A joyous Kyle Cummins celebrates his victory during Thursday night's Chili's Sprint Car Smackdown XV opener at Indiana's Kokomo Speedway. (Ryan Sellers Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 27, 2026)………They had Kyle Cummins in the first half, not gonna lie.
As for the second half, that solely belonged to the Princeton, Indiana racer as he led the final 15 circuits of the 30-lap feature to capture victory during Thursday night’s Chili’s Sprint Car Smackdown XV opener at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway.
Starting fifth on the grid, Cummins picked his way to second during the opening 15-lap stanza before slicing by racelong leader Gavin Miller off the exit of turn two on the 16th lap, then led the rest of the way to take his 10th checkered flag of the 2026 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season.
His 10th USAC triumph of the season matches his career high win total from his championship season in 2025. His latest win also made him just the 13th driver to reach 40 or more USAC National Sprint Car career victories and ties him with fellow series champs Gary Bettenhausen and Robert Ballou for 11th place on the all-time series win list.
As an interesting aside, Cummins’ latest performance was his fourth career win during Chili’s Smackdown, three of which have occurred on August 27. He scored two prelim victories in 2020, then added a final night win in 2022.
Starting alongside Justin Grant in the third row, Cummins found it imperative to stay in front of the five-time and defending Chili’s Smackdown titlist. Grant initially had the upper hand for the first four laps. But on the fifth trip around the 1/4-mile dirt oval, Cummins went topside to nip Grant for fourth in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO Superfoods/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy No. 3p.
“There was a move there at the beginning of the race,” Cummins recalled. “I was coming around the outside and I just snuck by Justin and someone else, and I was like, ‘that's good.’ I had to get in front of Justin. It's kind of whoever's in front, and it's hard to peel off. So, to get up front and get into the lead first is very important. We did that and here we are.”
Once Cummins got to fourth, that kicked off a succession of advancement that saw him take Gunnar Setser for third on lap six and Kevin Thomas Jr. for second on lap seven, both of which came on consecutive outside passes off the exit of turn two with Miller now lined up in his crosshairs one second ahead.
By the 11th go around, Grant had moved his way into third and was working on tracking down Miller and Cummins. But on lap 13, the field was bunched up following a red flag for fifth running Jake Swanson who got upside down in turn one as he attempted to pass Thomas for fourth in turn one. The two nearly collided, and Swanson took evasive action, resulting in him spinning backwards. With his right foot standing on the throttle and his front wheels hanging in the air, akin to a bucking bronco, Swanson’s car performed a hydroplane-like blowover. Swanson restarted at the tail and finished 19th.
During the ensuing restart, it quickly became a three-wide battle for the lead with Cummins on the high side, Grant low, and Miller in the middle. Once Cummins saw Grant’s nose reemerge into the frame of the fray, he gritted his teeth a little more. It was now or never.
“I didn't know what to do,” Cummins said. “I'd been behind him a little bit and I'd get such a run in one and two that it would almost plug me into the curb. I thought I was going to get myself in trouble there. I was like, ‘well, it's a couple laps in.’ Then, I saw Justin (Grant), and I thought, ‘okay, that's it. It’s time to race.’”
Cummins fired the first shot in turns three and four on lap 15 as he slid across the nose of Miller. However, Miller quickly answered and dipped back under Cummins to reassume the top spot at the stripe. But a half lap later Cummins launched off the turn two cushion and rocketed past the inside of Miller for the lead. Grant followed suit along the bottom to slot into second moments later in turns three and four.
From there on, Cummins experienced traffic galore as he negotiated his way through a bevy of lapped cars with 10 to go, poking his way through the middle between the likes of USAC national winners Trey Osborne, Jake Swanson, Logan Seavey, and Jacob Denney. Through it all, Grant attempted to close up the gap to Cummins’ but couldn’t quite get through it quickly enough to chop off any of Cummins’ interval as Cummins escaped, while at the same time, trying to tame a somewhat tricky cushion when necessary.
“In one and two, I could run pretty good but it kind of got you in a weird spot, but then once you got there, you could hammer it,” Cummins elaborated. “Getting into three and four got choppy as well and then there were the lapped cars, and I didn't know where to go. Then, I started running through the middle a little bit and there was actually some decent grip. I didn't feel like I was as good there by myself but at least I got around a couple lapped cars. It got pretty thick there for a while, and I feel like I was running the same speed. I couldn't really go faster because you're kind of at the mercy of the guy in front of you and how hard you can get into the cushion.”
The final stoppage of the night came on lap 26 when Mitchel Moles and Briggs Danner banged wheels in turn two during their battle for the seventh position. Moles ricocheted off Danner into the path of Brady Bacon (9th) who spun to a stop to bring out the caution, setting up a four lap dash to the finish.
