For the first time since the start of this month, the USAC National Sprint Cars returned to action Thursday night of night 1 for their 15th annual Smackdown event at Kokomo Speedway. Last time out, the tour had recently completed the Indiana Sprint Week, which saw Kyle Cummins win the championship and Justin Grant win the race at Tri-State Speedway. However, coming off the heels of winning the ISW Championship, Cummins kept momentum rolling by winning night 1 of the Sprint Car Smackdown.
“I didn’t know what to do because I would get such a run in (Turns) 1 and 2, I’m like if I get plugged in the curb, I might get myself in trouble here,” Cummins said to Flo Racing in his victory lane. “I was like, well, it was a couple of laps in, and then I saw Justin (Grant), and I knew it was time to race.
“The car was the weirdest thing I ever drove. It won’t come to the green, it won’t go down the straightaway, but you put on the curb, it’ll run. We did some different stuff tonight that was pretty cool. I’m kind of exhausted after that one. I haven’t been feeling well all week. Thank you to all my sponsors who have supported me. My crew made a bunch of changes. They put a fresh wrap on it. We’ve been doing some R&D here and there. It was definitely different. I’m glad we won, but with a different kind of racecar. We’ll jot it down. We’ll go on here for a couple of more nights. We have good points going into tomorrow night (Friday). Hopefully have a good night again tomorrow.”
There were 50 cars entered on the entry list for Thursday’s event.
Feature Recap – 30 Laps
Gavin Miller started on pole position for the feature with Kevin Thomas Jr on the outside pole. Miller led the first lap with Thomas Jr keeping him close at bay, but Miller eventually pulled away with a bigger gap as the lead car. Gunnar Setser and Cummins began challenging Thomas Jr for second. However, it was Cummins who was successful in passing Thomas Jr for second with 24 laps to go.
From there, Cummins began closing in on the race leader, Miller, with 20 laps to go, but the first caution flew for Jacob Denney, who went spinning around. Denney kept his car going to avoid losing his position.
Coming to the restart, it was Miller, Cummins, Thomas Jr, Grant, and Jake Swanson in the top five with 20 laps to go. Just as soon as the field went back racing, Swanson was upside down in Turns 1 and 2 to bring out the red flag. Miraculously, Swanson’s car sustained no damage despite the flip.
After going back green, Cummins still challenged Miller for the lead, and eventually took the top spot midway at Lap 16 in the race. Cummins used the bottom lane off Turn 2 for a great slide job on Miller. Grant also followed suit and got around Miller for second. Another caution was seen for Brady Bacon, who was stopped at the exit of Turn 2 with four laps to go.
At the end of the 30-lap feature, the checkered flag went to Cummins, who went on to grab his 10th career win of the season and for the 40th time of his USAC career.
Heat Race Recaps – Top Four Transfer – 10 Laps A Piece
Prior to the heat races, there was a hot lap and a two-lap qualifying session. Chase Stockon was the quickest in hot laps with a time of 12.766 seconds. Meanwhile, the defending Smackdown champion, Grant, set the quickest time in qualifying with a pace of 12.658 seconds.
Heat 1 – Zack Pretorius had the pole for this heat. Pretorius was unchallenged and easily won the heat race. Grant barely made the transfer as he spent the heat race below the transfer, but was able to lock himself in by getting the fourth position. Others transferring were Swanson and C.J. Leary.
Heat 2 – Logan Seavey would start from the No. 1 position in the second heat. Red flag conditions came out a lap later for Eli Wilhelmus, who went up and over in Turn 2. Wilhelmus got up on the cushion, which caused his car to go upside down. Fortunately, Wilhelmus ended up being okay as he exited the car.
Once the race went back green, it was Jadon Rogers with the lead over Seavey. Rogers maintained his lead with the eventual heat race win. He was followed by Cale Coons, Thomas Jr, and Seavey rounding out the top four.
Heat 3 – Beau Brandon had the top spot for the third heat, but it was Hayden Reinbold who took the lead from Brandon shortly thereafter. Cummins tried challenging for the lead from Reinbold and took the lead with four laps to go. Cummins won the heat race, with Miller, Reinbold, and Stevie Sussex III the top four transfers.
Heat 4 – Anton Hernandez was slated to start on the pole position for this heat; however, he was scratched from the field and did not participate. Harley Burns had the lead at the drop of the green flag, but Stockon grabbed the lead away moments later. A caution flew with five laps to go for Bryce Andrews. Andrews spun around off Turn 4 all by himself and was able to keep going.
There were a couple of laps of green-flag racing, but another caution came out with two laps to go for Brady Bacon in Turn 4. Bacon ended up slightly on top of a tire and had contact from Shane Cottle. Unfortunately, for Cottle, he was unable to continue.
Following the restart, Setser took the lead and went on to secure the heat race win. Stockon, Burns, and Brandon Mattox moved on.
Heat 5 – Kyle Sipley would be the pole sitter for the fifth and final heat of the evening. As the heat went green, the caution flew for Jake Simmons, who spun off Turn 2. Following the eight-lap heat, the victor went to Trey Osborne. Robert Ballou, Briggs Danner, and Thomas Meseraull collected the remaining transfer spots.
Dalton Stevens won the C-Main, while Colin Parker, Kobe Simpson, and Devan Myers transferred to the feature. For the B-Main, the win went to Mitchel Moles, Bacon, Ricky Lewis, and Denney.
Official Race Results Following Night 1 of Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo Speedway
- Kyle Cummins
- Justin Grant
- Cale Coons
- Kevin Thomas Jr
- Jadon Rogers
- Briggs Danner
- Mitchel Moles
- Thomas Meseraull
- Stevie Sussex III
- Robert Ballou
- Gavin Miller
- Chase Stockon
- Hayden Reinbold
- Gunnar Setser
- C.J. Leary
- Ricky Lewis
- Harley Burns
- Jacob Denney
- Jake Swanson
- Zack Pretorius
- Logan Seavey
- Trey Osborne
- Brady Bacon
- Brandon Mattox
Up Next – Night 2 of Sprint Car Smackdown will take place Friday night, with championship night on Saturday night, live on Flo Racing.
