SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — For Kevin Thomas Jr. and the 4 Kings Racing team, Sunday night’s victory during the 41st running of the Firemen’s Nationals at Angell Park Speedway hit differently.
This one felt like the first time. This one felt like the real deal. This one was the Real McCoy.
For you see, on the last day of June during a prelim night of the BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, KTJ delivered 4 Kings Racing its first ever USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship triumph as a team.
But it didn’t go down in the customary manner. As a matter of fact, they crossed the finish line in second place at IMS behind Drake Edwards. However, early the next day, it was announced that Drake Edwards and Chase McDermand Racing had been stripped of their win due to a rules infraction. Thus, KTJ and 4 Kings were elevated one position in the running order and were declared the winners.
In turn, KTJ and team accepted their props and laurels in a brief ceremony prior to the next day’s event, nearly 24 hours later. While it was a proud moment for sure, it certainly was a bit of a subdued occasion considering the circumstances.
That said, at Angell Park, they finally got their reward, and a fitting victory lane celebration to boot.
“This is their second win, but this is the first time being able to be up here right after a race win. So, it feels like the first,” Thomas acknowledged. “Much appreciation to those guys who really do a lot of stuff, especially behind the scenes, and make sure we’ve got the right equipment, and we do. It’s just been about making the right calls and me doing the right things behind the wheel. All of those things lined up tonight.”
Thomas’ win was worth a $10,000 reward, and it was the eighth such victory of his USAC National Midget career.
None of KTJ’s previous seven USAC wins had come at Angell Park before Sunday night. It was a full circle moment. In May of 2015, the Cullman, Alabama native won his very first midget race, and it just so happened to be at Angell Park, during the Thiel Memorial co-sanctioned by Badger and POWRi.
“I’m pretty sure I got my first midget win here for Keith Kunz, heck, a century ago, it seems like,” Thomas recalled. “I’ve been coming here a long time. We’ve been good. We’ve been bad. It’s never been necessarily my style. But whenever you’ve got good race cars like this, every race track is your style. Tonight, they did a great job on the race track after getting a bunch of rain.”
Thomas lined up fifth in the 40-lap main event but was on his way toward the front from the drop of the green behind the wheel of his 4 Kings Racing/Purple Heart Foundation – AccroSeal – Metalloid1 – AccroLube/LynK/Stanton SR-11x No. 14. He was fourth by lap one, third by lap two, second by lap four, and into the lead by lap seven.
A couple of those gained positions, admittedly, were aided by an apparent curse hexed upon the early race leaders. Justin Grant led the initial three laps before his engine went sour with a dropped valve. The lead then changed hands to Kale Drake who led laps four, five, and six before he too fell out with a mechanical issue.
It was Thomas’ turn as the leader from lap seven onward, but he showed no signs of any voodoo, bad juju or what have you. This one belonged to KTJ and KTJ only from there on out, even when faced with multiple late race restarts after accruing sizable leads.
Thomas Jr.’s lead was 1.475 seconds when sixth running Colton Robinson clipped an infield tire and damaged his suspension, leaving a dangling donut on the front left of his ride, which necessitated a caution to be displayed. Over the next seven laps, Thomas shoved his advantage to 1.247 seconds until Brandon Waelti nosed into the outside turn one wall on the 30th circuit.
Over the last 10 trips around the third-mile dirt oval, Thomas just kept on keeping on, building his lead back to 1.924 seconds as he crossed the finish line $10,000 richer.
Jacob Denney took second with Gavin Miller third, Jakeb Boxell fourth and Gunnar Setser fifth.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Angell Park Speedway, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, Sept. 6, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-14.166 (Track Record); 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-14.170; 3. Brecken Reese, 20Q, Reese-14.176; 4. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.195; 5. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.233; 6. Kale Drake, 4, RMS-14.266; 7. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-14.267; 8. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-14.279; 9. Jakeb Boxell, 54, 4 Kings-14.301; 10. Drake Edwards, 40x, McDermand-14.358; 11. Kyle Jones, 7TX, Engler-14.364; 12. Mack Leopard, 40L, McDermand-14.427; 13. Luke Wackerlin, 7w, Guithues-14.458; 14. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-14.465; 15. Alex Midkiff, 11, Midkiff-14.576; 16. Brandon Waelti, 55, TK2-14.612; 17. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-14.647; 18. Bradley Cox, 45, Mason-14.703; 19. Brian Peterson, 57R, RAB-14.874; 20. Cody Weisensel, 20, Burrington-15.053; 21. Jake Dohner, 2, Burrington-15.401; 22. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brandon Waelti (1), 2. Jacob Denney (5), 3. Drake Edwards (3), 4. Luke Wackerlin (2), 5. Hayden Reinbold (6), 6. Gunnar Setser (8), 7. Ethan Mitchell (4), 8. Brian Peterson (7). 1:58.031 (New Track Record)
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Colton Robinson (2), 2. Justin Grant (4), 3. Adam Taylor (1), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr (6), 5. Gavin Miller (5), 6. Kyle Jones (3), 7. Cody Weisensel (7). 2:00.328
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jakeb Boxell (4), 2. Kale Drake (5), 3. Bradley Cox (1), 4. Alex Midkiff (2), 5. Jake Dohner (7), 6. Mack Leopard (3), 7. Brecken Reese (6). NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 2. Jacob Denney (4), 3. Gavin Miller (3), 4. Jakeb Boxell (7), 5. Gunnar Setser (17), 6. Drake Edwards (10), 7. Bradley Cox (15), 8. Mack Leopard (19), 9. Kyle Jones (11), 10. Brecken Reese (22), 11. Adam Taylor (14), 12. Alex Midkiff (13), 13. Luke Wackerlin (12), 14. Brian Peterson (20), 15. Colton Robinson (8), 16. Hayden Reinbold (6), 17. Brandon Waelti (9), 18. Ethan Mitchell (18), 19. Cody Weisensel (21), 20. Kale Drake (2), 21. Justin Grant (1), 22. Jake Dohner (16).
