CUMMINS ENDS 3-MONTH USAC SPRINT WIN DROUGHT AT BUTLER
Photo by Ryan Sellers
QUINCY, Mich.—After three months and 20 starts without a victory, Kyle Cummins was beginning to wonder if he’d ever win again in USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship competition.
Couple that with the fact that he’s finished as the runner-up in seven of his last 10 series starts, the Princeton, Indiana driver was pondering what exactly he could do to push himself back to the top, especially after missing out on a win by mere inches 24 hours earlier.
Yet, Saturday’s event at Quincy, Michigan’s proved to be everything Cummins had wished and hoped it would be, even when it looked like he had let the opportunity slip from his grip for a brief moment during the midway point of the 30-lap feature.
Just as soon as Cummins took over the top spot from Justin Grant on the 13th circuit, he saw his lead escape the following lap. However, Cummins rediscovered his groove once more, then sprinted back by Grant to slot into the lead before patrolling the final 15 laps to earn his eighth victory of the USAC National Sprint Car season.
“Finally, finally! Holy moly,” Cummins exclaimed after capturing his first series win since June 29 of this year at Ohio’s Millstream Speedway. “It felt like a long time coming. We’ve got some wins this year, but when it doesn’t come for a long time, it feels like you might never win again, but we just kept pushing.”
Cummins’ 28th career USAC National Sprint Car win moved him inside the top-20 on the all-time list alongside series champions A.J. Foyt, Don Branson, J.J. Yeley and Levi Jones. While not a USAC National Sprint Car champion yet, Cummins is sure on his way, currently possessing a commanding 297 point lead with seven races remaining this season.
Speaking of lengthy absences, Saturday’s event was the first time USAC had visited Butler’s 3/8-mile since August of 1990, 35 years ago when Hank Lower was victorious in what was his first and only career USAC feature start. Furthermore, it was USAC’s first trip to the state of Michigan in 12 years, dating back to an I-96 Speedway show in 2013.
Starting fourth in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors - Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy, Cummins lurched forward to third by the end of the opening lap and vaulted into second by lap two as he sped by Hayden Reinbold and Chase Stockon, respectively, while Grant took control up front after starting on the outside of the front row.
Grant paced Cummins for the first 12 laps before the frontrunners reached the tail end of the field. Grant escaped the increasingly closer Cummins as he threaded the needle between the lapped cars of Max Frank and Josh Turner in the third turn, opening up his lead for the time being until a yellow flag was displayed for Aaron Davis (13th) and Steve Irwin (14th) who tangled and spun to a stop in between turns three and four.
With a clear track in front of the leaders on the lap 13 restart, opportunity knocked on Cummins’ door, advising him to shoot his shot. By the time the pair hit turn three, Cummins had dipped a toe on the bottom and stuck with it through the exit of turn four, leading to him edging ahead of Grant by a car length at the stripe. However, Grant got wound up on the outside of Cummins on lap 14 and rode the high line through turns three and four to retake the lead by .009 seconds at the line.
On lap 15, Cummins finally gained the upper hand from Grant and drove back by on the bottom of turns three and four to take command once and for all.
“I felt like I was pacing Justin really well there, and it kind of came down to whoever made a mistake,” Cummins stated. “We got into lapped traffic and he got through them pretty good. After that restart, he got up a little bit and I knew that was my chance. He came back around me on the outside, which actually showed me a little bit. I could move up just a hair in three and I was actually a little better up there. When the time came to pass lapped cars, it might’ve been even better than working the bottom.”
Despite Cummins’ freedom up front, heavy traffic took its toll. Grant was able to close right to the tail of Cummins on the 22nd lap but he couldn’t get any further as any plans to surge ahead of Cummins were thwarted by the gridlock running high, low and middle. But all credit goes to Cummins who made all the right moves down the stretch to disallow Grant from making any credible bid for the lead and the win.
“If Justin doesn’t mess up, I don’t know how we can get around him,” Cummins pondered. “The only thing was lapped traffic and how that was going to work out. There was just a little something down there and he got a little tight. I hit it just right that time and was able to drag race him into one. He kind of passed me back, but luckily, I got back by him there and was trying to make sure I didn’t blow the corner.”
Cummins remained in total control after that, passing under the checkered flag 1.576 seconds ahead at the finish line over Justin Grant, Hayden Reinbold and Mitchel Moles with Chase Stockon rounding out the top-five.
For Cummins, B-U-T-L-E-R spelled R-E-L-I-E-F. After gaining seven wins in his first 21 series starts to begin the year, followed by a 20-race winless stretch, Cummins was feeling pretty satisfied while standing in Butler’s victory lane.
