By Richie Murray
Casa Grande, Arizona (October 24, 2026)………Over the past week, Gavin Miller has become a bonafide USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship star.
Exactly one week after winning his first career series race in Amarillo, Texas, Miller experienced new found glory once again on Saturday night during the 59th running of the Western World Championships at Central Arizona Raceway.
Starting in the third position, Miller (Allentown, Pennsylvania) stalked Kevin Thomas Jr. for the first 23 laps before making the winning move in his Team AZ-Curb-Agajanian Racing/Curb Records – Kodiak Products – OakCraft/DRC/1-Way Chevy.
From there, Miller led the final 12 circuits to capture a signature victory in the 35-lap main event, which earned him a superb single night payday of $42,450.
Not only was it Miller’s biggest take home pay thus far. For him, personally, it was also his biggest career win to date. There was no doubt about that fact for the true sprint car Rookie.
“This is the biggest win of my career so far,” Miller revealed. “I’m super emotional right now. I’m just so lucky to be in this position and I’m so grateful. I’m just fortunate to have these group of guys with me.”
Furthermore, for Team AZ, it was their third Western World Championship final night win over the past five seasons: Jake Swanson (2022), Daison Pursley (2023), and now Gavin Miller (2026). The first two came at Somerton, Arizona’s Cocopah Speedway while the latest came on the 3/8-mile dirt oval in Casa Grande.
“I knew we had a good package here and I just had to do my job,” Miller stated. “With their notebook here, especially last year with C.J. (Leary), it made my job a little bit easier to go out and try to perform.”
To add another feather to his own cap, Miller was also named the Whiz Kid Western World Rookie of the Year, earning a bonus of $1,000 for his efforts in his first ever run at the famed, traditional Arizona staple which dates back to 1968. Even more special, the Whiz Kid himself is Eric Wilkins, a crew member on Miller’s No. 21AZ ride.
Miller certainly had redemption, salvation, reclamation, vindication, and maybe a dash of vengeance on his mind following a cruel and sudden conclusion in his bid to win the preceding USAC Southwest 360 Sprint Car feature. While leading with eight laps remaining, Miller’s right rear tire suddenly gave way, and lawn darted him straight into the outside turn three concrete wall, thus ending his night in a crumpled heap.
Jumping back in the saddle for the main event, Miller first waged himself in a see-saw war with 2026 USAC National Sprint Car champion Kyle Cummins as the two swapped lines, along with the second spot, multiple times, but Miller never officially relinquished the spot.
On the ninth lap, Cummins’ quest for a first Western World title came to a bitter end when his right rear tire went flat in turns one and two. Restarting at the tail with fresh rubber, Cummins worked his way back to 12th by race’s end.
For the first half of the race, the man on the move was Justin Grant who worked his way from 10th to third by lap 14 as he shot by Stevie Sussex for the position, then began to rapidly close in on the frontrunning duo of Thomas and Miller.
Shadowing Thomas seemingly every step of the way with just a couple car lengths of separation between the two, Miller arched the bow and made an arrow straight to the bottom of turn three on lap 23. Miller slid up across the front of Thomas, then found himself clear of Thomas and in clean air of his own with just 12 laps remaining.
“I knew it was a long race and I had to be patient,” Miller explained. “I was just trying to wait for the right opportunity. I knew I had a little bit more speed than he did on the long run and I just had to wait to pull the trigger, and I kind of short slid myself and then got back to the top. But I really didn’t know who was behind me at that point. I was just kind of making mistakes over the cushion and then I was just praying I could get up behind a lapped car and protect that slide from anybody who could get there.”
However, nobody could get there. Miller drew his lead to more than two seconds down the stretch and even had enough of a cushion of an advantage that, when he slipped over the track’s turn three cushion with three laps to go, no one was in the vicinity to pose even a minor threat.
Into the great wide open, Miller throttled away to a welcome sight of double checkers by a 1.766 second margin over runner-up Kevin Thomas Jr. with Justin Grant third, Jake Swanson fourth, and Stevie Sussex fifth.
