By Linda Mansfield
ANDERSON, Ind., May 24 — On Wednesday Kody Swanson was honored as the #1 driver of 2025 by the National Pavement Sprint Car Rankings. On Saturday night he put an exclamation mark on that honor by winning his fourth Little 500 at Anderson Speedway in Doran Racing’s Wilke Orthodontics/Glenn Farms No. 77 asphalt sprint car.
After leading the first 158 laps before pitting and falling to 10th, Swanson battled back, passed Davey Hamilton Jr. on the frontstretch on lap 473, and led the last 28 laps of the 78th annual Unified Group Services Little 500 Presented by Ed Martin Automotive Sales for his Lebanon, Ohio-based team’s first victory in the biggest pavement sprint car race in the world. Swanson, a native of Kingsburg, Calif., who now lives in Brownsburg, Ind., also won this race in 2016, 2018, and 2019.
He started third beside polesitter Tyler Roahrig and Jackson Macenko, but he was first before the second turn on the initial lap with his car, which is powered by a Dan Binks-prepared Chevy V8.
Roahrig hounded him incessantly, just a tenth or two-tenths of a second behind as they toured the quarter-mile, high-banked oval. For the first part of the race Swanson held the fastest race lap with a 11.433-second lap on lap 23, while Roahrig was second with a 11.439 on lap 22 and Hamilton was third with a 11.451 on lap seven.
On lap 157 Bobby Santos III brought out a yellow and then a red when he and another competitor had contact in Turn 1 while Santos was running 12th. Santos came to a stop high in Turn 2 with his car on fire. Luckily he got out quickly and wasn’t injured.
When the race restarted under yellow both Swanson and Roahrig dipped into the pits for their first of two mandatory pit stops. That gave the lead to Logan Seavey on lap 159. Swanson’s pit stop went well but the push trucks got Roahrig underway a little quicker. After some others made pit stops Roahrig was ahead of Swanson in fifth place and Swanson was sixth when the green waved again on lap 164.
Swanson was either sixth or fifth from that point until lap 179, when he passed Rylan Gray for fourth. Seavey still led, with C.J. Leary second and Roahrig third.
By lap 200 Seavey, who hadn’t made his first pit stop yet, still led. He had a 3.230-second advantage over Leary at that point, but Leary cut that down to 0.386 seconds before Seavey finally pitted, giving the point to Leary on lap 206 with Roahrig second and Swanson third. The top three were still in that order at the halfway point.
Roahrig passed Leary for the lead on lap 283 and Swanson got by Leary for second three laps later. The top eight cars were all on the lead lap at that point. Roahrig and Swanson continued to battle like they had at the beginning, although their positions were reversed.
Hamilton passed Leary for third on lap 305, and Dakoda Armstrong got around Leary for fourth on lap 308. Meanwhile, Roahrig and Swanson still ran one-two, only a couple tenths of a second apart.
The top pair pitted together again on lap 387, with Swanson dropping from second to sixth and Roahrig from first to fifth. Hamilton took the point followed by Armstrong, Justin Grant and Mario Clouser.
On lap 405 Roahrig and the 10th place driver whom he was lapping, Seavey, made contact by the blend line between Turns 1 and 2, with Roahrig flipping and bringing out a second red flag. Luckily no one was hurt. Swanson had to take evasive action not to become involved, but he was unscathed for the restart and in fifth place.
Swanson passed Clouser for fourth on lap 416, and he got third on lap 429 when Grant dropped from third to eighth.
Hamilton had a 1.122-second lead over Swanson on lap 445, but Swanson set the fastest lap of the race by anyone two laps later with a 11.417-second lap. Then with a little help from a lapped car, he passed Hamilton on the frontstretch on lap 473 for the lead and went on to win with a 1.924-second margin of victory.
Armstrong finished third, with the top three drivers the only ones completing all 500 laps. Jake Trainor was fourth, one lap down.
Clouser placed fifth, two laps down, and was the rookie of the race. Ryan Newman, Derek Bischak, Travis Welpott, Colton Bettis, and Gray rounded out the top 10 in the 33-car field.
Swanson started on the outside of Row 1 (third) after he ran four consecutive laps in 11.088 seconds, 11.040 seconds, 11.051 seconds, and 11.070 seconds for a combined total of 44.249 during the first round of qualifying on Thursday. That was just 0.247 off the combined time of 44.002 seconds that Roahrig ran to earn the pole.
The Little 500 is part of the 500 Sprint Car Tour, but it’s a non-points-paying special event. It was streamed live on Racing America.
For more information see DoranRacing.com.
Kody Swanson: (Regarding the pass for the lead): “I was able to get to the inside of Davey on the frontstretch in lapped traffic. I had been trying to work closer to him the last few laps, and when I got a big run into traffic I had to go for it.
“I had a few close calls; I think you always do in this race, but I barely missed getting involved in that accident with Roahrig and Seavey. We were each pressing so hard through traffic, and it all happened so quickly with us running tight together. I was hard on the brakes, and felt the fronts trying to lock up, but thankful it worked out where we missed it.
“The first part of the race we were really close, but Tyler and I have been good at giving each other room when we’re lapping cars. We’ve raced together for a number of years now, and we both respect each other. Through that early part of the race we were both just trying to manage our cars and our tires, and get through the traffic clean to that first pit stop.
“Then in the second half of the race I was the one chasing. We were both just trying to see if we could race it out through traffic to the end.
“We had great pit stops tonight. It’s a fun element that helps make this race so unique, and part of that is getting the push trucks to you quickly too. Tyler qualified on the pole and picked a good pit stall that might have been a little better for the push trucks to get to him tonight, but that’s all part of the competition and strategy of this race.
“With about 95 to go there was a long line of cars ahead of me. We did have fresher tires, but still had a lot of track position to make up, and I had to just race for it at the end. I’m thankful to have been in a position to race for a win like that, and really glad we could get one for everyone involved with the Doran Racing team and all of our sponsors.”
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