TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — “I’ve always wanted to be a champion, but I’ve wanted to be able to make champion moves whenever the pressure is on.”
Kyle Cummins certainly made a champion level move to take the lead and the victory on Thursday night during the 16th running of the Don Smith Classic at the Terre Haute Action Track, round seven of USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters.
On a restart with just two laps remaining, Cummins first gained momentum on the high side of turns one and two, but as race leader Brady Bacon moved up the racetrack on entry into turn three, Cummins dove to the bottom, slid up to the cushion with perfection, then drove away to his ninth USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature win of the year, this one worth $10,000.
Cummins’ second victory of the week at the helm of his Petty Performance Racing/Novix Outdoors – Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy No. 3p was the 10th triumph of his Indiana Sprint Week career.
Cummins’ 39th career USAC National Sprint Car triumph tied him with Robert Ballou for 12th place on the all-time list.
Cummins’ latest score is also a boon to his Indiana Sprint Week title hopes. With his Terre Haute success, his point lead has surged from 11 to 30 with now only two events left on the schedule. An Indiana Sprint Week crown is a part of the resume that has been absent from his career thus far, but Cummins sure laid it on the line during the final laps to do everything in his power to change that fact.
“Brady (Bacon), Justin (Grant), Robert (Ballou), all of those guys can make pressure moves when the pressure’s on and get these last lap passes, just like Justin did to me at Lawrenceburg,” Cummins compared and contrasted. “When we took the green, I was like, ‘no way (Brady is) going to the top,’ and I don’t think I lifted. I took the cushion just right and I saw he was going to go to the top. So, I was like, ‘I’m going to slide him and whatever happens at the other end happens.”
Cummins started the 30-lap main event from the fifth position, moving past Mitchel Moles on the opening lap and remaining in the fourth spot for the initial 22 caution free laps. Meanwhile, the triumvirate of Grant, Bacon, and Ballou each took their turns at the front.
Grant led the first nine before Bacon took over from laps 10-18, then Ballou laid claim to the lead on the 19th circuit with a three-wide move down the back straightaway after Bacon got caught behind the lapped car of Todd Hobson.
In the meantime, Cummins was simply trying to stay in the hunt as he searched for a way forward.
“My car didn’t go on the bottom and I tried to run the bottom and I wasn’t any good,” Cummins admitted. “There at the beginning, I’m just like, man, if it runs around the bottom, I might not finish in the top five. Then, I saw Brady move up and I moved up a little bit and it finally started getting cleaned off. Then, it kind of got dirtier or whatever. When Justin moved down, the curb started getting to where I could see it a little bit. I could run on it and make some adjustments in the car. Starting back there in fifth, especially on a track like this, it’s tough. You can get there but it’s just really hard to pass.”
On the 24th lap, Ballou snagged the turn two cushion and got up on the bike. Bacon roared past Ballou to the inside to take the lead midway down the back straight. However, Ballou readjusted, then dove back to the bottom of turn three to slide back in front of Bacon to reobtain the lead. Moments later, however, the first caution of the feature was displayed when Dalton Stevens slowed in turn four.
After the restart, Cummins was seemingly fading from view as Kevin Thomas Jr. stormed past to take the third spot away with five laps remaining, dropping Cummins back to fourth in line. In the meantime, Ballou’s engine began to stumble along the bottom of turns three and four, allowing Bacon to rim ride around the outside to take the top spot on lap 26.
Simultaneously, Cummins finally disposed of Thomas, then charged around the outside of Ballou in turn four with just four laps to go. That’s when Cummins went to work on tracking down Bacon and his five-car-length lead.
Meanwhile, the heartbreak for Ballou came to a sour ending with two laps remaining when his engine expired in a puff of smoke, necessitating a caution that bunched up the field for one final green-white-checkered restart.
