Kevin Thomas Jr, wires night 2 of Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo
Photo by Rich Forman
KOKOMO, ind.—Thank God it’s Friday!
It’s unknown if Kevin Thomas Jr. has eaten at a TGI Friday’s or watched ABC’s primetime television programming block, but you could almost hear those words emanating from him as soon as he rolled into Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway on Friday night.
After winning the Friday portion of the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown in 2021, 2022 and 2024, the Cullman, Alabama racer added yet another one after leading all 30 laps at the 1/4-mile dirt oval in his Rock Steady Racing/Inferno Armor – Lucas Oil Center – Creative Finishing/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
“It’s another Friday night win; I wish I was this good on Saturday,” Thomas Jr. quipped. “This is great for these guys, bouncing back from last night where we weren’t the best, but not the worst, then coming out tonight with a lights out racecar.”
Thomas carved out a not-too-shabby 13th to sixth run in Thursday’s Smackdown opener but is certainly more at home in victory lane where he’s now notched four USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature victories on the 2025 season.
His 48th and latest series triumph was yet another milestone in his career as he surpassed Tracy Hines for sole possession of fifth on the all-time series win list.
It’s KTJ’s sixth career Smackdown main event victory (second all-time behind Justin Grant’s nine), which now includes five prelim scores and one championship back in 2016. Furthermore, Thomas’ seventh career USAC National Sprint Car win at Kokomo ranks fourth all-time behind only Justin Grant (11), Dave Darland (9) and Tony Elliott (8).
Thomas started from the pole position and immediately established his command over outside front row starter Kyle Cummins. Meanwhile, Grant was on the move early as he climbed past Cale Coons on the eighth lap, then dove under previous night’s winner Briggs Danner in turn three on lap 10 to take over occupation of third.
Just as the front runners were headed for lapped traffic, caution fell over the speedway on lap 12 as Clinton Boyles rolled to a stop just a lap or two after enduring an extreme bike over in turns three and four. After starting ninth on the grid, Boyles had worked his way up to seventh, ending a solid run with a 25th place result for the driver filling in for the injured Robert Ballou.
On the lap 13 restart, Danner stumbled off the exit of turn two and Coons ably took advantage by driving underneath Danner to take over the fourth spot behind the top-three triumvirate of Thomas, Cummins and Grant.
With 10 laps remaining, traffic was once again in play for the leaders. Cummins was able to close to within a car length of Thomas as the pair weaved their way past the duo of Matt Westfall and Kyle Shipley, putting them a lap down in the process.
Yet, Cummins was unable to draw any closer than that as Thomas continued to hammer a path through the back of the field, successfully placing the lapped cars of Rylan Gray and Chelby Hinton between himself and Cummins entering turn three with chief starter Mark Orr’s white flag set to fly moments later.
“I felt good, like I put enough cars in between myself and Kyle,” Thomas said. “I felt like I got through there well enough that if somebody was right on me, it was going to be tough to maneuver by both the lapped cars and me.”
But the best-laid plans of mice and men doesn't necessarily ensure success as eighth running Danner slowed with a flat right rear tire which relegated him to a 19th place finish. In turn, the yellow flag was displayed on the 29th circuit, thus setting up a green-white-checkered finish.
Despite the interruption, Thomas remained confident with a clear track ahead of him and equipped with a Tim Spindler-wrenched set up. He even spotted a face in the crowd delivering instructions to second running Cummins.
“I saw his crew guy pointing him here on one caution, and on the next caution, was pointing him there,” Thomas recalled. “But I was lucky enough that I could see the dirt and have lane choice wherever I wanted to go. Being able to see where people were running was kind of a dead giveaway. You could see it dusted up in some spots and clean in others. I felt comfortable around there and I never felt any pressure to that point, so I wasn’t going to change. But I know that once that 3p gets wound up around the top, it’s probably game over for a lot of us. I just stayed true to what got us there and then ran 30 good ones.”
At the conclusion, Thomas ran two great ones to clinch the victory by a 0.711 second margin over Kyle Cummins who finished as the runner-up for the second night in a row at Kokomo. Justin Grant was incredible once more as he finished third despite nursing a broken left foot which required him to use crutches just to be able to get on the stage for the podium finishers photo. Cale Coons collected a career best fourth while Jake Swanson rounded out the top-five with a bounce back performance after being an innocent victim in a crash 24 hours earlier while running fourth.
