PARAGON, Ind. — It had been 28 years since Paragon Speedway last hosted a USAC Indiana Sprint Week event, and for most of Wednesday night’s feature, Jake Swanson raced out to a lead that was 28 light years ahead of the competition.
Or so it seemed.
But when the race tightened up in the waning laps due to a caution and an unexpected wrestling match with the turn four cushion, the Anaheim, California native still wasn’t going to give up the bag, leading all 30 laps to capture the $10,000 victory in round number six of nine of USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters at the Belle Sheppard Birthday Bash.
Swanson’s triumph was his first at Indiana Sprint Week since winning at Lincoln Park Speedway in 2023. Furthermore, his ninth career USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory moved him to 60th place on the all-time list alongside Mario Andretti, Pat O’Connor, Hunter Schuerenberg, and Robbie Stanley.
It was also Swanson’s first USAC score of any kind since February at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park.
“This thing’s on rails right now,” Swanson beamed. “We’ve been working and grinding, trying to get this package to this level and to this point. I’ve got a lot of great people like Snake Enterprises who has helped me just kind of massage on this thing and fine-tune a lot of little things to help us get more efficient and get better and get faster.”
Swanson and Paragon’s three-eighths-mile paperclip shaped dirt oval have been a picture perfect match for each other in 2026. Back in March, Swanson picked up a marquee win in the non-sanctioned No Way Out 40.
The Indiana Sprint Week round was icing on the cake for him and his Daming Swanson Motorsports/Inland Rigging – Snake Enterprises/DRC/1-Way Chevy No. 5T.
After missing out on a heat race transfer spot in each of his past three USAC Indiana Sprint Week appearances at Kokomo, Lawrenceburg, and Circle City over the past few nights, Swanson had to race his way into the main event by winning three consecutive semi-features. But on Wednesday, Swanson hustled through the pack in his heat race, charging from his sixth starting spot to win the thing decisively. In the end, it set up Swanson to become the first driver since Derek Davidson in 1998 to win an Indiana Sprint Week feature event at Paragon.
Starting fourth, Swanson was out in front of the mayhem that ensued near the conclusion of lap one. In a battle for the seventh spot, Mitchel Moles and Robert Ballou collided at the exit of turn four, with the contact sending Ballou on a sharp left turn directly into the path of Trey Osborne.
On the second attempt at a start, Swanson found his preferred path. First, he cleared fellow row two starter Justin Grant off the second turn. Then, Swanson hit the bottom line in turns three and four and swiftly glided by Gunnar Setser and Hunter Schuerenberg to lead the opening lap.
Meanwhile, Grant swiped second from Schuerenberg on the third lap as he dove low into turn three with the two banging sidewalls in the process. Kyle Cummins followed suit to third as he charged under Schuerenberg on the back straight on lap six.
By lap 10, Swanson’s lead was already a full straightaway over Grant and Cummins, who were a distant 3.6 seconds behind. After carving his way in and around lapped traffic, Swanson’s lead was a whopping 6.270 seconds by lap 22 when the caution was displayed for Zack Pretorius (20th) who jumped the turn three cushion and got briefly airborne before landing and coming to a stop while Grant took evasive action to avoid contact.
Swanson was a bit perturbed to see the yellow flag. However, it also allowed him to prove his prowess to himself on this particular night.
“I hated to see the caution come out, but honestly, I’m glad because then I would have wondered, ‘well, would he have beat me?’ Was I that good? You just never know,” Swanson pondered.
As it turned out, Swanson really was that good, but things sure got interesting for a split second down the stretch. First, Cummins got to second on the lap-23 restart when he gracefully used the low line in turns three and four to get the spot.
However, on the exit of turn four, Grant snagged the cushion and ricocheted into Cummins. The two touched wheels, elevating Cummins’ right rear tire up off the track surface, while the nose of his car was pointed toward the outside wall. Cummins managed to straighten himself out and continue onward in second place. With five laps remaining, Brady Bacon also surged past Grant to work his way into the third spot.
Once again, Swanson was gone. His lead was 1.666 seconds and growing. However, the fine line of the turn four cushion nearly cost Swanson everything with three laps remaining. The curb grabbed his right-rear tire on lap 28 and threw his car to the right while sending him bouncing three times before he could regain control.
As a result, Cummins reentered the picture and was just a few car lengths off Swanson’s back bumper for the race lead.
“It was a fine line, for sure,” Swanson said. “It was so ledgy and the curb was only getting bigger and sketchier, and I knew we were going to be a little tight for it. I really didn’t think the racetrack could stick around this long. So, we were kind of on the tight side, and honestly, I was just trying to hang on the whole time. I was trying to run because I figured that if I got to racing with somebody, it was going to be hard for me to recover because I was just so snug.”
