Robert Ballou triumphs at Lincoln Park as Indiana Sprint Week title chase gets underway
Photo by Rich Forman
PUTNAMVILLE, Ind.—Robert Ballou ended a 14-plus month absence from USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory lane during round two of USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing on Friday night at Honest Abe Roofing Lincoln Park Speedway.
Starting third, the Rocklin, California racer tracked down leader Justin Grant just after the midway point to take over the lead and wheel his Ballou Motorsports/Suburban Subaru – Mountain Mechanical Contractors/DRC/Ott Chevy to his first series victory since a photo finish triumph at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway in May of 2024.
It’s the third time Ballou has captured a USAC Indiana Sprint Week main event at Lincoln Park after previously doing so in 2014 and 2017. Overall, it’s Ballou’s 39th career USAC National Sprint Car feature victory, one behind Gary Bettenhausen for 11th place all-time.
In a way, it was a bookend to his superb run during the USAC Sprintacular feature three weeks earlier on July 4 at Lincoln Park where he led the initial 15 laps, then was involved in a late-race tangle that resulted in a spin and dropped him back to a 22nd place finish.
On Thursday at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Ballou led the first 19 laps before falling back to third at the finish line while his engine billowed heavy smoke during the latter part of the race. On Friday night, Ballou paced the final 15 laps of the 30-lap feature to conquer what has been a trying stretch en route to finally reaching USAC victory lane once more.
“It’s pretty special,” Ballou said. “It’s been a trying season personally and racecar wise. Tonight, I was fortunate enough to get three of my best buddies their first USAC national win as mechanics. This is a really difficult task. I have a big truck and trailer, but I go to work every day, and I’ve got a lot of bills. We killed a motor last night, but luckily, we went last week and picked up a couple from Don Ott.”
For Ballou, it’s his sixth career USAC Indiana Sprint Week victory and his first since the 2022 finale at Tri-State Speedway. Half of those six have come at Lincoln Park where it all came to fruition on Friday night for the 2015 ISW champion.
“We know we’ve been fast,” Ballou reflected. “I’ve been working on my health and getting myself physically ready to do battle, if you will. I have the least amount of help I’ve had all season. I’m in the shop most days by myself in the evenings. It gave me a lot of time to think and get my ducks in a row.”
As the feature field pushed off, Justin Grant set a new USAC National Sprint Car record with his 325th consecutive series start which dates back to the beginning of the 2017 season, surpassing the former mark of 324 held by Chase Stockon.
Starting from the pole position, Grant quickly asserted himself as the initial one to beat. However, on the opening lap, the yellow flag was displayed for series point leader and fifth place starting Kyle Cummins’ spin in turn four that collected Charles Davis Jr. (12th) who slammed into Cummins’ stopped racecar. Davis was able to continue on to finish 17th while Cummins was finished for the night with a broken front axle and a season worst 26th place result.
Upon the restart, Grant took control of the lead while Ballou slotted into second. At first, Ballou was committed to the low line before briefly testing the waters up top in his pursuit of Grant. That only lasted a lap or so before Ballou came back down to the bottom and re-established his rhythm.
Traffic became the name of the game at the midway point. On lap 16, Grant became chocked up behind 20th running Kyle Shipley in turn two. Unfettered, Ballou carried his momentum around the outside of Grant to claw his way into the lead on the back straightaway.
Grant remained in close pursuit of Ballou until lap 20 when he and Briggs Danner locked wheels in turn two, sending Grant spinning to a stop. Danner continued onward after getting the rear of his racecar airborne. Grant’s attempt to take victories in each of the first two rounds of Indiana Sprint Week after winning 24 hours earlier at IMS came to a close, yet he still managed to race his way back to a 12th place finish after restarting 19th.
Throughout the balance of the remaining 10 laps, Ballou continuously stretched out his lead over new second place occupant Danner while only dealing with a slight bit of traffic that didn’t deter him on his mission.
Ballou crossed the finish line 0.802 seconds ahead of Briggs Danner with Kevin Thomas Jr. third, Brady Bacon fourth and Logan Seavey fifth.
Jake Swanson advanced from his 15th starting spot to finish seventh in the feature. It was a solid bounce back performance for the Anaheim, California driver after a crash the previous night at IMS. His plus-eight run earned him Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors.
Kyle Shipley's evening started off well, then not so much, before salvaging his night with an excellent performance in his heat race. First, he was forced into his backup car due to fueling issues on his primary car the prior night at IMS. Then, after qualifying eighth in the 56-car field, his time was disallowed due to an illegal left rear tire. However, in his heat race, he came back with a vengeance, racing from 11th to the fourth and final transfer spot. For all that, the Peoria, Arizona racer earned both the ProSource Hard Work award and the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Brady Bacon was the fastest qualifier of the night in the Honest Abe Roofing session with a time of 12.471 seconds. It was the 54th quick time of his career with the series, which ranks fifth all-time.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 25, 2025 – Honest Abe Roofing Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Track – 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-12.471; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.502; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.628; 4. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.639; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.693; 6. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.709; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.716; 8. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-12.850; 9. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-12.857; 10. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.874; 11. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-12.877; 12. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.889; 13. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-12.911; 14. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-12.914; 15. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-12.937; 16. Geoff Ensign, 00x, Anderson-12.969; 17. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-12.971; 18. Seth Parker, 38p, Parker-13.001; 19. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.024; 20. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-13.048; 21. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.074; 22. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-13.080; 23. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-13.102; 24. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.143; 25. Tye Mihocko, 24p, Paul-13.147; 26. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-13.150; 27. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, Gilbert-13.182; 28. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.222; 29. Tony Helton, 87, Helton-13.246; 30. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.303; 31. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Boyd-13.323; 32. Shane Cottle, 86, Stamper-13.339; 33. Trey McGranahan, 77s, Sturgeon-13.402; 34. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.405; 35. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.425; 36. Chelby Hinton, 71p, Phillips-13.433; 37. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.469; 38. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-13.499; 39. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-13.503; 40. Travis Millar, 93AU, Millar-13.535; 41. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-13.647; 42. Chris Temby, 7w, Wingo-13.666; 43. Austin Cory, 00, Cory-13.681; 44. Logan Calderwood, 6, Ford-13.691; 45. Ivan Glotzbach, i1, Glotzbach-13.756; 46. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-13.760; 47. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-13.781; 48. Travis Thompson, 7, Thompson-13.850; 49. Cody Trammell, 34T, Trammell-13.850; 50. Steve Justis, 12J, Justis-13.979; 51. Sam Hinds, 71H, Hinds-14.016; 52. Bryan Brewer, 8x, Robertson-14.167; 53. Cody Williams, 26, Williams-14.181; 54. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-14.278; 55. Austin Nigh, 97, Nigh-NT; 56. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-12.726 (time disallowed due to illegal left rear tire).