It was a mega night for Cale Coons, who raced to a career best USAC National Sprint Car finish of fourth in just his fourth career series start. In turn, he was named the Smackdown Rookie of the Race courtesy of Crume-Evans Insurance. Additionally, he picked up accolades as the Jeff's Jam-It-In Storage top Kokomo regular.
Shane Cottle was on the move, picking up eight spots in the feature to advance from 23rd to 15th, which proved to be the biggest surge of the night. That earned him Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors.
Matt Westfall muscled his way into the feature lineup following a distant 30th place qualifying run out of the 53 cars on hand for the event. For his performance, the Ohioan picked up the ProSource Hard Work award.
Hayden Reinbold collected some fresh rubber after he raced to the fourth and final transfer spot in the semi-feature. That earned the Arizonan a new right rear from Hoosier Tire.
Briggs Danner's evening didn't unfold exactly how he wanted it to with a flat tire late in the feature. Nonetheless, in his heat race, he made the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night with an electrifying move, splitting between two cars to advance from sixth to fourth on the final lap to grab the last transfer spot.
Mitchel Moles collected his 10th Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying award of the USAC National Sprint Car season, just the eighth occasion in the 70-year history of the series that a driver has reached double figures in that department: Kevin Thomas Jr. (15 in 2018), Tom Bigelow (14 in 1978), C.J. Leary (12 in 2022), C.J. Leary (11 in 2019), Rich Vogler (10th in 1989), Bryan Clauson (10 in 2012), and C.J. Leary (10 in 2024). On top of that, Moles’ 25th career fast time with the series moved him to 18th place all-time, just ahead of series champs Gary Bettenhausen and J.J. Yeley.
The eight drivers who accumulated the most points throughout the first two nights of Smackdown are locked into Saturday's King of the Hill and into the first four rows of the $30,000-to-win feature: Kyle Cummins, C.J. Leary, Justin Grant, Kevin Thomas Jr., Mitchel Moles, Briggs Danner, Kale Drake and Logan Seavey.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2025 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown XIV
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.368; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.394; 3. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.634; 4. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.710; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.719; 6. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-12.761; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.765; 8. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-12.766; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.781; 10. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-12.858; 11. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.880; 12. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-13.030; 13. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.045; 14. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-13.050; 15. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-13.078; 16. Chelby Hinton, 71p, Phillips-13.116; 17. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.156; 18. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-13.166; 19. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.192; 20. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-13.197; 21. Geoff Ensign, 00x, Anderson-13.198; 22. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-13.206; 23. Clinton Boyles, 12, Ballou-13.210; 24. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-13.222; 25. Shane Cottle, 86, Stamper-13.252; 26. Max Adams, 21, Hery-13.258; 27. Parker Frederickson, 00, Whitney-13.278; 28. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-13.284; 29. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.322; 30. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-13.350; 31. Jadon Rogers, 5, Baldwin/Fox-13.353; 32. Wyatt Burks, 16K, Knight-13.363; 33. Todd Hobson, 44, Soudrette-13.414; 34. Jack Hoyer, 57H, Hazen-13.425; 35. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-13.468; 36. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.510; 37. Brayden Clark, 4c, Clark-13.518; 38. Jacob Tuttle, 24x, Maddox-13.553; 39. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.608; 40. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.616; 41. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.624; 42. Bryce Andrews, 17, MSR-13.687; 43. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-13.690; 44. Devan Myers, 75, Myers-13.699; 45. Adyn Schmidt, 12s, Schmidt-13.701; 46. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-13.845; 47. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-13.847; 48. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-13.938; 49. Travis Thompson, 7, Thompson-14.095; 50. R.J. Miller, 34, Miller-14.120; 51. Jack James, 99, James-14.622; 52. Tyler Miller, 67, Lohman-NT; 53. Steve Justis, 12J, Justis-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Chelby Hinton, 4. Geoff Ensign, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Carson Garrett, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Max Adams, 9. Matt Goodnight, 10. Troy Carey, 11. Jack James. 2:15.235
