By Richie Murray
Casa Grande, Arizona (October 23, 2025)………Four years following his initial taste of Western World success, Logan Seavey feasted on the field during Friday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship debut at Casa Grande’s Central Arizona Raceway.
Seavey (Sutter, California) rushed into the lead from his outside second row starting position by lap three and paced the remaining 28 circuits to capture the opening night of the 58th annual Western World Championships at the 3/8-mile dirt oval, an event co-sanctioned by the Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car Series.
For Seavey, it was his eighth victory of the USAC National Sprint Car season and the 32nd of his career, tying him with the great Rollie Beale for 16th place on the series’ all-time feature win list.
After qualifying fourth and finishing second by a single car length in his heat race, Seavey had sensed that he let down his team and their Abacus Racing/Mountain Mechanical – Droplight – Elbrecht Concrete/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
“I knew my car was going to be super, super good early,” Seavey foreshadowed. “(Crew chief) Kirk (Simpson) had this thing lights out all night. I feel like I narrowly missed quick time, but that was probably my doing. Then, I narrowly missed winning my heat race. I felt like I owed one to these guys for giving me such a good racecar.”
Just moments into the 30-lap feature, Seavey more than made up for it. By the end of lap one, he had ridden the high line around the outside of C.J. Leary and Justin Grant to slot into second. Then, Seavey immediately found the low line to his liking. On the third go around, Seavey pulled even with Bacon, then slipped out in front as he carved a path under Bacon and slid past in turn one to take over the race lead, a place he knew he had to get to in a hurry if he wanted it to be his night.
“With Brady and Justin on the front row, if you don’t go early, they’re going to get rolling and figure out where they need to be,” Seavey explained. “These races are so much easier once you get to the lead. You can see the cushion really well and you get to observe the whole racetrack.”
Ten laps into it, Seavey had opened up a 1.5 second advantage over series champion Kyle Cummins, but lapped traffic was poised to play a role. In a matter of five laps, at the halfway point, Cummins had shaved a full second off Seavey’s lead to put the interval between the two at about a half second.
At the precise moment when Seavey was about to reach the two-wide blockade of the traffic, the red flag was displayed for fifth running Kevin Thomas Jr. after a collision with fourth place Justin Grant at the entry to turn three on lap 16. Thomas barrel rolled three times before being nailed by the trailing Daison Pursley (7th), which also sent Pursley spinning to a stop, knocking both Thomas and Pursley out of the race in a moment’s notice.
As a result of the incident, Thomas’ series record streak of 29 consecutive top-10 finishes screeched to a halt. Thomas, who finished 25th on the night, hadn’t finished outside the top-10 since the USAC Eastern Storm round at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway four months earlier on June 21.
With traffic cleared for the leaders, Seavey’s biggest nemesis down the stretch was the gnarly cushion and the ever changing track conditions.
“We’re already really close to the wall, and (the cushion) was pretty big there early,” Seavey said. “It just kept getting thicker and thicker as the race went on. I knew there at the very end, it was going to start taking rubber. I could see the shine kind of going away and I was struggling to gain on the cars in front of me. I just felt so good on the cushion; I didn’t want to give up on it and have somebody make a big run on me. I stayed up there as long as I could until the last three or four laps, then I finally had to peel off.”
By then, Seavey’s lead held steady, but Cummins was able to climb to within a couple car lengths of Seavey’s rear bumper. Yet, at that point, Seavey had firmly entrenched himself in the catbird seat and wasn’t going to do anything to put that in jeopardy.
“This place is so fast and so tricky, it can be easy to get uncomfortable,” Seavey revealed. “(The crew) has done such a good job today to make me feel good in this racecar so that I can run as hard as I need to in order to win these races.”
At the stripe, Seavey was .788 seconds ahead of the field, ahead of Cummins while Leary was strong late to finish third ahead of the surgent Ricky Thornton Jr. in fourth and an impressive Ricky Lewis who finished fifth, advancing 21 positions after using a provisional and starting 26th on the grid.
With his runner-up finish, Cummins set a new USAC National Sprint Car record by posting his 37th top-five finish of the 2025 series season in 48 starts so far. That broke the mark of 36 top-fives set by Brady Bacon during the 2021 season.
C.J. Leary continued his masterful run of Western World finishes with a third place result. Dating back to the 2022 installment of the event, Leary has finished 2nd-5th-3rd-4th-3rd-3rd in his six most recent starts at Western World.
