FAIRBURY, Neb. — Jacob Denney led 29 of 30 laps to earn his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ Mid-America Midget Week victory in Friday’s feature at Jefferson County Speedway.
The win is his third of the USAC season and his ninth overall in 2026. With the triumph, the current USAC points leader became just the seventh Toyota-powered driver to earn 30 career national midget feature victories.
Denney’s Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammate Gavin Miller would lead the field to the green flag and lead the opening lap as Denney quickly moved up from the fourth-starting position. On lap two, as Miller went to the high side, Denney would dive low to take the lead. Miller would quickly fight back as the two came back to the flag side-by-side on lap three, only for a caution flag to wave.
Denney would then bring back the field back to green and once he settled into the top spot, he would prove to be unbeatable the rest of way. Behind him, the field provided a non-stop battle for second with Jacob Boxell eventually passing Miller for second, while KKM teammate Cannon McIntosh would make it a three-car battle. In the end, Miller would place third, followed by McIntosh and fellow Toyota driver Kale Drake would charge from 19th to fifth.
“The JBL Toyota was really good on the longer runs. I could start a pace and then just set it. It’s a technical track, so you can’t push too hard or you’ll make a mistake,” Denney said. “It was nice to just run a solid pace all night long. We had a great car again tonight. I have to thank all of my team, as well as JBL and Toyota. We struggled a little during Midget Week and then at BC39, but we’re back to our normal self now.”
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Jefferson County Speedway, Fairbury, Nebraska, July 10, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-11.122; 2. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.166; 3. Jakeb Boxell, 54, 4 Kings-11.184; 4. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.192; 5. Cale Coons, 85, Central-11.215; 6. Gaige Weldon, 35L, Ledger-11.237; 7. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.258; 8. Garrett Benson, 27B, Bourke-11.308; 9. Adam Trimble, 5D, Matejka/Heffner-11.338; 10. Drake Edwards, 40D, McDermand-11.343; 11. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-11.351; 12. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.356; 13. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-11.422; 14. Haidyn Hansen, 27, Joyner-11.450; 15. Zach Daum, 14x, Rosenboom-11.455; 16. Hank Soares, 22, Soares-11.465; 17. Kale Drake, 4, RMS-11.473; 18. Drew Sherman, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-11.506; 19. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-11.529; 20. Mack Leopard, 40L, McDermand-11.562; 21. Brecken Reese, 20Q, Reese-11.581; 22. Trey Zorn, 00, Chandler-11.588; 23. Wout Hoffmans, 14J, Rosenboom-11.732; 24. Zack Merritt, 43m, RKO-11.780; 25. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-11.784; 26. Gunnar Pike, 81F, Rosenboom-11.789; 27. Cole Vanderheiden, 15v, Vanderheiden-11.790; 28. Levi Hinck, 21H, TKH-11.830; 29. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-11.841; 30. Mikey Blackard, 71, Henry-11.961; 31. Lance Bennett, 44x, RKO-11.976; 32. Bradley Cox, 45, Mason-11.982; 33. Matt Sherrell, 21AJ, Huddleston-11.989; 34. Brandon Carr, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.002; 35. Colby Sokol, 71T, Henry-12.029; 36. John Klabunde, 77J, Klabunde-12.252; 37. Caiden Warren, 12w, Warren-12.276; 38. Shyla Ernst, 42, RKO-12.307; 39. Dylan Doyle, 37, Doyle-12.825; 40. Sean Cleaveland, 84, Cleaveland-13.188.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brecken Reese (1), 2. Kale Drake (2), 3. Adam Trimble (4), 4. Justin Grant (6), 5. Cale Coons (5), 6. Hayden Reinbold (3), 7. Kyle Jones (7), 8. Caiden Warren (10), 9. Matt Sherrell (9), 10. Blaze Bennett (8). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Trey Zorn (1), 2. Drake Edwards (4), 3. Drew Sherman (2), 4. Cannon McIntosh (6), 5. Haidyn Hansen (3), 6. Gaige Weldon (5), 7. Brandon Carr (9), 8. Gunnar Pike (7), 9. Mikey Blackard (8), 10. Shyla Ernst (10). 1:56.166
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Daum (3), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 3. Ethan Mitchell (4), 4. Gavin Miller (5), 5. Jakeb Boxell (6), 6. Lance Bennett (8), 7. Cole Vanderheiden (7), 8. Colby Sokol (9), 9. Dylan Doyle (10). 1:58.659
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mack Leopard (2), 2. Colton Robinson (4), 3. Hank Soares (3), 4. Jacob Denney (6), 5. Zack Merritt (1), 6. Bradley Cox (8), 7. Garrett Benson (5), 8. Levi Hinck (7), 9. John Klabunde (9), 10. Sean Cleaveland (10). 1:58.294
COOK OUT C MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Matt Sherrell (2), 2. Mikey Blackard (1), 3. John Klabunde (3), 4. Shyla Ernst (6), 5. Blaze Bennett (5), 6. Dylan Doyle (4), 7. Sean Cleaveland (7). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gaige Weldon (1), 2. Hayden Reinbold (3), 3. Bradley Cox (5), 4. Kyle Jones (6), 5. Brandon Carr (8), 6. Matt Sherrell (13), 7. Colby Sokol (11), 8. Levi Hinck (10), 9. Cole Vanderheiden (7), 10. Lance Bennett (4), 11. Gunnar Pike (9), 12. John Klabunde (15), 13. Caiden Warren (12), 14. Garrett Benson (2), 15. Shyla Ernst (16), 16. Mikey Blackard (14). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (3), 2. Jakeb Boxell (4), 3. Gavin Miller (1), 4. Cannon McIntosh (5), 5. Kale Drake (19), 6. Justin Grant (6), 7. Zach Daum (7), 8. Drake Edwards (13), 9. Cale Coons (2), 10. Brecken Reese (9), 11. Ethan Mitchell (14), 12. Hayden Reinbold (16), 13. Kevin Thomas Jr. (21), 14. Adam Trimble (12), 15. Mack Leopard (8), 16. Colton Robinson (15), 17. Bradley Cox (24), 18. Haidyn Hansen (17), 19. Drew Sherman (20), 20. Gaige Weldon (11), 21. Kyle Jones (23), 22. Hank Soares (18), 23. Trey Zorn (10), 24. Zack Merritt (22).
