BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Prior to Friday night, only driver Tony Elliott and car owner Ralph Potter had graced victory lane at the Larry Rice Classic on more than one occasion.
After Friday night, you can add Kyle Cummins and Petty Performance Racing to that list, as the reigning USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion driver and entrant backed up their Larry Rice Classic victory from one year ago to become the first back-to-back winners of the event at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway.
Elliott won for Potter when the event debuted in 1993 as a USAC National Midget race. Potter returned to victory lane in 1994 with Tony Stewart piloting his V6 powered midget. Elliott returned to glory in the 1998 event, the first time it was held as a USAC National Sprint Car event.
It’s safe to say Cummins is officially on a roll of late, as he conquered his second consecutive USAC National Sprint Car triumph, while extending his top-five finishing streak to eight while also advancing his championship point lead to 45.
The Princeton, Indiana racer’s third career USAC victory at Bloomington’s red clay quarter-mile oval was the 32nd of his USAC National Sprint Car career, moving him past Tyler Courtney and into a tie with 1973 series champion Rollie Beale for 17th place on the all-time list.
Cummins led all but the first lap of the 30-lap main event in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO Superfoods/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy, blazing a trail out front for the final 29 circuits without much in the way of a creditable threat from all those who gave chase.
Starting from the outside of the front row, Cummins initially used the low line to bolt past pole sitter Kevin Thomas Jr. for the lead on the second lap. Thomas paced the first trip around until Cummins shot to the bottom of turn one on the second lap, blew past him and never looked back.
But Cummins has never fancied himself as much of a huggy-pole type of driver, a badge of honor that the event’s grand marshal, 1995 Larry Rice Classic winner Kevin Thomas, held claim to throughout his illustrious career in the Hoosier state.
“I’ve been coming here a long time ever since I first started. I’ve just always loved it. You’ve got the cushion to ride,” Cummins recalled. “But there at the beginning, I’m running around the bottom and I’m like, ‘I know this feels wrong.’ I was glad that the lapped cars came in there to move me to the top. Then, I knew once I got to three and four, on the top, it was definitely better.”
By the ninth lap, Cummins had reached the tail end of the field while carrying a full second lead ahead of Thomas, Chase Stockon, Jake Swanson and Mitchel Moles.
However, on the 10th lap, any thought of Cummins getting caught in gridlock any time soon was put to rest as Gabriel Gilbert (20th) suddenly slowed on the front straightaway. Jadon Rogers nearly ramped over Gilbert’s left rear tire, but kept on going. Gabriel did not return after being towed to the pits.
On the lap-11 restart, Thomas drifted high as he approached the back bumper of Cummins in turn three. Stockon took full advantage and drove underneath to swipe second. In medias res, Stockon was the only driver able to hang with Cummins for even a brief moment.
An even briefer moment saw Cummins bike in turns three and four on lap 14. Once he wrestled control back, Stockon was unable to capitalize. Mere moments later, Briggs Danner veered off the exit of turn four, then proceeded to glide slideways along the outside front straightaway wall before coming to a rest, miraculously all without making contact. The culprit was a broken steering mechanism, knocking him out of the race.
For Cummins, however, it was a chance to reel it in for a moment after a slight hiccup. But it was no harm, no foul essentially. It was just a part of the experience.
“One lap, I just grabbed the wheel and I thought I was either going to crash or I was going to win. It was one or the other,” Cummins explained. “Sometimes, you can’t really see it. You just gas it up, and hopefully, it skims through the holes. Even like the last lap, I’m like, ‘oh, did I get in too tight?’ But it makes it a little exciting and gets your blood pumping a little bit.”
After the midway restart, Swanson followed the path to third past Thomas on lap 16, then Swanson dug by Stockon to grab second on lap 19. Moles followed suit to third place on lap 20 as Stockon drifted outside of the low groove and fell to fourth.