The top-four of Seavey, Cummins, Leary and Ricky Thornton Jr. are all locked into Saturday’s $35,000-to-win feature event at Central Arizona.
Late Model superstar Ricky Thornton Jr. made a spectacular USAC National Sprint Car debut by winning his heat race, then advancing from 10th to fourth in the feature. It’s the best USAC Sprint Car debut by any driver since Mitchel Moles took second at the Terre Haute Track in 2022. Thornton’s performance earned him the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
It was a lucrative hard charging night for Ryan Bernal. He raced from 18th to 10th in the feature, and with it, he earned $1021.26 from the Lafond Jar of Change, plus another $150 from Rod End Supply for a grand total of $1,171.26.
Chase Stockon picked up an extra $100 courtesy of Bud & Cathy Goodwin for his 13th place feature finish. James Turnbull II, meanwhile, was the Hard Luck Award recipient after a violent crash in his heat race. The Indio, California native walked away from the crash and also walked away with $200 from an anonymous donor.
In Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, Mitchel Moles equaled an all-time USAC National Sprint Car record with his 15th fast time of the year. That tied Kevin Thomas Jr. for the most quick times in a single season with the series, a mark set by KTJ during the 2018 campaign.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP / AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 24, 2025 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 58th Western World Championships
HONEST ABE ROOFING / WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY / W.C. FRIEND QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.024 (New Track Record); 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-15.049; 3. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-15.050; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.072; 5. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-15.082; 6. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-15.105; 7. Brady Bacon, 4c, Calderwood-15.109; 8. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.136; 9. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.173; 10. Isaac Chapple, 6w, Chapple/Hall-15.205; 11. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-15.210; 12. Trey Osborne, 6T, Ebert-15.233; 13. Tye Mihocko, 5, Mihocko-15.241; 14. Ryan Bernal, 17, Calderwood/Dunkel-15.245; 15. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-15.254; 16. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-15.280; 17. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-15.290; 18. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-15.297; 19. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-15.300; 20. Cole Wakim, 73, Ford-15.311; 21. Braden Chiaramonte, 73B, OCC-15.364; 22. Max Adams, 42, Cheney-15.408; 23. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-15.425; 24. Austin Williams, 17w, Dunkel-15.426; 25. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-15.485; 26. Ricky Thornton Jr., 20RT, Petty-15.497; 27. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-15.525; 28. J.J. Yeley, 2, Yeley-15.535; 29. Connor Lundy, 97, Lundy-15.578; 30. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.599; 31. Matt Westfall, 11c, Turner/Wheeler-15.615; 32. David Gasper, 18, Kittle/Gasper-15.630; 33. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-15.639; 34. Blake Bower, 17x, Dunkel-15.692; 35. R.J. Johnson, 33p, Petty-15.700; 36. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-15.709; 37. Harley Burns, 14, Hendricks-15.719; 38. James Turnbull II, 2J, Turnbull-15.830; 39. A.J. Bender, 21x, Bender-15.871; 40. Brecken Guerrero, 98B, Guerrero-15.993; 41. Wayne Siddle, 007, Siddle-16.070; 42. Dayton Shelton, 4D, Shelton-16.178; 43. Brent Sexton, 44, Sexton-16.282; 44. Verne Sweeney, 98v, Guerrero-16.462; 45. Marty Hawkins, 3m, Hawkins-16.504; 46. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-16.848.