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Chance Crum, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Zack Pretorius, 6. Brayden Clark, 7. Wyatt Burks, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Parker Frederickson, 10. Bryce Andrews. 2:13.056
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Clinton Boyles, 2. Gunnar Setser, 3. Kyle Shipley, 4. Cale Coons, 5. Harley Burns, 6. Hunter Maddox, 7. Jacob Tuttle, 8. Todd Hobson, 9. Aaron Davis, 10. Rob Caho Jr. 2:12.182
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Briggs Danner, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Kobe Simpson, 8. Jack Hoyer, 9. Devan Myers, 10. Travis Thompson. 2:15.010
CAR IQ FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Rylan Gray, 6. James Turnbull II, 7. Joey Amantea, 8. Adyn Schmidt, 9. R.J. Miller, 10. David Gasper. 2:15.396
HOOSIER TIRE C-MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi) 1. Jack Hoyer, 2. Braydon Cromwell, 3. Max Adams, 4. David Gasper, 5. Aaron Davis, 6. Troy Carey, 7. Parker Frederickson, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Rob Caho Jr., 10. Travis Thompson, 11. Bryce Andrews, 12. Devan Myers, 13. Adyn Schmidt, 14. R.J. Miller, 15. Jack James. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Garrett, 2. Harley Burns, 3. Rylan Gray, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Kobe Simpson, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. Brayden Clark, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Wyatt Burks, 11. Jack Hoyer, 12. David Gasper, 13. James Turnbull II, 14. Joey Amantea, 15. Max Adams, 16. Braydon Cromwell, 17. Jacob Tuttle, 18. Zack Pretorius, 19. Jadon Rogers. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 2. Kyle Cummins (2), 3. Justin Grant (5), 4. Cale Coons (4), 5. Jake Swanson (7), 6. C.J. Leary (8), 7. Kale Drake (10), 8. Mitchel Moles (6), 9. Logan Seavey (13), 10. Gunnar Setser (12), 11. Chase Stockon (14), 12. Ricky Lewis (16), 13. Carson Garrett (11), 14. Hayden Reinbold (19), 15. Shane Cottle (23), 16. Harley Burns (15), 17. Chance Crum (22), 18. Chelby Hinton (17), 19. Briggs Danner (3), 20. Rylan Gray (20), 21. Kyle Shipley (18), 22. Matt Westfall (24), 23. Joey Amantea (25-P), 24. Kobe Simpson (26-P), 25. Clinton Boyles (9), 26. Geoff Ensign (21). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kevin Thomas Jr.
**Jack James flipped during the C-Main. Devan Myers flipped during the C-Main. Jadon Rogers flipped during the semi.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-2250, 2-Mitchel Moles-2004, 3-Logan Seavey-1977, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1895, 5-Briggs Danner-1876, 6-Justin Grant-1831, 7-C.J. Leary-1751, 8-Jake Swanson-1748, 9-Robert Ballou-1693, 10-Kale Drake-1607.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-207, 2-Briggs Danner-129, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-106, 4-Gunnar Setser-102, 5-Logan Seavey-100, 6-C.J. Leary-95, 7-Kyle Cummins-94, 8-Justin Grant-93, 9-Chase Stockon-73, 10-Jake Swanson-72.
SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Ricky Lewis-24, 2-Chance Crum-18, 3-David Gasper-17, 4-Kobe Simpson-14, 5-Kale Drake-13, 6-Clinton Boyles-13, 7-Kyle Cummins-12, 8-Chase Stockon-12, 9-Hayden Reinbold-11, 10-Kevin Thomas Jr.-10.
SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN POINTS: (top-8 locked into August 23 feature) 1-Kyle Cummins-698, 2-C.J. Leary-669, 3-Justin Grant-664, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-663, 5-Mitchel Moles-658, 6-Briggs Danner-632, 7-Kale Drake-613, 8-Logan Seavey-613.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 23, 2025 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown XIV
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Kyle Cummins (12.887)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (12.368)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Clinton Boyles
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Kale Drake
Car IQ Fifth Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Hoosier Tire C-Main Winner: Jack Hoyer
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Carson Garrett
Hoosier Tire Last Semi Transfer: Hayden Reinbold
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (23rd to 15th)
ProSource Hard Work: Matt Westfall
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Briggs Danner
Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage Top Finishing Kokomo Regular: Cale Coons
Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage 2nd Best Finishing Kokomo Regular: Harley Burns
Crume-Evans Insurance Rookie of the Race: Cale Coons
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