KOKOMO, Ind. — Twenty-four hours earlier, Kyle Cummins called his shot while standing in the infield following a runner-up finish at Lincoln Park Speedway.
In that moment, Cummins declared over the track public address system, “I told (my crew) that if we can be top-five tonight, we’re going to win at Kokomo.”
Channeling his inner Joe Namath, Babe Ruth and even George Zimmer of Men’s Warehouse fame, Cummins made a guarantee and backed up his declaration when the time came to deliver.
During Saturday night’s second round of NOS Energy Drink USAC Indiana Sprint Week Presented By Honest Abe Roofing at Kokomo Speedway, Cummins raced by Brady Bacon for the lead with 13 laps remaining, and on the final lap, had to fight through a gridlock of lapped traffic with one hand while simultaneously fending off a hard-charging and red hot Logan Seavey.
Cummins did all that and more as he escaped every obstacle in his path throughout the final quarter-mile to pull off his first victory of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season and the eighth of his Indiana Sprint Week career, which ranks sixth all-time, in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
When all was said and done, Cummins had provided Jerry Petty with his first career USAC National Sprint Car win as a car owner. The new team, formed over the offseason, has had its ups and downs at times, but through thick and thin, have been digging, and now find themselves not only as first-time USAC winners together, but also the new Indiana Sprint Week point leaders.
“I’ve just got to give it up for Jerry Petty of Avanti Windows & Doors,” Cummins stated. “Jerry stuck by me through this slump, and he said I’m his guy. So, for him to put the confidence into me like that even when we were struggling is huge. I kept saying I’ve run out of excuses. But now, I think we’ve finally hit on something.”
Cummins and company thoroughly demonstrated how they got their mojo back in a major way by sweeping the entire night of racing activity, the first ever to achieve the feat at Kokomo and the first USAC National Sprint Car driver to do the deed since Justin Grant at Tri-State Speedway in April of 2023. Cummins kicked off the night by turning the fastest lap in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, then charged up through the pack to win his heat race before putting the finishing touches on a perfect evening by bringing out the broom in earning his 19th career USAC National Sprint Car triumph, 35th all-time.
Cummins, the 2022 Kokomo Speedway track champion, credited the turnaround of the team’s fortunes to his crew’s persistence in making the car progressively more comfortable for him to drive, and ultimately, fine-tuning the No. 3p into a race winning car.
“We haven’t won all year and it’s been a rough, rough year,” Cummins explained. “To start out, I don’t think it was just luck. I think the car is as good as I thought it was. It’s comfortable; it makes me comfortable, and I can actually drive this thing how it needs to be driven.”
Cummins began his race in the sixth spot, but it wasn’t long until trouble befell a few in the field. On the opening lap, the car of Charles Davis Jr. (14th) suddenly lost power in turn four. C.J. Leary (18th) and Chase Stockon (24th) had nowhere to go and subsequently piled into Davis, sending Leary into a series of corkscrew flips along the front straightaway wall. All drivers were uninjured, but only Stockon was able to resume in the race.
On the resumption, Cummins went sixth to third in one fell swoop in turn two on lap three as he scooted past the triumvirate of Robert Ballou, Justin Grant and Briggs Danner. On lap eight, Cummins was still trending forward as he surpassed Daison Pursley for second with a turn one slider.
Up front, Bacon, the owner of an astonishing 10 career runner-up finishes in USAC National Sprint Car competition at Kokomo without a single victory, had pushed his lead to 3.139 seconds. That advantage was erased when Anton Hernandez (11th) spun backwards to a stop in turn one.
Thereafter, Cummins initially slid Bacon for the lead on lap 18 in turn two. However, at that very same moment, the yellow flag was displayed for Frankie Guerrini (14th) who spun to a stop in turn four. That reverted the activities back to the last completed lap, which placed Bacon back at the front of the field.
Wasting very little precious time, Cummins zipped under Bacon in turn one on the lap 18 restart to slot into the number one spot. Kevin Thomas Jr. followed suit and began challenging the top-two brigade. However, in the battle for second, Thomas attempted to make his way around the outside of Bacon in turns three and four, but real estate was scarce, and the resulting effort saw KTJ bang off the outside wall and flip several times into the turn four catch fence. Thomas walked away highly dejected but unscathed.
