MACON, Ill. — Mitchel Moles’ first USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory in 37 races came at the same exact place he captured his most recent series win nearly a full season ago.
One year after becoming the first USAC National Sprint Car winner at Illinois’ Macon Speedway, Moles became the first repeat series winner at the fifth-mile dirt oval during Friday night’s Top Gun Weekend opener.
In his first start since racing to a USAC Eastern Storm championship earlier this month, Moles continued his roll into Macon, leading all 40 laps from his outside front row starting position aboard the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.
After notching a single top-five result in his first 17 series starts of 2024, Moles has now responded with six consecutive top-five performances, which includes his fourth career triumph on Friday night at Macon.
“It’s just more momentum than anything,” Moles explained. “It’s no secret in this deal that when you get beat down, it’s hard to overcome that. But when you have good people around you, you keep telling yourself that you’ll get it, and you’ll figure it out.”
Whereas Moles’ winning performance at Macon in 2023 came in dramatic fashion via a pass for the lead with two laps remaining and a photo finish victory by a mere 0.093 seconds, there were no such theatrics this time around. Moles sprinted away and was never seriously threatened from the get-go.
Despite Moles’ dominance, there were a share of movers and shakers in the field making hay when the opportunities presented themselves. Fourth starting Brady Bacon advanced to third, driving under Carson Garrett in turn three for the spot on the lap six restart following a spin and stop on the front straightaway by 17th– running Joey Amantea.
The second of two cautions occurred when 20th running Hayden Harvey tagged the back straightaway wall with a wallop on the eighth lap, prematurely ending his first USAC start.
On the ensuing restart, Bacon stepped up to second place as he scootered under Leary for the runner-up spot to slot in behind race leader Moles. Now, the only two drivers to win a USAC National Sprint Car race at Macon Speedway were running one-two at the front of the field.
Nonetheless, Moles still maintained a six-car-length edge, which translated to a 1.6- second interval by the halfway mark on lap 20. By lap 24, Justin Grant surged to third after Garrett’s car became tight between turns one and two. Grant slipped under Garrett, then instigated his pursuit of Bacon for second.
On lap 29, Grant took over the runner-up spot when Bacon ramped over the right rear tire of the lapped car of Brandon Mattox in turn one, opening the door for Grant to shuffle onward via the low side. All the jockeying from second on back certainly helped appease any sort of pressure on Moles who extended his lead to a full straightaway more than 3.5 seconds ahead using the high line.
“It was cowboy up there,” Moles exclaimed. “I don’t know how far of a lead I had there, but I feel like I was getting through traffic pretty good. (The crew) made some swings there at the end and (crewman) Dylan (Cook) gave me a little pep talk before we went out, which sealed the deal for me.”
However, at the head of the field, Moles was head of the class as he sheared his way through every piece of traffic to put his stamp on a long-awaited USAC victory by a 2.253-second margin with Justin Grant, Brady Bacon, Carson Garrett and fast-qualifier Daison Pursley rounding out the top five.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Macon Speedway, Macon, Ill., June 28, 2024
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-10.335; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-10.388; 3. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-10.389; 4. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-10.431; 5. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-10.482; 6. Nic Harris, N2, Harris-10.483; 7. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-10.497; 8. Wesley Smith, 2B, 2B Racing-10.580; 9. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin/Fox-10.600; 10. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-10.640; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-10.686; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-10.758; 13. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-10.812; 14. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-10.842; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-10.870; 16. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-10.884; 17. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-10.936; 18. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-10.954; 19. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-10.970; 20. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-11.004; 21. Jadon Rogers, 17GP, Dutcher-11.072; 22. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-11.398; 23. Hayden Harvey, 8, Smith/Robertson-11.425; 24. Colten Cottle, 8D, KCBJ-11.470.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Joey Amantea, 6. Carson Garrett, 7. Harley Burns, 8. Kyle Cummins. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Wesley Smith, 7. Hayden Harvey, 8. Hunter Maddox.
T.J. FORGED / CAR IQ THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Colten Cottle, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Nic Harris, 8. Anton Hernandez. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (2), 2. Justin Grant (8), 3. Brady Bacon (4), 4. Carson Garrett (3), 5. Daison Pursley (6), 6. Robert Ballou (9), 7. Logan Seavey (5), 8. C.J. Leary (1), 9. Jake Swanson (7), 10. Wesley Smith (10), 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 12. Mario Clouser (15), 13. Nic Harris (13), 14. Jadon Rogers (16), 15. Kyle Cummins (22), 16. Matt Westfall (17), 17. Joey Amantea (18), 18. Hunter Maddox (14), 19. Shane Cottle (12), 20. Brandon Mattox (19), 21. Harley Burns (20), 22. Colten Cottle (21), 23. Hayden Harvey (23).