Jake Swanson captured his second straight Western World Championships USAC Sprint Car prelim feature victory on Friday night at Central Arizona Raceway. (Rich Forman Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Casa Grande, Arizona (October 23, 2026)………Jake Swanson didn’t think it could get any better after capturing Thursday’s 59th annual Western World Championships opener at Central Arizona Raceway.
But he was wrong, and that’s been about the only thing of late that the Anaheim, California native hasn’t been exactly on point about.
During Friday’s Western World night two feature, Swanson tracked down Ryan Bernal for the lead at the midway point and took control throughout the second half, leading the final 15 laps en route to his second straight USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship / Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car win in a 24-hour span in Casa Grande.
“I just can’t believe it, man. Two in a row. Unreal,” Swanson exclaimed. “What a spot to be in after building this thing with Austin Daming. When his dad passed away, we took this local car and turned it into a national caliber race program. I knew we could win races. It was just going to be a matter of time and partnering with the right people to help us do it. Doug Dougherty is one of those guys with the 1-Way (engines). We definitely couldn’t do this tour without at least two 1-Ways to be able to do it.”
In the meantime, Swanson is building quite the guitar collection with the six string instrument serving as the Western World winner’s trophy. The 2022 Western World champ got an electric guitar in victory lane four years ago, and over the past two nights, has added a couple of acoustic guitars to the growing stockpile. Fittingly, Swanson has spent the majority of his time lately pickin’ and grinnin’.
“This racecar goes around really well,” Swanson beamed. “(Crewman) Caleb (Stelzig) and I have just been excellent on our decision making to get this thing dialed. I didn’t think it could have been better than it was last night. Honestly, I felt like we were better than we were last night. I just appreciate all the hard work that Caleb is putting in on this thing.”
Swanson’s consecutive triumphs on the 3/8-mile dirt oval are his first back to back USAC National Sprint Car wins since scoring at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway and Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway in 2023.
Furthermore, Swanson’s third win in his last four series starts at the helm of his Daming Swanson Motorsports/Inland Rigging – Snake Enterprises/DRC/1-Way Chevy No. 5T have pushed his USAC National Sprint Car career win total 12, tying him with Briggs Danner, Eric Gordon, and Mitchel Moles for 49th place on the all-time list.
Starting on the outside of the front row alongside pole sitter Ryan Bernal was Swanson, both of whom share the exact same primary sponsor in Inland Rigging. Early on, while Bernal took off with the lead, Swanson ran in the runner-up spot for the initial three laps. That is until Gavin Miller snuck by him along the bottom to slot into second, albeit briefly, for just a lap, before Swanson used the high line momentum to charge back around Miller into second.
By lap 12, the top three of Bernal, Swanson, and Miller ran nose to tail at the front of the field. Entering turn one, Miller nearly slid past both Bernal and Swanson, but as he drifted up the track, he lost the momentum and lost both positions just as quickly as he had gained them.
All three remained under a blanket on the 16th lap when Miller tried again with a slide job in turns one and two. Off the exit of two, Swanson raced around Miller’s slider and was mere inches off the rear bumper of Bernal heading down the back straightaway. Swanson kept his foot in it and used the run to pull alongside the inside of Bernal entering turn three and successfully completed his quest in wrestling away control.
“I was just pacing him,” Swanson explained of his run on Bernal. “I felt like I was getting off the corner better than he was, but it’s so hard to pass. I just really didn’t want to short him. I didn’t want to jump the gun on it and end up in a spot where I got slid because, obviously, the 21AZ (Miller) was pretty good. He was showing his nose there on the bottom and I was worried he was going to go by both of us there for a little bit.”
Amid the hustle and bustle at the head of the field, newly crowned 2026 USAC National Sprint Car champion Kyle Cummins snuck by Miller for third in the midst of a full on traffic jam that snarled pretty much everybody from second place on back all while Swanson successfully extended his advantage to 1.2 seconds over the field.
On lap 24, Swanson and Jacob Denney bumped sidewalls on the front straightaway. As he regained his grip moments later, Miller rapidly closed in toward the tail tank of Cummins on the high side of turn one. The resulting contacting between Miller and Cummins turned Cummins around into a 360 degree spin. By rule, after the yellow flag was displayed, Cummins was relegated to restarting at the tail of the field.
Cummins’ resulting 18th place finish officially ended one of the greatest feats in the 71-year history of USAC National Sprint Car racing as his record streak of 45 consecutive top 10 finishes dating back to the second race of the season in February of this year came to a close.
