May 21, 2026 | By Richie Murray, USAC Media

Mitchel Moles wins Tony Hulman Classic at Terre Haute

TERRE HAUTE, Ind.—The Terre Haute Action Track is where it all began for Mitchel Moles and Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports.

Exactly four years ago to the day, May 20, 2022, Moles made an impressive USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship debut, leading 19 of the 30 laps before losing the lead late and finishing second. Since then, the Raisin City, California racer had always felt that it had been one that he let slip away.

Fast forward to Wednesday night’s 56th annual Tony Hulman Classic at the western Indiana 1/2-mile dirt oval on May 20, 2026, where Moles used the lessons he’s learned in that four year span to finally reign triumphant at Terre Haute for the first time in his career.

This time around, once Moles gained the lead on the opening lap, he never once relinquished his grip as he continuously increased his advantaged throughout the distance, leading all 30 laps from the pole position to earn a commanding 4.388 second margin of victory at the helm of his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.

“This is where I cut my teeth with (car owner) Andy (Reinbold),” Moles reflected. “We lost one to C.J. (Leary), and I told Andy that if I was ever back in that position again, I wasn’t going to lose it. I now knew what to do and I knew what I did wrong. When you mess something up, it’s always good to come back. But I didn’t think it would take me four years. Andy let me crash a bunch of stuff to get to this point, so this win is really for him.”

As Moles pulled into victory lane, it became apparent that his right rear tire was deflated, but it hung on just long enough. With the win, Moles earned a $10,000 prize, plus the custom rifle that has been awarded to the Hulman Classic winner for well over half a century. It all seemed fitting for the driver who is an avid hunter in his spare time away from the racetrack.

“I love money and I love guns, so this one’s a really good one for us,” Moles exclaimed.

Moles’ win was his second of the USAC National Sprint Car season and the seventh of his career, tying him with Kevin Doty, Darren Hagen, Kenny Irwin Jr., Doug Kalitta, Jim Keeker, Bobby Santos, Brady Short, Kevin Thomas, Bobby Unser and Josh Wise.

Speaking of Kalitta, he served as the night’s grand marshal, returning to the Terre Haute Action Track 30 years after his 1996 Tony Hulman Classic victory. The 1994 USAC National Sprint Car champion later turned to drag racing where he captured the 2023 and 2025 NHRA Top Fuel titles.

As for Moles, he continued his roll with his ninth top-five result with the series in his past 11 starts, a stretch which has included five top-two finishes and a pair of wins.

“I’m happy for my whole team,” Moles stated. “My guys have been working really hard. They’ve battled adversity and they’ve battled with the problems I’ve given them even before that. I was trying to talk them out of everything they were doing with the car. Andy kind of gave me the look, and I’m like, ‘okay, I’ll go away.’

Throughout the entire duration, all were on the chase to track down Moles. Chase Stockon made moves early, diving under outside front row starter Robert Ballou for the second position in turn three on the second lap. Jake Swanson followed suit past Ballou into third moments later.

After David Gasper (18th) slowed to a stop on the front straightaway on lap six, the ensuing restart resulted in a major melee on the back straight.

Defending Hulman Classic winner Justin Grant got a run to the inside of Swanson for the third spot on lap seven. The two cars touched wheels, sending Grant spinning backwards into the outside wall, which lifted his rear wheels off the ground and crumpled his rear bumper and tail tank, but he managed to keep going.

Meanwhile, Swanson's front end was knocked out from the resulting contact. Without any control, Swanson veered nose first into the inside guardrail, which sprayed a shower of sparks and spun his car around 180 degrees to a stop all while traffic scattered every which way to avoid getting caught in the incident. With that, Swanson’s race was over.

Grant’s car displayed no other signs of wear on the restart as he and Stockon proceeded to exchange the second position five times on each end of the Action Track in a two lap span between the seventh and ninth circuit. Stockon crossed over Grant’s turn three maneuver on lap nine to secure the spot.

Kevin Thomas Jr. ran down Grant with an inside move on the back straight on lap 15 to gain the third position. During the final laps, Grant threw the kitchen sink at him, but Thomas was able to thwart off the pressure to maintain the show position.

Down the stretch, Moles continuously ratcheted up his lead to two seconds, to three, and to four, and had little to no pressure at the end as he sliced his way through the tail end of the field, taking no chances as he remained on the hammer.

“I wasn’t going to give up or slow down; that’s how you lose these races,” Moles admitted. “To beat guys like Chase (Stockon) and Robert (Ballou) and Justin (Grant) and Kyle Cummins, those guys have been so good here. So, I’m very, very, very happy to pull this one off, and hopefully, it’s one of many to come.”

