Kyle Cummins celebrates his triumph in Friday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters event at Putnamville's Lincoln Park Speedway. (David Nearpass Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Putnamville, Indiana (July 24, 2026)………Kyle Cummins came into USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters on a tear.
The Princeton, Indiana native continued that tear on Friday night during round two of ISW at Putnamville’s Lincoln Park Speedway as he led the entire 30-lap distance in a thorough and decisive beatdown on the 5/16-mile dirt oval to earn the $10,000 check.
For the defending USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion, it’s been another banner year as he’s built up a substantial point lead in his bid to repeat, and he’s now accumulated a series best eight feature victories. But this one in particular hit a little differently.
“Normally, I don't get super, super excited; I'll be honest with you,” Cummins explained. “But I'm about as happy as I've been about a win in a long time.”
During his three summer USAC starts at Lincoln Park in 2025, Cummins possessed an average finish of 16th at the track. This summer has seen the reverse with Cummins sweeping to victory in both USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship visits to LPS within the past three weeks.
“This was my arch nemesis last year,” Cummins revealed. “Every time I came here, I felt like I either crashed or spun out or I was just overthinking it.”
Cummins also entered this week as the winningest Indiana Sprint Week driver without an ISW title. His latest tally was the ninth of his ISW career, tied for the fifth most in series history alongside Logan Seavey and J.J. Yeley.
He’s taken the first giant step in changing that statistic with his series-leading third wire-to-wire performance of the year at the controls of his Petty Performance Racing/Novix Outdoors – Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy No. 3p.
Now, Cummins owns four career USAC National Sprint Car victories at Lincoln Park, and two of those have occurred during Indiana Sprint Week in 2019 and 2026.
Greeting competitors was, perhaps, the largest crowd in the history of Lincoln Park Speedway along with the largest car count in Indiana Sprint Week’s 39-year history. The 71 drivers and cars on hand surpassed the former official ISW record of 68 entries set at Terre Haute in 1999 and Lawrenceburg in 2003.
It was also the third largest car count in USAC National Sprint Car history, trailing only the 138 at Eldora Speedway’s Mopar Million in 2003 and the 75 at Perris Auto Speedway’s Oval Nationals in 2006.
Cummins qualified seventh overall but hooked a spot on the outside of the front row for the feature after a couple of cars inside the top six inversion failed to transfer through their heat races. That all worked into Cummins’ favor.
“We qualified not so great and then had a couple guys not make it (through their heat races) and that put us on the front row,” Cummins explained. “I knew that by being on the front row, it was going to be good if I could get to the lead on the top. During the last time here, once I got to lapped cars, I kind of paced. This time, I felt like I was really pushing and then we didn't get in lapped traffic very much.”
In the previous evening’s race at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Cummins extended his top 10 finish streak to 26-in-a-row with a non-descript (for him) ninth place finish. The result was neither amazing nor horrific, but it did rattle him a bit.
“I feel like last night, I couldn't race hard,” Cummins explained. “I felt like I didn't want to tear the car up coming up on the week, and I felt like I was going to be dumb. I was back there in like ninth. There's no sense in tearing it up. I just felt like I lost a little confidence even though I knew I wasn't pushing it.”
His concern was short lived. Right from the get-go, Cummins left the field behind at Lincoln Park. By lap seven, his lead had ballooned to a solid three seconds as C.J. Leary, Briggs Danner, and Thomas Meseraull battled for second nearly a full straightaway behind Cummins.
After winning Lincoln Park’s USAC Sprintacular exactly three weeks earlier, Cummins requested that his team put the exact same touches on his car that that they did that night. As it turned out, it was the magic touch to attack the notorious Putnamville cushion.
“The curb is wild here,” Cummins exclaimed. “The way we set the car up is just to try to knead and be able to not have to kill the cushion, but rather, knead on the cushion a little bit. I wasn't sure how the track was going to work out. I put the exact same setup that we won with here last time, so I didn't have to overthink it. I said, ‘just put the same thing on it and we'll see what happens.’”
