Kody Swanson won his fourth career Little 500 at Anderson Speedway Saturday
ANDERSON, Ind. — Seven years after his last Unified Group Services Little 500, Kody Swanson used the right tire strategy to score is fourth victory at Anderson Speedway.
Swanson charged from the fifth running position with 94 laps remaining Saturday and methodically worked his way to the front.
Leader Davey Hamilton Jr. and Dakoda Armstrong had all taken the last set of tires earlier in the race and Swanson didn’t stop until lap 387.
Swanson moved into the fourth spot on lap 417 and then an incident involving Justin Grant, who was running third, crashed in turn four with C.J. Leary that brought out the second of two red flags on the night.
With the fresher tires Swanson passed Armstrong for second on lap 460 and rapidly closed on Hamilton.
Swanson took the lead on lap 473 with an inside pass as the two front-runners dealt with lapped traffic on the front straight.
From there Swanson went on to the victory with Hamilton, Armstrong, 2025 race winner Jake Trainor and rookie Mario Clouser rounding out the top five.
“We used the right pit strategy,” Swanson said in victory lane. “We were discussing when to pit during some of the cautions and we decided to wait.
“I wasn’t sure at the end after coming out behind some of the faster cars, but it all worked out in the end,” he said.
Hamilton started fourth and ran with the leaders the entire race taking the lead on lap 388 when Tyler Roahrig pitted.
“We’re going to come back again next year a little stronger, Hamilton said. “We tried a pit strategy and in the end he (Swanson) had a little bit better rubber.
“I’m sad but at the same time we finished third two years ago, second tonight, so we’re moving in the right direction.”
Armstrong continued his strong runs at the Little 500 finishing second in 2024 and disqualified a year ago after an apparent victory.
The crew had to repair the race car following a crash in the Glen Niebel Classic at Anderson Speedway.
“To fix the car and come back with some speed was important,” he said. “I actually thought after the first pit stop we had the best car. We fell short and I’m disappointed, but this is just a tough race to win. The competition here just keeps getting better.”
Clouser earned rookie of the year honors.
Several on-track incidents eliminated contenders from the field include Tyler Roahrig.
An accident on lap 406 that took out the strong car of Roahrig and Logan Seavey, both of whom led laps in the Little 500.
Kyle O’Gara the runner-up finished in 2025 was eliminated from competition on lap 29 during an altercation on the back straight.
Shane Hollingsworth retired with a brake problem, Bobby Santos III in a crash on lap and Jackson Macenko lost a right front tire when a lug nut failed.
There were six lead changes among five drivers in the race that was slowed 15 times by the caution flag for a total of 151 laps.
The finish:
Feature (500 laps): 1 #77 Kody Swanson 2 #14 Davey Hamilton Jr. 3 #1 Dakoda Armstrong 4 #29 Jake Trainor 5 #96 Mario Clouser 6 #39 Ryan Newman 7 #2 Derek Bischak 8 #8 Travis Welpott 9 #26 Colton Bettis 10 #64 Rylan Gray 11 #00 Colin Grissom 12 #18 Landon Butler 13 #69 Billy Wease 14 #7 Justin Grant 15 #99 CJ Leary 16 #56 Tyler Roahrig 17 #51 Logan Seavey 18 #5 Michael Lewis 19 #92 Anthony Nocella 20 #71 Brian Vaughn 21 #24 Jackson Macenko 22 #3 David Goodwill 23 #42 Rob Keesling 24 #87 Josh Poore 25 #4 Donnie Adams 26 #22 Bobby Santos III 27 #17 Garrett Saunders 28 #53 Justin Harper 29 #57 Chris Schmelzle 30 #20 Shane Hollingsworth 31 #74 Tony Main 32 #67 Kyle O’Gara 33 #10 Shane Butler