Now Seavey occupied the third position as he was vying to become the first driver since Larry Dickson in 1968 to capture five consecutive USAC National Sprint Car feature victories. By lap 24, Seavey was there and swiftly slid Bacon for second in turns one and two. Bacon fought back to retake it in turn three, but the move proved to be short lived as Seavey reloaded and fired off another turn one slider a lap later and made it stick.
By then, Cummins had built up a fairly comfy 1.6 second lead up front, but it became quite clear in the final laps that traffic very well could play a determining factor in deciding the winner. Entering turn three on the final lap, Cummins went to the high side with the lapped car of Jack Hoyer on the bottom. The only place for Seavey to go was to split the difference and drive right through the middle. For a brief moment, Seavey was nearly a car length ahead of Cummins while sliding up the track’s surface. The two brushed rear tire sidewalls through turn four, yet Cummins never flinched or even lifted on his final voyage to the finish line.
The final margin of victory between Cummins and Seavey at the line was a single car length, 0.191 seconds, which ranks among the closest of the series season. Bacon took third with Pursley fourth and Ballou fifth.
“I thought I heard someone down the back stretch,” Cummins revealed. “The lapped cars got a little different and it was super hard to see, so I couldn’t hit my marks where I needed to, and I was probably getting a little loose anyways. I heard him, but when I went into three, I’m like, I’m either going to win or crash. It doesn’t matter. But I think it was pretty tight.”
It had been a long climb for Cummins, who on this night at Kokomo, captured the seventh round of the Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster Series Presented By Spire Sports + Entertainment. Cummins had won the first 18 features of his USAC National Sprint Car career as the driver of the Rock Steady Racing No. 3R. This year with the Petty No. 3p, he had already finished second on four different occasions with the series in 2024 at Volusia, Eldora, Tri-State and Lincoln Park, but finally, their time had arrived as winners at Kokomo.
“With the 3R car, I was able to run it as hard as I could run it,” Cummins said. “I’ve just felt like this car was driving me. I could never force the corner like I wanted to. It was always uncomfortable, then it wouldn’t come off the corner. We’ve changed everything and we’ve finally got it to where I can hustle it pretty good. We actually stayed really, really loose because I thought it was going to be around the top. There towards the end, it was really getting slick, so I knew I was losing a little bit of speed, but we still got it done.”
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) came within a car length of equaling a mark that had been achieved in 56 years. However, his bid for five-straight USAC National Sprint Car wins came up a tick short following a late surge to finish second in his Abacus Racing/Honest Abe Roofing – Rockwell Security – Indy Custom Stone/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
Third place finisher Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) led a race-high 17 laps, but lamented that his car wasn’t tight enough and he knew he was in trouble from the time he was lining up, and throughout the race, wasn’t able to launch off turn four the way he needed to in order to remain out front in his Dynamics, Inc./FK Indy – Davis Brothers Trucking – Tel-Star Communications/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
In patented Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) style, the veteran raced his way from 23rd to 8th in the feature to earn J & J Trucking Hard Charger honors. It’s also important to note that Matt Westfall advanced from 26th to 9th, but provisional starters are not eligible to receive the award.
Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) overcame a 33rd place qualifying time, then drove from sixth to fourth in the semi-feature to earn a starting spot into the main event lineup. For his efforts, he was named as the night’s ProSource Hard Work award recipient.
Max Adams’ (Loomis, Calif.) solid start went sour with a tie-rod issue just prior to his heat race. Relegated to the C-Main, he won that, then charged up through the pack of the semi, coming up just short of a feature starting spot. For his hard luck, Adams received a right rear Hoosier tire courtesy of Sam McGhee Motorsports.