Swanson was perfect from there on out, executing the final two laps with precision to win the race by 0.861 seconds over Cummins.
Brady Bacon, Grant and Moles completed the top five.
Cummins leads the Sprint Week standings by 11 points over Moles.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Paragon Speedway, Paragon, Indiana, July 29, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.462; 2. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.741; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.790; 4. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.862; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.879; 6. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo Bishop-14.912; 7. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-15.036; 8. Hunter Schuerenberg, 3R, Rock Steady-15.054; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.076; 10. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-15.082; 11. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-15.082; 12. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-15.095; 13. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-15.120; 14. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-15.156; 15. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.168; 16. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-15.183; 17. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-15.206; 18. R.J. Miller, 34m, Miller-15.208; 19. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.238; 20. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-15.283; 21. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.303; 22. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-15.322; 23. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-15.343; 24. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-15.347; 25. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-15.352; 26. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-15.441; 27. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-15.476; 28. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-15.494; 29. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-15.526; 30. Dalton Stevens, 2B, 2B Racing-15.542; 31. Hunter Maddox, 26, Rone/Thompson-15.555; 32. Brandon Spencer, 22, Spencer-15.593; 33. Cody Trammell, 34T, Trammell-15.666; 34. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-15.697; 35. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-15.705; 36. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-15.726; 37. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-15.792; 38. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-15.876; 39. Tony Helton, 87, Helton-15.903; 40. Jake Scott, 33, Miller-15.962; 41. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-16.051; 42. Travis Oldfield, 38, Oldfield-16.057; 43. Jim Tribby, 9, Tribby-16.210; 44. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, GGR-16.225; 45. Todd Moule, AU26, Moule-NT; 46. Logan Prickett, 37, Prickett-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Robert Ballou (2), 2. Kyle Cummins (6), 3. Harley Burns (4), 4. Hunter Maddox (7), 5. Troy Carey (8), 6. Michael Clark (9), 7. Jack Hoyer (3), 8. Eli Wilhelmus (1), 9. Todd Hobson (5). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 2. Cale Coons (1), 3. Gunnar Setser (5), 4. Jadon Rogers (4), 5. Briggs Danner (6), 6. Zack Pretorius (3), 7. Brandon Spencer (7), 8. Travis Oldfield (9), 9. David Gasper (8). 2:04.587
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (4), 2. C.J. Leary (2), 3. Mitchel Moles (6), 4. Hunter Schuerenberg (5), 5. Braxton Cummings (1), 6. Colin Parker (8), 7. R.J. Miller (3), 8. Jim Tribby (9), 9. Cody Trammell (7). 2:03.872
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (6), 2. Ricky Lewis (4), 3. Logan Seavey (5), 4. Charles Davis Jr. (3), 5. Wyatt Burks (1), 6. Chance Crum (2), 7. Kobe Simpson (7), 8. Tony Helton (8), 9. Gabriel Gilbert (9). NT
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Trey Osborne (2), 2. Logan Calderwood (3), 3. Justin Grant (6), 4. Chase Stockon (5), 5. Dalton Stevens (1), 6. Hayden Reinbold (4), 7. Brandon Mattox (7), 8. Jake Scott (8). 2:07.511
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (1), 2. Hayden Reinbold (2), 3. Dalton Stevens (5), 4. Zack Pretorius (7), 5. Colin Parker (9), 6. Eli Wilhelmus (15), 7. Michael Clark (10), 8. Wyatt Burks (4), 9. Troy Carey (6), 10. Kobe Simpson (13), 11. Jake Scott (16), 12. Brandon Spencer (12), 13. Travis Oldfield (17), 14. Jim Tribby (18), 15. R.J. Miller (11), 16. Brandon Mattox (14), 17. Braxton Cummings (3), 18. Chance Crum (8), 19. Cody Trammell (19). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (4), 2. Kyle Cummins (6), 3. Brady Bacon (7), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Mitchel Moles (5), 6. Hunter Schuerenberg (1), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 8. Ricky Lewis (16), 9. Harley Burns (14), 10. Chase Stockon (13), 11. Logan Seavey (12), 12. C.J. Leary (21), 13. Robert Ballou (8), 14. Hayden Reinbold (17), 15. Jadon Rogers (15), 16. Briggs Danner (11), 17. Cale Coons (22), 18. Dalton Stevens (23), 19. Charles Davis Jr. (19), 20. Hunter Maddox (24), 21. Zack Pretorius (18), 22. Logan Calderwood (20), 23. Gunnar Setser (2), 24. Trey Osborne (10).
