For the third time in its event history, the famous USAC Silver Crown Series visited the historic Kansas State Fairgrounds in Hutchinson, Kansas this past Saturday night for the Salt City 100. Race fans were treated to a thrilling conclusion at the end of the 100-lapper and saw a first time winner in the series.
Hayden Reinbold, in his first ever career USAC Silver Crown start with the the Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports team piloting the No. 119, won in a last lap pass over series veteran Justin Grant who ran out of fuel on the backstretch. The victory was a popular one for the young 22-year-old racer with the fans in attendance.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Reinbold told Flo Racing in his post race interview. “I can’t thank my dad enough for making another Silver Crown team, it’s so much fun. Can’t thank Jerry enough and my sponsors, they help us out a lot. It’s super exciting. I don’t know if anyone has ever gotten the lucky dog and went on to win it.
“On the start, I just got tight and greasy, and got a lot of mud and was unable to get a tearoff off. We just got going and the car was super good. I just can’t thank everyone enough.”
As previously mentioned, the USAC Silver Crown cars visited the Kansas State Fairgrounds this past weekend for a two-night affair. Friday night was a practice night for the series, while Saturday night saw the regular run of show with qualifying and the A-main.
Qualifying took place earlier in the evening with Justin Grant taking quick time and setting a new track record of 20.789 seconds, though it wasn’t without adversity. The qualifying portion of the event had to be re-ran three times in one night to finally set the field. This was due to rain hitting the area and putting the event in a brief weather delay. However, as rain moved out, and cooler temperatures moved in, the track saw fast lap times increasing as the session resumed.
Additionally, prior to Grant capturing his 13th career pole position in the USAC Silver Crown Series with his fast lap time, he actually set the new lap record twice before the weather moved in. Also one more note on the session, everyone was required to qualify again twice. As Grant got the top spot for the feature, he would tie himself with series veteran J.J. Yeley for sixth on the all-time list in the USAC Silver Crown Series for pole positions.
In what was the first event of the 2026 season for the Silver Crown cars, both Grant and C.J. Leary fired off into Turn 1 at the start of the green flag. However, a caution would fly immediately for a car stopped at the exit of Turn 4, which was Reinbold in his No. 19 AZ machine. He was slated to start eighth, but due to his car stopping on the track, Reinbold was unable to get his spot back and had to restart in the back of the field.
This would see a complete restart of the feature in hopes of a better start. Grant had the advantage on the backstretch over Leary and Mitchel Moles the top three. Bryan Gossel who is piloting the No. 06 machine retired early on Lap 1, as he was one of the cars who flipped upside down in the hot laps session.
10 laps into the race, Grant started to reach the back of the field and began putting cars a lap down including race winner Reinbold. At 85 laps to go, Moles passed Leary for second on the frontstretch and tried to set his sights on the leader of Grant. Five laps later with 80 to go, Moles cut down Grant’s lead from 4.5 seconds to 2.9 seconds.
At the same time, the second caution flew for the No. 92 of Kale Drake for his engine blowing up in Turns 1 and 2. Drake was making his second career Silver Crown start. Furthemore, more issues was seen for Moles since he pulled off the track while running in the second position at the time of caution. It was an overheating issue for Moles that saw him retire from the race.
The green flew once more with 75 laps to go. Grant, Leary, Mario Clouser, Briggs Danner, and Chase Stockon was your top five. Reinbold would get back in the fold by restarting in the 10th position.
With 70 laps to go, Stockon went to fourth by passing Danner on the backstretch. The third caution came out with 62 laps to go for the No. 20 of Clouser who was slowing on the back straightaway. A right rear tire went down on his car, while he was in the third position. Clouser brought the car to the attention of his team in the pit area and changed the right rear tire that was flat.