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Zack Pretorius, 5. Chelby Hinton, 6. Braydon Cromwell, 7. Eli Wilhelmus, 8. Geoff Ensign, 9. Troy Carey, 10. Kale Drake. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Cale Coons, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Gabriel Gilbert, 7. Chris Temby, 8. Ricky Lewis, 9. Aaron Davis, 10. Bryan Brewer, 11. Todd Hobson. NT
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Seth Parker, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. Joey Amantea, 4. Hunter Maddox, 5. Mitchel Moles, 6. Trey McGranahan, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Austin Cory, 9. Travis Thompson, 10. Cody Williams, 11. Kobe Simpson. 2:13.137
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Logan Calderwood, 5. Tony Helton, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Cody Trammell, 8. Beau Brandon, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Colin Parker. NT
CAR IQ FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Kyle Shipley, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Travis Millar, 7. C.J. Leary, 8. Ivan Glotzbach, 9. Matt Goodnight, 10. Steve Justis, 11. Harley Burns. NT
HOOSIER TIRE C-MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi) 1. Ricky Lewis, 2. Geoff Ensign, 3. Ivan Glotzbach, 4. Kale Drake, 5. Beau Brandon, 6. Austin Cory, 7. Colin Parker, 8. Aaron Davis, 9. Travis Thompson, 10. Sam Hinds, 11. Steve Justis, 12. Cody Williams, 13. Matt Goodnight, 14. Troy Carey, 15. Harley Burns, 16. Brandon Mattox. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Tye Mihocko, 3. Chelby Hinton, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Kobe Simpson, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Travis Millar, 8. C.J. Leary, 9. Trey McGranahan, 10. Chance Crum, 11. Gabriel Gilbert, 12. Chris Temby, 13. Kale Drake, 14. Braydon Cromwell, 15. Geoff Ensign, 16. Eli Wilhelmus, 17. Cody Trammell, 18. Tony Helton, 19. Ricky Lewis, 20. Ivan Glotzbach. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Robert Ballou (3), 2. Briggs Danner (4), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (8), 4. Brady Bacon (6), 5. Logan Seavey (2), 6. Chase Stockon (9), 7. Jake Swanson (15), 8. Mitchel Moles (10), 9. Gunnar Setser (13), 10. Hayden Reinbold (14), 11. Seth Parker (7), 12. Justin Grant (1), 13. Tye Mihocko (19), 14. Shane Cottle (21), 15. Kale Drake (26-P), 16. Carson Garrett (11), 17. Charles Davis Jr. (12), 18. Cale Coons (17), 19. Zack Pretorius (16), 20. C.J. Leary (25-P), 21. Chelby Hinton (22), 22. Hunter Maddox (18), 23. Kyle Shipley (24), 24. Logan Calderwood (23), 25. Joey Amantea (20), 26. Kyle Cummins (5). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Justin Grant, Laps 16-30 Robert Ballou.
**Todd Hobson flipped during the second heat. Brandon Mattox flipped during the fourth heat.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1709, 2-Justin Grant-1634, 3-Mitchel Moles-1507, 4-Logan Seavey-1450, 5-Briggs Danner-1428, 6-Robert Ballou-1388, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1333, 8-Jake Swanson-1303, 9-Kale Drake-1234, 10-C.J. Leary-1231.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PRESENTED BY HONEST ABE ROOFING POINTS: 1-Robert Ballou-80, 2-Briggs Danner-77, 3-Brady Bacon-73, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-72, 5-Logan Seavey-66, 6-Chase Stockon-63, 7-Jake Swanson-59, 8-Mitchel Moles-56, 9-Gunnar Setser-52, 10-Justin Grant-47.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-166, 2-Briggs Danner-99, 3-Gunnar Setser-87, 4-Kyle Cummins-86, 5-Justin Grant-83, 6-C.J. Leary-81, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-75, 8-Logan Seavey-68, 9-Robert Ballou-68, 10-Chase Stockon-64.
USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-29, 2-C.J. Leary-15, 3-Chance Crum-14, 4-Jake Swanson-11, 5-Shane Cottle-11, 6-Harley Burns-11, 7-Justin Grant-10, 8-Brady Bacon-10, 9-Trey Osborne-10, 10-Robert Ballou-9.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 26, 2025 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jake Swanson (12.965)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Brady Bacon (12.471)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Justin Grant
USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Seth Parker
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Car IQ Fifth Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
Hoosier Tire C-Main Winner: Ricky Lewis
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Mitchel Moles
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Jake Swanson (15th to 7th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Kyle Shipley
ProSource Hard Work: Kyle Shipley
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