With five to go, Moles swung around the outside of the bottom-hugging Swanson in turns one and two, and slotted himself into second. That said, the time was nigh, and Cummins was a full straightaway ahead of any of his nearest challengers.
Cummins sealed the deal by crossing under Rusty Nunn’s double checkered flags 1.997 seconds ahead. Moles finished second for the third time in his past four starts. Swanson took third with Stockon fourth and Thomas rounding out the top five.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Bloomington Speedway, Bloomington, Indiana, May 1, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.432; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-11.447; 3. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-11.472; 4. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-11.648; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-11.669; 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-11.725; 7. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-11.790; 8. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-11.807; 9. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-11.822; 10. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.823; 11. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-11.826; 12. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-11.834; 13. Chance Crum, 24p, Paul-11.849; 14. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-11.861; 15. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-11.876; 16. Ricky Lewis, 2E, Epperson-11.877; 17. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-11.919; 18. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-11.928; 19. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-11.944; 20. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-12.005; 21. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, Gilbert-12.104; 22. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-12.124; 23. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-12.157; 24. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-12.173; 25. Kole Kirkman, 18K, Dice-12.227; 26. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-12.265; 27. Adam Taylor, 8T, Doherty-12.306; 28. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-12.353; 29. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-12.360; 30. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-12.368; 31. Bryce Andrews, 17, MSR-12.386; 32. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-12.443; 33. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.475; 34. Austin Cory, 49, Cory-12.510; 35. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo Bishop-12.556; 36. Austin Hawkins, 5A, Hawkins-13.479.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (2), 2. Gabriel Gilbert (1), 3. Kyle Cummins (5), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. Chance Crum (3), 6. Trey Osborne (8), 7. C.J. Leary (4), 8. Kole Kirkman (7), 9. Brandon Mattox (9). 2:01.979
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Robert Ballou (2), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr (5), 3. Hunter Maddox (1), 4. Justin Grant (4), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Gavin Miller (3), 7. Jadon Rogers (7), 8. Austin Cory (9), 9. Braxton Cummings (8). 2:04.952
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (3), 2. Hayden Reinbold (2), 3. Harley Burns (4), 4. Jake Swanson (6), 5. Logan Calderwood (5), 6. Colin Parker (1), 7. Adam Taylor (7), 8. Todd Hobson (9), 9. Bryce Andrews (8). 2:02.938
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Rylan Gray (2), 2. Ricky Lewis (3), 3. Chase Stockon (6), 4. Troy Carey (1), 5. Jack Hoyer (5), 6. Kyle Shipley (4), 7. Kobe Simpson (8), 8. Austin Hawkins (9), 9. Dakota Earls (7). 2:04.649
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (1), 2. Gavin Miller (3), 3. Trey Osborne (5), 4. Jadon Rogers (6), 5. Kobe Simpson (8), 6. Braxton Cummings (14), 7. Todd Hobson (11), 8. Brandon Mattox (16), 9. Adam Taylor (7), 10. Austin Hawkins (12), 11. Kole Kirkman (9), 12. Austin Cory (10), 13. Dakota Earls (13), 14. Bryce Andrews (15), 15. Kyle Shipley (2), 16. Colin Parker (4). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. Mitchel Moles (6), 3. Jake Swanson (4), 4. Chase Stockon (3), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 6. Cale Coons (7), 7. Robert Ballou (9), 8. Logan Seavey (5), 9. Justin Grant (14), 10. Gavin Miller (17), 11. Jack Hoyer (12), 12. Rylan Gray (10), 13. C.J. Leary (13), 14. Harley Burns (15), 15. Trey Osborne (24), 16. Logan Calderwood (11), 17. Jadon Rogers (23), 18. Chance Crum (16), 19. Ricky Lewis (18), 20. Hayden Reinbold (19), 21. Hunter Maddox (21), 22. Troy Carey (22), 23. Briggs Danner (8), 24. Gabriel Gilbert (20).
