From Richie Murray
Kokomo, Indiana (July 29, 2025)………From start to finish, Tuesday night at Kokomo Speedway couldn’t have gone anymore perfectly for Briggs Danner.
First, he turned the quickest time in Dirt Draft Hot Laps. He followed that up by posting quick time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying. In his heat race, he charged from sixth to the win. As a grand finale, he stormed from sixth to first once again to earn the feature victory.
Not only did the Allentown, Pennsylvania native win the thing, he completed a clean sweep of the evening in spectacular fashion by erasing a half straightaway deficit in the final lap-and-a-half before making the winning move around the outside of Robert Ballou in the fourth and final turn on the last lap to win by a mere two car lengths.
Danner’s triumph during round four of USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing was his first USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature victory of the year and the fourth of his career.
Furthermore, Danner’s second career USAC Indiana Sprint Week win elevated him to the top of the ISW standings with four rounds remaining in his Hogue Racing Enterprises/E. Schneider & Sons – Aw Shucks Roasted Corn/DRC/Rider Chevy.
“What a racecar we had all night long,” Danner exclaimed. “I love this place, but it’s never treated me this good. It was fast all night long and it felt super comfortable, and I could put it right where I wanted and where I needed to.”
Incredibly, Danner’s sweep of the entire night was the first such performance by a USAC National Sprint Car driver since Kyle Cummins did it almost one year ago to the day at the very same event – Indiana Sprint Week at Kokomo Speedway.
“I just felt comfortable, and I just felt good,” Danner stated. “Everything opened up for me as far as far as holes go. I think we were good enough to make that happen. I could move around when I needed to. I wanted to run the top of one and two, but it was tough early on. Guys started entering high and drove down to the bottom and I couldn’t keep it going so I had to move around. Qualifying is everything, but starting sixth, there are good cars you’ve got to pass.”
Chase Stockon led the initial nine laps from the pole position before third starting Robert Ballou raced by on the bottom of turns three and four on the 10th lap, ultimately building a fairly commanding 1.3 second lead through traffic.
That said, Ballou’s advantage was erased after Kale Drake (13th) and Chelby Hinton (14th) got together in turn one on the 19th lap, forcing both Drake and Hinton to stop, necessitating the first yellow flag of the feature.
Meanwhile, for Danner, it was a steady rise through the field. He was up to fifth by lap five, to fourth on the eighth circuit and third by the 13th lap. On the lap 20 restart, Danner showed a preview of what was to come as he sliced from third to first on the back straightaway around the outside of Stockon and underneath Ballou in one fell swoop.
However, Ballou slid back under Danner off turn four to retain the lead, and moments later, Hunter Maddox, Logan Calderwood, Hinton, and Drake all tangled and stopped in turn four to bring out the caution and negate Danner’s progress, putting him back to third for the next try at a lap 20 restart. It was something Danner certainly didn’t want to see.
“I didn’t want to see that yellow come out,” Danner acknowledged. “I kind of showed Chase the top there. We were really good everywhere and I feel like I could just get out by myself and get momentum going.”
Danner wasted no time getting to second again when the race got rolling again, this time going to the bottom on the back straight as Stockon tested the high line. Over the next six laps, Danner and Stockon exchanged the second spot six different times before Danner was finally able to clear him around the outside of turn four on lap 25. But there was still a lot of ground to cover in a short period of time to reel in Ballou for the lead.
“I was really good after that yellow,” Danner admitted. “I started to get a little antsy there and tried to push a little hard and Chase got back by me. I know Robert is going to be one of the guys to beat here, and with him being out front, it made it tough. If we hadn’t caught lapped traffic, I might’ve been able to get to him, but I don’t think I’d have been able to get by him.”
Danner inched closer and closer to Ballou over the next five laps but still remained a half-straightaway back with two laps to go. Danner slashed his way around the 1/4-mile dirt oval, and by the time the two took the white flag, the gap was a mere 4.5 car lengths.
As Ballou entered turn one on the 30th and final lap, he encountered the 16th place running car of Drake. Ballou dove low to discard of Drake while Danner pulled no punches by ripping the high line. Midway down the back straight, Ballou and Danner simultaneously split around Drake. Even Steven through turns three and four, Danner emerged ahead of Ballou at the exit of turn four, leading just the final half-straightaway to cross the line as the winner in dramatic fashion by a 0.196 second margin over Ballou.
Danner truly did it all on Tuesday, also earning Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors with his sixth to first run while also grabbing the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
It was shattered dreams for Robert Ballou after leading 20 of the 30 laps on his way to a runner-up finish. Impressively, he’s now led laps in all four USAC Indiana Sprint Week features run thus far.
It was also a fine night for Chase Stockon after missing out in the most recent series race on Sunday at Lawrenceburg when the team’s trailer door malfunctioned. On this night, he led the opening nine laps of the feature en route to a third place result.
Hard work paid off for Martinsville, Indiana’s Colin Parker as he made his first career USAC National Sprint Car feature start. After qualifying 28th out of 46 drivers, he transferred through his heat to put it in the show. For that, he earned the ProSource Hard Work Award.
After breaking his left foot in a crash two days earlier at Lawrenceburg Speedway, Justin Grant returned to action in a muted form at Kokomo. After qualifying 25th, he opted not to compete in the heat races, admitting he was unable to get comfortable with the brakes. Instead, he opted to use a provisional starting spot for the feature in order to gain last place point toward the season long championship, then pulling off the track before the start.
