From Anderson Speedway
The late 2010’s at the Little 500 were dominated by Kody Swanson. He won the race
three times in four years, winning all three in dominating fashion, including having been
the most recent driver to have the entire field lapped at the finish in 2019.
Seven years later, the Kingsburg, CA driver made his way back to Little 500 victory lane
with his fourth win on Saturday night. He was among the last of the leaders to pit and
found numerous cars in between himself and Davey Hamilton Jr. He worked his way
through the field, taking the lead in lapped traffic with 27 to go and running away with
the 78th Annual Unified Group Services Little 500 Presented by ED Martin Automotive
Sales.
“These races are hard to get to the end of, let alone be in position to win and you’ve got
to capitalize on those opportunities. Davey did a great job in lapped traffic and we had
fresher tires that kept me in it,” Swanson said. “We may have gotten lucky there
guessing the right direction in traffic. It’s one of the benefits of being second in line and
you’ve got to take the opportunities when they come.”
Swanson has now won the Little 500 with three different teams. He won the 2016 race
with Hoffman Auto Racing before going back-to-back with Nolen Racing in 2018-2019.
The fourth win comes with Doran Racing, a team he’s competed in the Little 500 win
with since 2021. In that time, he had finished second once and third twice.
“I feel like we’ve been in the mix a lot and a couple of years we’ve been on the podium.
It’s a hard race to win. I knew that, everyone who’s tried it knows it. Every one’s special
to win, it’s special to win one tonight, no matter how.”
With his fourth win, he is now tied for the third most wins all-time. The driver he shares
that mark with is Tom Cherry, who dominated in the first years of the Little 500 with wins
in 1950, 1952, and 1954-1955. He still has a ways to catch the all-time record of nine set by Eric Gordon, meanwhile he’s just one behind Bob Frey for second most.
“Obviously Eric Gordon’s got the mark way out in front but just to be in the conversation.
There’s a lot of great drivers that have competed in this race and to win it any amount of
times is special. I appreciate the chance to try it each year and do it with great people.”
Davey Hamilton Jr and Kirk Morgan Racing chose to come in for their second pit stop
before the rest of the leaders, and it nearly paid off in a big way. The strategy call ends
with a career-best second place finish.
“Truthfully, I think we did everything right. The only thing I think I would say we needed
to change was we tried a pit strategy, it just didn’t work,” said Hamilton. “We tried an
undercut and that 40 lap difference on this tire is a lot.”
“I’m happy with it. We were third last year, second this year, so hopefully it’s in the right
direction to be on top next year.”
The full Little 500 results can be found below.
For more information on the Little 500 and Anderson Speedway, visit us
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Little 500 Official Results:
1. Kody Swanson
2. Davey Hamilton Jr
3. Dakoda Armstrong
4. Jake Trainor
5. Mario Clouser
6. Ryan Newman
7. Derek Bischak
8. Travis Welpott
9. Colton Bettis
10. Rylan Gray
11. Colin Grissom
12. Landon Butler
13. Billy Wease
14. Justin Grant
15. CJ Leary
16. Tyler Roahrig
17. Logan Seavey
18. Michael Lewis
19. Anthony Nocella
20. Brian Vaughn
21. Jackson Macenko
22. David Goodwill
23. Rob Keesling
24. Josh Poore
25. Donnie Adams Jr
26. Bobby Santos III
27. Garrett Saunders
28. Justin Harper
29. Chris Schmelzle
30. Shane Hollingsworth
31. Tony Main
32. Kyle O’Gara
33. Shane Butler