By Richie Murray
Putnamville, Indiana (April 11, 2025)………He was the first to one win. He was the first to two wins. Now, he’s the first to three wins.
Kyle Cummins once again demonstrated his blazing start to the 2025 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season on Friday night at Putnamville, Indiana’s Honest Abe Roofing Lincoln Park Speedway by winning his third series feature of the campaign so far.
The Princeton, Indiana’s latest triumph arrived after scoring the opening race in February at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park followed by another victory later that same week at Florida’s Ocala Speedway. In his seven starts thus far in 2025, Cummins has yet to finish outside the top-five, and has run his streak to 14 consecutive top-10 results dating back to the end of the 2024 season.
Starting fourth, Cummins wrestled his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy around the tricky 5/16-mile dirt oval surface to the lead past Logan Seavey in turns three and four on lap 10, then led the remaining 21 circuits to earn his first USAC feature win at Lincoln Park since 2019, and his second overall.
Cummins’ 23rd career USAC National Sprint Car victory moved him to 29th on the all-time series win list alongside C.J. Leary and Roger McCluskey.
Thus far, Cummins has clicked off finishes of 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 5th, 1st, 3rd and 1st, which has him atop the USAC National Sprint Car standings. It’s the type of performance that Cummins has chalked up to a change in mindset.
“This year, things have changed,” Cummins explained. “It’s a no give up attitude. They might be right behind you, so I just have to go, go, go. I’m not going to get beat because I was going easy. My mentality is a little different. We’re pushing every lap and doing what we can do. So far, this season has started out really good.”
From the pole position, Seavey led the opening four laps of the 30-lap contest, while Kyle Shipley slotted into second and Cummins made his way into third. However, Shipley wasn’t content to ride around in second for long as he slid under Seavey for the top spot on the fifth lap to lead for the first time in his USAC career.
Shipley’s initial visit to the top of the leaderboard proved to be short lived as Seavey cut back underneath Shipley in turn two to retake the lead for the ensuing two laps on the sixth and seventh go around. Shipley didn’t stray too far, and on lap eight, he scooted under Seavey in turns three and four to reassume his spot at the head of the field.
Moments later, in turn two, fourth running Mitchel Moles clipped an infield tire and tipped over, bringing out the red flag and taking him out of winning contention. Moles restarted from the tail of the field, but came home in the 16th position. Earlier in the night, Moles tallied his 16th career fast time with the series in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, tying him with USAC national champions Rollie Beale, Jack Hewitt and Doug Kalitta for 29th place all-time.
On the lap nine restart, Seavey found his way back to the lead for a third stint after Shipley caught a rut in turn two. However, lurking in third and ready to pounce was Cummins who picked off Shipley around the outside for second at the stripe on lap nine, then cut low in turn three a half-lap later to swipe the top spot from Seavey for good on the 10th lap.
Over the course of the span between laps 10 and 19, Cummins constructed a full straightaway lead of 4.085 seconds over Seavey and Justin Grant who had risen into the top-three on a cool and chilly night, conditions in which Cummins claimed he doesn’t normally do his best work in, and in a roundabout way, led to him making wholesale changes on the car late in the program.
“Normally, when it’s a little chilly, I feel like I’m not as good,” Cummins revealed. “With the ruts and stuff we had going on up there, I just kind of moved my line a little bit. I watched the (semi-feature) and got super nervous and changed the whole car. Then, I decided to come back just a little bit. It definitely helped me toward the end of the race. But the first five to ten laps were a little hairy.”
That said, Cummins’ comfortable lead nearly came to a hasty halt with six to go on lap 25. Daison Pursley (9th), Robert Ballou (12th) and Zack Pretorius (13th) all tangled and stopped at the entry into turn one. Cummins avoided the catastrophe as he evasively swerved off the banking and avoided any and all contact.
With his five second lead evaporated, Cummins had to rebuild, and that he did. Over the next six laps, Cummins bolted out to a 4.433 second margin as he crossed the finish line over runner-up Justin Grant who swiftly worked his way past Seavey for the spot on the back straightaway with three laps to go.
Seavey wound up third, ending his bid for four consecutive USAC National Sprint Car victories at Lincoln Park Speedway after scoring all three wins in 2024. Jake Swanson finished a season best fourth while Kale Drake was simply incredible as he raced his way from the 23rd starting spot to finish fifth, equaling his career best USAC National Sprint Car result, while also earning Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors.