After Bernal slapped the turn four cushion on the ensuing lap 24 restart, Miller capitalized his way into second while Stevie Sussex and Denney also moved up in the pecking order past Bernal to third and fourth, respectively speaking.
But up front, Swanson had the field covered as he crossed under the checkered flag about a second ahead of Gavin Miller, while Stevie Sussex followed up his first career USAC National Sprint Car podium finish on Thursday with another on Friday night after taking third. Ryan Bernal tallied fourth after leading the first 15 laps. Kevin Thomas Jr. rounded out the top five.
Jacob Denney was running fourth on the final lap until he spun into the outside wall in turns three and four, relegating him back to a disappointing 19th place result after a valiant charge from his 14th place starting position.
Swanson is one of six drivers to have locked himself into Saturday’s $35,000 to win Western World Championships USAC 410 Sprint Car feature as well the $5,000 to win Underwood Dash. Those drivers include Swanson, Gavin Miller, Stevie Sussex, Kyle Cummins, Ryan Bernal, and Kevin Thomas Jr. Each of the six earned the most combined points during Thursday and Friday night’s programs.
“Obviously, the big money is tomorrow, but we did our job by being able to lock into the top six,” Swanson stated. “I was just wanting to make sure I didn’t ruin it tonight. If I would have been on the podium tonight, I would have been happy just to make sure that we got a good shot at the money tomorrow.”
By leading the most laps for the second night in a row, Swanson also collected the K & N Filters Clean Air Award. He’s now won both nights of Western World and has led 45 of the 60 laps thus far in the USAC 410 portion of the program.
Mitchel Moles earned a grand total of $1,052.91 in hard charger money for his run from 22nd to 9th in the feature. A total of $902.91 came via the Lafond Jar of Change, while $150 more came courtesy of Rod End Supply. Justin Grant advanced 19 positions from 25th to 6th but was not eligible for the accolades due to being a provisional starter.
Gavin Miller clocked in with his second career USAC National Sprint Car fast time during LearnLab Qualifying. He turned a fast lap 15.280 seconds to top the field of 38 drivers and cars on hand.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 23, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 59th Western World Championships
LEARNLAB / WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: 1. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-15.280; 2. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.315; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-15.404; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.407; 5. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-15.456; 6. J.J. Yeley, 33p, Petty-15.468; 7. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-15.469; 8. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-15.504; 9. Ryan Bernal, 17, Dunkel-15.579; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-15.579; 11. C.J. Leary, 77m, Michael-15.602; 12. Chet Williams, 38, Williams-15.605; 13. R.J. Johnson, 1p, Petty-15.611; 14. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.612; 15. Stevie Sussex, 3R, Rock Steady-15.636; 16. Jacob Denney, 87, CB/Spire-15.656; 17. Robert Ballou, 6, Calderwood-15.664; 18. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.754; 19. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-15.763; 20. David Gasper, 18, Gasper/Kittle-15.819; 21. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-15.821; 22. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-15.851; 23. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-15.870; 24. Connor Lundy, 97, Lundy-15.911; 25. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-15.923; 26. Elijah Gile, 17GP, Dutcher-15.938; 27. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.025; 28. Wayne Siddle, 007, Siddle-16.082; 29. Daylin Perreira, 21p, Perreira-16.091; 30. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-16.092; 31. Jadon Rogers, 5, Baldwin/Fox-16.172; 32. Dayton Shelton, 4D, Shelton-16.294; 33. Cole Wakim, 17x, Dunkel-16.377; 34. Ricky Thornton Jr., 20RT, Petty-16.451; 35. Brecken Guerrero, 98B, Guerrero-16.458; 36. Alex Peck, 67x, Walker-16.549; 37. Verne Sweeney, 98, Guerrero-16.790; 38. Tyler Cato, 38x, Cato-16.806.