“Even on the last lap, I wasn’t sure; I could have clipped it there,” Cummins said of the cushion. “I was there for a couple laps and I was getting in a little low and smacking it. Before the last caution, I thought Brady was going to the top and it forced me up a little bit higher. That kind of gave me the confidence to go in a little bit higher and get a little bit of momentum. It was definitely treacherous. It wasn’t huge, but when you’re balled up and to the floor, you’re also trying to keep the car straight but also trying to plug it in the cushion and get a drive off the straightaway.”
That drive off the straightaway led to Cummins’ turn-three slider coming to the white flag. Cummins took the bull by the horns from there, crossing the finish line 1.319 seconds ahead of runner-up Bacon with Thomas Jr. third, Grant fourth and Jake Swanson fifth.
Impressively, among the top five finishers are a combined 229 USAC National Sprint Car feature wins.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Terre Haute Action Track, Terre Haute, Indiana, July 30, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-19.463; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-19.630; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-19.748; 4. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-19.812; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.937; 6. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.983; 7. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-20.039; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-20.078; 9. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-20.158; 10. Shane Cottle, 34, Olson-20.163; 11. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-20.178; 12. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-20.234; 13. Max Adams, 5x, Adams-20.270; 14. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-20.298; 15. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-20.303; 16. Dalton Stevens, 2B, 2B Racing-20.303; 17. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-20.309; 18. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-20.320; 19. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-20.363; 20. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-20.363; 21. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-20.370; 22. Todd Hobson, 44, Soudrette-20.374; 23. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-20.447; 24. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-20.548; 25. R.J. Miller, 34m, Miller-20.556; 26. Hunter Schuerenberg, 3R, Rock Steady-20.574; 27. Ricky Lewis, 6, Calderwood-20.585; 28. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-20.686; 29. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-20.688; 30. Carson Short, 21m, Edwards-20.713; 31. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-21.232; 32. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-21.774; 33. Todd Moule, AU26, Moule-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (2), 2. Gunnar Setser (1), 3. Robert Ballou (5), 4. Briggs Danner (4), 5. Jake Swanson (6), 6. Max Adams (3), 7. Brandon Mattox (8), 8. R.J. Miller (7). 2:47.495
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (3), 2. Kyle Cummins (6), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Todd Hobson (1), 5. Hunter Schuerenberg (7), 6. Shane Cottle (4), 7. Carson Short (8), 8. Troy Carey (2). 2:49.154
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (2), 2. Dalton Stevens (3), 3. Chase Stockon (5), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. Hayden Reinbold (1), 6. Ricky Lewis (7), 7. Beau Brandon (4), 8. Colin Parker (8). 2:48.284
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. David Gasper (2), 2. Brady Bacon (6), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Trey Osborne (1), 6. Kobe Simpson (3), 7. Charles Davis Jr. (7), 8. Michael Clark (8). 2:46.466
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Shane Cottle (1), 2. Ricky Lewis (5), 3. Max Adams (3), 4. Kobe Simpson (4), 5. Carson Short (8), 6. Charles Davis Jr. (6), 7. Brandon Mattox (7), 8. Beau Brandon (2), 9. Michael Clark (12), 10. Colin Parker (11), 11. Troy Carey (9), 12. R.J. Miller (10). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (5), 2. Brady Bacon (3), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 4. Justin Grant (1), 5. Jake Swanson (6), 6. Hunter Schuerenberg (23), 7. C.J. Leary (15), 8. Chase Stockon (11), 9. Jadon Rogers (7), 10. Ricky Lewis (24), 11. Logan Seavey (8), 12. Max Adams (16), 13. Mitchel Moles (4), 14. Cale Coons (10), 15. Gunnar Setser (19), 16. Trey Osborne (22), 17. Hayden Reinbold (21), 18. Briggs Danner (13), 19. Kobe Simpson (17), 20. Robert Ballou (2), 21. Todd Hobson (20), 22. Shane Cottle (14), 23. Dalton Stevens (18), 24. David Gasper (9).
