May 11, 2025 | By Richie Murray, USAC Media

CUMMINS COMPLETES PERFECT USAC SPRINT WEEKEND

HAUBSTADT, Ind.—In Kyle Cummins’ USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship career, he’d never before accumulated more than four wins in an entire season’s worth of work.

In both 2022 and 2023, Cummins reached his previous highwater mark of four scores. But as far as 2025, well, that’s an entirely different story.

In only his 11th start of the year, the Princeton, Indiana native notched his fifth win of the USAC campaign during Saturday night’s 12th running of the Spring Showdown at Haubstadt, Indiana’s Tri-State Speedway.

Aboard his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors - Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy, the fourth starting Cummins chased down early leader Hayden Reinbold by lap five and was never headed for the remainder of the 30-lap main event at the 1/4-mile dirt oval.

Cummins’ latest triumphant performance completed a weekend sweep after he collected a victory 24 hours prior at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway. In 22 previous instances of Bloomington and Tri-State sharing a back-to-backer dating back to 2005, no driver had won both in a single weekend. That is, until Cummins had his say so.

“It’s pretty exciting to win both of them last night and tonight,” Cummins exclaimed. “This is a good Mother’s Day gift for my mom.”

The feat of capturing at least five wins within the first 11 events of a USAC National Sprint Car season is a rarity. Among those who’ve done it are Larry Dickson (7 starts in 1968), Don Branson (8 starts in 1959), Larry Dickson (8 starts in 1970), Don Branson (10 starts in 1960), Parnelli Jones (11 starts in 1961), Sammy Sessions (11 starts in 1971) and J.J. Yeley (11 starts in 2003). Now you can add Kyle Cummins (11 starts in 2025).

Cummins’ seventh career USAC National Sprint Car win at Tri-State put him within one of Kevin Thomas Jr.’s record of eight, and as fate played out, it just so happened that it was those same two who crossed the finish line first and second on Saturday night.

Overall, Cummins’ 25th career USAC National Sprint Car win placed him squarely within the top-25 all-time. His win total of 25 now equals the number also attained by the likes of Steve Butler, Jay Drake, Parnelli Jones and Logan Seavey, all drivers who’ve previously captured USAC National Sprint Car championships, a goal Cummins would like to achieve this year. After starting this weekend with a two-point edge in the standings, Cummins’ lead now stands at 66.

With that said, Cummins has even more ambitious prospects for the 2025 season. Not only does he envision surpassing the single season USAC National Sprint Car win record of 14 set by Tom Bigelow (1977) and Logan Seavey (2024), he wants to obliterate it. The goal may sound quite lofty at first, but with how the season has transpired thus far, don’t put it past him.

“I want 20 wins,” Cummins declared. “If I get 20 wins, I should win the points. It’s a record that I think would be super hard to get. Logan (Seavey) did unbelievable last year and that’s a goal we’ve set out to accomplish. There are a couple goals, but I want to try to get 20 wins and at least put my name in some kind of record book. I’m not really in anything. I’m like 50th or 30th or whatever, but I want to have something that I can show my kids when I get older that I was pretty good and I got something.”

Starting from the outside of the front row, leading series Rookie of the Year contender Reinbold led the first four laps of his USAC National Sprint Car career. Cummins slotted into second by the opening lap ahead of Mitchel Moles who was aiming to complete a sweep of the night’s event after earlier setting fast qualifying time and winning his heat race from the sixth starting spot.

By lap five, Cummins was draped all over Reinbold, and when the two hit turn three, Cummins made his move by sliding underneath Reinbold on entry to take over once and for all.

On lap nine, Cummins briefly got caught up in the high stakes game of racing chess. Cummins became bogged down while attempting to work his way around 23rd running Bryce Andrews, which in turn, created an accordion effect that caught second running Reinbold up as well. In the shuffling madness, Moles spurted under his teammate, Reinbold, to secure second and begin his pursuit toward Cummins’ lead.

Meanwhile, seventh starting Kevin Thomas Jr. was flying, and on lap 15, he swiped third from Reinbold around the outside of turn four. On a lap 21 restart following a 360 degree spin by Jake Swanson (16th) created by contact with Seavey (15th), Jadon Rogers briefly took third in turn four, but KTJ immediately answered right back and retook the position by the time the two hit the second turn a half lap later.

Thomas ultimately made his way into the second spot by getting a run under Moles in turns one and two on the white flag lap to record his best finish of the year in USAC competition.

But in the end, Cummins was too much, too fast, too strong for anybody to make a play down the stretch. Cummins crossed the stripe 1.379 seconds ahead of runner-up Kevin Thomas Jr. with Mitchel Moles third, Jadon Rogers a season best fourth and Justin Grant rounding out the top-five.

For Cummins, he chalked up his successful night to being in the right position at the right time and managing to capitalize on every facet from qualifying to his heat race to the early laps of the feature where he established himself as the one everybody was going to have to beat. Just the same as he’d done time and time again this season.

“Track position is everything, and with the way the heat race worked out, luckily I got out in front there,” Cummins explained. “With the way the feature went, it was a little treacherous getting in there. I just went to the bottom and kind of rolled around. I set my car up for that. On that last yellow, I decided I was going to roll the bottom and just see what I could do.”

