PARAGON, Ind. — Jacob Denney’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship career pretty much jump started with his first series victory during Indiana Midget Week in 2022.
On Wednesday night, IMW provided the stage for the Galloway, Ohio, racer to once again slay the field, this time at Paragon Speedway in round two of the 21st annual edition of the series.
Denney’s third career IMW score came in wire-to-wire fashion as he led all 30 laps from the outside of the front row at the three-eighths-mile dirt oval.
The third USAC Indiana Midget Week win of Denney’s career marks the third different track and team for which Denney has won with in the series over the past four seasons: 2022 at Lincoln Park Speedway with Mounce-Stout Motorsports; 2023 at Tri-State Speedway with Tom Malloy; and now at Paragon with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.
The trip to Paragon went more smoothly than his last visit to the track with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series in 2023 where he “exited stage right,” so to speak, in turns three and four. This time, it was clean and green for the 20-year-old Denney and his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio – TRD – Toyota – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.
Denney established the lead from the get-go as he gapped pole sitter K.J. Snow by 10-car lengths on the opening circuit. By lap five, Denney’s mission had led him to a nearly three second lead, all of which was of utmost importance and went accordingly with his plan.
“With that much track rework, you’ve got to get out and go and make your own laps and be the guy to dictate where you move around and which lines are fast,” Denney explained. “The first start was important and I knew each restart was going to be just as important because the corners are so sharp here. You just have to lift getting into them. I didn’t want anybody to drive up in there and slide me.”
In the distance behind Denney, the race for second was up for the taking as Hayden Reinbold began to pressure Snow for the position. On the seventh lap, Reinbold tagged the rear bumper of Snow entering turn three and subsequently slid up the racetrack, allowing seven cars to roar past Reinbold as he dropped all the way back to 10th.
Following Zach Wigal’s stoppage in turns one and two on the 11th lap, the yellow flag dissipated Denney’s 2.1-second lead. Nonetheless, it was merely a temporary disturbance as Denney quickly reestablished his commanding lead to the tune of nearly three seconds.
Grant found his way into second as he slid under Snow to grab second in turn four on the 12th lap. Kale Drake followed suit and raced under Snow on lap 16 to slot into third.
Few races go exactly to perfection for the eventual winner, and that too can be said about Denney’s firsthand experience on this particular evening. Entering lapped traffic, Denney continued to thrust the hammer down around the outside. Without mirrors or spotters, and a mere 30 laps to get the job done, urgency is preferred over complacency.
“I had to move up for lapped traffic and about turned it over, so I definitely held my breath for the last three laps there,” Denney revealed after his close encounter of the third turn cushion. “I kept looking back after any mistake I made, and from the middle of one and two, I could see them entering turn one without making a mistake. So I just had to take a deep breath, because down in turns one and two, you had to run really hard, and in turns three and four, you really had to take it easy running across the slick.”
Denney took it to the stripe 2.537 seconds ahead of the competition, crossing under the checkered flag ahead of runner-up Justin Grant with Kale Drake, K.J. Snow and Cannon McIntosh occupying the top five.
USAC NOS Energy Drink National Championship, Paragon Speedway, Paragon, Ind., June 4, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Karter Sarff, 21K, Sarff-14.833; 2. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-15.018; 3. Steven Snyder Jr., 4, RMS-15.092; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-15.105; 5. Cannon Mcintosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.132; 6. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.135; 7. Jakeb Boxell, 14JB, 4 Kings-15.158; 8. Drake Edwards, 83, CBI-15.167; 9. K.J. Snow, 86, CBI-15.182; 10. Corbin Rueschenberg, 26, Rueschenberg-15.193; 11. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.212; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-15.216; 13. Kyle Cummins, 3G, Styres-15.226; 14. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.251; 15. Brecken Reese, 00, Chandler-15.261; 16. Zach Daum, 5D, O’Dell-15.269; 17. Kale Drake, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-15.271; 18. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.296; 19. Chelby Hinton, 4B, Klatt-15.311; 20. Kaiden Manders, 71, Golding-15.339; 21. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-15.355; 22. Trey Marcham, 85, Central-15.358; 23. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, Engler-15.373; 24. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-15.407; 25. Daniel Harding, 71w, Golding-15.447; 26. Blake Brannon, 40, Brannon-15.526; 27. Kevin Newton, 16TH, 2nd Law-15.571; 28. Tom Payet, 7AU, Bennett-15.580; 29. Jake Robinson, 8AU, Robinson-15.595; 30. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-15.666; 31. Zach Wigal, 8, Cornell-15.746; 32. Preston Norbury, 77AZ, Norbury-15.755; 33. Mason Hannagan, 71H, Hills-15.804; 34. Chris Baue, 36, Baue-15.837; 35. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-16.511.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. K.J. Snow, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Ethan Mitchell, 5. Cannon McIntosh, 6. Karter Sarff, 7. Daniel Harding, 8. Mason Hannagan, 9. Jake Robinson.
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Trey Marcham, 3. Corbin Rueschenberg, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Cale Coons, 7. Gavin Miller, 8. Blake Brannon, 9. Chris Baue.
USACGEAR.COM THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Thomas Meseraull, 2. Chelby Hinton, 3. Brecken Reese, 4. Steven Snyder Jr., 5. Zach Wigal, 6. Colton Robinson, 7. Kyle Jones, 8. Jakeb Boxell, 9. Kevin Newton.
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Zach Daum, 4. Kaiden Manders, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Drake Edwards, 7. Tom Payet, 8. Preston Norbury.
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Karter Sarff, 2. Drake Edwards, 3. Colton Robinson, 4. Gavin Miller, 5. Tom Payet, 6. Cale Coons, 7. Kyle Jones, 8. Jakeb Boxell, 9. Kevin Newton, 10. Blake Brannon, 11. Mason Hannagan, 12. Chris Baue, 13. Daniel Harding, 14. Jake Robinson, 15. Preston Norbury.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses): 1. Jacob Denney (2), 2. Justin Grant (6), 3. Kale Drake (7), 4. K.J. Snow (1), 5. Cannon McIntosh (3), 6. Karter Sarff (11), 7. Gunnar Setser (10), 8. Kyle Cummins (16), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 10. Logan Seavey (8), 11. Steven Snyder Jr. (5), 12. Colton Robinson (14), 13. Thomas Meseraull (9), 14. Drake Edwards (12), 15. Hayden Reinbold (4), 16. Gavin Miller (17), 17. Zach Daum (19), 18. Zach Wigal (24), 19. Brecken Reese (18), 20. Trey Marcham (23), 21. Ethan Mitchell (22), 22. Cale Coons (26-P), 23. Kyle Jones (25-P), 24. Corbin Rueschenberg (13), 25. Kaiden Manders (21), 26. Chelby Hinton (20).