At the halfway point of the 30-lapper, Danner slipped sideways in turn two, then banged wheels with the surging Mitchel Moles. Meseraull took advantage and drove topside around both in a fifth to third swoop on the back straightaway. In the meantime, Cummins’ lead was more than four seconds.
On lap 23, Danner had gotten by Meseraull. However, on the very next lap, Meseraull drifted sideways off turn two directly into the path of Danner. The resulting collision between the two ended the night for both drivers with Danner finishing 20th and Meseraull 21st.
Over the course of the final seven laps, Cummins once again whipped the field, crossing under the checkered flag 2.425 seconds ahead of the competition en route to victory. Leary took second with Moles third, Logan Seavey fourth and Jake Swanson fifth. In fact, the top five positions were all occupied by past Lincoln Park Indiana Sprint Week feature winners.
On top of it all, Cummins turned the quickest lap of the main event with a time of 12.356 seconds on lap 13 to earn a bonus from Eclipse Claims Consulting. Furthermore, by leading all 30 laps, he also collected the K & N Filters Clean Air award.
To start the night, Moles absolutely obliterated the one-lap USAC National Sprint Car track record in LearnLab Qualifying. Entering the track 63rd in the qualifying line, Moles’ fast time run of 11.694 seconds surpassed the former record of 11.959 held by Seavey since 2024. Moles’ 35th career USAC National Sprint Car Fast Qualifying award tied Rich Vogler for the 11th most all-time.
Robert Ballou made the most of an 11th row starting position to finish the feature inside the top-10. His +12 run from 22nd to 10th earned him the Rod End Supply Hard Charger award.
Cale Coons overcame a 36th place qualifying run to make his way into the feature. He also charged from ninth to third in the semi-feature to put himself in the big show. That made him the Hard Work award winner. Furthermore, Coons was the lone driver to start outside of the heat race inversion to race his way into the feature, making him The Hayloft’s Haymaker Award winner.
Eli Wilhelmus finished one spot out of a transfer position in fifth during the semi-feature, which earned him a bonus from Eclipse Claims Consulting as the first non-transfer.
Shane Cottle advanced from 17th to sixth in the semi-feature. Despite coming up two spots shy of a feature starting spot, he did bank a bonus as the semi hard charger, picking up the Vogel Real Estate Heading Home 1st Award.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 24, 2026 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 39th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters – 5/16-Mile Dirt Track
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.694 (New Track Record); 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.045; 3. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.047; 4. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-12.055; 5. Thomas Meseraull, 24, Simon-12.065; 6. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-12.094; 7. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.109; 8. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.149; 9. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-12.180; 10. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-12.181; 11. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-12.190; 12. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.199; 13. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.218; 14. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.230; 15. Shane Cottle, 34, Olson-12.231; 16. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-12.250; 17. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-12.258; 18. Max Adams, 24p, Paul-12.259; 19. J.J. Yeley, 51, Wood-12.289; 20. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-12.338; 21. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.372; 22. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Burks-12.418; 23. Hunter Schuerenberg, 3R, Rock Steady-12.442; 24. Austin Cory, 49, Cory-12.450; 25. