By Richie Murray
Haubstadt, Indiana (June 10, 2020)………Of late, the name that first comes to mind when thinking of Tri-State Speedway is Kyle Cummins. After all, he’s won the last two USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car races held at the quarter-mile dirt oval, the same place he went an undefeated 7-for-7 in sprint car competition during the 2019 season.
Four other drivers have won consecutive USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car features at Tri-State Speedway entering this Sunday night’s “The Showdown” USAC/MSCS co-sanctioned event at the Haubstadt, Ind. track: Cory Kruseman (2004-05), Daron Clayton (2006-07), Kevin Thomas Jr. (2013 & 17-18) and Brady Short (2015).
However, none of those have won three-in-a-row with USAC at “The Class Track.” Cummins, of Princeton, Ind. has that opportunity this Sunday. Cummins owns four total TSS USAC Sprint wins in his career, including 2016, 2017 and two in 2019. In 2019 alone, he led 34 of a possible 60 laps and scored a heat win in September as well and was even third in a USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature there in October.
Sunday, June 14 Tri-State Speedway USAC/MSCS Tickets: www.usactickets.com.
With one more victory, Kevin Thomas Jr. could become the all-time winningest USAC Sprint Car driver at TSS. He currently owns five wins, and one more would break the Cullman, Ala. driver from a tie with Daron Clayton. Thomas won twice in 2013, then again in 2017 and most recently in 2018. The 2014 USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year was also a 2nd place finisher in last October’s TSS Midget round after leading 8 laps.
Cummins and Thomas are two of the nine previous USAC National Sprint Car feature winners at TSS among the 48 drivers entered for Sunday’s event. Robert Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) won in 2014, while Brady Bacon did so in 2015. Another Brady in Brady Short won twice in 2015 as Chase Stockon captured a meaningful score close to his residence of Fort Branch, Ind. in 2016. Carson Short (Marion, Ill.), unrelated to Brady Short, won USAC’s 10,000th race in 2016 while Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) triumphed in 2017 and the series’ winningest driver at 62 victories, Dave Darland (Lincoln, Ind.), won his long-awaited first at Tri-State in 2018.
Last season, Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was the hard charger on both occasions at TSS, driving from 15th to 5th in July and 19th to 8th in September. Meanwhile, Stockon was the fastest qualifier during the rain-interrupted June date a year ago and had a pair of solid finishes at TSS with a 4th in July and a 7th in September.
Not on this list of past TSS USAC winners is Justin Grant, who’s been hotter than a 2-dollar pistol of late with a weekend sweep of USAC Sprint events last weekend at both Iowa’s 34 Raceway and Missouri’s Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. Prior to that, he also was the winner of the most recent USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget feature in late May at Port City Raceway in Okla.
Although he hasn’t found victory lane with USAC at TSS yet, Grant was the fastest qualifier twice last year, both in July and September. He won his heat and finished 3rd in the feature in July. He even ran 5th in last October’s TSS USAC Midget race after starting 16th, earning hard charger honors.
C.J. Leary jumped in the KO Motorsports No. 5K on short notice for last weekend’s USAC Sprint races, and ultimately drove to a runner-up finish at 34 Raceway and a 6th at I-55. The Greenfield, Ind. native was 10th at TSS in July 2019, and in September, won his heat, led 9 laps and finished 3rd.
Stephen Schnapf (Evansville, Ind.), had his best USAC ride of his career last July at TSS, winning his heat, and led 26 of 30 laps before finishing in the runner-up spot behind Cummins. Fellow TSS mainstays also found success last year with USAC at the track. Chayse Hayhurst (Evansville, Ind.) won his first career USAC heat race in July 2019 at TSS while Kendall Ruble (Vincennes, Ind.) was impressive in both outings with an 8th in July and a 4th in September. Critter Malone (Pittsboro, Ind.) had his best run of the season with USAC last September, finishing 6th.
Furthermore, Jarett Andretti (Mooresville, N.C.) was 6th in July at TSS a year ago. USAC’s National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year for 2019, Dustin Clark of Washington, Ind. captured a heat race victory and led his first feature lap with USAC in September. Last September, Josh Hodges finished 10th at TSS, but this year, he’s stepped aside and veteran Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) has been tabbed as the driver of the Hodges Motorsports No. 74x, where he’ll make his USAC debut in the car on Sunday at TSS.
Thomas Meseraull, driving his own No. 00 in this Sunday’s USAC Sprint event, led three laps in last October’s TSS USAC Midget feature and finished 8th after a late incident. Logan Seavey, the 2018 USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year, led the first seven of that same Midget feature and finished 6th.
Pits open Sunday at Tri-State Speedway at 3pm Central, grandstands at 4pm and hot laps at 6pm. Adult general admission tickets are $25 with children 12 and under free. Tickets can be purchased exclusively at www.usactickets.com.
This race, and all other USAC National events will be streamed live on FloRacing at
https://bit.ly/2T1ZW5f.
TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINS
1. (5) Daron Clayton & Kevin Thomas, Jr.