Prior to Friday night, Kyle Shipley’s best career USAC National Sprint Car finish was 14th, earned in July 2024 at Lincoln Park. On this night, he led the first two laps of his USAC career and ran up front before dropping back to sixth at the finish. Still, it was his best career USAC result, and for that, he was the recipient of Inferno Armor’s Fire Move of the Night.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 11, 2025 – Honest Abe Roofing Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Track
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.685; 2. Max Adams, 17GP, Dutcher-12.720; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.962; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.093; 5. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-13.107; 6. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.124; 7. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.135; 8. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-13.181; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.197; 10. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-13.198; 11. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.274; 12. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-13.276; 13. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-13.277; 14. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-13.280; 15. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-13.289; 16. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-13.331; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.332; 18. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.396; 19. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.425; 20. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-13.446; 21. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-13.456; 22. Tye Mihocko, 24p, Paul-13.479; 23. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, GGR-13.479; 24. Brayden Fox, 53, Fox-13.540; 25. Kale Drake 2B, 2B Racing-13.585; 26. Nate Ervin, 11, Algieo-13.599; 27. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-13.654; 28. Jake Scott, 33, Miller-13.677; 29. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-13.712; 30. Sam Hinds, 71H, Hinds-13.825; 31. Tony Helton, 87, Helton-13.891; 32. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Boyd-13.906; 33. Ivan Glotzbach, i1, Glotzbach-14.046; 34. James Boyd, 16B, Boyd-14.166; 35. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-14.226; 36. Bryce Andrews, 17, MSR-14.359; 37. Justin Meneely, 100, Meneely-15.147; 38. Kyle Johnson, 99J, Johnson-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Kyle Shipley, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Kale Drake, 7. Ivan Glotzbach, 8. Justin Meneely, 9. Colin Parker, 10. James Turnbull II. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Chase Stockon, 3 Logan Seavey, 4. Max Adams, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. James Boyd, 7. Sam Hinds, 8. Tye Mihocko, 9. Nate Ervin. NT
HOOSIER TIRE THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Gabriel Gilbert, 5. Zack Pretorius, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Harley Burns, 8. Tony Helton, 9. Kayla Roell. 2:18.32
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Carson Garrett, 2. Chance Crum, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Brayden Fox, 5. Gunnar Setser, 6. Jake Scott, 7. Braydon Cromwell, 8. Bryce Andrews, 9. Daison Pursley. 2:17.75
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Kale Drake, 3. Harley Burns, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Jake Scott, 6. Bryce Andrews, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Sam Hinds, 10. Nate Ervin, 11. Justin Meneely, 12. Tony Helton, 13. James Boyd, 14. Colin Parker, 15. Ivan Glotzbach. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Justin Grant (3), 3. Logan Seavey (1), 4. Jake Swanson (8), 5. Kale Drake (23), 6. Kyle Shipley (2), 7. Max Adams (5), 8. Jadon Rogers (7), 9. Chase Stockon (13), 10. Carson Garrett (9), 11. Briggs Danner (16), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 13. Daison Pursley (11), 14. Zack Pretorius (10), 15. C.J. Leary (24), 16. Mitchel Moles (6), 17. Gunnar Setser (20), 18. Chance Crum (15), 19. Robert Ballou (14), 20. Hayden Reinbold (17), 21. Brayden Fox (22), 22. Brandon Mattox (18), 23. Gabriel Gilbert (21), 24. Harley Burns (19). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-4 Logan Seavey, Lap 5 Kyle Shipley, Laps 6-7 Logan Seavey, Lap 8 Kyle Shipley, Laps 9 Logan Seavey, Laps 10-30 Kyle Cummins.
**Tye Mihocko flipped during the second heat. Daison Pursley flipped during the fourth heat. Ivan Glotzbach flipped during the semi. Mitchel Moles flipped on lap 9 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-531, 2-Justin Grant-501, 3-Daison Pursley-489, 4-Logan Seavey-395, 5-Mitchel Moles-387, 6-Jake Swanson-382, 7-Brady Bacon-366, 8-C.J. Leary-359, 9-Briggs Danner-357, 10-Kale Drake-354.
PARALLAX GROUP USAC NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-49, 2-C.J. Leary-41, 3-Jadon Rogers-26, 4-Briggs Danner-24, 5-Chase Stockon-24, 6-Robert Ballou-17, 7-Jake Swanson-15, 8-Kyle Cummins-14, 9-Harley Burns-14, 10-Daison Pursley-13.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: April 12, 2025 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – Justin Owen Memorial
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (12.939)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (12.685)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
Hoosier Tire Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Carson Garrett
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kale Drake (23rd to 5th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Kyle Shipley