By Richie Murray
Indianapolis, Indiana (September 18, 2026)………It had been three months and 16 races since Mitchel Moles last led a single lap in a USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature.
During Friday night’s Ashlea Albertson Memorial at Indianapolis, Indiana’s Circle City Raceway, he went ahead and led all 30 of them.
Moles (Raisin City, California) didn’t waste any time at all in establishing his dominance. In all actuality, it took just 6 minutes and 43.614 seconds to accomplish the entire 30-lap mission in track record fashion.
Starting from the pole, Moles raced into the lead on lap one, then ran his lead to as high as five-plus seconds en route to Circle City sovereignty at the wheel of his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy No. 19AZ.
Of late, it’s been true that every time Moles finds the lead, he refuses to relinquish his stranglehold. In each of the past six USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship features he’s led a lap this season, he’s gone on to win the race.
Moles’ seventh victory on the series season was his first in three months, not since the Eastern Storm round at Pennsylvania’s Williams Grove Speedway in June.
The 12th USAC National Sprint Car victory of Moles’ career ties him with Eric Gordon for 49th place on the all-time series win list. But it’s Moles’ first such score at Circle City after so many previous close calls, including a pair of runner-up results in 2025 and a third place run during July of this year.
“We’ve been so close here at Circle City so many times,” Moles sighed. I’m happy to finally get this one done.”
Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports captured victory in the debut race for USAC National Sprint Cars at Circle City Raceway on this very weekend in 2021, with Tanner Thorson driving. Five years and 15 Circle City USAC National Sprint Car races later, the team is back up front at the southeast side Indianapolis 1/4-mile dirt oval.
“My guys are so good,” Moles praised. “I told (car owner) Andy (Reinbold), ‘man, this thing’s not going to build a curb. I think it’s going to get whatever.’ That’s probably why they pay me to drive it because, obviously, they were right. Hats off to them. I could run right through the middle and just kind of run anywhere. I can’t even explain it. They give me a good racecar almost every night.”
Moles is currently in the midst of his best season of USAC racing to date by already more than doubling his career USAC National Sprint Car win total this year alone from five to 12. Number seven on this night started from the pole as he hooked the front row via a sixth place qualifying run followed by a fifth to first charge in his heat race. But even then, getting to the lead on the initial lap can set the tone for everything that follows. And he made sure of it, with flying colors.
“Every time you qualify good and you start deep, it’s tough,” Moles explained. “But when you start on the front row, you can set the pace and run away with it. I knew if C.J. (Leary) didn’t clear me on the first lap, it was going to be more in my favor to win. I kind of knew the line, but I think it was going to take a lap or two to clean off.”
In all, Moles put exactly half of the 24-car field a lap down during the feature as he bobbed and weaved his way through the back half of the field with strength, versatility, and precision akin to a pair of Cutco Scissors, the workhorse of the shear industry.
In doing so, Moles mostly stuck to the top side, but either way, he had some wiggle room to play with as his lead ballooned to more than five seconds on a track in which lap times were in the 12-second bracket during the main event. Any way you slice it, Moles was comfortable flying around the friendly confines of Circle City.
“I tried to get down a couple times on lap cars and stick the bottom, and I just blew right through it,” Moles recalled. “So, I kind of just went back to what I knew and then kind of learned as I got going that I could carry momentum through there and make some speed that way too. The racetrack was phenomenal. Like I tell everybody, you could put 24 pedal trikes around here, and somehow, they’d put on a good race.”
That was demonstrated by everybody behind Moles. Jake Swanson carved his way into the runner-up spot amid a gaggle of activity involving just about everybody inside the top 10 jockeying for position. Swanson got there with a high side maneuver from fourth to second in four-wide fashion around both Kevin Thomas Jr. and Leary as well as the lapped car of Zack Pretorius on the bottom of turn four with six laps remaining.
Thomas, who earned his first LearnLab Fast Qualifying time since February and the 43rd of his career (7th most all-time), secured third place in the feature from Leary with four laps remaining. Leary wound up fourth while Kyle Cummins earned Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors with his advancement from 10th to fifth.
At the checkered flag, Moles’ final margin of victory was 3.909 seconds, as he also picked up the K & N Filters Clean Air Award after leading each and every one of the 30 circuits to earn the $8,222 payday at the race named in memory of Ashlea Albertson, a TQ Midget racer who passed away at the age of 24 due to injuries sustained in a highway car accident in 2023.
