By Richie Murray
Indianapolis, Indiana (May 18, 2026)………There’s nothing finer than Indy in the month of May.
But while the NTT INDYCAR Series competitors prepare for 500 miles on the other side of the city at IMS, a different breed of open wheel racing will be slinging dirt at Indianapolis, Indiana’s Circle City Raceway, located on the southeast side of Indy.
The USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship takes on the 1/4-mile CCR bullring for 40 laps this Thursday night, May 21, for $10,000-to-win at the Circle City Salute Presented by Desnuda Organic Tequila.
It’s time to get after it and it’s time to read up on some of the storylines heading into this week!
SALUTE TO THE WINNERS
Four Circle City Salute races have produced four different Circle City Salute feature winners.
While Mother Nature officially won the 2025 round, it was Jake Swanson and Kyle Cummins who raced to victory on back-to-back nights back in 2023. In the Spring of 2024, it was Brady Bacon and Logan Seavey who traded turns by winning each of the two nights. Of that group, Swanson, Cummins and Seavey are expected to compete on Thursday.
As far as Seavey and Cummins, the past two USAC National Sprint Car champions are both tied as the winningest USAC National Sprint Car drivers of all-time at Circle City. Each driver possesses three CCR USAC wins apiece.
CIRCLE CITY SENSATIONS
Last weekend, C.J. Leary became the new Ironman of USAC National Sprint Car racing after making his 328th consecutive feature start dating back to the 2017 season. Over the years, Circle City has been very kind to C.J. He’s been the winner of a pair of USAC National Sprint Car feature events at the track in 2022 and 2025, both during Indiana Sprint Week.
Justin Grant scored his first Circle City USAC National Sprint Car win last September in a 30-lap race that featured five different lead changes. Grant led the last half of the bunch, leading the final 15 laps en route to victory.
Kevin Thomas Jr. was one of the early winners in the history of Circle City Raceway, scoring the September USAC National Sprint Car round there in 2022.
RUM SUCCESS
Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports won the very first Circle City USAC National Sprint Car feature back in 2021 with Tanner Thorson at the helm.
Since 2022, Mitchel Moles has been the pilot off the team’s No. 19AZ, and has reeled off four career fast qualifying awards at Circle City, including a one-lap USAC track record run of 11.819 seconds in 2022, which still stands today.
This Thursday, Moles and RUM are vying for their first Circle City USAC win together after finishing as the runner-up in both of their series starts there in 2025.
DENNEY MAKES DEBUT
Jacob Denney’s first ever start in a sprint car resulted in a feature victory, and it came right at Circle City this past April as he led the final seven laps to gain the win in Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Car competition.
Now, Denney will make his first USAC National Sprint Car appearance at the very same track this Thursday night with the very same team – the Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian Racing No. 21AZ – a car which has won twice with USAC at Circle City with Jake Swanson in 2023 and C.J. Leary in 2025.
Of note, the last driver to win in his first career USAC National Sprint Car start was Tanner Swanson at Indiana’s Anderson Speedway in 2008. The last driver to accomplish the feat on dirt was Tony Jones at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track in 1999.
Denney is one of the premier drivers on the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship tour, and currently ranks as the series point leader after winning in April at the Kokomo Grand Prix.
HEY TONIGHT! CCR WINNERS ALL AROUND
Cale Coons made his USAC National Sprint Car debut at Circle City in 2024, but in September 2025, he returned to win a Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Car main event at Circle City. This Thursday, USAC’s leading National Sprint Car Rooke aims for his first career series win.
Over the past two seasons, Jadon Rogers has won three Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Car features at Circle City. Ricky Lewis has picked up four scores of his own at Circle City in 2024-2025 between local, Midwest Thunder 410 and BOSS competition. Robert Ballou got one at CCR in early 2024 as did Shane Cottle in 2025.
Zack Pretorius performed likewise, winning twice at Circle City in 2024-2025, once each with BOSS and the Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Cars. All the aforementioned drivers plan to compete this Thursday night.
SPECIAL APPEARANCES
The Circle City Salute will also feature special guest appearances during the event.
Boomer, the mascot of the NBA’s Indiana Pacers, will be in attendance as will Nitro, the mascot of the ECHL’s Indy Fuel. Furthermore, the Gordon Pipers will also be on hand to perform the national anthem.
The t-shirt cannon will also be loaded up and fired off as race fans can away with some racewear to add to their wardrobe.
