By Richie Murray
Terre Haute, Indiana (July 5, 2026)………Mitchel Moles practically had a perfect night from start to finish throughout Sunday’s 22nd running of the Sumar Classic at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track.
After capturing the pole position in LearnLab Qualifying, the Raisin City, California racer paced the field for the first 92 circuits of the 100-lapper, briefly giving up the lead for a single blip of time before gaining it back on lap 94, then going on to victory in what was the milestone 500th event in the history of the USAC Silver Crown Championship.
Making it all the more intriguing for the final 25 laps was that the battle at the front involved a pair of Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports teammates in Moles and series newcomer Hayden Reinbold, who surged from his 11th starting spot to lead briefly on the 93rd lap on the legendary 1/2-mile dirt oval.
With Moles leading Reinbold across the line for the victory, their resulting one-two finish made Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports the first team to occupy the top two spots in the finishing order of a USAC Silver Crown race in 16 years. Back in 2010, Levi Jones outdueled fellow Tony Stewart Racing teammate Bryan Clauson for the win at, of all places, the Terre Haute Action Track.
Going back even further, Moles became the first driver since Donnie Beechler in 1996-1997 to win the pole for the Sumar Classic in consecutive years. And just like Beechler, Moles was victorious in the same race he achieved the second of his two pole positions. Furthermore, Moles became the first driver to win the Sumar Classic after starting from the pole since Dave Darland 18 years ago in 2008.
For Moles, it was his second ride into victory lane at the Terre Haute Action Track in 2026. He also captured the Tony Hulman Classic with the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship back in May.
To top it off, Reinbold-Underwood extended its undefeated run on the dirt portion of the USAC Silver Crown trail this season. Reinbold won in his very first career series start at the Kansas State Fairgrounds in May. Now, it was Moles’ turn at Terre Haute, and of all people he had to beat for the top prize, it was his teammate, Hayden.
“(Car owners) Andy and Tammy (Reinbold) have been huge supporters of my career, so I’m happy for them and I’m happy for Hayden. He already won one this year, so I feel like I deserved one,” Moles said with a wry smile after earning his second career USAC Silver Crown triumph aboard his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – RDI Development – MVT/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
For most of the night, Moles held a commanding lead as a pair of drivers traded barbs in the second position – Justin Grant early and then Jake Swanson – throughout the first three-quarters of the race.
The most substantial incident of the evening occurred on lap five when Patrick Bruns’ ride suddenly darted right on his entry into turn one and smashed into the outside guardrail before digging in nose first and flipping over after major airtime which saw his car rise above the top of the guardrail. Fortunately, he was able to climb out and walk away.
By lap 57, Reinbold had moved his way into the top five as he blasted past C.J. Leary on the back straightaway, then advanced another spot in the running order to fourth when Shane Cottle slowed on the lap 65 restart. Reinbold surged past Kyle Cummins for third on the bottom of turn three on the 70th lap, then made a beeline past Swanson for the runner-up slot on the back straight on another restart on the 76th lap.
At the time, Moles was in full command. But the margin kept getting slimmer and slimmer as Reinbold drew nearer, all while using a lower line than Moles toward the middle/bottom portion of the racetrack. Reinbold’s surge was so sudden, it caught Moles by surprise.
“The whole time, (crew chief) Dylan (Cook) is telling me, ‘you’re good. You’re good. You’re good.’ Then, all of a sudden, he said, ‘a tenth back,’ I’m like, ‘Uh, who is it?’ And he said, ‘Hayden.’ I’m like, ‘Oh my goodness.’ Luckily, I just kept doing what I was doing and then took his line away a couple times. I got him moving around more than anything.’
After Reinbold was able to gain an edge off turns two and four to pull ahead briefly, Moles was able to dig in and find his way back to edge ahead of Reinbold lap after lap between laps 80-84. With 15 laps remaining, Moles stole Reinbold’s line away, and the two swapped methods with Reinbold now running a step higher than Moles.
On the 93rd lap, Reinbold went topside and drove around Moles to edge him at the stripe by mere inches to tally his one and only lap as the leader. Moments later, Moles tossed his car sideways under Reinbold entering turn one. At the same time, Reinbold’s car skated ever so slightly straight up the racetrack, stifling his momentum and allowing Moles to regain the upper hand at the exit of turn two.
From there on, Moles was able to extend his lead and keep Reinbold at bay once and for all to win again at the legendary Terre Haute Action Track. Reinbold finished second 2.177 seconds behind, while series point leader C.J. Leary grabbed third with Grant fourth and Swanson fifth.
