By Matt Skipper
NEWMANSTOWN, PA – August 9, 2025 – Before the 2025 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota season began, Jacob Denney wanted to prove he could win races with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM).
In 18 races through the season, the Galloway, OH driver now sits third in the all-time Series wins list and exits Clyde Martin Memorial Speedway with the Appalachian Midget Week championship by avoiding trouble through the 30-lap finale.
In his second career Xtreme Outlaw start, Steven Snyder Jr. led the field to the opening green flag as Cannon McIntosh and Denney took over second and third place on the opening circuit.
While Snyder found his comfort around the cushion, McIntosh kept the pressure by pacing himself behind the Chase McDermand Racing No. 40X with a 0.6-second gap as Denney struggled to stay equal with the two drivers through the first half of the race.
When Snyder was stalled with lap traffic blocking every lane at the halfway flags, McIntosh took advantage of the opportunity by chopping the gap to 0.2 seconds, then waged war with Snyder as they exchanged slide jobs and used every inch of room available to race each other for the top spot. Though McIntosh continued to use the line to slide job, Snyder blocked the No. 71K multiple times as they chased each other around the 0.125-mile oval.
When the first caution flew on Lap 24, the entire complexity of the Feature changed for the two leaders. Under the yellow flag, Snyder’s left rear tire went flat as McIntosh’s car suffered a broken rear end that concluded both of their nights in an instant.
Snyder and McIntosh’s premature ends erected a new battle for the trip to Xtreme Outlaw Victory Lane, with Denney leading over KKM teammate Gavin Miller and Thursday winner Kyle Jones for the restart.
With two laps remaining, Jones and Miller made contact, which sent the No. 97 SoundGear Toyota spinning off of Turn 4 and collecting Michael Faccinto, which moved Jones up to second place and Series rookie Hayden Wise into third.
On the final restart, Denney took his No. 67 JBL Audio Toyota to the top while Jones and Wise went to the bottom. Though Jones was able to keep Denney within a car-length distance, the KKM pilot hung on for his eighth career Series win to tie Chase McDermand in the all-time Xtreme Outlaw Midgets wins list.
Denney’s hot streak leaving the Keystone State includes a $5,000 check, 10 consecutive Series podiums, and a 273-point lead over McIntosh in the overall standings with six races left in the season.
“‘Don’t mess it up,’ is pretty much what I told myself,” Denney said. ”I finally figured it out there halfway through the race, and they were half a track ahead of me. I reeled them right in five laps, and I was like ‘All right, well, I got shot now.’
“I kind of had a game plan going into it, and then I saw Steven had a left rear going down, then Cannon broke, and I was like ‘Well, you know, it just opened a doorway up for me, so I better not mess it up.’ So, made it a lot easier on me there. Just another great piece tonight to be able to get back to the front.”
Jones crossed the checkered flag in the runner-up position for his second podium finish of the week. With his finish, the Kennedale, TX driver took second place in the week’s points and bagged $2,500 for the Engler Machine and Tool crew.
“Unexpected, really,” Jones said. “We got some gifts, but that’s racing, right? I’ve been on the other side of that where I had some stuff go wrong. But, we were running up there, and sometimes, you need those gifts.
“I gotta say, I hate that for Gavin Miller. I did not mean to get into him there. I got up in the corner, and I thought we were good, then all of a sudden, we were all together. So I’m sorry about that, but it was a good race. I feel like if I timed (the restart) better, we’d have a close shot at the end because I was at his bumper to the finish, we just needed a little more.”
Wise wrapped up her night at “The Clyde” with her first career Series podium appearance. The 14-year-old driver’s performance rewarded her with a fifth-place finish in the Appalachian Midget Week standings.
“It helped a lot,” Wise said. “I mean, once I saw that, you know, obviously that sucks for them, but I mean, I was thinking that it’s another spot for me. I feel bad for all those guys that wrecked, they worked their butts off to get up to the spot they were, but just grateful for all the opportunities to have in that race, and I gotta thank everybody.”
Recap Notes:
Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Hayden Wise
Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Brandon Carr
CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Steven Snyder Jr
High-Point Driver: Steven Snyder Jr
Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger Award: Daniel Bennett (+7)
Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Steven Snyder Jr
Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota gets the engines refired for the Xtreme-POWRi Challenge Series finale weekend with racing at Doe Run Raceway on Friday, Sept. 5, and Highland Speedway on Saturday, Sept. 6.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 67-Jacob Denney[5]; 2. 7X-Kyle Jones[7]; 3. 94-Hayden Wise[8]; 4. 98K-Brandon Carr[3]; 5. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[11]; 6. 72-Alex Karpowicz[2]; 7. 9U-Kameron Key[13]; 8. 97-Gavin Miller[6]; 9. 5U-Michael Faccinto[10]; 10. 40-Chase McDermand[12]; 11. 11-Eric Heydenreich[14]; 12. X-Daniel Bennett[19]; 13. 29-Jason Bennett[16]; 14. 55-Trevor Cline[15]; 15. 67K-Colton Robinson[9]; 16. 40X-Steven Snyder Jr[1]; 17. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 18. 25B-Ryan Roulette[17]; 19. 7G-Jimmy Glenn[18]