RACE DETAILS
This Thursday night’s May 20th Circle City Salute Presented by Desnuda Organic Tequila features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, plus USAC Midwest Thunder SpeeD2 Midgets Pits open at 4pm Eastern with front gates opening at 5pm, the drivers meeting at 6pm and cars on track at 6:30pm followed by qualifying and racing.
Advance tickets are on sale now at https://www.myracepass.com/tracks/3792/tickets/1512753. General admission tickets are available at the ticket booth the day of the event. GA tickets for ages 13 and up are $30. GA tickets for ages 12 and under are $15. Pit passes are $40.
The event can be watched live in its entirety on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/usac2026.
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TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY
1 Lap – 9/16/2022 – Mitchel Moles – 11.819
10 Laps – 9/16/2022 – Jadon Rogers – 2:04.23
12 Laps – 9/16/2022 – Jake Swanson – 2:39.26
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINS AT CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY
3-Kyle Cummins & Logan Seavey
2-C.J. Leary
1-Brady Bacon, Justin Grant, Jake Swanson, Kevin Thomas Jr. & Tanner Thorson
USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CAR WINNERS AT CIRCLE CITY RACEWAY
2021: Tanner Thorson (9/17)
2022: C.J. Leary (7/25) & Kevin Thomas Jr. (9/16)
2023: Jake Swanson (5/24), Kyle Cummins (5/25), Kyle Cummins (7/24) & Logan Seavey (9/15)
2024: Brady Bacon (5/22), Logan Seavey (5/23), Logan Seavey (7/31) & Kyle Cummins (9/13)
2025: C.J. Leary (7/30) & Justin Grant (9/12)
CIRCLE CITY SALUTE RESULTS
MAY 24, 2023 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (4), 2. Kyle Cummins (3), 3. Brady Bacon (5), 4. Justin Grant (6), 5. Robert Ballou (1), 6. Mitchel Moles (8), 7. C.J. Leary (12), 8. Chase Stockon (10), 9. Daison Pursley (16), 10. Carson Garrett (7), 11. Emerson Axsom (17), 12. Rylan Gray (2), 13. Logan Seavey (9), 14. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 15. Scotty Weir (18), 16. Thomas Meseraull (19), 17. Jadon Rogers (15), 18. Matt Westfall (11), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 20. Tye Mihocko (20), 21. Tyler Hewitt (22), 22. Ricky Lewis (21). NT
MAY 25, 2023 FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. Jake Swanson (3), 3. Brady Bacon (8), 4. Emerson Axsom (7), 5. Matt Westfall (9), 6. Daison Pursley (14), 7. Chase Stockon (18), 8. Thomas Meseraull (5), 9. C.J. Leary (17), 10. Mitchel Moles (15), 11. Logan Seavey (19), 12. Tye Mihocko (12), 13. Justin Grant (6), 14. Robert Ballou (1), 15. Rylan Gray (13), 16. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 17. Jadon Rogers (21), 18. Dave Darland (20), 19. Carson Garrett (4), 20. Charles Davis Jr. (10), 21. Jake Scott (16), 22. Sterling Cling (22). NT
MAY 22, 2024 FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (5), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 3. Daison Pursley (14), 4. Robert Ballou (6), 5. Chase Stockon (9), 6. Mitchel Moles (8), 7. Jadon Rogers (11), 8. Ricky Lewis (10), 9. Chance Crum (20), 10. Matt Westfall (13), 11. Logan Seavey (21), 12. Carson Garrett (24), 13. Hunter Maddox (22), 14. Joey Amantea (18), 15. Justin Grant (4), 16. Jake Swanson (12), 17. Anton Hernandez (15), 18. Shane Cottle (1), 19. C.J. Leary (16), 20. Matt Goodnight (19), 21. Charles Davis Jr. (17), 22. Kyle Cummins (7), 23. Brent Beauchamp (23), 24. Harley Burns (2). NT
MAY 24, 2024 FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (3), 2. Brady Bacon (5), 3. Daison Pursley (7), 4. Ricky Lewis (9), 5. Robert Ballou (8), 6. Kyle Cummins (1), 7. C.J. Leary (6), 8. Chase Stockon (10), 9. Carson Garrett (4), 10. Mitchel Moles (13), 11. Shane Cottle (2), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (11), 13. Justin Grant (12), 14. Chance Crum (23), 15. Jake Swanson (18), 16. Jadon Rogers (14), 17. Matt Westfall (16), 18. Brent Beauchamp (20), 19. Brandon Mattox (17), 20. Joey Amantea (21), 21. Harley Burns (24), 22. Anton Hernandez (15), 23. Charles Davis Jr. (19), 24. Frankie Guerrini (22). NT