Richie Murray
Indianapolis, Indiana (July 30, 2025)………It’d seemingly been so long since C.J. Leary last won a USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature event, in his words, he had to plug in the GPS for the directions to find his way to victory lane.
After a winless drought with the series for the past 66 series events, the Greenfield, Indiana native found his way back to the winner’s circle during Wednesday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing round at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis.
Leary led all 30 laps but was forced to fend off another driver who was hungry for his first USAC National Sprint Car win of the season as well, Mitchel Moles. Leary managed to do just that to prevail by a single car length over Moles to win his first series race in 17 months, dating back to his February 2024 victory at Florida’s Ocala Speedway.
For C.J., it’s been a long time coming in his first year as the driver of the Team AZ-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Curb Records – Kodiak Products – OakCraft/DRC/1-Way Chevy as he earned his second career USAC National Sprint Car win at Circle City, and first since Indiana Sprint Week 2022.
Overall, it’s Leary’s 24th career USAC National Sprint Car score, which moves him past 1963 and 1966 series champion Roger McCluskey for sole possession of 30th place on the all-time series win list.
“Hats off to this team,” Leary praised. “They’ve been working their butts off, and they’ve stuck with me. We’ve worked and worked and worked and we’ve changed cars, motors, torsion bars and drivelines. We’ve really rebuilt this thing almost every night and we’ve tried all kinds of stuff.”
Leary started the feature from the outside of the front row, and instantly secured grip of the top spot, building nearly a full straightaway lead by the end of lap five over pole sitter Robert Ballou and the hard-charging Kyle Cummins who had made his way into third and was challenging to the outside of Ballou for second.
But on lap seven, mayhem ensued midway down the back straightaway as Ballou’s right rear tire and Cummins’ left front tire touched. The resulting contact dislodged Cummins’ left front tire while Ballou spun backward toward the outside turn three wall, making very slight contact. Both drivers took a visit to the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area for repairs before restarting at the tail of the field. Cummins wound up 11th at the finish line while Ballou crossed the stripe in 17th.
On the ensuing restart, Leary jetted out to a commanding advantage, once again constructing a full second lead within a few laps of the race’s resumption as Moles slotted into second. With seven laps remaining, Moles was able to reel Leary in to within a few car lengths, but a decisive move in turn four to put Charles Davis Jr. and Kyle Shipley a lap down netted Leary a buffer of two cars between him and Moles with the laps winding down.
However, a lap 27 debris caution for a wheel cover laying on the track at the exit of turn four put a halt to Leary’s potential breakaway while also taking lapped traffic out of the equation. That put the onus on Leary to decide his race’s fate with four laps remaining.
“In lapped traffic, I made the crumbs work through the middle of three and four,” Leary explained. “I almost went to that on the restart, but we’d been so good on the top, I didn’t want to abort what we’re doing. It was my race to lose. I don’t know if I wanted to see that last caution at the end. I thought I had a good rhythm and I’d been putting together really good laps. (Without traffic), I felt like I was good, then I messed up coming to the white flag and almost threw the right front into the wall. I thought I gave it away when I slid myself on both ends.”
On the final go around, Moles was directly on Leary’s rear bumper heading down the back straightaway one last time. Moles, staying true to the high side, watched as Leary slid himself from the bottom of turn three to the top of turn four. Moles countered at the exit of turn four to cut under Leary who was just a single car length ahead as he crossed under the checkered flag 0.173 seconds of Moles. Kevin Thomas Jr. took third with Shane Cottle making an incredible drive to fourth as Logan Seavey rounded out the top-five.
Leary recalled his closest call of the USAC National Sprint Car season prior to Wednesday’s triumph. Back in February of this year at Ocala, he was leading coming back to a green-white-checkered restart but was overtaken by Cummins for the lead and the win. Leary was determined to not let history repeat itself once again.
“The last race we were in contention to win, there was a caution with a green-white-checkered, and I got complacent, honestly,” Leary reflected. “It’s a sprint car race and you’ve got to run these things hard every lap. If you don’t do that, a guy like Mitchel or Logan will be right there to pounce on you. We’ve been digging. It’s been a long season, and I’ve almost forgotten where victory lane was.”
Mitchel Moles came within a whisker of earning his first USAC win of the season but came home as the runner-up. It’s now the fourth time he’s finished in second place with the series this year.
In his five USAC Indiana Sprint Week feature starts this week, Kevin Thomas Jr. has finished 4th-3rd-3rd-6th-3rd. His latest third place result now has him only seven points out of the ISW point lead in second place with three races to go.
Was there any doubt that Shane Cottle would move forward after starting 22nd in the feature? In the end, he advanced a whopping 18 positions to finish fourth, equaling the biggest charge of the USAC National Sprint Car season thus far in 2025. That earned him Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors for the evening.
Brandon Mattox overcame a 30th place qualifying run to race his way into the feature. That’s the deepest in qualifying any driver made it out successfully on this night at Circle City. He went on to finish third in his heat to make the main event and pick up ProSource Hard Work honors.
James Turnbull II made a solid first impression in his first USAC National Sprint Car feature start. He made the feature by grabbing the final transfer spot in the semi-feature on the last corner of the last lap, then ran inside the top-five for a portion of the first half of the feature for good measure. That made him the recipient of the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Logan Seavey collected his 21st career USAC National Sprint Car fast time during the Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying session. That tied him with the great A.J. Foyt for 23rd place all-time in series history.
