By T.J. Buffenbarger
(June 28, 2026) — After a bonzi run from the far west side of Michigan to Butler Motor Speedway for the USAC National Sprint Car Series, dodging an extraordinarily brave and aggressive turkey on M60, here are my takeaways from the second non-wing appearance of the series at Butler.
• Saturday night was just the latest example of why Kyle Cummins and the Petty Performance Racing team are still the most formidable combination on the USAC National Sprint Car tour.
Cummins and the Petty team are extremely talented and prepared for every event. Sometimes that level of skill and preparation leads to some good fortune, which Saturday’s race at Butler was a good example of.
After qualifying fifth fastest and transferring to the main event through his heat race, Cummins ended up starting the feature from the front row with C.J. Leary. Leary was penalized at the start of the feature, which Cummins after the race attributed to his engine possibly stumbling and did not feel Cummins jumped the start.
After the race started Cummins had a comfortable lead until about 10 laps into the feature when slower traffic created enough of a bottleneck for Chase Stockon to close within striking distance. That is when Cummins made a three wide move through traffic that I felt was the deciding moment in the 30-lap feature.
Even with a mid-race caution the remaining laps did not produce as traffic as thick as when Cummins made the decisive move, proving again that preparation, skill, and luck often intersect in the sport of motor racing.
• A small cell of rain showers on Friday saw the Butler Motor Speedway surface with more moisture than the Interstate Racing Association had the previous week. When I walked across the track to the infield for the feature the tantalizing brown strip of moisture was present enough that it was going to take a lot for the veteran drivers of the USAC National Sprint Car Series to move off of it.
While Zack Pretorious and Cale Coons made the biggest effort to get the top working through the feature, the bottom was so good, and it was far enough around the top that the lower line was the place to be.
In the later stages of the feature some of the drivers were able to build some momentum on the high side of turns one and two to drive under competitions in turns three and four, but with a group like USAC that is stocked with veteran drivers at the moment they are not going to make many mistakes rolling the bottom.
• In an era of sprint car racing where costs are higher than ever and low budget drivers are few and far between.
Currently Jason Ferguson on the Michigan Sprint Car scene is carving out a knack for doing more with less this season. Ferguson’s father Ross worked at multiple racetracks around the state and as a child Jason probably turned more laps around those tracks via bicycle than most of the drivers.
The past two weeks Furguson has made features with the IRA and USAC sprint car series. Saturday’s effort with USAC after getting upside down in qualifying was one of his better performances, using his home track knowledge to stay the course on the low side of the track while others went up to the tantalizing cushion that was still too fluffy to be effective.
After that effort I crossed paths with Ferguson walking through the pit area and he was as happy or happier as people that I’ve interacted with that won major events in the sport, fulfilling a childhood dream of making races with the organizations he saw as a child.
It’ s nice to see in an era of toter home, all the titanium components on cars, and an era where the cost to participate versus a middle class income is more disproportionate than ever there are still small, independent teams that can carve out small personal victories at times.