KOKOMO, Ind. (August 25, 2022) — Justin Grant won the opening night of the Kokomo Sprint Car Smack Down XI Thursday night with the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series at Kokomo Speedway. Grant had to hold off Kyle Cummins, who had to start 23rd after having to change a tire just after pushing off for the main event, during a green/white/checkered finish for the victory. The victory was Grants 13th of the 2022 season.
Even though Grant ended up in victory lane, he felt there was more work to do to improve the handling of his race car to stay up front during the remaining to nights of the Kokomo Sprint Car Smack Down.
“the NOS Energy Drink, Topp Motorsports number four is in victory lane again which is good, but unfortunately I feel like we’ve got quite a bit of work to do. We held on, we won, the big rework there helped us. It was pretty just kind of wide open through the middle and we were maybe a little tight thinking that it was going to that it wasn’t going to hang around as long as it did but certainly helped us be in single lane like that,” said Grant in victory lane. “Cummins is getting around this place pretty good anymore. He went to the tail there and darn near got back to us, so we’ve got some work to do. We’ll get it figured out, we have a lot of data and and notes from this place, so we’ll be alright come Saturday.”
Afterwards Cummins was disappointed at the missed opportunity with such a fast car having to start from the tail, but was optimistic for the remainder of the weekend.
It happens, you know,” said Cummins of the flat tire on the pace lasps. “I thought, ‘It kind of sucks but it might put a show on for the fans,’ because I knew we had a had a really good car and the track was great as always and the car was just set up great. It actually helped out switching the tire that we went to from starting the tail because we’ve probably been too tight starting back here in the back, but I don’t know, just a great car I wish we had a couple more laps that’d be pretty cool, to you know, when going from the tail but it shows we got a pretty good car and you know we want this pretty bad.”
Robert Ballou, Jason McDougal, and Emerson Axsom rounded out the top five.
Kokomo Sprint Car Smack Down XI
USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series
Kokomo Speedway
Kokomo, Indiana
Thursday, August 25, 2022
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-12.617; 2. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-12.648; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.649; 4. Jason McDougal, 5m, KO-12.652; 5. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.666; 6. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.712; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.718; 8. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-12.731; 9. Dave Darland, 36D, Darland/Curb-Agajanian-12.747; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.757; 11. Logan Seavey, 5, Baldwin/Fox-12.758; 12. C.J. Leary, 77m, Michael-12.770; 13. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15K, BGE Dougherty-12.794; 14. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-12.816; 15. Tim Creech, 2c, Creech-12.896; 16. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-12.916; 17. Mario Clouser, 6, EZR-12.927; 18. Anton Hernandez, 2B, 2B Racing-12.951; 19. Jadon Rogers, 14, Engler-12.967; 20. Cole Bodine, 57B, DCT/Crow/Bodine-12.987; 21. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-13.018; 22. Max Adams, 17GP, Dutcher-13.052; 23. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-13.079; 24. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.153; 25. Riley Kreisel, 2, Yeley/Petty-13.158; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.159; 27. Parker Frederickson, 34F, Frederickson-13.217; 28. Tyler Hewitt, 57, Hazen-13.253; 29. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.272; 30. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.332; 31. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-13.369; 32. Alex Banales, 5x, Baldwin/Fox-13.382; 33. Tayte Williamson, 20T, Williamson-13.410; 34. Dalton Stevens, 99x, Stevens-13.424; 35. Larry Kingseed Jr., 59, Powell-13.451; 36. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-13.472; 37. Alex Bright, 20, Hummer-13.535; 38. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-13.622; 39. Cooper Welch, 2w, Welch-13.849; 40. Jack James, 99, James-13.915; 41. Paul White, 1, White-NT (Time of 13.535 disallowed to an illegal right rear tire).
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Mario Clouser, 5. Tom Harris, 6. Dave Darland, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Alex Bright, 9. Riley Kreisel, 10. Tayte Williamson, 11. Paul White. 2:10.08
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Max Adams, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Emerson Axsom, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Corey Smith, 9. Korbyn Hayslett. 2:10.96
PIT STOP USA THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Jack Hoyer, 6. Parker Frederickson, 7. Tim Creech, 8. Dustin Clark, 9. Larry Kingseed Jr., 10. Cooper Welch. 2:10.88
ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Cole Bodine, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Carson Garrett, 8. Alex Banales, 9. Tyler Hewitt, 10. Jack James. 2:11.97
C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi-feature) 1. Carson Garrett, 2. Dustin Clark, 3. Tayte Williamson, 4. Alex Bright, 5. Larry Kingseed Jr., 6. Korbyn Hayslett, 7. Jack James, 8. Paul White, 9. Cooper Welch, 10. Alex Banales, 11. Dalton Stevens. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Dave Darland, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Alex Bright, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Jack Hoyer, 9. Carson Garrett, 10. Parker Frederickson, 11. Tom Harris, 12. Sterling Cling, 13. Corey Smith, 14. Dustin Clark, 15. Tim Creech, 16. Tayte Williamson, 17. Riley Kreisel. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Kyle Cummins (6), 3. Robert Ballou (1), 4. Jason McDougal (4), 5. Emerson Axsom (10), 6. Jadon Rogers (9), 7. C.J. Leary (7), 8. Thomas Meseraull (16), 9. Chase Stockon (11), 10. Mitchel Moles (5), 11. Brady Bacon (3), 12. Jake Swanson (17), 13. Anton Hernandez (8), 14. Scotty Weir (21), 15. Mario Clouser (18), 16. Max Adams (20), 17. Logan Seavey (14), 18. Matt Westfall (12), 19. Dave Darland (13), 20. Cole Bodine (19), 21. Alex Bright (22), 22. Kevin Thomas Jr. (15), 23. Brandon Mattox (23-P). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Justin Grant.
**Dalton Stevens flipped during qualifying. Alex Banales flipped during the C-Main.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-1784, 2-Brady Bacon-1647, 3-Robert Ballou-1615, 4-C.J. Leary-1602, 5-Emerson Axsom-1540, 6-Logan Seavey-1485, 7-Chase Stockon-1338, 8-Matt Westfall-1227, 9-Jadon Rogers-1190, 10-Jake Swanson-1065.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-117, 2-Thomas Meseraull-108, 3-Brady Bacon-98, 4-Buddy Kofoid-85, 5-Robert Ballou-75, 6-Logan Seavey-75, 7-Kaylee Bryson-71, 8-Emerson Axsom-70, 9-C.J. Leary-68, 10-Shane Cottle-67.
SMACKDOWN PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Thomas Meseraull-8, 2-Scotty Weir-7, 3-Emerson Axsom-5, 4-Jake Swanson-5, 5-Kyle Cummins-4, 6-Max Adams-4, 7-Jadon Rogers-3, 8-Mario Clouser-3, 9-Chase Stockon-2, 10-Justin Grant-1.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 26-27, 2022 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – Sprint Car Smackdown XI Presented by Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Clinton Boyles/Carbon Safety Technologies Most Wheel Pack Laps: Chase Stockon (19)
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Mitchel Moles (12.590)
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Kyle Cummins (12.617)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Anton Hernandez
Pit Stop USA Third Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
Rod End Supply Fourth Heat: C.J. Leary
GSP Quality Driving Performance: Kyle Cummins
Country Josh Conder C-Main Winner: Carson Garrett
Hoosier Tire C-Main First Non-Transfer: Larry Kingseed Jr.
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Emerson Axsom
Hoosier Tire Semi-Feature First Non-Transfer: Brandon Mattox
ProSource Hard Work Award: Alex Bright
Feature Hard Charger: Thomas Meseraull (16th to 8th)