INDIANAPOLIS — One week earlier, it was the cushion that tripped up Kyle Cummins while he was less than one lap away from a possible victory at Arkansas’s Texarkana 67 Speedway, resulting in him landing on his lid rather than celebrating another triumph.
Just six days later on a rare Friday the 13th affair at Indianapolis, Indiana’s Circle City Raceway, Cummins prevailed on what he deemed was the hardest cushion he’s ever run in his life to win his second USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature of the year in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
Cummins led all 30 laps from green to checkered, but endured repeated challenges throughout the distance, including a last lap, last turn effort from Logan Seavey to score his third career USAC National Sprint Car win at Circle City’s quarter-mile dirt oval, tying Seavey for the most all-time, in what was a most demanding task.
“I’m very excited but I am mentally exhausted,” Cummins acknowledged. “That’s like the hardest cushion I’ve ever run in my life. Normally, I like it here, but (turn) one was weird, and I kept seeing Brady (Bacon) and Seavey there. To have that pressure behind you lap after lap, and to know I crashed the last time I was leading, puts a lot of pressure on you.”
Overall, Cummins’ latest victory was the 20th of his USAC National Sprint Car career, becoming the 35th driver in series history to notch at least 20 main event wins. This one was uber rewarding for Cummins, considering it came in such a redemptious manner, which required the first-year USAC Sprint Car team to unbend and straighten out the pieces in order to pick up where they left off.
“I think we’ve had a really good car since the start of Indiana Sprint Week,” Cummins said of the late-July event. “I was kind of excited and made some mistakes during Sprint Week. But this car is good, and it’s the one we ran at Texarkana. It was all bent up, but we bent it back and it seems to be pretty good. It’s been a long year, but we’ve finally found a package that allows me to race with these guys. If you’re not there to race, you don’t have a chance, and at least we’re racing with them.”
Track position was paramount, as it turned out, and proved to be pivotal from the get-go. On the initial green flag attempt, outside front row starter Bacon went topside around pole sitter Cummins to secure the lead. However, just before the completion of the lap, 16th starting Carson Garrett coasted to a stop on the back straightaway with a broken tie-rod.
However, with zero laps completed, Bacon’s lead was negated, and the lineup reverted back to factory settings with a complete side-by-side restart. On the second attempt, it was Cummins who got the upper hand on Bacon to lead the initial lap.
On the sixth circuit, amid a tussle for 13th, wheel-to-wheel contact between Daison Pursley and Shane Cottle triggered a three-car accident in turn three. Following the contact, Pursley spun backwards into turn three. As he slid up the racetrack, Jadon Rogers (15th) slammed into the side of Pursley. Todd Hobson (18th) also was unable to avoid and broadsided Rogers. The incident ended the evening for both Rogers and Hobson while Pursley was able to restart at the tail before making his way back up through the field for a 13th place result.
Cummins maintained roughly a three-car length lead nearing the halfway point of the 30-lap feature, even despite a sizable snag of the turn four cushion, which jackknifed him sideways as he fought through traffic. Nonetheless, it turned out to be no harm, no foul for Cummins at the time as he led a three-car breakaway on the topside just ahead of Bacon and Seavey.
As Bacon attempted to make a move on Cummins for the lead in turns one and two on the 19th lap, he lost grip through the middle of turn two, thus opening the door for Seavey to blast by for the second position entering turn three. The moment proved brief, however, as Bacon returned fire and slid Seavey back a half-lap later to retake second in turns one and two.
A yellow flag on lap 20 for the stopped car of Hunter Maddox in turn three erased Cummins 1/2-second lead with 10 laps remaining, but also broke up the conglomeration of traffic in front of the leaders for the time being.
With that said, it didn’t delete the possibility of hiccups along the way, and on lap 22, Bacon slipped over the cushion in turn two. As Bacon fought to regain control, Seavey breezed on by underneath on the back straight to become the new occupant of the runner-up spot, but still remained a 1/2-second out of the reach of Cummins’ race lead.
Throughout the final stretch, Seavey was able to inch his way closer and closer to Cummins and found himself just 2.5 car lengths behind the leader midway down the back stretch when he made his move by diving underneath Cummins to pull even through turns three and four. However, Cummins’ high side momentum proved too much to overcome as he put the finishing touches on a 0.444 second margin of victory.