It was a bounce back night for Joey Amantea who endured an upside down ride on Friday night. Utilizing a backup car on Saturday at Kokomo, he recovered to win his heat, then finished a solid 11th in the feature. For that, he earned the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Ind., July 27, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.687; 2. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.884; 3. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.887; 4. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-12.906; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.966; 6. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.968; 7. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-12.986; 8. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin/Fox-13.015; 9. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.023; 10. Ricky Lewis, 41, Stensland-13.028; 11. Max Adams, 63, F & F-13.051; 12. Shawn Westerfeld, 4J, Fischesser/Owen-13.086; 13. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.128; 14. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.144; 15. Weston Gorham, 71w, Gorham-13.186; 16. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-13.189; 17. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.193; 18. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-13.263; 19. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.296; 20. Scotty Weir, 47x, Eades-13.317; 21. Jack Hoyer, 57H, Hazen-13.320; 22. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-13.374; 23. Frankie Guerrini, G3, F & F-13.387; 24. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-13.395; 25. Chance Crum, 26, Crum-13.458; 26. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-13.467; 27. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.472; 28. Kevin Newton, 14N, 2nd Law-13.489; 29. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.496; 30. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.502; 31. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.550; 32. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.580; 33. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.599; 34. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-13.612; 35. Tyler Hewitt, 97, Hewitt-13.641; 36. Brayden Clark, 4BC, Clark-13.667; 37. Kayla Roell, 5K, KO-13.690; 38. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-13.756; 39. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-13.779; 40. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-13.851; 41. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.913; 42. Colin Grissom, 00, Grissom-13.926; 43. Sam Hinds, 71H, Hinds-13.985; 44. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-14.183; 45. Logan Calderwood, 4c, Ford-14.250; 46. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-14.260; 47. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-14.363; 48. Austin Hawkins, 5A, Hawkins-14.438; 49. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-14.475; 50. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-14.907; 51. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-14.949; 52. Michael Daugherty, 3.14, Daugherty-NT; 53. Cody Williams, 26w, Williams-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Jack Hoyer, 3. Rylan Gray, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Brayden Clark, 6. Zack Pretorius, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Max Adams, 10. Kobe Simpson, 11. Ryan Barr. 2:11.484
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Charles Davis Jr., 6. Shawn Westerfeld, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Colin Grissom, 9. Troy Carey, 10. Cody Williams, 11. Carson Garrett. NT
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Frankie Guerrini, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Anton Hernandez, 7. Kyle Shipley, 8. Kevin Newton, 9. Austin Hawkins, 10. Sam Hinds. 2:13.543
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Mario Clouser, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Braydon Cromwell, 8. Aaron Davis, 9. Donny Brackett, 10. Nate Schank. 2:15.287
STEEL-IT FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Joey Amantea, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Tyler Hewitt, 7. Weston Gorham, 8. Logan Calderwood, 9. Hunter Maddox, 10. Bryce Dues. 2:16.193
TRAILER ALARMS C MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Max Adams, 2. Donny Brackett, 3. Matt Goodnight, 4. Sam Hinds, 5. Colin Grissom, 6. Kevin Newton, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. Aaron Davis, 9. Logan Calderwood, 10. Nate Schank, 11. Kobe Simpson, 12. Troy Carey, 13. Ryan Barr, 14. Austin Hawkins, 15. Bryce Dues, 16. Cody Williams. 2:24.589
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Scotty Weir, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Zack Pretorius, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Kyle Shipley, 9. Max Adams, 10. Brayden Clark, 11. Mario Clouser, 12. Weston Gorham, 13. Donny Brackett, 14. Shawn Westerfeld, 15. Brandon Mattox, 16. Matt Goodnight, 17. Sam Hinds, 18. Braydon Cromwell, 19. Tyler Hewitt, 20. Carson Garrett. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. Logan Seavey (8), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Daison Pursley (3), 5. Robert Ballou (5), 6. Ricky Lewis (12), 7. Briggs Danner (4), 8. Shane Cottle (23), 9. Matt Westfall (26-P), 10. Mitchel Moles (9), 11. Joey Amantea (10), 12. Harley Burns (22), 13. Rylan Gray (13), 14. Chance Crum (20), 15. Jack Hoyer (17), 16. Chase Stockon (24), 17. Anton Hernandez (11), 18. Jadon Rogers (21), 19. Carson Garrett (25-P), 20. Kale Drake (15), 21. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 22. Scotty Weir (16), 23. Frankie Guerrini (19), 24. Justin Grant (2), 25. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 26. C.J. Leary (18).