July 29, 2025
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 29, 2025 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.430; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.493; 3. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-12.571; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.610; 5. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.632; 6. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-12.653; 7. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.689; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.696; 9. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-12.718; 10. Chelby Hinton, 71p, Phillips-12.751; 11. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.776; 12. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.811; 13. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.822; 14. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-12.855; 15. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.876; 16. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.925; 17. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell/Boyd-12.970; 18. Jack Hoyer, 57H, Hazen-12.985; 19. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.004; 20. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-13.054; 21. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-13.075; 22. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.100; 23. Logan Calderwood, 6, Ford-13.135; 24. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.136; 25. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.138; 26. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-13.143; 27. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-13.144; 28. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-13.202; 29. James Turnbull II, 2J Turnbull-13.213; 30. Sam Hinds, 71H, Hinds-13.265; 31. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-13.265; 32. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-13.274; 33. Austin Nigh, 97, Nigh-13.279; 34. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.289; 35. Travis Millar, 93AU, Millar-13.323; 36. Kole Kirkman, 81, Dice-13.327; 37. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-13.358; 38. Parker Frederickson, 84, Eisenzopf-13.375; 39. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.407; 40. Rob Caho Jr., 78, Caho-13.489; 41. Trey McGranahan, 77s, Sturgeon-13.539; 42. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-13.569; 43. Bryar Schroeter, 21s, Schroeter-13.793; 44. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.862; 45. Cody Trammell, 34T, Trammell-13.887; 46. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.938.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Briggs Danner, 2. Cale Coons, 3. Kyle Shipley, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Hunter Maddox, 6. Hayden Reinbold, 7. Aaron Davis, 8. Troy Carey, 9. Todd Hobson.
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Colin Parker, 5. Joey Amantea, 6. Braydon Cromwell, 7. Austin Nigh, 8. Parker Frederickson, 9. Bryar Schroeter.
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Ricky Lewis, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Logan Calderwood, 5. Jack Hoyer, 6. Harley Burns, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. James Turnbull II.
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zack Pretorius, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Kale Drake, 5. Sam Hinds, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Travis Millar, 8. Cody Trammell, 9. Rob Caho Jr.
CAR IQ FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Chelby Hinton, 5. Kobe Simpson, 6. Kole Kirkman, 7. Trey McGranahan, 8. Beau Brandon.
HOOSIER TIRE C-MAIN: (8 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi) 1. James Turnbull II, 2. Troy Carey, 3. Todd Hobson, 4. Matt Goodnight, 5. Cody Trammell, 6. Parker Frederickson, 7. Bryar Schroeter.
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Hayden Reinbold, 2. Hunter Maddox, 3. Braydon Cromwell, 4. Joey Amantea, 5. Harley Burns, 6. Todd Hobson, 7. Travis Millar, 8. Kayla Roell, 9. Kobe Simpson, 10. Kole Kirkman, 11. Trey McGranahan, 12. Austin Nigh, 13. James Turnbull II, 14. Aaron Davis, 15. Matt Goodnight, 16. Troy Carey, 17. Brandon Mattox, 18. Sam Hinds, 19. Jack Hoyer.
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (6), 2. Robert Ballou (3), 3. Chase Stockon (1), 4. Mitchel Moles (2), 5. Kyle Cummins (5), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 7. C.J. Leary (10), 8. Logan Seavey (8), 9. Gunnar Setser (4), 10. Cale Coons (14), 11. Jake Swanson (7), 12. Ricky Lewis (15), 13. Hayden Reinbold (17), 14. Carson Garrett (16), 15. Zack Pretorius (9), 16. Kale Drake (12), 17. Joey Amantea (20), 18. Charles Davis Jr. (22), 19. Kyle Shipley (23), 20. Kayla Roell (25-P), 21. Hunter Maddox (19), 22. Logan Calderwood (21), 23. Braydon Cromwell (18), 24. Chelby Hinton (13), 25. Colin Parker (24), 26. Justin Grant (26-P).
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Chase Stockon, Laps 10-29 Robert Ballou, Lap 30 Briggs Danner.
**Beau Brandon flipped during the fifth heat. Sam Hinds flipped during the semi.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1829, 2-Justin Grant-1693, 3-Mitchel Moles-1606, 4-Logan Seavey-1589, 5-Briggs Danner-1581, 6-Robert Ballou-1502, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1465, 8-Jake Swanson-1413, 9-C.J. Leary-1350, 10-Kale Drake-1347.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PRESENTED BY HONEST ABE ROOFING POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-230, 2-Logan Seavey-205, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-204, 4-Robert Ballou-194, 5-Jake Swanson-167, 6-Mitchel Moles-155, 7-Kyle Cummins-155, 8-Gunnar Setser-155, 9-Chase Stockon-133, 10-Hayden Reinbold-133.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-174, 2-Briggs Danner-107, 3-Gunnar Setser-94, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-89, 5-Kyle Cummins-86, 6-C.J. Leary-84, 7-Justin Grant-83, 8-Logan Seavey-73, 9-Robert Ballou-69, 10-Chase Stockon-64.
USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-39, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-26, 3-Kayla Roell-24, 4-Briggs Danner-23, 5-C.J. Leary-23, 6-Jake Swanson-21, 7-Logan Seavey-20, 8-Gunnar Setser-20, 9-Kyle Shipley-20, 10-Hayden Reinbold-19.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 30, 2025 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Briggs Danner (12.719)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Briggs Danner (12.430)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Briggs Danner
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Gunnar Setser
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Zack Pretorius
Car IQ Fifth Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Hoosier Tire C-Main Winner: James Turnbull II
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Hayden Reinbold
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Briggs Danner
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Briggs Danner
ProSource Hard Work: Colin Parker