“When I took the white flag, I messed up in turns three and four and I was getting really tight,” Cummins replayed. “I didn’t know if I was doing better at sliding myself and catching the cushion or not. On that last lap, I thought I got in and I’m like, “man, I didn’t get off good.” I couldn’t tell if I was hearing him or not, and when I got into three, I just kind of babied it knowing that if I didn’t push, I can at least come around him. It was going to be tight, but I think I was kind of being careful, but it wasn’t like it was that close.”
Behind Cummins at the finish line were runner-up Logan Seavey with Brady Bacon, Mitchel Moles and Shane Cottle completing the top-five. Ironically or not, the top-three of Cummins, Seavey and Bacon represented all three USAC National Sprint Car winners at Circle City in 2024.
Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) felt he might have been too patient for the first 20 or so laps, but in the end, he came on strong to finish as the runner-up after winning the previous two Circle City USAC Sprint Car races in 2024 aboard his Abacus Racing/Honest Abe Roofing – Rockwell Security – Indy Custom Stone/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) ran second for much of the race, but one bite of the cushion with nine laps to go took away his runner-up spot and relegated him back to third at the finish line in his Dynamics, Inc./Daredevil Brewing – Davis Brothers Trucking – Tel-Star/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) finished fourth, but started his night off as the Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier, which was the 14th of his USAC National Sprint Car career, equaling him with Billy Cassella, Tyler Courtney and Damion Gardner for 36th place all-time.
Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) has made it a habit of winning hard charger awards on the low line at dirt tracks across the nation, especially at Circle City. He did it once again on this night after starting 12th and finishing fifth.
What way to make an entrance for Gunnar Setser (Columbus, Ind.). Making his USAC National Sprint Car debut, Setser made a splash in his heat race with a last lap, last turn pass to earn the final transfer spot by mere inches. That move alone earned him the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Of note, this occasion marked just the eighth USAC National Sprint Car event ever held on Friday the 13th. Past winners on the date include Jim Mahoney (Lakeside (Kan.) Speedway 1991), Billy Pauch (Williams Grove Speedway 1996), Brian Tyler (Toledo Speedway 2001), Daron Clayton (Gas City I-69 Speedway 2007), Bryan Clauson (Gas City I-69 Speedway 2012), Robert Ballou (Perris Auto Speedway 2015), Justin Grant (Terre Haute Action Track 2019) and now Kyle Cummins (Circle City Raceway 2024).
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Circle City Raceway, Indianapolis, Ind., Sept. 13, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.228; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.236; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.295; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.300; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.303; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.316; 7. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-12.319; 8. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-12.453; 9. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-12.461; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.490; 11. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-12.535; 12. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-12.560; 13. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.584; 14. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-12.638; 15. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.659; 16. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.680; 17. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-12.703; 18. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-12.710; 19. Harley Burns, 16K, Knight-12.726; 20. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-12.743; 21. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-12.852; 22. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.867; 23. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-12.886; 24. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.890; 25. Cale Coons, 5, Baldwin/Fox-12.916; 26. Travis Thompson, 7, Thompson-12.921; 27. Sam Hinds, 71H, Hinds-12.938; 28. Chance Crum, 26, Crum-13.043; 29. Noah Whitehouse, 00, Whitehouse-13.193.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jack Hoyer, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Hunter Maddox, 7. Noah Whitehouse, 8. Cale Coons. 2:09.638
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Joey Amantea, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Justin Grant, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Travis Thompson. NT
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Todd Hobson, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Harley Burns, 5. Gunnar Setser, 6. Sam Hinds, 7. C.J. Leary. NT
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Carson Garrett, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Zack Pretorius. 2:12.770
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Hunter Maddox, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Sam Hinds, 6. Travis Thompson, 7. Noah Whitehouse, 8. Cale Coons. 2:17.923
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (1), 2. Logan Seavey (3), 3. Brady Bacon (2), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. Shane Cottle (12), 6. Chase Stockon (7), 7. Justin Grant (5), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 9. Joey Amantea (8), 10. Robert Ballou (14), 11. Kale Drake (9), 12. Gunnar Setser (15), 13. Daison Pursley (13), 14. C.J. Leary (11), 15. Matt Westfall (17), 16. Hayden Reinbold (21), 17. Jack Hoyer (10), 18. Chance Crum (24), 19. Carson Garrett (16), 20. Brandon Mattox (23), 21. Harley Burns (20), 22. Hunter Maddox (19), 23. Jadon Rogers (18), 24. Todd Hobson (22).