K1 RACEGEAR / SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gavin Miller (6), 2. Robert Ballou (2), 3. Ricky Lewis (1), 4. R.J. Johnson (3), 5. Ryan Bernal (4), 6. Briggs Danner (7), 7. Cale Coons (5), 8. Cole Wakim (9), 9. Daylin Perreira (8), 10. Verne Sweeney (10). 2:10.929
TJ FORGED / ROY MILLER FREIGHT LINES SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Charles Davis Jr. (2), 3. Trey Osborne (8), 4. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (1), 5. Hayden Reinbold (6), 6. Elijah Gile (7), 7. Tyler Cato (10), 8. Justin Grant (3), 9. J.J. Yeley (5), 10. Ricky Thornton Jr. (9). NT
K & N FILTERS / RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Stevie Sussex (3), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 3. Jadon Rogers (8), 4. C.J. Leary (4), 5. Kobe Simpson (1), 6. Austin Williams (2), 7. Chase Stockon (5), 8. Mitchel Moles (7), 9. Brecken Guerrero (9). NT
INDY POWERSPORTS / HONDA FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. David Gasper (2), 2. Jacob Denney (3), 3. Connor Lundy (1), 4. Jake Swanson (5), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Dayton Shelton (8), 7. Chet Williams (4), 8. Alex Peck (9), 9. Wayne Siddle (7). 2:19.349
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. J.J. Yeley (2), 2. Briggs Danner (4), 3. Cale Coons (1), 4. Mitchel Moles (11), 5. Elijah Gile (5), 6. Austin Williams (3), 7. Chase Stockon (7), 8. Dayton Shelton (6), 9. Ricky Thornton Jr. (17), 10. Cole Wakim (12), 11. Justin Grant (10), 12. Verne Sweeney (18), 13. Alex Peck (13), 14. Wayne Siddle (14), 15. Brecken Guerrero (16), 16. Chet Williams (8), 17. Tyler Cato (9). 3:37.691
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (2), 2. Gavin Miller (6), 3. Stevie Sussex (8), 4. Ryan Bernal (1), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 6. Justin Grant (25-P), 7. J.J. Yeley (11), 8. Logan Seavey (3), 9. Mitchel Moles (22), 10. C.J. Leary (12), 11. Cale Coons (10), 12. Ricky Lewis (17), 13. Connor Lundy (20), 14. Chase Stockon (27-P), 15. Briggs Danner (21), 16. Charles Davis Jr. (16), 17. Kyle Cummins (7), 18. Jadon Rogers (24), 19. Jacob Denney (14), 20. Trey Osborne (23), 21. R.J. Johnson (13), 22. Hayden Reinbold (5), 23. Kobe Simpson (19), 24. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (18), 25. Brecken Guerrero (28-P), 26. Robert Ballou (15), 27. Verne Sweeney (26-P), 28. David Gasper (9). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-15 Ryan Bernal, Laps 16-30 Jake Swanson.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-3294, 2-Justin Grant-3086, 3-Mitchel Moles-3026, 4-Jake Swanson-2812, 5-Briggs Danner-2621, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2590, 7-Chase Stockon-2454, 8-C.J. Leary-2452, 9-Logan Seavey-2421, 10-Robert Ballou-2331.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-1488, 2-Austin Williams-1167, 3-Connor Lundy-1031, 4-Verne Sweeney-914, 5-Brecken Guerrero-898, 6-Ricky Lewis-802, 7-Dayton Shelton-686, 8-Eddie Tafoya Jr.-651, 9-Charles Davis Jr.-621, 10-Daylin Perreira-581.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-147, 2-Hayden Reinbold-147, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-142, 4-Robert Ballou-133, 5-Briggs Danner-119, 6-Chase Stockon-117, 7-Cale Coons-109, 8-Mitchel Moles-106, 9-Jacob Denney-106, 10-Jake Swanson-104.
WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PARALLAX GROUP / PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-J.J. Yeley-23, 2-Mitchel Moles-22, 3-Ricky Lewis-14, 4-Stevie Sussex-12, 5-Jadon Rogers-12, 6-Gavin Miller-11, 7-Briggs Danner-10, 8-Cole Wakim-10, 9-Verne Sweeney-10, 10-Kyle Cummins-9.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: October 24, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 59th Western World Championships
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Kyle Cummins (15.508)
LearnLab / Woodland Auto Display Fast Qualifier: Gavin Miller (15.280)
K1 RaceGear / Sexton Fire Protection First Heat Winner: Gavin Miller
TJ Forged / Roy Miller Freight Lines Second Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
K & N Filters / Rescue Mission Alliance Third Heat Winner: Stevie Sussex
Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Briggs Danner
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: J.J. Yeley
Rod End Supply Hard Charger / Lafond Jar of Change: Mitchel Moles (22nd to 9th)
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Jake Swanson (15 laps led)
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 23, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 59th Western World Championships
FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Jacob Denney, 87, CBI/Spire-16.577; 2. Jake Helsel, 44, Ledbetter-16.795; 3. Dayton Shelton, 4D, Shelton-16.921; 4. Ricky Thornton Jr., 20RT, Petty-17.068; 5. Austin Cato, 38, Cato-17.368; 6. Joshua Shipley, 2x, Shipley-17.486; 7. Racin Silva, 5s, Silva-17.591; 8. Jordan Stetson, 8AZ, Stetson-17.826; 9. Elijah Loper, 43x, Loper-17.826.
SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-16.751; 2. Koen Crawford, 48, Crawford-16.883; 3. R.J. Johnson, 33p, Petty-16.936; 4. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-17.067; 5. Lonnie Oliver, 11, Oliver-17.886; 6. A.J. Hernandez, 72, Hernandez-17.914; 7. Bryan Ledbetter Jr., 7OH, Ledbetter-17.945; 8. James Webster, 5AZ, Webster-18.223; 9. Ryan Bernal, 6c, Calderwood-NT.
THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Elijah Gile, 17GP, Dutcher-16.331; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 51, Johnson-16.691; 3. Briggs Danner, 6, Calderwood-16.733; 4. Chaz Baca, 57, Stone-17.259; 5. Austin Ervine, 21, AJ-18.194; 6. Bruce St. James, 1AZ, St. James-18.301; 7. Dan Klinder, 30K, Klinder-18.724; 8. Brent Yarnal, 29, Yarnal-18.873; 9. Rickey Kinney Jr., 81K, Kinney-19.105.
FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Charles Davis Jr., 11c, DAR-17.265; 2. Ricky Lewis, 007, Siddle-17.434; 3. Grant Schaadt, 88G, Schaadt-17.623; 4. Daylin Perreira, 21p, Perreira-17.929; 5. David Gasper, 20, Deskins-18.077; 6. Mickey Gile, 23AZ, Sussex-18.870; 7. Ronald Webster, 25w, Waddle-18.901; 8. Larry Peterson, 63, Peterson-18.986.
FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (4), 2. Ricky Thornton Jr. (1), 3. Jake Helsel (3), 4. Dayton Shelton (2), 5. Joshua Shipley (6), 6. Racin Silva (7), 7. Austin Cato (5), 8. Jordan Stetson (8), 9. Elijah Loper (9). NT
SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. R.J. Johnson (2), 2. Gavin Miller (4), 3. J.J. Yeley (1), 4. Ryan Bernal (9), 5. Koen Crawford (3), 6. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. (7), 7. A.J. Hernandez (6), 8. Lonnie Oliver (5), 9. James Webster (8). NT
THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (2), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 3. Elijah Gile (4), 4. Bruce St James (6), 5. Austin Ervine (5), 6. Rickey Kinney Jr. (9), 7. Dan Klinder (7), 8. Brent Yarnal (8), 9. Chaz Baca (1). NT
FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (3), 2. Grant Schaadt (2), 3. Daylin Perreira (1), 4. David Gasper (5), 5. Charles Davis Jr. (4), 6. Ronald Webster (7), 7. Mickey Gile (6), 8. Larry Peterson (8). NT
SEMI: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Racin Silva (1), 2. Austin Cato (5), 3. Chaz Baca (12), 4. Lonnie Oliver (9), 5. A.J. Hernandez (6), 6. Rickey Kinney Jr. (3), 7. Jordan Stetson (8), 8. Brent Yarnal (10), 9. Ronald Webster (4), 10. Larry Peterson (11), 11. Dan Klinder (7), 12. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. (2). NT
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gavin Miller (1), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 3. Elijah Gile (4), 4. Briggs Danner (2), 5. Ricky Lewis (5), 6. R.J. Johnson (7), 7. Charles Davis Jr. (6), 8. Jake Helsel (11), 9. David Gasper (17), 10. J.J. Yeley (12), 11. Ryan Bernal (15), 12. Dayton Shelton (14), 13. Ricky Thornton Jr. (8), 14. Grant Schaadt (10), 15. Bruce St. James (16), 16. Koen Crawford (19), 17. Daylin Perreira (13), 18. Joshua Shipley (18), 19. Austin Cato (22), 20. Austin Ervine (20), 21. Lonnie Oliver (24), 22. Jacob Denney (3), 23. Chaz Baca (23), 24. Racin Silva (21). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-25 Gavin Miller.
USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-981, 2-Dayton Shelton-767, 3-Koen Crawford-763, 4-Daylin Perreira-752, 5-Bruce St. James-718, 6-Stevie Sussex-676, 7-A.J. Hernandez-675, 8-Elijah Gile-568, 9-Jordan Stetson-550, 10-Charles Davis Jr.-536.
NEXT USAC AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS SOUTHWEST SPRINT CAR RACE: October 24, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 59th Western World Championships