“This is big,” Cummins reiterated. “(Last week) at Eldora, I was pretty sure we figured it out, but it’s a big track, so you’re not sure. The car is right back to where it needs to be. I actually made some adjustments after my crew was on me last night because I really messed up by not getting after the shocks, not trying to loosen up, and then throughout the race, I was trying to tell myself that that I could just give it a little turn to the right, whatever I could do to keep giving it little turns.”
On Saturday, Justin Grant was using a cane to walk around as he continues to nurse his broken left foot. But despite the cane, he was more than able to fulfill the challenge by leading 13 of the 30 laps in the feature on his way to a solid second place result.
One night earlier at Paragon, C.J. Leary was the biggest mover in the feature. On this night at Butler, he did it again by advancing four spots from 11th to seventh to earn his second straight Rod End Supply Hard Charger Award.
Hayden Reinbold stood on the podium for the third time during the 2025 USAC National Sprint Car season tonight with a third place result at Butler. In doing so, he closed the gap in the Rookie of the Year race to three points behind Gunnar Setser with just seven races remaining. Reinbold’s performance was good enough to earn him Inferno Armor USA Fire Move of the Night honors.
Hail! Hail! To Michigan! Thirteenth place finishing Brian Ruhlman was the top-finishing Michigan driver in the feature and collected a $250 bonus posted by USAC CEO Kevin Miller, a native Michigander who got his start in motorsports as a crewman for a Sprints on Dirt (SOD) race team at Butler Motor Speedway. In fact, the top-three finishing Michigan natives all earned bonuses, including Steve Irwin ($150 for 14th) and Josh Turner ($100 for 15th).
To start off the night, Moles turned his 13th fast time of the USAC National Sprint Car season, which now has him just two shy of Kevin Thomas Jr.’s single season series record of 15 set in 2018. Moles’ track record establishing lap was the 28th of his career, moving him past Dave Steele and into sole possession of 16th place all-time.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 27, 2025 – Butler Motor Speedway – Quincy, Michigan – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.139 (New Track Record); 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.219; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.270; 4. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.294; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.369; 6. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.417; 7. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.465; 8. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.529; 9. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.637; 10. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.642; 11. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.775; 12. Keith Sheffer II, 2B, 2B Racing-14.777; 13. Isaac Chapple, 6, Chapple/Hall-14.924; 14. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-15.201; 15. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-15.251; 16. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-15.289; 17. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero-15.443; 18. Josh Turner, 4T, Turner-15.521; 19. Max Frank, 25, Frank-15.568; 20. Jack James, 99, James-15.932; 21. R.J. Payne, 33, Payne-16.301.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Rob Caho Jr., 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Max Frank. 2:01.539
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Briggs Danner, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Steve Irwin, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Aaron Davis, 7. Jack James. 1:58.518 (New Track Record)
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Josh Turner, 5. Brian Ruhlman, 6. Keith Sheffer II, 7. R.J. Payne. 1:59.522
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Justin Grant (2), 3. Hayden Reinbold (3), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. Chase Stockon (1), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 7. C.J. Leary (11), 8. Jake Swanson (7), 9. Gunnar Setser (8), 10. Briggs Danner (9), 11. Logan Seavey (10), 12. Isaac Chapple (13), 13. Brian Ruhlman (15), 14. Steve Irwin (17), 15. Josh Turner (18), 16. Max Frank (19), 17. Aaron Davis (14), 18. Jack James (20), 19. R.J. Payne (21), 20. Rob Caho Jr. (16), 21. Keith Sheffer II (12). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-12 Justin Grant, Lap 13 Kyle Cummins, Lap 14 Justin Grant, Laps 15-30 Kyle Cummins.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-2873, 2-Mitchel Moles-2576, 3-Logan Seavey-2505, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2450, 5-Justin Grant-2412, 6-Briggs Danner-2336, 7-C.J. Leary-2231, 8-Jake Swanson-2213, 9-Gunnar Setser-1834, 10-Hayden Reinbold-1831.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-213, 2-Briggs Danner-144, 3-Gunnar Setser-139, 4-C.J. Leary-131, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-129, 6-Logan Seavey-117, 7-Justin Grant-116, 8-Kyle Cummins-108, 9-Chase Stockon-108, 10-Hayden Reinbold-99.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 3, 2025 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 55th Tony Hulman Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (14.309)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (14.139)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Gunnar Setser
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Briggs Danner
USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: C.J. Leary (11th to 7th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Hayden Reinbold
Best Finishing Michigan Driver Bonus: Brian Ruhlman (13th)
Second Best Finishing Michigan Driver Bonus: Steve Irwin (14th)
Third Best Finishing Michigan Driver Bonus: Josh Turner (15th)
Our Partners
.png)
