(Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
7/29/26
Paragon Speedway
Paragon, IN
Indiana Sprintweek Round #6
USAC National Sprint Cars
46 cars
Indiana Sprintweek descended on Paragon for the first time since 1998. Surprising that a Kinser was not present. The Kinser’s have cut their teeth at Paragon and Bloomington. I though Jordan may have been there, but he wasn’t. A great crowd was there nonetheless, and a good night of racing ensued.
Kyle Cummins (2nd car out to time) was quickest on a tricky track at 14.462 seconds. Briggs Danner (9th car out) was second quick, followed by Mitchel Moles (8th), Jake Swanson (46th), Justin Grant (5th), Todd Hobson (32nd), Gunnar Setser (42nd), Hunter Schuerenberg (30th), Logan Seavey (24th) and Chase Stockon (11th).
The track caught a couple of cars in qualifying. Logan Prickett (16th car to time) took a vicious ride after bicycling in one. His fuel tank ejected from the car and flew off of turn two. Aussie Todd Moule suffered the same fate in turns one and two doing several cartwheels. Both climbed out under their own power.
Heat one (started): 1. 12-Robert Ballou (2); 2. 3P-Kyle Cummins (6); 3. 16-Harley Burns (4); 4. 26-Hunter Maddox (7) / 5. 45N-Troy Carey (8); 6. 8-Michael Clark (9); 7. 11-Jack Hoyer (3); 8. 55-Eli Wilhelmus (1); 9. 77-Todd Hobson (5) DNS – 37-Logan Prickett
8-lap heats sent the top four to the feature, and the rest to the B. Ballou led early over Wilhelmus, Hoyer, Burns and Schuerenberg. One lap in, Hoyer flipped hard in turn three. He was ok. On the restart, Hobson flipped on the backstretch, continuing the early carnage. Wilhelmus also exited, leaving Ballou leading Burns, Cummins, Carey and Maddox back to green. Cummins moved into second on the restart, while Maddox shot by Carey to take the final transfer.
Heat two (started): 1. 15-Kevin Thomas Jr (2); 2. 63-Cale Coons (1); 3. G5-Gunnar Setser (5); 4. 14-Jadon Rogers (4) / 5. 39-Briggs Danner (6); 6. 9Z-Zack Pretorius (3); 7. 22-Brandon Spencer (7); 8. 38-Travis Oldfield (9); 9. 77S-David Gasper (8)
KTJ led throughout over Coons. Rogers was third early, ahead of Danner and Setser. On lap five, Danner stumbled in turn four, allowing Setser by into the final transfer. Setser then got by Rogers for third on lap seven.
Heat three (started): 1. 20-Brady Bacon (4); 2. 53-CJ Leary (2); 3. 19AZ-Mitchel Moles (6); 4. 3R-Hunter Schuerenberg (5) / 5. 71B-Braxton Cummings (1); 6. 16K-Colin Parker (8); 7. 34M-RJ Miller (3); 8. 9-Jim Tribby (9); 9. 34T-Cody Trammell (7)
Leary shot out to the early lead over Bacon, Cummings and Moles. On lap two, Bacon took the lead, while Moles bested Cummings for third. Cummings got over the turn four cushion and slowed more than once in this one, and Schuerenberg got by him on lap four for the final transfer. Cummins used a slider to take back the spot, but Hunter inched back by at the checkers, gaining fourth by .078 of a second.
Heat four (started): 1. 5T-Jake Swanson (6); 2. 41-Ricky Lewis (4); 3. 57-Logan Seavey (5); 4. 47-Charles Davis Jr (3) / 5. 11W-Wyatt Burks (1); 6. 83C-Chance Crum (2); 7. 21K-Kobe Simpson (7); 8. 87-Tony Helton (8); DNS - 10G-Gabriel Gilbert
Crum led lap one over Burks, Lewis, Davis and Swanson. One lap in, Helton flipped on the backstretch. He was uninjured. Crum led Burks, Lewis, Davis and Swanson back to green. Burks took the lead on the restart, but on lap three, Lewis and Swanson shot by Crum into second and third. On lap four, three-wide action for the lead resulted in Lewis in the lead, ahead of Swanson, Davis, Seavey and Burks, who was shuffled out of a transfer. On lap five, Swanson took the lead from Lewis, looking strong, while Seavey took third from Davis.