Cummins kept things copacetic as he shot away from Grant on the restart, while Kevin Thomas Jr. slid Miller for third in turn three. One lap later, Miller’s race got all out of sorts when he nearly stalled in turns one and two, dropping from fourth all the way back to 11th. Meanwhile, 14th starting Cale Coons took advantage of the situation to climb his way into third on the white flag lap.
Up front, Cummins had it handled as he crossed the finish line 1.442 seconds ahead at the checkered flag over runner-up Justin Grant with Cale Coons scoring a career best USAC finish of third. Kevin Thomas Jr. grabbed fourth with Jadon Rogers rounding out the top five.
Cummins led the final 15 to earn the K & N Filters Clean Air award. Furthermore, he led the 29th lap of the feature to collect a bonus from J & J Trucking & JX Truck Center in memory of Tony Jarrett. Jarrett drove the No. 29 to the 2000 Kokomo Speedway sprint car track championship. To add to it, Cummins achieved it all in what he described as a “different” kind of racecar.
“The car was the weirdest thing I've ever driven,” Cummins explained. “It won't come to the green. It won't go down the straightaways. But if you put it on the curb, it'll run. So, we did some different stuff tonight. My whole crew made a bunch of changes, put a fresh wrap on it, and have been doing some R & D here and there. It was definitely different. I'm glad we won, but it was just a different kind of race car.”
Thomas Meseraull advanced 12 positions throughout his 20th to 8th run during the feature to earn the Rod End Supply Hard Charger award.
Jacob Denney bounced back from a 32nd place qualifying run, then put it in the show with a late-race pass for the final transfer spot in the semi to advance to his first career USAC National Sprint Car feature. With it, he earned the Hard Work award, plus a right rear from Hoosier Tire for grabbing the final transfer spot. Dalton Stevens also got some fresh right rear rubber courtesy of Hoosier Tire for his victory in the C-Main.
Kobe Simpson moved up from 18th to 12th in the semi-feature, taking home Vogel Real Estate Heading Home 1st award honors.
Justin Grant also collected his 47th career USAC National Sprint Car LearnLab Fast Qualifying time, while also taking over the series lead with his eighth fast time of the series season with a lap of 12.648 seconds.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 27, 2026 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – Chili's Sprint Car Smackdown XV – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.648; 2. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-12.696; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.714; 4. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-12.735; 5. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.757; 6. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.828; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-12.837; 8. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.858; 9. Brady Bacon, 49, Davis-12.873; 10. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.918; 11. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-12.952; 12. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.961; 13. Stevie Sussex, 3R, Rock Steady-12.988; 14. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-13.006; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.025; 16. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-13.035; 17. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-13.087; 18. Jakeb Boxell, 54, Westfall-13.088; 19. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.143; 20. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-13.161; 21. Rylan Gray, 1, Gray-13.177; 22. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.191; 23. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.207; 24. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.221; 25. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-13.231; 26. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.255; 27. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.329; 28. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-13.337; 29. Anton Hernandez, 21, Hajduk-13.352; 30. Kyle Shipley, 57H, Hazen-13.360; 31. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-13.365; 32. Jacob Denney, 87, CBI/Spire-13.401; 33. Dalton Stevens, 2BX, 2B Racing-13.413; 34. Shane Cottle, 86, Stamper-13.529; 35. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-13.534; 36. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.595; 37. Brayden Clark, 11c, Clark-13.610; 38. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, GGR-13.631; 39. Landon Butler, 18, Butler-13.766; 40. Caleb Shietze, 2B, 2B Racing-13.799; 41. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-13.844; 42. Aaron Davis, 11A, Davis-13.862; 43. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-13.954; 44. Bryce Andrews, 17, MSR-13.977; 45. Devan Myers, 75, Myers-14.057; 46. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-14.174; 47. Jack James, 99, James-14.209; 48. Jacob Dykstra, 79, Mahoney-14.394; 49. Steve Justis, 12J, Justis-14.478; 50. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-14.964.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zack Pretorius (1), 2. Jake Swanson (5), 3. C.J. Leary (4), 4. Justin Grant (6), 5. Rylan Gray (2), 6. Ricky Lewis (3), 7. Jack Hoyer (7), 8. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (9), 9. Kobe Simpson (8), 10. Rob Caho Jr. (10). 2:12.465
