HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Believe it or not, Kevin Thomas Jr. had never won a USAC Silver Crown Series race before Saturday night.
After five runner-up finishes in the series during his career, Thomas finally went to victory lane Saturday night at Salt City Speedway.
Thomas’ quest for his initial series victory didn’t exactly occur in a straightforward manner. First, Thomas was brought to the Chris Dyson Racing/Concord American Flagpole – Macri Concrete – High Performance Lubricants/Maxim/Ott Chevy in a substitute role while the team’s regular driver, Brady Bacon, was competing in the Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.
Secondly, in a late-race battle for the lead between Thomas and C.J. Leary, the two touched wheels, resulting in Leary toppling over while Thomas continued onward to victory, casting a bit of a pall over his long-awaited Silver Crown celebration.
“I’m going to start off by apologizing to C.J. and everybody over there on the Klatt Enterprises team,” Thomas stated. “C.J. and I have been friends for 10-plus years, and we’ve never touched. That was piss-poor judgement on my end. He’s one of my better friends and that really sucks.”
Nonetheless, Thomas’ $10,000 victory extended a remarkable streak of first-time USAC Silver Crown winners. A brand-new first-time series victor has emerged in each of the past three events: Daison Pursley, Dakoda Armstrong and now Thomas.
But for Thomas, the Silver Crown monkey on his back has finally been released. Entering Saturday night’s race, He held the dubious distinction of owning more runner-up finishes in series history among drivers who had not yet won a main event.
After winning the pole and establishing the Salt City USAC Silver Crown track record with a lap of 21.090 seconds in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, Thomas started from the pole position and was in control from the drop of the green flag until that very point when he encountered lapped traffic at just the wrong moment.
Thomas became hung up behind the car of six-time Hutchinson Grand Nationals Sprint Car champion and first-time Silver Crown competitor Danny Jennings in turns three and four. Leary took advantage of the opportune moment by darting to the inside in turn three before coming out of the other side of turn four with the lead in hand and just 31 laps remaining.
Throughout the ensuing 10 laps, Leary extended his lead over Thomas to nearly two seconds until a caution for fourth-running Justin Grant who slowed suddenly in turn four on lap 79.
In time for the lap 83 resumption, Thomas was in full attack mode as he dove under Leary to swipe the lead in turns one and two. However, Leary countered the maneuver and raced back under Thomas on the back straightaway.
By the time the pair reached turn one the next time around on lap 84, Thomas pulled a car length ahead of Leary.
However, by the time they reached turn two and Leary attempted to race around the outside of Thomas, the town proved to be not big enough for the both of them. Thomas’ right-rear tire and Leary’s left-rear tire collided, sending Leary flipping upside down multiple times.
When action resumed, Thomas worked the low line in turns three and four while opting for the top side in turns one and two down the stretch.
Meanwhile, new second-place runner Seavey made his pursuit while committed to the multi-layered cushion that had been built up around the top. At moments, only a couple car lengths separated the two with the lap count hurriedly rushing to 100.
However, in crunch time, Thomas hit all his marks and was able to steadily stretch his lead over the final five laps to cross the stripe 2.046 seconds ahead of Seavey.
Trey Osborne’s see-saw battle with Chase Stockon saw the pair swap the third position three times over a four-lap span before Osborne made the decisive pass on the low side of turn one on lap 96. Stockon took fourth behind Osborne while USAC Silver Crown point leader Kody Swanson rounded out the top five.
USAC Silver Crown National Championship, Salt City Speedway, Hutchinson, Kan., July 20,2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9, Dyson-21.090 (New Track Record); 2. C.J. Leary, 6, Klatt-21.204; 3. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-21.491; 4. Mario Clouser, 21, Team AZ-21.529; 5. Logan Seavey, 22, Rice/Abacus-21.536; 6. Trey Osborne, 81, BCR-21.558; 7. Chase Stockon, 69, Pink 69-21.596; 8. Kody Swanson, 77, Doran/Binks-21.673; 9. Kyle Steffens, 08, Steffens-21.831; 10. Trey Burke, 60, Legacy/Wilson-21.905; 11. Kaylee Bryson, 26, Pierce-22.001; 12. Kip Hughes, 160, Hughes-22.311; 13. Danny Jennings, 61, Grace-22.384; 14. Gregg Cory, 32, Williams/Cory-22.581; 15. Chris Fetter, 15, Fetter-22.634; 16. Nathan Moore, 48, Thomas/Moore-22.800; 17. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.450; 18. Steve Gennetten, 03, Gennetten-23.480; 19. Danny Long, 44, Long-24.578.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 2. Logan Seavey (5), 3. Trey Osborne (6), 4. Chase Stockon (7), 5. Kody Swanson (8), 6. Kaylee Bryson (11), 7. Kyle Steffens (9), 8. Nathan Moore (16), 9. Danny Jennings (13), 10. Gregg Cory (14), 11. Mario Clouser (4), 12. C.J. Leary (2), 13. Justin Grant (3), 14. Chris Fetter (15), 15. Kip Hughes (12), 16. Trey Burke (10), 17. Dave Berkheimer (17), 18. Steve Gennetten (18), 19. Danny Long (19).