Heat five (started): 1. 6T-Trey Osborne (2); 2. 6-Logan Calderwood (3); 3. 4-Justin Grant (6); 4. 92-Chase Stockon (5) / 5. 2B-Dalton Stevens (1); 6. 19-Hayden Reinbold (4); 7. 28-Brandon Mattox (7); 8. 33-Jake Scott (8) DNS – AU26-Todd Moule
Osborne led wire to wire, which was a boost in what has been a tough week. Stevens was second, ahead of Calderwood, Grant and Stockon. On lap two, Calderwood took second, and a lap later, Grant and Stockon (with a right rear tap over the cushion) passed Stevens for third and fourth.
B main (started): 1. 39-Briggs Danner (1); 2. 19-Hayden Reinbold (2); 3. 2B-Dalton Stevens (5); 4. 9Z-Zack Pretorius (7) / 5. 16K-Colin Parker (9); 6. 55-Eli Wilhelmus (15); 7. 8-Michael Clark (10); 8. 11W-Wyatt Burks (4); 9. 45N-Troy Carey (6); 10. 21K-Kobe Simpson (13); 11. 33-Jake Scott (16); 12. 22-Brandon Spencer (12); 13. 38-Travis Oldfield (17); 14. 9-Jim Tribby (18); 15. 34M-RJ Miller (11); 16. 28-Brandon Mattox (14); 17. 71B-Braxton Cummings (3); 18. 83C-Chance Crum (8); 19. 34T-Cody Trammell (19) DNS – 37-Logan Prickett, 77-Todd Hobson, 11-Jack Hoyer, 10G–Gabriel Gilbert, 77s-David Gasper, AU26-Todd Moule, 87-Tony Helton
The 12-lapper took the top four to the feature. With so many scratches the C was cut. This was a good one, but Danner was out front for the distance. Early on, Cummings ran second, ahead of Reinbold, Pretorius and Stevens. On lap four, Mattox spun, bringing caution. The caution negated a pass Stevens made of Pretorius for the final transfer. On the restart, Reinbold gained second from Cummings. Stevens used the high side to drive around Pretorius for fourth in what would prove to be the best race of the event. On lap eight, Pretorius slid back by as the two were caught behind a slower Cummings at that oint. On lap nine, Stevens got by Pretorius again before Crum got into a tire in turn two and was towed off. Now Danner led Reinbold, Cummings, Stevens and Pretorius back to green. With two to go, Cummings rode up the backstretch wall and slowed allowing both Stevens and Pretorius by into transfers. At that point, Parker began to challenge and passed Pretorius briefly before Zack held on.
A main (started): 1. 5T-Jake Swanson (4); 2. 3P-Kyle Cummins (6); 3. 20-Brady Bacon (7); 4. 4-Justin Grant (3); 5. 19AZ-Mitchel Moles (5); 6. 3R-Hunter Schuerenberg (1); 7. 15-Kevin Thomas Jr (9); 8. 41-Ricky Lewis (16); 9. 16-Harley Burns (14); 10. 92-Chase Stockon (13); 11. 57-Logan Seavey (12); 12. 53-CJ Leary (21); 13. 12-Robert Ballou (8); 14. 19-Hayden Reinbold (17); 15. 14-Jadon Rogers (15); 16. 39-Briggs Danner (11); 17. 63-Cale Coons (22); 18. 2B-Dalton Stevens (23); 19. 47-Charles Davis Jr (19); 20. 26-Hunter Maddox (24); 21. 9Z-Zack Pretorius (18); 22. 6-Logan Calderwood (20); 23. G5-Gunnar Setser (2); 24. 6T-Trey Osborne (10)
The 30-lapper paid $10,000 to win. Rogers hit the work area before the start, but made repairs in time. Ballou flatted a left rear after contact from Moles. The action collected Osborne, who had nowhere to go. Ballou and Osborne were able to restart at the tail. Swanson shot to the lead from row two, ahead of Schuerenberg, Setser, Grant and Cummins. Two laps in, Setser surrendered his spot when he slowed and went to the work area for repairs. Now Swanson paced Schuerenberg, Grant, Cummins and Moles. On lap three, Grant passed Schuerenberg for second, while Bacon went under Moles into the top five. On lap six, Cummins followed Grant into third. Swanson was pulling away, and entered traffic on lap 10. On lap 14, Moles used the high side to get back by Bacon for fifth, and then on lap 20, passed Schuerenberg for fourth. On lap 22, Pretorius got over the turn four berm. At that point, Swanson had built over a six second lead. Now Grant, Cummins, Moles, Schuerenberg and Bacon were on his tail. Cummins shot by Grant into second on the restart. With five to go, Bacon got under Moles for fourth, and two laps later dove under Grant to take third. Up front, Cummins had nothing for Swanson, who drew the last pill in qualifying, and led every lap of the feature. Leary was the hard-charger.