By Dick Jordan
Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind. stands atop the 2012 USAC National Drivers Championship standings after posting “top-10” finishes in all five Indiana Midget Week outings this past week. That left him with a 46-point edge over Levi Jones, who won at Bloomington, Ind. Friday but failed to crack the “top-10” in any of the other four races.
Hines and Jones now face this Friday’s USAC “doubleheader” at Iowa Speedway, featuring the Traxxas Silver Crown series and Mopar National Midgets in the track’s “Casey’s General Stores USAC Challenge.”
Chris Windom ranks third in the latest standings after four “top-five” IMW finishes last week, while Mopar National Midget point leader Darren Hagen is fourth after a pair of IMW wins, a second, fourth and a sixth.
Defending two-time USAC National Drivers Champion Bryan Clauson is fifth in the points after winning last week at Putnamville, Ind. and finishing second at Kokomo.
2012 USAC National Drivers Championship Standings
1-Tracy Hines-703, 2-Levi Jones-657, 3-Chris Windom-651, 4-Darren Hagen-650, 5-Bryan Clauson-577, 6-Jerry Coons Jr.-527, 7-Bobby East-482, 8-Dave Darland-390, 9-Jon Stanbrough-370, 10-Damion Gardner-330.