CAR IQ / IN HONOR OF WILEY MILLER SR. & WILEY MILLER II FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Braden Chiaramonte, 3. Briggs Danner, 4. Stevie Sussex, 5. Ricky Lewis, 6. Mitchel Moles, 7. Matt Westfall, 8. Wayne Siddle, 9. Jim Vanzant, 10. Daison Pursley. NT
K1 RACEGEAR / W.C. FRIEND SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Max Adams, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Trey Osborne, 5. Logan Calderwood, 6. Saban Bibent, 7. David Gasper, 8. Harley Burns, 9. Dayton Shelton. 2:12.67
USAC GEAR / SILBERMAN SOLAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Gunnar Setser, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. J.J. Yeley, 5. Tye Mihocko, 6. Kobe Simpson, 7. Kyle Shipley, 8. James Turnbull II, 9. Brent Sexton. NT
COOKOUT / SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Connor Lundy, 4. Ryan Bernal, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. A.J. Bender, 7. Blake Bower, 8. Austin Williams, 9. Verne Sweeney. 2:12.74
CAR IQ / IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Chase Stockon, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 5. R.J. Johnson, 6. Cole Wakim, 7. Isaac Chapple, 8. Brecken Guerrero, 9. Marty Hawkins. 2:12.33 (New Track Record)
HOOSIER TIRE / WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY C-MAIN: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Austin Williams, 2. Harley Burns, 3. Brecken Guerrero, 4. Dayton Shelton, 5. Marty Hawkins, 6. Verne Sweeney, 7. Jim Vanzant, 8. Wayne Siddle. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS / FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Logan Calderwood, 6. David Gasper, 7. Saban Bibent, 8. Ricky Lewis, 9. Cole Wakim, 10. Isaac Chapple, 11. Kobe Simpson, 12. Austin Williams, 13. A.J. Bender, 14. Blake Bower, 15. Matt Westfall, 16. Brecken Guerrero, 17. Harley Burns, 18. Dayton Shelton, 19. R.J. Johnson. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (4), 2. Kyle Cummins (6), 3. C.J. Leary (3), 4. Ricky Thornton Jr. (10), 5. Ricky Lewis (26-C), 6. Brady Bacon (2), 7. Justin Grant (1), 8. Mitchel Moles (12), 9. Jake Swanson (5), 10. Ryan Bernal (18), 11. Briggs Danner (15), 12. Stevie Sussex (20), 13. Chase Stockon (19), 14. Gunnar Setser (9), 15. Trey Osborne (16), 16. Braden Chiaramonte (21), 17. Tye Mihocko (17), 18. Max Adams (8), 19. Hayden Reinbold (14), 20. R.J. Johnson (25-C), 21. Charles Davis Jr. (11), 22. J.J. Yeley (23), 23. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (22), 24. Kobe Simpson (27-N), 25. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 26. Daison Pursley (13), 27. Connor Lundy (24). NT
(C) represents a USAC CRA Sprint Car provisional starter
(N) represents a USAC National Sprint Car provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Brady Bacon, Laps 3-30 Logan Seavey.
**Daison Pursley flipped during the first heat. James Turnbull II flipped during the third heat. Kevin Thomas Jr. flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-3298, 2-Mitchel Moles-2924, 3-Logan Seavey-2903, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2806, 5-Justin Grant-2749, 6-Briggs Danner-2670, 7-C.J. Leary-2631, 8-Jake Swanson-2604, 9-Chase Stockon-2208, 10-Gunnar Setser-2141.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-1339, 2-Ricky Lewis-1264, 3-Austin Williams-1094, 4-A.J. Bender-1074, 5-Tommy Malcolm-991, 6-Charles Davis Jr.-939, 7-Blake Bower-931, 8-David Gasper-883, 9-Connor Lundy-795, 10-Brody Roa-676.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-213, 2-Gunnar Setser-157, 3-Briggs Danner-151, 4-C.J. Leary-141, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-135, 6-Logan Seavey-125, 7-Justin Grant-124, 8-Kyle Cummins-120, 9-Chase Stockon-116, 10-Hayden Reinbold-112.
WILD WEST SHOOTOUT STAMPEDE WESTERN WORLD PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-8, 2-Ryan Bernal-8, 3-Stevie Sussex-8, 4-Chase Stockon-8, 5-David Gasper-8, 6-Logan Seavey-7, 7-Ricky Thornton Jr.-6, 8-Briggs Danner-5, 9-Braden Chiaramonte-5, 10-Mitchel Moles-4.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP / AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE: October 25, 2025 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 58th Western World Championships
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: C.J. Leary (15.297)
Honest Abe Roofing / Woodland Auto Display / WC Friend / Cody Quarles Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (15.024)
Car IQ / In Honor of Wiley Miller Sr. & Wiley Miller II First Heat Winner: Ricky Thornton Jr.
K1 RaceGear / W.C. Friend Second Heat Winner: Max Adams
USAC Gear / Silberman Solar Third Heat Winner: Gunnar Setser
Cook Out / Sexton Fire Protection Fourth Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Car IQ / In Memory of Jim & Chet Gardner Fifth Heat Winner: Charles Davis Jr.
Hoosier Tire / Woodland Auto Display C-Main Winner: Austin Williams
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Factory Wraps Semi Winner: Daison Pursley
Rod End Supply / In Memory of Jim & Chet Gardner / Lafond Jar of Change Hard Charger: Ryan Bernal (18th to 10th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Ricky Thornton Jr.
Bud & Cathy Goodwin 13th Place Finisher: Chase Stockon
Hard Luck Award: James Turnbull II