By leading 99 of the 100 laps, Moles was also the recipient of the K & N Filters Clean Air award. Meanwhile, Reinbold was the top Rookie finisher for the second straight dirt race and gave Moles everything he had for the final quarter of the race.
“We always said, ‘if he could get in a Silver Crown car, I think he’d be good at it’ just because he’s so patient,” Moles said of Reinbold. “He does such a good job when it’s like that around the bottom. Man, he made me work for it. I didn’t want to work that hard.”
The race occurred after a copious amount of rainfall doused the Terre Haute Action Track overnight, leading to pretty heavy track conditions early, which led to some prognostications from the Reinbold-Underwood teammates beforehand.
“I saw all the water piled up there early in the day, and Hayden kept asking me if I thought it was going to come in,” Moles recalled. “I’m like, ‘man, I don’t think so,’ but apparently, I was wrong. Terre Haute loves the top. I love the top. To get another one here at Terre Haute is huge. Andy and I love this place, and it didn’t love me for the longest time. So, I’m happy to have some success here.”
Veteran racer Bill Rose started 18th and finished sixth in an impressive +12 run, which made him the night’s Rod End Supply Hard Charger. The night also marked 30 years since his first career Sumar Classic start in 1996, and equaled his best career Sumar Classic result of sixth in 2022.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 5, 2026 – Terre Haute Action Track – Terre Haute, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 22nd Sumar Classic
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-20.627; 2. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-20.953; 3. Jake Swanson, 6, Klatt-20.981; 4. Kyle Cummins, 33, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi/Curb-Agajanian-21.026; 5. Shane Cottle, 77, Doran/Swanson-21.050; 6. Mario Clouser, 20, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi/Curb-Agajanian-21.171; 7. Darin Naida, 26, Pierce-21.196; 8. Bret Tripplett, 65, SV-21.202; 9. Chase Stockon, 69, Pink 69-21.283; 10. C.J. Leary, 21, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi/Curb-Agajanian-21.364; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 119, Reinbold/Underwood-21.398; 12. Briggs Danner, 10, DMW-21.403; 13. Patrick Bruns, 95, Full Throttle-21.548; 14. Kyle Steffens, 8, Steffens-21.564; 15. Jerry Coons Jr., 24, Haggenbottom-21.585; 16. Robert Ballou, 27, Wood-21.625; 17. Steve Gennetten, 64, GGR-21.635; 18. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-22.246; 19. Gregg Cory, 32, Williams/Cory-22.859; 20. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-23.398; 21. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-23.489; 22. Dave Peperak, 777, Peperak-NT; 23. Kenny Gentry, 18, Gentry-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (1), 2. Hayden Reinbold (11), 3. C.J. Leary (10), 4. Justin Grant (2), 5. Jake Swanson (3), 6. Bill Rose (18), 7. Steve Gennetten (17), 8. Mario Clouser (6), 9. Gregg Cory (19), 10. Kyle Cummins (4), 11. Jerry Coons Jr. (15), 12. Dave Berkheimer (21), 13. Korey Weyant (20), 14. Shane Cottle (5), 15. Briggs Danner (12), 16. Kyle Steffens (14), 17. Robert Ballou (16), 18. Chase Stockon (9), 19. Darin Naida (7), 20. Bret Tripplett (8), 21. Patrick Bruns (13), 22. Kenny Gentry (23), 23. Dave Peperak (22). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-92 Mitchel Moles, Lap 93 Hayden Reinbold, Laps 94-100 Mitchel Moles.
**Patrick Bruns flipped on lap 5 of the feature.
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-284, 2-Justin Grant-251, 3-Mario Clouser-227, 4-Kyle Steffens-183, 5-Briggs Danner-167, 6-Gregg Cory-167, 7-Hayden Reinbold-147, 8-Dave Berkheimer-144, 9-Bobby Santos-122, 10-Mitchel Moles-121.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Hayden Reinbold-93, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-83, 3-Robert Ballou-74, 4-Justin Grant-66, 5-Briggs Danner-65, 6-Jacob Denney-64, 7-Cale Coons-64, 8-Chase Stockon-56, 9-Kyle Cummins-46, 10-Brady Bacon-44.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 19, 2026 – Winchester Speedway – Winchester, Indiana – 1/2-Mile Paved Oval – 35th Rich Vogler Classic
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (20.462)
LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (20.627)
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Mitchel Moles (99 laps led)
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Bill Rose (18th to 6th)