what was his first and only career USAC feature start. Furthermore, it was USAC’s first trip to the state of Michigan in 12 years, dating back to an I-96 Speedway show in 2013.
Starting fourth in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy, Cummins lurched forward to third by the end of the opening lap and vaulted into second by lap two as he sped by Hayden Reinbold and Chase Stockon, respectively, while Grant took control up front after starting on the outside of the front row.
Grant paced Cummins for the first 12 laps before the frontrunners reached the tail end of the field. Grant escaped the increasingly closer Cummins as he threaded the needle between the lapped cars of Max Frank and Josh Turner in the third turn, opening up his lead for the time being until a yellow flag was displayed for Aaron Davis and Steve Irwin who tangled and spun to a stop in between turns three and four.
With a clear track in front of the leaders on the lap-13 restart, opportunity knocked on Cummins’ door, advising him to shoot his shot. By the time the pair hit turn three, Cummins had dipped a toe on the bottom and stuck with it through the exit of turn four, leading to him edging ahead of Grant by a car length at the stripe. However, Grant got wound up on the outside of Cummins on lap 14 and rode the high line through turns three and four to retake the lead by .009 seconds at the line.
On lap 15, Cummins finally gained the upper hand from Grant and drove back by on the bottom of turns three and four to take command once and for all.
“I felt like I was pacing Justin really well there, and it kind of came down to whoever made a mistake,” Cummins stated. “We got into lapped traffic and he got through them pretty good. After that restart, he got up a little bit and I knew that was my chance. He came back around me on the outside, which actually showed me a little bit. I could move up just a hair in three and I was actually a little better up there. When the time came to pass lapped cars, it might’ve been even better than working the bottom.”
Despite Cummins’ freedom up front, heavy traffic took its toll. Grant was able to close right to the tail of Cummins on the 22nd lap but he couldn’t get any further as any plans to surge ahead of Cummins were thwarted by the gridlock running high, low and middle.
But all credit goes to Cummins who made all the right moves down the stretch to disallow Grant from making any credible bid for the lead and the win.
“If Justin doesn’t mess up, I don’t know how we can get around him,” Cummins pondered. “The only thing was lapped traffic and how that was going to work out. There was just a little something down there and he got a little tight. I hit it just right that time and was able to drag race him into one. He kind of passed me back, but luckily, I got back by him there and was trying to make sure I didn’t blow the corner.”
Cummins remained in control after that, passing under the checkered flag 1.576 seconds ahead at the finish line over Grant, Hayden Reinbold and Mitchel Moles with Chase Stockon rounding out the top five.
After gaining seven wins in his first 21 series starts to begin the year, followed by a 20-race winless stretch, Cummins was feeling pretty satisfied while standing in Butler’s victory lane.
“This is big,” Cummins reiterated. “(Last week) at Eldora, I was pretty sure we figured it out, but it’s a big track, so you’re not sure. The car is right back to where it needs to be. I actually made some adjustments after my crew was on me last night because I really messed up by not getting after the shocks, not trying to loosen up, and then throughout the race, I was trying to tell myself that that I could just give it a little turn to the right, whatever I could do to keep giving it little turns.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Butler Motor Speedway, Quincy, Mich., Sept. 27, 2026
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.139 (New Track Record); 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.219; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.270; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.294; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.369; 6. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.417; 7. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.465; 8. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.529; 9. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.637; 10. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.642; 11. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.775; 12. Keith Sheffer II, 2B, 2B Racing-14.777; 13. Isaac Chapple, 6, Chapple/Hall-14.924; 14. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-15.201; 15. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-15.251; 16. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-15.289; 17. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero-15.443; 18. Josh Turner, 4T, Turner-15.521; 19. Max Frank, 25, Frank-15.568; 20. Jack James, 99, James-15.932; 21. R.J. Payne, 33, Payne-16.301.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Rob Caho Jr., 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Max Frank. 2:01.539
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Briggs Danner, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Steve Irwin, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Aaron Davis, 7. Jack James. 1:58.518 (New Track Record)
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Josh Turner, 5. Brian Ruhlman, 6. Keith Sheffer II, 7. R.J. Payne. 1:59.522
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Justin Grant (2), 3. Hayden Reinbold (3), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. Chase Stockon (1), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 7. C.J. Leary (11), 8. Jake Swanson (7), 9. Gunnar Setser (8), 10. Briggs Danner (9), 11. Logan Seavey (10), 12. Isaac Chapple (13), 13. Brian Ruhlman (15), 14. Steve Irwin (17), 15. Josh Turner (18), 16. Max Frank (19), 17. Aaron Davis (14), 18. Jack James (20), 19. R.J. Payne (21), 20. Rob Caho Jr. (16), 21. Keith Sheffer II (12).