3. (4) Kyle Cummins & Cory Kruseman
5. (3) Rick Hood
6. (2) Hunter Schuerenberg, Brady Short & Jon Stanbrough
9. (1) Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, Steve Butler, Dave Darland, Jay Drake, Tony Elliott, Blake Fitzpatrick, Damion Gardner, Tracy Hines, Kenny Jacobs, Levi Jones, Casey Riggs, Carson Short, Chase Stockon, Chris Windom & J.J. Yeley
TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS
1983: Rick Hood (9/4)
1984: Steve Butler (5/28) & Rick Hood (9/2)
1988: Kenny Jacobs (8/7)
1989: Rick Hood (6/3)
2000: Cory Kruseman (7/30)
2001: Tony Elliott (5/13) & Jay Drake (7/22)
2002: Tracy Hines (5/19) & Cory Kruseman (7/21)
2003: J.J. Yeley (7/20)
2004: Cory Kruseman (7/18)
2005: Cory Kruseman (7/17)
2006: Jon Stanbrough (7/15) & Daron Clayton (9/2)
2007: Daron Clayton (7/21)
2008: Hunter Schuerenberg (7/19)
2009: Levi Jones (7/18)
2010: Blake Fitzpatrick (7/17)
2011: Damion Gardner (7/16) & Casey Riggs (9/17)
2012: Hunter Schuerenberg (5/12), Jon Stanbrough (7/21) & Daron Clayton (9/15)
2013: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5/11) & Kevin Thomas, Jr. (9/14)
2014: Daron Clayton (4/26), Robert Ballou (7/19) & Daron Clayton (9/13)
2015: Brady Bacon (4/18), Brady Short (7/18) & Brady Short (9/19)
2016: Chase Stockon (4/16), Carson Short (7/16) & Kyle Cummins (9/17)
2017: Chris Windom (4/15), Kyle Cummins (7/15) & Kevin Thomas, Jr., (9/16)
2018: Kevin Thomas, Jr. (4/28), Dave Darland (7/28) & Kevin Thomas, Jr. (9/15)
2019: Kyle Cummins (7/27) & Kyle Cummins (9/14)
ENTRY LIST: TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY – USAC AMSOIL NATIONAL/MSCS SPRINTS
00 THOMAS MESERAULL/San Jose, CA (DubZero Racing)
01 ANTHONY D’ALESSIO/Apollo Beach, FL (D’Alessio-Parallax Motorsports)
1x KURT GROSS/Washington, IN (Kurt Gross)
3R KYLE CUMMINS/Princeton, IN (Rock Steady Racing)
4 JUSTIN GRANT/Ione, CA (TOPP Motorsports)
4B DONNY BRACKETT/Evansville, IN (Brackett Motorsports)
5 ANTON HERNANDEZ/Arlington, TX (Baldwin Brothers Racing)
5D ZACH DAUM/Pocahontas, IL (Daum Motorsports)
5K KENT SCHMIDT/Owensville, IN (KO Motorsports)
5m MAX ADAMS/Loomis, CA (Max Adams Racing)
5s CRITTER MALONE/Pittsboro, IN (KO Motorsports)
6 MARIO CLOUSER/Auburn, IL (Clouser Motorsports)
6p CHRIS PHILLIPS/Plainfield, IN (Chris Phillips Racing)
7 SAM SCOTT/Patoka, IN (Sam Scott)
7R RYAN BOND/Haubstadt, IN (Ryan Bond Racing)
9K KEVIN THOMAS JR./Cullman, AL (KT Motorsports)
10 ARIC GENTRY/Robards, KY (GBR Racing)
11p BRADY SHORT/Bedford, IN (Short-Pottorff Racing)
12 ROBERT BALLOU/Rocklin, CA (Ballou Motorsports)
14 JADON ROGERS/Worthington, IN (Kyle Rogers)
15F AARON FARNEY/Brookston, IN (Farney Motorsports)
16 HARLEY BURNS/Brazil, IN (Harley Burns Racing)
17 KENDALL RUBLE/Vincennes, IN (Ruble-Martin Motorsports)
17G DAKOTA JACKSON/Elizabethtown, IN (On the Gass Racing)
18 JARETT ANDRETTI/Mooresville, NC (Andretti Autosport Short Track)
19 CHRIS WINDOM/Canton, IL (Hayward Motorsports)
19AZ LOGAN SEAVEY/Sutter, CA (Reinbold Underwood Motorsports)
20 CHAYSE HAYHURST/Evansville, IN (Chayse Hayhurst Racing)
27 STEVE THOMAS/Ludlow, IL (Steve Thomas)
28 BRANDON MATTOX/Terre Haute, IN (Brandon Mattox Racing)
30 C.J. LEARY/Greenfield, IN (Leary Racing)
32 CHASE STOCKON/Fort Branch, IN (32 TBI Racing)
33m MATT WESTFALL/Pleasant Hill, OH (Ray Marshall Motorsports)
34 STERLING CLING/Tempe, AZ (Sterling Cling Racing)
36D DAVE DARLAND/Lincoln, IN (Eberhardt-Zirzow Racing)
45 ERIC PERROTT/Sumner, IL (Perrott Racing)
47 CHARLES DAVIS JR./Buckeye, AZ (Davis Race Team)
53 BRAYDEN FOX/Avon, IN (Fox Brothers Racing)
54 JONATHAN VENNARD/Vincennes, IN (KO Motorsports)
56 MITCHELL DAVIS/Auburn, IL (Mitchell Davis)
61m STEPHEN SCHNAPF/Evansville, IN (Edwards Motorsports)
69 BRADY BACON/Broken Arrow, OK (Dynamics, Inc.)
71 ROBERT BELL/Colfax, IA (Bell Racing)
71p CARSON SHORT/Marion, IL (Daigh-Phillips Motorsports)
74x SHANE COTTLE/Kansas, IL (Hodges Motorsports)
75 DUSTIN CLARK/Washington, IN (Dustin Clark Racing)
84 STAN BEADLES/Owensville, IN (Beadles Racing)
98 BRANDON MORIN/Jasonville, IN (Morin Racing)