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (2), 2. Cale Coons (4), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 4. Logan Seavey (1), 5. Chance Crum (3), 6. Jacob Denney (7), 7. Brayden Clark (8), 8. Aaron Davis (9), 9. Jack James (10), 10. Eli Wilhelmus (6). NT
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. Gavin Miller (5), 3. Hayden Reinbold (2), 4. Stevie Sussex (4), 5. Jakeb Boxell (3), 6. Beau Brandon (1), 7. Gabriel Gilbert (8), 8. Dalton Stevens (7), 9. Troy Carey (9), 10. Jacob Dykstra (10). 2:15.168
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gunnar Setser (6), 2. Chase Stockon (4), 3. Harley Burns (1), 4. Brandon Mattox (2), 5. Steve Justis (9), 6. Brady Bacon (3), 7. Bryce Andrews (7), 8. Landon Butler (8), 9. Shane Cottle (5). NT
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Trey Osborne (2), 2. Robert Ballou (4), 3. Briggs Danner (5), 4. Thomas Meseraull (3), 5. Mitchel Moles (6), 6. Caleb Shietze (8), 7. Kyle Shipley (1), 8. Colin Parker (7), 9. Devan Myers (9), 10. Jake Simmons (10). NT
COOK OUT C-MAIN: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Dalton Stevens (1), 2. Colin Parker (2), 3. Kobe Simpson (5), 4. Devan Myers (6), 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr (3), 6. Aaron Davis (4), 7. Troy Carey (8), 8. Jacob Dykstra (7), 9. Jack James (10), 10. Jake Simmons (9). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (1), 2. Brady Bacon (2), 3. Ricky Lewis (7), 4. Jacob Denney (9), 5. Rylan Gray (5), 6. Caleb Shietze (10), 7. Jack Hoyer (12), 8. Jakeb Boxell (4), 9. Chance Crum (3), 10. Kyle Shipley (11), 11. Gabriel Gilbert (14), 12. Kobe Simpson (18), 13. Dalton Stevens (16), 14. Colin Parker (17), 15. Devan Myers (19), 16. Brayden Clark (13), 17. Bryce Andrews (15), 18. Beau Brandon (8), 19. Steve Justis (6). NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (5), 2. Justin Grant (6), 3. Cale Coons (14), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 5. Jadon Rogers (7), 6. Briggs Danner (12), 7. Mitchel Moles (10), 8. Thomas Meseraull (20), 9. Stevie Sussex (15), 10. Robert Ballou (17), 11. Gavin Miller (1), 12. Chase Stockon (16), 13. Hayden Reinbold (21), 14. Gunnar Setser (4), 15. C.J. Leary (13), 16. Ricky Lewis (18), 17. Harley Burns (19), 18. Jacob Denney (23), 19. Jake Swanson (3), 20. Zack Pretorius (9), 21. Logan Seavey (22), 22. Trey Osborne (8), 23. Brady Bacon (11), 24. Brandon Mattox (24). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Gavin Miller, Laps 16-30 Kyle Cummins.
**Eli Wilhelmus flipped during the second heat. Jake Swanson flipped on lap 13 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-2515, 2-Justin Grant-2387, 3-Mitchel Moles-2349, 4-Jake Swanson-2079, 5-Briggs Danner-2065, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1947, 7-Logan Seavey-1925, 8-Chase Stockon-1914, 9-Robert Ballou-1865, 10-C.J. Leary-1846.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kevin Thomas Jr.-123, 2-Hayden Reinbold-118, 3-Justin Grant-106, 4-Cale Coons-104, 5-Robert Ballou-100, 6-Chase Stockon-90, 7-Briggs Danner-89, 8-Jacob Denney-89, 9-Jake Swanson-86, 10-Gavin Miller-71.
CHILI’S SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN PARALLAX GROUP / PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Cale Coons-13, 2-Thomas Meseraull-12, 3-Jacob Denney-11, 4-Kyle Cummins-9, 5-Robert Ballou-9, 6-Briggs Danner-8, 7-Hayden Reinbold-8, 8-Kobe Simpson-8, 9-Justin Grant-6, 10-Stevie Sussex-6.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 28-29, 2026 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – Chili's Sprint Car Smackdown XV – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft / Turn 3 Crazies Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Chase Stockon (12.766)
LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant (12.648)
K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Zack Pretorius
TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Gunnar Setser
K1 RaceGear Fifth Heat Winner: Trey Osborne
Cook Out C-Main Winner: Dalton Stevens
C-Main Winner Right Rear Hoosier Tire Bonus: Dalton Stevens
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Mitchel Moles
Semi Final Transfer Right Rear Tire Bonus: Jacob Denney
Vogel Real Estate Heading Home 1st Award: Kobe Simpson (18th to 12th in the semi)
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (20th to 8th)
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Kyle Cummins (15 laps led)
J & J Trucking / JX Truck Center Lap 29 Leader In Memory of Tony Jarrett: Kyle Cummins
Hard Work Award: Jacob Denney