ROSSBURG, Ohio — Once Briggs Danner sets a plan into motion, there’s no looking back.
That’s how he gained the lead, then threaded the needle to return to the front of the field on his path to victory during the opening night of the 43rd 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKTELCO on Thursday at Eldora Speedway.
On the 12th circuit of the 30-lap USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature, the Allentown, Pa., racer vaulted to the lead only to lose grip of it a lap later. Four laps later, just past the midway point, Danner stepped atop the tight rope and went back to work.
One side of the tight rope could be ice; one could be fire. But Danner straddled the narrow confines between the outside wall and Kevin Thomas Jr.’s right side wheels, and made it happen on the 18th lap. From there, he was untamed, leading the final 13 trips to earn his first Eldora Speedway victory.
Danner’s latest score was his fourth of the USAC National Sprint Car season in his Hogue Racing Enterprises/E. Schneider & Sons – Aw Shucks Roasted Corn/DRC/Rider Chevy, and it’s the seventh overall of his career with the series.
To win at Eldora is other worldly, and Danner understands the full scope of what winning at this joint truly means, especially after becoming the first Pennsylvanian to win a USAC National Sprint Car race at Eldora since Frankie Kerr in 1996.
“The first time you step foot in this place, it’s very surreal just to be here,” Danner explained. “But to be standing in victory lane, there are no words that I could put into what it feels like.”
The early portion of the evening wasn’t all that hunky dory for Danner and his gang. In his heat race, things got a little hot under the hood of the car, so the team decided to swap engines.
Kevin Thomas Jr. paced the opening 11 laps from the pole ahead of outside front row starter Danner. The most major incident of the feature occurred when 22nd-running Chelby Hinton tagged the turn one wall with his right rear tire and flipped several times on lap four of the feature.
Just prior to midway, Danner had caught right up to Thomas. On lap 12, Danner escaped to the lead as he drove underneath Thomas on the back straightaway exiting turn two.
However, Danner’s brief glimpse from the front was short lived as Thomas got back to the forefront with a full head of steam, first making an unsuccessful slide job attempt in turn one. But by the time the front pair reached turns three and four, Thomas’ second attempt stuck the landing.
When Danner reared back and fired his No. 39 off into turns three and four on the high line on lap 18, he managed to make it out the other side with the momentum, and the lead, all intact and on his side.
“I really wasn’t trying to, but I kind of felt like I was showing my nose on the bottom there,” Danner revealed. “I was just trying to run where he wasn’t and I knew I just had to set him up. He kept cheating three and I could get a run through. It was just a matter of getting off one and two good enough to carry momentum and drive around him. I don’t know how close it was, but it felt pretty close, but there was no looking back.”
USAC National Sprint Car point leader Kyle Cummins began to make his surge, namely a fourth to second bolt on a lap-20 restart, which resulted following a caution due to engine issues with the car of C.J. Leary who was running seventh at the time.
That said, Danner’s ever-increasing lead continued to grow over Cummins during the final 10 laps, ballooning to three-quarters of a straightway as Danner flashed under Tom Hansing’s checkered flags as the winner ahead of Cummins, Thomas and Daison Pursley with Jake Swanson rounding out the top five.
“That was a real good race,” Danner exclaimed. “It’s so much fun racing guys like (Kevin Thomas Jr.), and to be able run in front of guys like Logan (Seavey) and Justin (Grant) here. I gave it all I had. I knew I was killing that right rear, but I just tried to keep it underneath as much as I could, keeping it wound up and it ended up working out.”
Despite his mechanical issues in the feature, Leary did set the night ablaze early on. He was the fastest overall in a field of 40 cars during Dirt Draft Hot Laps, then followed it up with the 57th Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying run of his career, fourth most all-time.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, Sept. 18, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-15.700; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-15.704; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.729; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.757; 5. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-15.789; 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-15.858; 7. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-15.878; 8. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-15.944; 9. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-15.958; 10. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-16.065; 11. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-16.081; 12. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-16.084; 13. Mario Clouser, 2B, 2B Racing-16.085; 14. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.135; 15. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-16.137; 16. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE-16.153; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-16.236; 18. Keith Sheffer II, 86s, Sheffer-16.265; 19. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-16.293; 20. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-16.315; 21. Max Adams, 23s, Simon-16.329; 22. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-16.357; 23. Nate Carle, 4J, Fischesser/Owen-16.391; 24. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-16.398; 25. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-16.461; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-16.489; 27. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-16.517; 28. Jay Steinebach, 10s, Steinebach-16.602; 29. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-16.617; 30. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-16.621; 31. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-16.644; 32. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-16.689; 33. Mike Miller, 33, Marshall-16.707; 34. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-16.733; 35. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-16.739; 36. Chelby Hinton, 71p, Phillips-16.772; 37. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-16.797; 38. Mike Haggenbottom, 51, Kelly-17.078; 39. Derek Hastings, 33m, Marshall-17.132; 40. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-17.229.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Briggs Danner, 5. Mario Clouser, 6. Max Adams, 7. Braxton Cummings, 8. Dustin Ingle, 9. Mike Miller, 10. Bryce Dues. 2:09.051
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Keith Sheffer II, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Korbyn Hayslett, 7. Brian Ruhlman, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Mike Haggenbottom. 2:08.176
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Stevie Sussex, 2. Gunnar Setser, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Rylan Gray, 6. Nate Carle, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Ryan Bar, 9. Derek Hastings, 10. Rob Caho Jr. 2:11.057
COOKOUT FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Matt Westfall, 2. Carson Garrett, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Saban Bibent, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Chelby Hinton, 8. Brandon Mattox, 9. Jay Steinebach, 10. Aric Gentry. 2:12.992
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chance Crum, 2. Brian Ruhlman, 3. Ryan Barr, 4. Chelby Hinton, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Nate Carle, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Braxton Cummings, 9. Aric Gentry, 10. Mike Miller, 11. Rob Caho Jr., 12. Max Adams, 13. Korbyn Hayslett, 14. Matt Goodnight, 15. Dustin Ingle, 16. Jay Steinebach, 17. Mike Haggenbottom, 18. Bryce Dues. 3:32.244
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (2), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 4. Daison Pursley (11), 5. Jake Swanson (10), 6. Matt Westfall (9), 7. Mitchel Moles (16), 8. Brady Bacon (7), 9. Logan Seavey (3), 10. Chase Stockon (12), 11. Gunnar Setser (17), 12. Keith Sheffer II (20), 13. Hayden Reinbold (19), 14. Rylan Gray (13), 15. Mario Clouser (15), 16. Chance Crum (14), 17. Justin Grant (4), 18. Stevie Sussex (8), 19. Carson Garrett (18), 20. Brian Ruhlman (23), 21. Saban Bibent (21), 22. Ryan Barr (22), 23. C.J. Leary (6), 24. Chelby Hinton (24).
