HAUBSTADT, Ind. — The last time Logan Seavey left Tri-State Speedway in early August, there was a tinge of bittersweetness in him following a career best runner-up result at the track.
After coming up just short, the Sutter, California native and his team counted down the days until their next opportunity arrived on Saturday night during the 18th running of the Haubstadt Hustler.
When all was said and done, Seavey was a first-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship winner at Tri-State, earning the $20,000 checker after taking the lead one lap prior to the halfway point of the 40-lapper, then thwarting repeated challenges from Justin Grant down to stretch to reign victorious in his Abacus Racing/Mountain Mechanical – Droplight – Elbrecht Concrete/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
Seavey and Abacus had previously tasted victory at Tri-State’s quarter-mile dirt oval with the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship in 2024. To notch one in the sprint car there, well, that’s about as cool as it gets for Seavey.
“This place has just eaten me alive since I’ve been coming here,” Seavey stated. “Kirk (Simpson), Daniel (Whitley), T-Bone (Trevor Reed) and everybody on this car have been working so hard to get me better, here especially. I just felt so good all night. I could run really hard and hold off some of the best here right now.”
For Seavey, the win was a milestone as he became just the 19th driver to reach 30 or more career USAC National Sprint Car victories. His sixth series tally of the 2025 season moved him into a tie for 19th place all-time alongside Chris Windom.
Starting third on the grid, Seavey initially fell back to fourth on the opening lap behind Grant before steadily moving his way forward. Next, he and Grant made a beeline past pole sitter Kyle Cummins on the second go around to make his way into third while Grant slotted into second.
Outside front row starter Hayden Reinbold was cruising up front and seeking his first career USAC victory of any sort. Meanwhile, Seavey was closing in, and on lap 13, he dove under Grant in turn three to race into second momentarily. Grant fought back a half lap later in turns one and two with a slider of his own, but Seavey countered the move by driving back under Grant off turn two to gain the “place” position, a game-changing move of utmost importance in pursuit of victory.
“Passing Justin there was key,” Seavey remarked. “If he gets out front, it’s probably a different ballgame.”
Seavey wasn’t apt to ride around for any period of time. Under duress from Grant just behind him, Seavey went on the attack, sliding past Reinbold in turns three and four to put himself at the top of the pecking order. Grant followed the path into second as he darted under Reinbold in turn three on the 26th circuit. In the meantime, Seavey had constructed a lead in excess of a full second.
That said, Seavey wasn’t anywhere near out of the woods yet. Grant managed to track Seavey down in lapped traffic, and on lap 33, was able to pull even with Seavey for the lead. A mere moment later, Grant’s pursuit seemingly ended when he nearly spun himself in turn four. Just after gathering up and continuing on, the yellow flag was displayed for 13th running Eli Wilhelmus who spun it in turns one and two.
With the deck restacked and traffic cleared, Seavey and Grant went toe-to-toe at the front of the field. On a couple of occasions, Grant was able to pull even once more with Seavey at both ends of the racetrack. But each time, Seavey possessed the topside momentum to pull him ahead. But for the final four laps, Seavey adjusted his line in order to slide himself, entering low in turns one and three and exiting on the high side of turns two and four.
“I know you can make speed when you slide yourself a lot,” Seavey explained. “Entry is a little bit choppy on the top, so I was like, if I zing it down across the bottom, as long as I don’t mess up on exit, it’ll be really hard to pass me. I don’t know what my speed was like when I was doing that but my car felt really good.”
Seavey’s slight amendment proved to be the proverbial nail as he quickly gapped Grant, then sealed the deal with a 0.707-second margin of victory. Grant crossed the line in second with Reinbold third, Kevin Thomas Jr fourth and Cummins rounding out the top five.
With the win, Seavey became just the fourth driver to win both a USAC National Sprint Car and USAC National Midget feature at Tri-State Speedway, joining Brady Bacon, Kyle Cummins and Justin Grant in that department.
“I don’t think anybody can say they’ve really mastered this place besides maybe a couple,” Seavey cautioned. “There are guys who run really good consistently here, then come here tonight and struggle. We’ve just been getting better overall at this place, so hopefully, that translates to all track conditions. But for now, it’s more confidence than anything and making sure I feel good in the car and knowing that I have a chance to win.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Tri-State Speedway, Haubstadt, Indiana, Sept. 13, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.717; 2. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-13.794; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.859; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.864; 5. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.864; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-13.908; 7. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.922; 8. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-13.992; 9. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.001; 10. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.124; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.139; 12. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-14.266; 13. Wyatt Burks, 16K, Knight-14.277; 14. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.300; 15. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE-14.342; 16. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.368; 17. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble-14.419; 18. Carson Short, 21m, Edwards-14.437; 19. Sam Scott, 7s, Scott-14.491; 20. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-14.511; 21. Adyn Schmidt, 12s, Schmidt-14.623; 22. Collin Ambrose, 36, Ambrose-14.632; 23. Mike Larrison, 07, American Dream-14.645; 24. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-14.717; 25. Justin Meneely, 100, Meneely-NT; 26. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Jadon Rogers 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Wyatt Burks, 6. Briggs Danner, 7. Collin Ambrose, 8. Sam Scott, 9. Justin Meneely. 2:18.357
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Gunnar Setser, 5. Eli Wilhelmus, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Kendall Ruble, 8. Mike Larrison, 9. Donny Brackett. NT
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Carson Short, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Adyn Schmidt. 2:20.152
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (3), 2. Justin Grant (4), 3. Hayden Reinbold (2), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 5. Kyle Cummins (1), 6. Chase Stockon (11), 7. Mitchel Moles (6), 8. C.J. Leary (8), 9. Gunnar Setser (5), 10. Jadon Rogers (9), 11. Briggs Danner (12), 12. Kale Drake (13), 13. Carson Short (18), 14. Jake Swanson (15), 15. Adyn Schmidt (21), 16. Kayla Roell (20), 17. Collin Ambrose (22), 18. Eli Wilhelmus (10), 19. Carson Garrett (16), 20. Aric Gentry (23), 21. Wyatt Burks (14), 22. Kendall Ruble (17), 23. Sam Scott (19), 24. Justin Meneely (24).
