By Richie Murray
Montpelier, Indiana (April 25, 2026)………Matt Lux found the lead early, lost it, then gained it back just before the midway point to capture the victory in Saturday night’s USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midget season opener at Indiana’s Montpelier Speedway.
Lux (Manilla, Indiana) made a miraculous move along the bottom groove to matriculate himself from seventh to first on the opening lap of the 25-lap feature.
After leading the initial five circuits, Lux’s lead soon gave way to pole sitter Gunnar Lucius who stormed around the outside to take over up front on the sixth lap.
Finding a second wind, Lux kept on digging and drove by Lucius for the top spot on the 12th lap.
From there, Lux had to endure a one-lap dash to the finish line after a late-race caution on the final lap. However, Lux kept the field at bay to earn his fifth career series win, tying 2016 champion Gage Etgen for ninth place on the all-time list.
Lux was followed to the finish line by Kole Kirkman, who got by Lucius with three laps remaining. Lucius crossed the line in third with fast qualifier Drew Rader fourth and Bryce Massingill rounding out the top-five.
Heat race victories went to Lux, Massingill, Kirkman and reigning series champion Tyler Nelson. Parker Perry grabbed the semi-feature win, then went on to earn hard charger honors in the feature with a +14 run from 21st to seventh.
USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE RESULTS: April 25, 2026 – Springfield Raceway – Springfield, Missouri
JEFF HILL TRAILER SALES FIRST QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Matt Lux, 5, Wells-15.709; 2. Ian Creager, 40, Creager-16.154; 3. Landen Francis, 85L, Francis-16.167; 4. Parker Perry, 7G, Gresham-16.430; 5. Taten Long, 99L, Long-16.541; 6. Brayden Schwartz, 55s, Schwartz-16.883; 7. Chase Hodge, 7c, Hodge-NT.
STIEFELS HOME & AUTO SECOND QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Bryce Massingill, 35, Massingill-15.437; 2. Dylan Trost, 21, Trost-15.972; 3. Tyler Watkins, 7T, Watkins-16.784; 4. Seth Crandall, 91c, Crandall-16.883; 5. Cody Dye, 4T, Dye-17.413; 6. Chris Hartman, 35s, Hartman-17.529; 7. Troy Borsos, 21T, Borson-17.777.
HOOSIER AUTO RACING FANS CLUB THIRD QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Drew Rader, 74H, Heitmeyer-14.977; 2. Stratton Briggs, 71, Briggs-15.191; 3. Luke Hall, 74, Heitmeyer-15.473; 4. Kole Kirkman, 5m, Magic-15.557; 5. Buddy Hollmeyer, 11, Taylor-16.241; 6. Jason Shaffer, 40J, Shaffer-17.778; 7. Bryce Dues, 0H, Sniper-NT.
JEFF HILL TRAILER SALES FOURTH QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Michael Magic, 7x, Magic-15.768; 2. Jalen Cox, 11x, Taylor-16.153; 3. Gunnar Lucius, 22, Lucius-16.391; 4. Tyler Nelson, 91, Nelson-16.438; 5. Trisdon Brown, 2, Brown-16.840; 6. Derrick Noffsinger, 18N, Noffsinger-17.251; 7. Ashley Schloss, 11s, Schloss-19.527.
JEFF HILL TRAILER SALES FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Matt Lux (4), 2. Landen Francis (2), 3. Taten Long (5), 4. Brayden Schwartz (6), 5. Parker Perry (1), 6. Ian Creager (3), 7. Chase Hodge (7). NT
STIEFELS HOME & AUTO SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bryce Massingill (4), 2. Dylan Trost (3), 3. Cody Dye (1), 4. Troy Borsos (7), 5. Chris Hartman (5), 6. Seth Crandall (2), 7. Tyler Watkins (6). NT
HOOSIER AUTO RACING FANS CLUB THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Kole Kirkman (1), 2. Luke Hall (2), 3. Drew Rader (4), 4. Stratton Briggs (3), 5. Buddy Hollmeyer (5), 6. Bryce Dues (7), 7. Jason Shaffer (6). NT
JEFF HILL TRAILER SALES FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Tyler Nelson (2), 2. Gunnar Lucius (1), 3. Michael Magic (4), 4. Jalen Cox (3), 5. Trisdon Brown (5), 6. Derrick Noffsinger (6), 7. Ashley Schloss (7). NT
SEMI: (12 laps): 1. Parker Perry (1), 2. Chase Hodge (5), 3. Bryce Dues (3), 4. Derrick Noffsinger (4), 5. Tyler Watkins (6), 6. Seth Crandall (2), 7. Ashley Schloss (8), 8. Jason Shaffer (7). NT
JEFF HILL TRAILER SALES FEATURE: (25 laps) 1. Matt Lux (7), 2. Kole Kirkman (6), 3. Gunnar Lucius (1), 4. Drew Rader (11), 5. Bryce Massingill (4), 6. Luke Hall (3), 7. Parker Perry (21), 8. Tyler Nelson (5), 9. Jalen Cox (16), 10. Chase Hodge (22), 11. Stratton Briggs (15), 12. Dylan Trost (2), 13. Trisdon Brown (20), 14. Cody Dye (10), 15. Ian Creager (17), 16. Derrick Noffsinger (24), 17. Buddy Hollmeyer (19), 18. Taten Long (9), 19. Brayden Schwartz (13), 20. Landen Francis (8), 21. Chris Hartman (18), 22. Bryce Dues (23), 23. Troy Borsos (14), 24. Michael Magic (12). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Matt Lux, Laps 6-11 Gunnar Lucius, Laps 12-25 Matt Lux.
NEXT USAC MIDWEST THUNDER SPEED2 MIDGET RACE: May 2, 2026 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – Non-Points Special Event
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Fast Qualifier: Drew Rader (14.977)
First Heat Winner: Matt Lux
Second Heat Winner: Bryce Massingill
Third Heat Winner: Kole Kirkman
Fourth Heat Winner: Tyler Nelson
Hard Charger: Parker Perry (21st to 7th)
LynK Chassis 10th Place Finisher: Chase Hodge