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-12.468; 26. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-12.502; 27. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-12.507; 28. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo/Bishop-12.514; 29. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.529; 30. Todd Moule, 2E, Epperson-12.531; 31. Daylan Chambers, 4c, Chambers-12.566; 32. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.589; 33. Rylan Gray, 1, Gray-12.656; 34. Ivan Glotzbach, i1, Hayden-12.661; 35. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.664; 36. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.682; 37. Travis Oldfield, 38, Oldfield-12.711; 38. Austin Nigh, 97, Ninety Seven-12.712; 39. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-12.714; 40. Jake Scott, 33, Miller-12.736; 41. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-12.755; 42. R.J. Miller, 34m, Miller-12.831; 43. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-12.914; 44. Kyle Johnson, 99J, Johnson-12.917; 45. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-12.956; 46. Evan Mosley, 2, Barkdull-12.966; 47. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-12.967; 48. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-12.996; 49. Brandon Spencer, 22, Spencer-13.052; 50. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-13.071; 51. Cody Trammell, 34T, Trammell-13.091; 52. Dalton Stevens, 2B, 2B Racing-13.133; 53. Logan Prickett, 37, Prickett-13.142; 54. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell/Boyd-13.171; 55. Jesse Vermillion, 5v, Vermillion-13.252; 56. Dakota Earls, 15E, Earls-13.253; 57. Tony Helton, 87, Helton-13.270; 58. Blake Vermillion, 73, Vermillion-13.378; 59. Bryan Brewer, 8, Robertson-13.566; 60. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, GGR-13.594; 61. Steve Justis, 12J, Justis-13.770; 62. Evan Parker, 17p, Parker-13.882; 63. Jim Tribby, 9, Tribby-14.228; 64. Michael Clark, 8x, Clark-14.271; 65. Jesse Miller, 33m, Miller-14.668; 66. Brennon Marshall, 43, Miller-14.699; 67. Daniel Clodfelter, 19c, Clodfelter-14.852; 68. Justin Meneely, 100, Meneely-14.898; 69. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-NT; 70. Shey Owens, 11o, Algieo-NT; 71. Mike Larrison, 06, American Dream-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (2), 2. Mitchel Moles (6), 3. Beau Brandon (1), 4. Gunnar Setser (3), 5. Jack Hoyer (4), 6. Cale Coons (8), 7. Evan Mosley (10), 8. Daylan Chambers (7), 9. Cody Trammell (11), 10. Logan Calderwood (5), 11. Steve Justis (13), 12. Brennon Marshall (14), 13. Dakota Earls (12), 14. Hunter Maddox (9). 2:09.808
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. Gavin Miller (4), 4. Logan Seavey (6), 5. Wyatt Burks (2), 6. Chance Crum (1), 7. Kobe Simpson (10), 8. R.J. Miller (9), 9. Dalton Stevens (11), 10. Brandon Mattox (7), 11. Travis Oldfield (8), 12. Evan Parker (13), 13. Daniel Clodfelter (14), 14. Tony Helton (12). NT
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (4), 2. Hunter Schuerenberg (2), 3. Briggs Danner (6), 4. Todd Hobson (1), 5. Zack Pretorius (5), 6. Max Adams (3), 7. Rylan Gray (7), 8. Charles Davis Jr (9), 9. Austin Nigh (8), 10. Logan Prickett (11), 11. Blake Vermillion (12), 12. Jim Tribby (13), 13. Trey Osborne (10), 14. Justin Meneely (14). NT
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (4), 2. Robert Ballou (1), 3. C.J. Leary (5), 4. J.J. Yeley (3), 5. Harley Burns (6), 6. Eli Wilhelmus (8), 7. Kyle Johnson (9), 8. Ivan Glotzbach (7), 9. Brandon Spencer (10), 10. Braydon Cromwell (11), 11. Michael Clark (13), 12. Bryan Brewer (12), 13. Austin Cory (2), 14. Mike Larrison (14). NT
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (3), 2. Chase Stockon (2), 3. Brady Bacon (5), 4. Thomas Meseraull (6), 5. Todd Moule (1), 6. David Gasper (10), 7. Hayden Reinbold (7), 8. Shane Cottle (4), 9. Jesse Vermillion (11), 10. Troy Carey (9), 11. Gabriel Gilbert (12), 12. Jesse Miller (12). NT