The two winningest drivers in Tri-State Speedway USAC National Sprint Car history also had another thing in common. They were both driving the same chassis, the only two of their kind that were entered in the 32-car field.

“Mach 1s ran one-two tonight and I think we both won our heat races too,” Cummins correctly recalled. “With the Mach 1s around Tri-State Speedway, it doesn’t matter who’s driving them. They’re fast.”

Furthermore, sixth place finisher Robert Ballou made his 528th career USAC National Sprint Car feature start. That surpassed Brady Bacon for second on the all-time list. Only Dave Darland remains ahead of Ballou with 797 career series starts.

Meanwhile, Kale Drake made the biggest move of any driver in the feature, advancing 13 positions from his 23rd starting spot to finish 10th. In 13 USAC national starts between sprint cars and midgets in 2025, Drake has earned the hard charger award an incredible six times.

It was a USAC National Sprint Car debut to remember for Eli Wilhelmus. The sprint car racing newcomer and 2024 Midwest Mini Sprint Association champ raced his way into the feature field with a last lap pass for the final transfer spot in the semi-feature. That earned him Inferno Armor’s Fire Move of the Night.


USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 10, 2025 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – Spring Showdown

HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.003; 2. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-13.381; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-13.452; 4. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-13.457; 5. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-13.478; 6. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.541; 7. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.703; 8. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.713; 9. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-13.788; 10. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.804; 11. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.805; 12. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.834; 13. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.016; 14. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.083; 15. Brady Short, 61m, Edwards-14.141; 16. Carson Short, 21m, Edwards-14.177; 17. Kendall Ruble, 17K, Ruble-14.184; 18. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-14.271; 19. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-14.306; 20. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-14.458; 21. Sam Scott, 7s, Scott-14.529; 22. Adyn Schmidt, 12s, Schmidt-14.556; 23. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-14.580; 24. Abby Hohlbein, 2A, 2B Racing-14.588; 25. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE-14.776; 26.Collin Ambrose, 36, Ambrose-14.916; 27. Bryce Andrews, 17, MSR-15.061; 28. Kale Drake 2B, 2B Racing-15.068; 29. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-15.137; 30. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Boyd-15.201; 31. Steve Justis, 12J, Justis-15.685; 32. Colton Booten, 2J, JAE-NT.

CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Kendall Ruble, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Aric Gentry, 7. Sam Scott, 8. Carson Garrett. 2:15.481

K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Adyn Schmidt, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Eli Wilhelmus, 7. Collin Ambrose, 8. Braydon Cromwell. 2:21.753

HOOSIER TIRE THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Brady Short, 4. Kobe Simpson, 5. Bryce Andrews, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Steve Justis, 8. Donny Brackett. NT

COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Short, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Kale Drake, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Briggs Danner, 7. Abby Hohlbein, 8. Colton Booten. NT

ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Briggs Danner, 2. Brandon Mattox, 3. Aric Gentry, 4. Eli Wilhelmus, 5. Carson Garrett, 6. Collin Ambrose, 7. Sam Scott, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Steve Justis, 10. Colton Booten, 11. Abby Hohlbein. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 3. Mitchel Moles (6), 4. Jadon Rogers (3), 5. Justin Grant (9), 6. Robert Ballou (13), 7. Chase Stockon (10), 8. Carson Short (12), 9. Hayden Reinbold (2), 10. Kale Drake (23), 11. Kobe Simpson (1), 12. Kayla Roell (14), 13. Briggs Danner (8), 14. Gunnar Setser (5), 15. Logan Seavey (11), 16. C.J. Leary (15), 17. Jake Swanson (19), 18. Kendall Ruble (17), 19. Adyn Schmidt (20), 20. Brady Short (16), 21. Brandon Mattox (21), 22. Bryce Andrews (22), 23. Eli Wilhelmus (18), 24. Aric Gentry (24), 25. Carson Garrett (25-P). NT

(P) represents a provisional starter

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Hayden Reinbold, Laps 5-30 Kyle Cummins.

**Jake Swanson flipped during qualifying. Donny Brackett flipped during the third heat.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-818, 2-Justin Grant-752, 3-Mitchel Moles-633, 4-Logan Seavey-617, 5-Robert Ballou-603, 6-Kale Drake-574, 7-Jake Swanson-572, 8-C.J. Leary-568, 9-Briggs Danner-552, 10-Daison Pursley-543.

PARALLAX GROUP USAC NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-98, 2-C.J. Leary-48, 3-Briggs Danner-41, 4-Robert Ballou-35, 5-Chase Stockon-31, 6-Jadon Rogers-30, 7-Justin Grant-25, 8-Gunnar Setser-24, 9-Kyle Cummins-23, 10-Jake Swanson-19.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 21, 2025 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – 55th Annual Tony Hulman Classic


CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jadon Rogers (13.192)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (13.003)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Hoosier Tire Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Carson Short
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Briggs Danner
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kale Drake (23rd to 10th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Eli Wilhelmus