“This is a big deal to race in memory of Ashlea and for everybody who is a part of this whole thing,” Moles acknowledged. “It means a lot to all of them and it means a lot to all of us.”
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 18, 2026 – Circle City Raceway – Indianapolis, Indiana – Ashlea Albertson Memorial – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-11.649; 2. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-11.683; 3. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-11.697; 4. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-11.742; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-11.781; 6. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-11.799; 7. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-11.812; 8. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-11.858; 9. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.859; 10. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-11.929; 11. Stevie Sussex, 3R, Rock Steady-11.950; 12. Thomas Meseraull, 2E, Epperson-12.010; 13. Beau Brandon, 21B, Brandon-12.011; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.071; 15. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-12.074; 16. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-12.089; 17. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.260; 18. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo Bishop-12.273; 19. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.365; 20. Colin Parker, 16K, Knight-12.371; 21. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.415; 22. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-12.431; 23. Kyle Willis, 3JR, Willis/Rock Steady-12.497; 24. Aidan Salisbury, 21s, Salisbury-12.591; 25. Evan Mosley, 2, Barkdull-12.705; 26. Adam Taylor, 8T, Doherty-12.718; 27. Tony Paquette, 55, Paquette-13.011; 28. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-13.278; 29. Billy Briscoe, 57B, BBR-13.667.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (4), 2. Robert Ballou (2), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 4. C.J. Leary (5), 5. Zack Pretorius (1), 6. Beau Brandon (3), 7. Evan Mosley (7), 8. Billy Briscoe (8). 2:05.239
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (5), 2. Chase Stockon (4), 3. Cale Coons (6), 4. Hayden Reinbold (3), 5. Todd Hobson (2), 6. Troy Carey (1), 7. Adam Taylor (7). 2:05.566
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (3), 2. Kyle Cummins (5), 3. Logan Seavey (2), 4. Stevie Sussex (4), 5. Briggs Danner (6), 6. Kyle Willis (1), 7. Tony Paquette (7). 2:05.647
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (4), 2. Gunnar Setser (3), 3. Jake Swanson (6), 4. Colin Parker (2), 5. Chance Crum (5), 6. Aidan Salisbury (1), 7. Jake Simmons (7). 2:07.661
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Troy Carey (1), 2. Aidan Salisbury (3), 3. Adam Taylor (5), 4. Tony Paquette (6), 5. Evan Mosley (4), 6. Jake Simmons (7), 7. Kyle Willis (2). 3:06.452
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (1), 2. Jake Swanson (3), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 4. C.J. Leary (2), 5. Kyle Cummins (10), 6. Cale Coons (5), 7. Justin Grant (7), 8. Briggs Danner (4), 9. Thomas Meseraull (8), 10. Hayden Reinbold (14), 11. Gunnar Setser (15), 12. Chase Stockon (12), 13. Robert Ballou (16), 14. Jadon Rogers (9), 15. Stevie Sussex (13), 16. Chance Crum (11), 17. Logan Seavey (18), 18. Todd Hobson (17), 19. Zack Pretorius (20), 20. Troy Carey (21), 21. Aidan Salisbury (22), 22. Colin Parker (19), 23. Adam Taylor (23), 24. Tony Paquette (24). 6:43.614 (New Track Record)
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Mitchel Moles.
**Kyle Willis flipped during the semi.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-2794, 2-Justin Grant-2620, 3-Mitchel Moles-2588, 4-Jake Swanson-2335, 5-Briggs Danner-2245, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2211, 7-Logan Seavey-2099, 8-Chase Stockon-2080, 9-Robert Ballou-2063, 10-C.J. Leary-2051.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kevin Thomas Jr.-132, 2-Hayden Reinbold-129, 3-Justin Grant-120, 4-Robert Ballou-115, 5-Briggs Danner-108, 6-Cale Coons-105, 7-Jacob Denney-102, 8-Chase Stockon-98, 9-Jake Swanson-88, 10-Kyle Cummins-78.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 19, 2026 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 19th Haubstadt Hustler – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Mitchel Moles (11.992)
LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr. (11.649)
K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Troy Carey
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kyle Cummins (10th to 5th)
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Mitchel Moles (30 laps led)