The seventh round of the 2026 Indiana Sprint Week took place Thursday night at the famed Terre Haute Action Track Speedway in Terre Haute, Indiana, with the USAC National Sprint Car Series. Current Indiana Sprint Week Championship points leader Kyle Cummins used a slider on Brady Bacon coming to the white flag and eventually took home his ninth victory of the season.
“My car wasn’t any good on the bottom,” Cummins said to Flo Racing in his victory lane interview. “I tried to run the bottom, but it wasn’t any good. There at the beginning, I’m just like, ‘man. If it doesn’t run the bottom, I might not finish in the top five.’ Then I see Brady (Bacon) move up and I moved up a little bit. It finally started to get clean off, and then it kind of got dirtier. When Justin (Grant) moved down, the curb got to the point where I could see it, and I could run on it, make some adjustments to the car.
“Starting back there in fifth, especially on a track like this, it’s tough. You can get there, but it’s really hard to pass. It worked out really good when Justin moved down. I’m more excited about this than I am Putnamville. I always wanted to be a champion, but I wanted to make champion moves whenever the pressure was on. Brady, Justin, Robert (Ballou), all these guys can make pressure moves when the pressure is on and get these last-lap passes like Lawrenceburg there.”
Coming into Thursday night’s event, there were 33 cars on the entry list. Additionally, Cummins entered Thursday’s event at the Terre Haute Action Track as the ISW Championship Points leader by 1 point over Mitchel Moles.
Feature Recap – 30 Laps
Justin Grant started on the pole position for the feature with Robert Ballou alongside in the outside pole. Ballou took the lead initially on the start off Turn 2, but it was Grant who came out with the top spot. Brady Bacon also followed him, passing Ballou for second on the inside lane. Grant led Lap 1. With 28 laps to go, Bacon left the inside lane open, and Ballou took the second position using the bottom. A few laps later, with 21 laps to go, Bacon used the high side off Turn 2 to pass Ballou for second and set his eyes on the race leader, Grant. Bacon eventually took the lead at the 20-to-go mark from Grant at the start/finish line on the high side.
On the same lap, Grant missed the exit of Turn 2, which allowed Ballou to go to second. With 15 laps to go, Bacon led Ballou by 1.7 seconds with Grant, Cummins, and Moles the top five. With 12 laps to go, Bacon had a big wobble off Turn 2 after somewhat getting held up by a lap car. Ballou then pounced on Bacon’s mistake and passed him on the backstretch for the lead.
With seven laps to go, Ballou had nearly the exact same mistake as Bacon and lost momentum. Bacon would retake the top spot having more momentum; however, Ballou was able to regroup himself and repass Bacon for the lead in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 before a caution came out. The yellow was for Dalton Stevens, who had a flat right-front tire and a shock that was loose. As the field came back to green, the top five were Ballou, Bacon, Cummins, Grant, and Moles. Unfortunately for Moles, he brought out the second yellow with six laps to go for problems with his right-rear tire that was full of mud.
Once again, the green waved with five laps to go. Bacon used the high-side momentum to his advantage to pass Ballou for the lead on the frontstretch. Cummins then slid into second past Ballou. In a crazy turn of events, Ballou was the reason for the third yellow, as his engine expired with two laps to go after having a great night.
As Ballou was pushed off the track, it was time to go back green with Bacon as the leader, followed by Cummins. Cummins threw in a slider entering Turn 3 to pass and take the lead from Bacon off Turn 4. The slider was indeed the winning pass that Cummins needed, as he would hang on to win the Don Smith Classic at Terre Haute Action Track.
Heat Race Recaps – Top 5 Transfer- 8 Laps A Piece
Cummins paced the Hot Laps session with a quick time of 19.814 seconds, but it was Thursday night winner at Paragon Speedway, Jake Swanson, setting the fastest time in qualifying, posting a time of 19.463 seconds.
Heat 1 – Gunnar Setser started on the pole. Todd Moule was scratched due to the motor expiring. The initial start was called off due to Setser being too quick on the start. This time around, the start was much better with Seavey breaking away as the leader. Seavey held on from there and grabbed the heat victory. Setser, Robert Ballou, Briggs Danner, and Swanson were the top five transfers.
Heat 2 – Todd Hobson was the top starter for this heat. Troy Carey was slow on the backstretch at the immediate start, but there was no yellow. Jadon Rogers tried closing in on the leader, Hobson, to challenge for the lead and took the lead with two laps to go off Turn 2. Rogers got the heat win with Cummins, Grant, Hobson, and Hunter Schuerenberg being the transfers.
Heat 3 – Hayden Reinbold sat on the pole for the third heat, but it was Cale Coons who used the outside to his advantage to take the lead off the start. Coons was the victor, with Dalton Stevens, Chase Stockon, Moles, and Reinbold the top five.
Heat 4 – Sitting on the pole for the fourth heat was Trey Osborne. However, it was Kevin Thomas Jr who went from fifth to first on the first lap, but David Gasper ultimately got by Thomas Jr and went on to win the heat. Brady Bacon, Thomas Jr, C.J. Leary, and Osborne took the transfers. This would be the first heat victory for Gasper.
Official Race Results Following Terre Haute Action Track
- Kyle Cummins
- Brady Bacon
- Kevin Thomas Jr
- Justin Grant
- Jake Swanson
- Hunter Schuerenberg
- C.J. Leary
- Chase Stockon
- Jadon Rogers
- Ricky Lewis
- Logan Seavey
- Max Adams
- Mitchel Moles
- Cale Coons
- Gunnar Setser
- Trey Osborne
- Hayden Reinbold
- Briggs Danner
- Kobe Simpson
- Robert Ballou
- Todd Hobson
- Shane Cottle, won Semi-Feature
- Dalton Stevens
- David Gasper
Kyle Cummins now leads the ISW Championship Points Standings by 30 points over Justin Grant following tonight’s event. Cummins also continues to lead the overall USAC National Sprint Car Championship Points Standings over Grant as well by 147 points.
Up Next – The penultimate round of the Indiana Sprint Week continues Friday night at Bloomington Speedway, live on Flo Racing.
