KOKOMO, Ind. — The next generation of the Coons family added his name to the USAC record books during Friday night’s Chili’s Sprint Car Smackdown XV round two at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway.
Cale Coons led all but one lap of the 30-lap feature, briefly giving up the lead to Thomas Meseraull before ripping it right back just before the midway point to capture his first series victory.
Coons is son of USAC Career Triple Crown champion and 17-time USAC National Sprint Car feature winner Jerry Coons Jr. Together, they became the 10th father/son duo to win a USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature.
This one was extra special with Jerry serving as the crew chief while Cale wheeled the Dooling Autosports-Curb-Agajanian/Curb Records – Kalitta Charters/DRC/Stanton Chevy No. 63 to victory lane.
“It’s just been in my head,” Cale reflected on the journey to his first USAC national win. “I knew I could do it. I know we could do it. We’ve worked since I was five years old to get to this moment.”
Jerry, who notched his first USAC National Sprint Car win at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track in 1999, was beaming with pride as he embraced his son moments after he climbed out of the cockpit as a USAC national winner himself.
“Obviously, I’m proud of proud of him, but I’m just happy for him. That’s the biggest thing,” Jerry stated. “He wants this. He loves racing. He’s constantly watching. When we go to the racetrack, he’s watching videos of that track and he’s studying. He wants this more than anything, probably more than I did. I’m just really happy for him. I want to thank (car owner) Joe Dooling for the opportunity. To be able to race with your kid is pretty unbelievable.”
At the age of 17 and eight months old, Cale also became the seventh youngest winner in series history, trailing only Chad Boat, Bryan Clauson, Cole Whitt, Tanner Swanson, Emerson Axsom, and Billy Puterbaugh Jr.
Furthermore, Cale achieved this feat in just his 44th career series start, while becoming the first driver to win his first career USAC National Sprint Car main event during Smackdown since Logan Seavey in 2019.
Adding to it all, Cale put the black Dooling No. 63 back into the USAC National Sprint Car win column for the first time since 2017, nine seasons after Brady Bacon scored at Kansas’ Lakeside Speedway. Cale’s dad also drove the Dooling midget with success during the 2010s. Bryan Clauson was the team’s first USAC Sprint Car winner, and it seemed fitting to “park it” in BC victory lane.
“To be in the 63 car and park it at Kokomo is really special,” Cale said. “My dad drove this car, and Bryan too. I don’t even know what to say right now.”
Cale flexed his muscles with a career best third place USAC National Sprint Car result during Thursday night’s opener at Kokomo and had previously won at the quarter-mile dirt oval during the non-USAC-sanctioned Kokomo Klash in October 2025.
Starting on the outside of the front row, Coons established the early lead, while trading punches with pole sitter Briggs Danner. Danner slid Coons for the spot in turns one and two on the second lap, but Coons was able to cut back under to retain the lead.
But just as soon as it started, it was game over for Danner. At the start of the third lap, Danner biked on the turn one cushion, landed on all four wheels, then slid up into the outside wall. The resulting contact flipped him upside down and out of the race with a 24th place finish in the blink of an eye.
Danner was one of seven drivers to get upside down during the evening along with Zack Pretorius during qualifying. Plus, Devan Myers, Kyle Shipley, Anton Hernandez, Kobe Simpson, and Jadon Rogers in heat race action. All seven drivers were able to walk away.
Coons remained in control for nearly the entire first half as Meseraull gave chase. On lap 14, the slider fest commenced as Meseraull made his move, completing the slide job in turns one and two. Yet, Coons never wavered as he charged past Meseraull on the inside of the back straightaway, then slid up across Meseraull’s front bumper in turns three and four. But Meseraull had an answer and drove back under Coons at the exit of turn four to lead at the stripe by a car length.
That said, Coons was just planning his next move, executing a slider on Meseraull in turn one moments later. Meseraull’s front bumper locked horns with Coons’ rear chrome momentarily, and as Meseraull whoa’d up, Coons bounced away to a four-car length gap. Although, it should be noted that Coons apologized to Meseraull for “parking him” in his post-race interview on the public address system.
“I knew he was coming,” Coons acknowledged regarding Meseraull. “He slid me a couple times and I knew that I just needed to be in front of him by the time we got to lapped traffic. They were all kind of running the bottom. So, I took away the slider from him, sort of, and I was able to get to lapped traffic after I got by him again.”
But just as soon as Coons finally gained himself some breathing room, another contender made his way into the fray as Thursday night winner and 11th place starting Kyle Cummins had emerged in third, not only on the racetrack, but also on the turn three scoreboard.
“I saw the 3p wasn’t on the scoreboard for a while, and then he showed up and I looked up and he was in third,” Coons observed. “Just before that, he wasn’t even up there, so I knew he was coming and I just had to step up my game a little bit to get it done.”
The top three of Coons, Meseraull, and Cummins ran nose-to-tail with eight laps remaining. Meseraull was able to pull even with Coons through turns three and four, but Coons kept his foot on the throttle to thwart the challenge and promptly pulled out to a healthy 10 car length advantage.