The race resumed at 57 laps to go with Grant, Leary, Stockon, Danner, and Jake Swanson the top five. Reinbold was in the eighth position. A lap later, Stockon picked up a few spots and put himself in the second position. At the halfway mark with 50 laps to go, the rundown was Grant, Stockon, Leary, Swanson, Danner, Kyle Steffens, Bret Tripplett, Reinbold, Clouser, and Steve Gennetten the Top 10.
Unfortunately, for Swanson who was having a good day, had a right rear tire go down on his No. 6 machine bringing out the yellow for the fourth time of the evening. However, like the Clouser incident, Swanson’s team put a new tire on and was able to get back out there.
Additionally, another car had the same issue with a right rear tire flat during the caution period, was the No. 65 of Tripplett after he slapped the wall a little earlier. Tripplett’s team fixed the tire and went back on the track.
At 43 laps to go, the race resumed again with Grant leading over Stockon, Leary, Danner, Steffens, Reinbold, Clouser, Gennetten, Danny Jennings, and Swanson your Top 10.
With 36 laps to go, Reinbold began his charge through the field as he passed Steffens for the fifth position. About 12 laps later with 24 to go, Grant started to get into lap traffic and Stockon cut his lead significantly. However, with 16 laps to go, Grant stabilized his lead and began to check out again. Stockon would have trouble and fall back to the fourth position.
This would see Leary and Danner take over the second and third position, respectively. Another caution with 12 laps to go would reset the field once more. This time, it was for Stockon who came to a stop for fuel issues. His team had to refuel the car on his No. 69 car.
Fuel would become an issue for another car with the No. 20 of Clouser who had to come down in the pit area and refuel as well.
The final restart of the evening came with eight laps to go for a dash to the checkered flag. Grant, Leary, Danner, Reinbold, and Steffens was the top five. A lap later with seven to go, Reinbold passed Danner for the third position and again took second by passing Leary. The eventual race winner would try and chase down Grant with less than five laps to go.
It is important to note, during this green-flag sequence, Stockon was having problems with his car and was seen slowing on the frontstretch. However, the race remained green and no caution was flown for the rest of the way.
At two laps to go, Reinbold was on the back bumper of Grant’s car on the backstretch. The 22-year-old would take the lead off Turn 4 on the bottom while Grant was on the top side with two laps left and held on to win his first ever Silver Crown victory, while Grant would have a fuel issue running out of gas momentarily on the last lap.
Reinbold came from the 17th position (dead last) to take his first career USAC Silver Crown Series victory in his first ever start.
Despite having a fuel issue, Grant was still able to get on the podium by finishing second.
“Just ran out of fuel,” an emotional Grant said to Flo Racing on the frontstretch. “Had the best car all weekend, just ran out of fuel.”
Meanwhile, Leary rounded out the podium finishers by claiming third.
“No, not really,” Leary said to Flo Racing when asked if he was being conservative with his equipment. “We went with a harder tire this year versus what we have done in the last couple of years. Our racecar really came on strong there in the last 25 to 30 laps. The thing got really good. My crew member (Mike) did a really good job calling the race from the spotter stand and did a great job car setting the car up. Wished we had a couple of more gallons of fuel in it.
“I think we were one of the only ones who was running out toward the end. Just a frustrating way to end our race. I felt like we put a good race together. Can’t thank everyone on this team and its really cool to drive for these guys. They do a lot for me and I’m the lucky one to drive it.”
Official Race Results Following The Salt City 100 at the Kansas State Fairgrounds
- Hayden Reinbold
- Justin Grant
- C.J. Leary
- Kyle Steffens
- Mario Clouser
- Chase Stockon
- Briggs Danner
- Steve Gennetten
- Danny Jennings
- Kip Hughes
- Gregg Cory
- Jake Swanson
- Bret Tripplett
- Mitchel Moles
- Kale Drake
- Dave Berkheimer
- Bryan Gossel
Up Next – The next event for the USAC Silver Crown Series is slated for Friday night, May 22 at the Indianapolis Raceway Park. Currently, Grant leads Reinbold by three points.