In the end, it was all Moles who finished the job nearly a straightaway ahead of runner-up Stockon with Thomas third, Grant fourth and Ballou fifth as Hulman Classic winners occupied all top-five positions in the feature results.

Moles led all 30 laps of the feature from start to finish. By leading the most laps, he was not only the night's feature winner, he also was the winner of the K & N Filters Clean Air Award.

In his first Hulman Classic start, Cale Coons came home as the Rod End Supply Hard Charger. Coons started all the way back in the 18th position and went on to finish 10th in the feature.

Kyle Cummins was the LearnLab Fast Qualifier for second year in a row at the Hulman Classic with a lap of 19.587 seconds, best in the field of 29 cars. It was also his second consecutive USAC National Sprint Car fast qualifying time on two different 1/2-mile dirt tracks in a span of five days (Eldora & Terre Haute). Cummins’ 23rd career quick time with the series tied him with Logan Seavey and Jon Stanbrough for 21st place all-time.


USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 20, 2026 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 56th Tony Hulman Classic – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track

LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-19.567; 2. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-19.578; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.682; 4. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-19.849; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.863; 6. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-19.941; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-20.002; 8. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-20.010; 9. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-20.079; 10. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-20.106; 11. J.J. Yeley, 51, Horn-20.114; 12. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-20.117; 13. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-20.162; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-20.330; 15. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-20.386; 16. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-20.391; 17. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-20.494; 18. Max Adams, 42, Cheney-20.510; 19. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-20.536; 20. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-20.609; 21. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-20.695; 22. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-20.813; 23. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-20.903; 24. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-20.914; 25. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-21.016; 26. Adam Taylor, 8T, Doherty-21.019; 27. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-21.747; 28. Carl Rhuebottom, 83, Rhuebottom-23.005; 29. Austin Nigh, 97, Nigh-NT.

K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (3), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (6), 4. Jake Swanson (5), 5. Logan Seavey (2), 6. Trey Osborne (1), 7. Jadon Rogers (7), 8. Harley Burns (8), 9. Brandon Mattox (9), 10. Carl Rhuebottom (10). 2:45.701

TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Hayden Reinbold (2), 2. J.J. Yeley (3), 3. Chase Stockon (6), 4. Briggs Danner (4), 5. Robert Ballou (5), 6. Hunter Maddox (1), 7. Jack Hoyer (7), 8. Charles Davis Jr. (8), 9. Adam Taylor (9), 10. Austin Nigh (10). 2:46.628

K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (6), 2. Ricky Lewis (3), 3. Logan Calderwood (2), 4. Mitchel Moles (5), 5. Max Adams (1), 6. Cale Coons (7), 7. David Gasper (4), 8. Troy Carey (8), 9. Jake Simmons (9). 2:45.951

FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. David Gasper (1), 2. Jadon Rogers (2), 3. Charles Davis Jr. (5), 4. Harley Burns (4), 5. Jack Hoyer (3), 6. Adam Taylor (8), 7. Brandon Mattox (7), 8. Austin Nigh (10), 9. Troy Carey (6), 10. Jake Simmons (9), 11. Carl Rhuebottom (11). 4:15.326

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (1), 2. Chase Stockon (5), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 4. Justin Grant (4), 5. C.J. Leary (7), 6. Kyle Cummins (6), 7. Robert Ballou (2), 8. Hayden Reinbold (8), 9. Briggs Danner (10), 10. Cale Coons (18), 11. Ricky Lewis (12), 12. Trey Osborne (15), 13. Logan Seavey (13), 14. Logan Calderwood (14), 15. Charles Davis Jr. (21), 16. Max Adams (17), 17. Hunter Maddox (16), 18. Jack Hoyer (23), 19. J.J. Yeley (11), 20. Harley Burns (22), 21. Jadon Rogers (20), 22. Jake Swanson (3), 23. Adam Taylor (24), 24. David Gasper (19). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Mitchel Moles.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-985, 2-Justin Grant-917, 3-Mitchel Moles-904, 4-Logan Seavey-821, 5-Chase Stockon-814, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-796, 7-Briggs Danner-795, 8-Jake Swanson-791, 9-C.J. Leary-725, 10-Robert Ballou-695.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Cale Coons-46, 2-Logan Calderwood-39, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-37, 4-Hayden Reinbold-36, 5-Briggs Danner-35, 6-Justin Grant-32, 7-Robert Ballou-30, 8-Chase Stockon-27, 9-Trey Osborne-26, 10-Brady Bacon-23.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 21, 2026 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana – Circle City Salute Presented by Desnuda Organic Tequila – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track


CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Kevin Thomas Jr. (19.495)
LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Kyle Cummins (19.567)
K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Hayden Reinbold
K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: David Gasper
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Mitchel Moles (30 laps led)
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Cale Coons (18th to 10th)