By T.J. Buffenbarger
(September 28, 2025) — The United States Auto Club wrapped up their first visit to Butler Motor Speedway in 35 years and their first trip north to Michigan in 12. Here are some takeaways from what will hopefully no longer be a once every decade trip to the mitten for the series.
• Kyle Cummins’ victory ended a 20 race winless streak for the driver from Princeton, Indiana. For some that might not seem as big of deal when you see drivers work their entire careers just to get a USAC National Sprint Car Series victory, but for someone racing the level Cummins has the past several seasons that winless streak was out of character.
Cummins revealed in a post-race interview after Butler his race team discovered a mechanical issue that had hampered the team for most of the summer. After getting back to basics at Eldora during the 4-Crown Nationals weekend, Cummins has scored a trio of second place finishes to go with his victory on Saturday.
Keep in mind Cummins is still leading the USAC National Sprint Car Standings and will ran well enough while encountering these issues that many other drivers and teams would be happy to change places with him and his Petty Performance Racing team, but it was evident getting a victory appeared to take some weight of Cummins shoulders.
With three more stops in the Midwest before the tour goes west to finish out the season with four more events, Cummins is hitting his stride and is poised to finish out the season strong rather than just riding things out to points race.
• Throughout the years I’ve heard seasoned racers talking about how the drivers today are not as tough as people who drove sprint cars in the past. This has taken place my entire life around sprint car racing.
I can assure you that Justin Grant’s toughness could fit into any era of sprint car racing.
Grant’s racing exploits with his broken foot suffered in July at Lawrenceburg Speedway during Indiana Sprint Week along with his return to the cockpit and various apparatuses to allow him to use his left foot has been well documented.
I can tell you that what you see on social media and watching on FloRacing does not do justice to what Grant is accomplishing this year. Witnessing what he is going through to race on a standard night at the track makes what he has accomplished over the past two months even more impressive.
Seeing Grant willingly exit his team’s trailer after putting in 30 laps at Butler Motor Speedway to do a post-race interview, walking gingerly with a cane this week claiming his foot “hurts a little after a race” (It’s looked like way more than just a little pain), I can tell you that Grant is likely on the podium for toughest race car drivers I’ve had the pleasure of covering.
Having a chance to discuss Grant’s situation with the foot injury after the post-race interview we did. Not being one to sit around to do nothing, Grant has had to do that during the week and is not a fan of the inactivity.
When I asked if not being able to do much during the week had impacted his fitness in the car, Grant indicated the impact had been very little because his time out of the cockpit was relatively short. Since he continued to drive, Grant has managed to keep himself in race shape where if he had sat out for a longer period with the inactivity, it would have been more of a struggle.
In an era where I’m often hearing stories from different supervisors at various companies that have employees taking mental health days or sick time because they don’t feel like working, Grant’s performance this year would likely make me feel guilty if I had to take time off my job for having a broken foot.
• When drivers are asked about other tracks that are similar to Butler, the list is typically small or non-existent. The USAC drivers had some very interesting comparisons on Saturday, with the most common being of all places Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana.
It took me a moment to wrap my head around the comparison, but it does make sense. It’s not so much for the shape or size, but the surface.
The moisture in Butler’s racing surface on Saturday was unrelenting and kept the top lane “dirty” for most of the night. Without a curb building up, it made running the top tricky for more than a lap or two challenging at times.
It was the continuation of a shift many of us have noticed since the Interstate Racing Association program mid-summer. Butler has shifted from being top dominant to the bottom lane of the racetrack being the preferred line.
I’m not sure if this is from change in track prep, where the infield tires are located, or other factors, but it’s been quite a change over the past few weeks. It’s not any better or worse racing wise, but a noteworthy change.
Butler’s shape and speed doesn’t necessarily lend itself to big charges through the field with sprint cars, but in recent years it has produced some interesting races for the lead, which held true during Saturday’s USAC program as Kyle Cummins and Jusin Grant traded the lead and ripped through slower traffic that was in higher quantity than we typically see during a USAC program.
• While the United States Auto Club received most of the attention on Saturday, I feel fans that enjoyed having a National Non-Wing touring sprint car event in Michigan owes the Great Lakes Traditional Sprints, and Michigan Traditional Sprints as the series was known as before being acquired by Barry Marlow, a debt of gratitude.
With 22 cars showing up to compete at Butler Saturday, the possibility of a handful of GLTS cars showing up is what made this show feasible to begin with. Without a handful of their teams supporting that program it would not have turned out as well as it did.
I thought it was a nice touch for USAC CEO Kevin Miller, who grew up going to sprint car races at Butler, to put up some bonus money for the top Michigan cars.
While GLTS catches some flack at times for the quality of the cars they draw to certain events, I don’t think Butler would have booked that USAC program had they not believed it would draw some local support.
• With Tim Wilber and his family wrapping up another season at the helm of Butler Motor Speedway, 2025 will go down as a very impressive season of growth. With their season in the books there are a few things that will stand out in my mind from this pas season.
Having High Limit Racing, United States Auto Club, and Interstate Racing Association all staged national and regional level touring events at Butler in addition to the local Great Lakes Super Sprints, Great Lakes Traditional Sprints, and winged 410 sprint cars that dot the calendar throughout the year at Butler. Being able to have that caliber of shows close to home is wonderful.
Along with the major events, the other thing that will stand out from my visits to Butler this season is witnessing the racing surface in the smoothest condition I’ve seen on a consistent basis since the days when the track surface was covered in oil.
I never thought we would see Butler’s surface return to being smooth after the oil was removed, but Wilber and others that help with the track prep, many volunteering their time, have proved otherwise. Kudos to all the people that helped contribute time and equipment to that effort.