Coons took it from there as he crossed the finish line with a 1.497 second margin of victory over Meseraull. Cummins took third with Jacob Denney scoring a career best fourth place finish in just his second career series start. Jake Swanson bounced back from a Thursday night flip to round out the top five.
The top eight in combined points throughout the first two nights of Chili’s Smackdown locked themselves into Saturday’s $30,000-to-win, 40-lap feature and the King of the Hill. They are Kyle Cummins (776), Cale Coons (770), Justin Grant (719), Kevin Thomas Jr. (719), Thomas Meseraull (712), Gavin Miller (711), Jake Swanson (692), and Stevie Sussex (685).
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Indiana, Aug. 28, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.772; 2. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.894; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-12.895; 4. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-12.977; 5. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.989; 6. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-13.000; 7. Brady Bacon, 49, Davis-13.057; 8. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-13.082; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.104; 10. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-13.120; 11. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-13.126; 12. Stevie Sussex, 3R, Rock Steady-13.155; 13. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.164; 14. Anton Hernandez, 21, Hajduk-13.169; 15. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.259; 16. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.277; 17. Jakeb Boxell, 54, Westfall-13.286; 18. Caleb Shietze, 2B, 2B Racing-13.312; 19. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-13.314; 20. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.317; 21. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-13.338; 22. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-13.340; 23. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.373; 24. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.393; 25. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-13.411; 26. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.428; 27. Jacob Denney, 87, CBI/Spire-13.431; 28. Dalton Stevens, 2BX, 2B Racing-13.513; 29. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.571; 30. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-13.575; 31. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-13.598; 32. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-13.670; 33. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, GGR-13.790; 34. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-13.798; 35. Brayden Clark, 11c, Clark-13.805; 36. Devan Myers, 75, Myers-13.844; 37. Kyle Shipley, 57H, Hazen-13.857; 38. Shane Cottle, 86, Stamper-13.895; 39. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.958; 40. Landon Butler, 18, Butler-14.008; 41. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.091; 42. Jacob Dykstra, 79, Mahoney-14.158; 43. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-14.228; 44. Aaron Davis, 11A, Davis-14.234; 45. Steve Justis, 12J, Justis-14.271; 46. Bryce Andrews, 17, MSR-14.451; 47. Jack James, 99, James-14.498; 48. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-14.982; 49. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (5), 2. Trey Osborne (2), 3. Gavin Miller (6), 4. Hayden Reinbold (3), 5. Zack Pretorius (1), 6. Colin Parker (7), 7. Beau Brandon (4), 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr (9), 9. Bryce Andrews (10), 10. Devan Myers (8). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (1), 2. Stevie Sussex (4), 3. Jake Swanson (6), 4. Jakeb Boxell (3), 5. Brady Bacon (5), 6. Jack Hoyer (2), 7. Chance Crum (7), 8. Jacob Dykstra (9), 9. Jack James (10), 10. Kyle Shipley (8). NT
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Harley Burns (2), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. Mitchel Moles (4), 4. Thomas Meseraull (6), 5. Shane Cottle (8), 6. Gabriel Gilbert (7), 7. Dalton Stevens (1), 8. Caleb Shietze (3), 9. Troy Carey (9), 10. Jake Simmons (10). 2:17.335
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 2. Gunnar Setser (6), 3. Chase Stockon (7), 4. Robert Ballou (2), 5. Brandon Mattox (1), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Anton Hernandez (4), 8. Kobe Simpson (8). NT
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (6), 2. C.J. Leary (2), 3. Eli Wilhelmus (1), 4. Logan Seavey (4), 5. Ricky Lewis (5), 6. Brayden Clark (7), 7. Landon Butler (8), 8. Steve Justis (9), 9. Jadon Rogers (3). 2:21.393
COOK OUT C MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (10), 2. Caleb Shietze (1), 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr (2), 4. Troy Carey (5), 5. Jack James (7), 6. Steve Justis (4), 7. Jake Simmons (9), 8. Jacob Dykstra (3), 9. Kyle Shipley (8), 10. Bryce Andrews (6). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Ricky Lewis (3), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Shane Cottle (6), 5. Zack Pretorius (4), 6. Jadon Rogers (15), 7. Gabriel Gilbert (9), 8. Chance Crum (13), 9. Beau Brandon (11), 10. Caleb Shietze (16), 11. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (17), 12. Colin Parker (8), 13. Brayden Clark (10), 14. Dalton Stevens (12), 15. Brandon Mattox (5), 16. Troy Carey (18), 17. Landon Butler (14), 18. Jack Hoyer (7). 2:52.704
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (2), 2. Thomas Meseraull (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (11), 4. Jacob Denney (9), 5. Jake Swanson (5), 6. Gavin Miller (6), 7. Justin Grant (12), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 9. Stevie Sussex (14), 10. Hayden Reinbold (17), 11. Robert Ballou (20), 12. Mitchel Moles (15), 13. Logan Seavey (16), 14. C.J. Leary (21), 15. Shane Cottle (24), 16. Gunnar Setser (3), 17. Trey Osborne (19), 18. Jakeb Boxell (18), 19. Chase Stockon (23), 20. Eli Wilhelmus (22), 21. Harley Burns (8), 22. Brady Bacon (10), 23. Ricky Lewis (13), 24. Briggs Danner (1).