July 30, 2025
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: 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
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.027; 2. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-12.087; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.123; 4. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.124; 5. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.139; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.187; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.199; 8. Logan Calderwood, 6, Ford-12.204; 9. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.249; 10. James Turnbull II, 2J Turnbull-12.295; 11. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-12.328; 12. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.333; 13. Rylan Gray, 96, Slinkard-12.348; 14. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-12.356; 15. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-12.363; 16. Trey Osborne, 6T, Ebert-12.372; 17. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.386; 18. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.407; 19. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell/Boyd-12.414; 20. Kole Kirkman, 81, Dice-12.446; 21. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-12.482; 22. Max Adams, 23s, Simon-12.490; 23. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-12.502; 24. Shane Cottle, 34, Olson-12.508; 25. Austin Nigh, 97, Nigh-12.519; 26. Gabriel Gilbert, 10G, GGR-12.539; 27. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-12.557; 28. Trey McGranahan, 77s, Sturgeon-12.618; 29. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-12.625; 30. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.642; 31. Travis Millar, 93AU, Millar-12.651; 32. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-12.675; 33. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-12.734; 34. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-12.739; 35. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-12.782; 36. Cody Trammell, 34T, Trammell-12.810; 37. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-12.837; 38. Tony Helton, 87, Helton-12.890; 39. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-12.915; 40. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-13.087; 41. Jim Tribby, 9, Tribby-13.337; 42. Eli Wilhelmus, 55, Wilhelmus-14.882; 43. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-NT; 44. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Charles Davis Jr., 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Trey Osborne, 6. Gabriel Gilbert, 7. Travis Millar, 8. Cody Trammell, 9. Jim Tribby. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Kyle Shipley, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Max Adams, 6. Ricky Lewis, 7. Todd Hobson, 8. Michael Clark. NT
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Logan Calderwood, 4. Nate Schank, 5. Trey McGranahan, 6. Rylan Gray, 7. Tony Helton, 8. Troy Carey. NT
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Kale Drake, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Braydon Cromwell, 8. Hunter Maddox. NT
CAR IQ FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Brandon Mattox, 4. Kole Kirkman, 5. James Turnbull II, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Austin Nigh, 8. Kobe Simpson. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature) 1. Trey Osborne, 2. Rylan Gray, 3. Max Adams, 4. James Turnbull II, 5. Travis Millar, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Kale Drake, 8. Gabriel Gilbert, 9. Hunter Maddox, 10. Ricky Lewis, 11. Cody Trammell, 12. Todd Hobson, 13. Austin Nigh, 14. Trey McGranahan, 15. Kobe Simpson, 16. Kayla Roell, 17. Braydon Cromwell, 18. Jim Tribby, 19. Troy Carey, 20. Tony Helton. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Mitchel Moles (3), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 4. Shane Cottle (22), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Jake Swanson (10), 7. Hayden Reinbold (12), 8. Gunnar Setser (8), 9. Briggs Danner (17), 10. Carson Garrett (5), 11. Kyle Cummins (4), 12. Trey Osborne (16), 13. Rylan Gray (13), 14. James Turnbull II (11), 15. Chase Stockon (15), 16. Max Adams (20), 17. Robert Ballou (1), 18. Kale Drake (24-P), 19. Harley Burns (14), 20. Ricky Lewis (25-P), 21. Charles Davis Jr. (19), 22. Brandon Mattox (23), 23. Nate Schank (21), 24. Kyle Shipley (26), 25. Logan Calderwood (9), 26. Kole Kirkman (18). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 C.J. Leary.
**Matt Goodnight flipped during hot laps. Zack Pretorius flipped during qualifying.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1882, 2-Justin Grant-1693, 3-Mitchel Moles-1684, 4-Logan Seavey-1659, 5-Briggs Danner-1634, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1537, 7-Robert Ballou-1537, 8-Jake Swanson-1473, 9-C.J. Leary-1430, 10-Kale Drake-1374.
USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PRESENTED BY HONEST ABE ROOFING POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-283, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-276, 3-Logan Seavey-275, 4-Mitchel Moles-233, 5-Robert Ballou-229, 6-Jake Swanson-227, 7-Gunnar Setser-212, 8-C.J. Leary-209, 9-Kyle Cummins-208, 10-Hayden Reinbold-190.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-174, 2-Briggs Danner-115, 3-Gunnar Setser-94, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-93, 5-Kyle Cummins-86, 6-C.J. Leary-85, 7-Justin Grant-83, 8-Logan Seavey-74, 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.-34, 3-Briggs Danner-32, 4-C.J. Leary-29, 5-Shane Cottle-29, 6-Jake Swanson-26, 7-Kayla Roell-26, 8-Logan Seavey-24, 9-Hayden Reinbold-24, 10-Gunnar Setser-23.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 31, 2025 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – Don Smith Classic / 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Chase Stockon (12.030)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey (12.027)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Gunnar Setser
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
Car IQ Fifth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Trey Osborne
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Shane Cottle (22nd to 4th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: James Turnbull II
ProSource Hard Work: Brandon Mattox