PROSOURCE D-MAIN: (8 laps, top 2 transfer to the C-Main, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Blake Vermillion (2), 2. Travis Oldfield (1), 3. Michael Clark (5), 4. Steve Justis (4), 5. Dakota Earls (11), 6. Brennon Marshall (10), 7. Evan Parker (7), 8. Jesse Miller (9), 9. Justin Meneely (13), 10. Daniel Clodfelter (12), 11. Bryan Brewer (6), 12. Gabriel Gilbert (3), 13. Jim Tribby (8). NT
COOK OUT C-MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Shane Cottle (1), 2. Daylan Chambers (2), 3. Dalton Stevens (9), 4. Jesse Vermillion (10), 5. Austin Nigh (6), 6. Brandon Mattox (11), 7. Ivan Glotzbach (3), 8. Brandon Spencer (7), 9. Braydon Cromwell (14), 10. Travis Oldfield (16), 11. R.J. Miller (4), 12. Troy Carey (12), 13. Cody Trammell (8), 14. Logan Prickett (13), 15. Blake Vermillion (15). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Harley Burns (1), 2. Jack Hoyer (4), 3. Cale Coons (9), 4. Todd Moule (6), 5. Eli Wilhelmus (10), 6. Shane Cottle (17), 7. Zack Pretorius (3), 8. Kyle Johnson (14), 9. Chance Crum (8), 10. David Gasper (11), 11. Wyatt Burks (5), 12. Kobe Simpson (16), 13. Dalton Stevens (19), 14. Hayden Reinbold (13), 15. Jesse Vermillion (20), 16. Evan Mosley (15), 17. Max Adams (7), 18. Rylan Gray (12), 19. Daylan Chambers (18), 20. Logan Calderwood (2). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. C.J. Leary (1), 3. Mitchel Moles (6), 4. Logan Seavey (5), 5. Jake Swanson (11), 6. Gavin Miller (15), 7. Jadon Rogers (10), 8. Justin Grant (8), 9. Chase Stockon (19), 10. Robert Ballou (22), 11. Jack Hoyer (14), 12. Brady Bacon (13), 13. J.J. Yeley (17), 14. Gunnar Setser (16), 15. Hunter Schuerenberg (18), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 17. Beau Brandon (20), 18. Todd Moule (23), 19. Hayden Reinbold (25-P), 20. Briggs Danner (4), 21. Thomas Meseraull (3), 22. Todd Hobson (21), 23. Cale Coons (24), 24. Ricky Lewis (7), 25. Harley Burns (12). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kyle Cummins.
**Austin Cory flipped during the fourth heat. Max Adams flipped during the semi.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1941, 2-Mitchel Moles-1824, 3-Justin Grant-1804, 4-Briggs Danner-1682, 5-Jake Swanson-1589, 6-Chase Stockon-1569, 7-Logan Seavey-1568, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1516, 9-C.J. Leary-1494, 10-Robert Ballou-1473.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PRESENTED BY K & N FILTERS POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-77, 2-Mitchel Moles-77, 3-C.J. Leary-73, 4-Logan Seavey-71, 5-Jake Swanson-66, 6-Gavin Miller-61, 7-Jadon Rogers-60, 8-Justin Grant-57, 9-Chase Stockon-53, 10-Robert Ballou-50.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kevin Thomas Jr.-104, 2-Hayden Reinbold-102, 3-Robert Ballou-86, 4-Jacob Denney-84, 5-Cale Coons-75, 6-Justin Grant-71, 7-Chase Stockon-66, 8-Briggs Danner-65, 9-Gavin Miller-55, 10-Logan Seavey-51.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PARALLAX GROUP / PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Dalton Stevens-14, 2-Jesse Vermillion-13, 3-Robert Ballou-12, 4-Shane Cottle-11, 5-Gavin Miller-10, 6-Chase Stockon-10, 7-Cale Coons-9, 8-Kyle Johnson-8, 9-Mitchel Moles-7, 10-Jake Swanson-7.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 25, 2026 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 39th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Robert Ballou (12.270)
LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (11.694)
K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Ricky Lewis
Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Justin Grant
K1 RaceGear Fifth Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
ProSource D-Main Winner: Blake Vermillion
Cook Out C-Main Winner: Shane Cottle
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Harley Burns
Eclipse Claims Consulting First Semi Non-Transfer: Eli Wilhelmus
Vogel Real Estate Heading Home 1st Award: Shane Cottle
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (22nd to 10th)
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Kyle Cummins (30 laps led)
Eclipse Claims Consulting Fastest Feature Lap: Kyle Cummins (12.356)
Hard Work Award: Cale Coons
The Hayloft Haymaker Award: Cale Coons