Thomas led a race-high 23 of the 35 laps en route to a second place finish, which got him the K & N Filters Clean Air Award for the evening, part of a night that netted him a total of $17,650. Earlier in the program, KTJ captured the pole position for the feature after reigning triumphantly in the $5,000-to-win Underwood Dash Presented by AME Electrical.
David Gasper added a bunch of money throughout Western World courtesy of the Lafond Jar of Change. On Saturday, he added a Jar of Change record of $1,584.14 for his 16th to sixth run. It’s his best career USAC National Sprint Car result and it comes one day after he pocketed $902.91 worth of Jar of Change money for his performance in Friday’s accompanying USAC Southwest 360 Sprint Car event.
No one passed more cars throughout Western World USAC 410 Sprint Car competition than Mitchel Moles. He advanced 26 positions across the three nights of racing and collected a $400 bonus, all told, as the Western World Championships Parallax Group / ProSource Passing Master champion.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP & AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR RACE RESULTS: October 23, 2026 – Central Arizona Raceway – Casa Grande, Arizona – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – 59th Western World Championships
K1 RACEGEAR / SEXTON FIRE PROTECTION FIRST QUALIFIER: (8 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (#77m Michael) (2), 2. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP) (4), 3. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus) (1), 4. Hayden Reinbold (#19 Reinbold-Underwood) (3), 5. Connor Lundy (#97 Lundy) (5), 6. Elijah Gile (#17GP Dutcher) (7), 7. Cole Wakim (#17x Dunkel) (6), 8. Tyler Cato (#38x Cato) (8). 2:06.241
TJ FORGED / ROY MILLER FREIGHT LINES SECOND QUALIFIER: (8 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (#5 Baldwin-Fox) (4), 2. R.J. Johnson (#1p Petty) (2), 3. David Gasper (#18 Gasper-Kittle) (3), 4. Kobe Simpson (#21K Simpson) (6), 5. Jacob Denney (#87 CB-Spire) (1), 6. Chet Williams (#38 Williams) (7), 7. Brecken Guerrero (#98B Guerrero) (8), 8. Dayton Shelton (#4D Shelton) (5). NT
K & N FILTERS / RESCUE MISSION ALLIANCE THIRD QUALIFIER: (8 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (#63 Dooling/Curb-Agajanian) (2), 2. Mitchel Moles (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood) (1), 3. Briggs Danner (#39 Hogue) (3), 4. Charles Davis Jr. (#47 Davis) (4), 5. Austin Williams (#17w Dunkel) (6), 6. Robert Ballou (#6 Calderwood) (5), 7. Verne Sweeney (#98 Guerrero) (7). 2:08.749
INDY POWERSPORTS / HONDA FOURTH QUALIFIER: (8 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ricky Lewis (#41 Lewis) (1), 2. J.J. Yeley (#33p Petty) (2), 3. Chase Stockon (#92 Sertich) (3), 4. Ricky Thornton Jr. (#20RT Petty) (6), 5. Trey Osborne (#6T Osborne) (5), 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (#51T Tafoya) (4), 7. Marty Hawkins (#3m Hawkins) (8), 8. Wayne Siddle (#007 Siddle) (7). NT
THE UNDERWOOD DASH: (12 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#15 BBI) (1), 2. Kyle Cummins (#3p Petty) (6), 3. Gavin Miller (#21AZ Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian) (5), 4. Stevie Sussex (#3R Rock Steady) (2), 5. Jake Swanson (#5T Daming Swanson) (3), 6. Ryan Bernal (#17 Dunkel) (4), 7. Jadon Rogers (8), 8. Cale Coons (9), 9. Ricky Lewis (10), 10. C.J. Leary (7). NT
ALSO AT THE TRACK: Alex Peck (#67x Walker)
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Hayden Reinbold (1), 2. Charles Davis Jr. (3), 3. Jacob Denney (6), 4. Trey Osborne (8), 5. Connor Lundy (5), 6. Ricky Thornton Jr. (4), 7. Robert Ballou (11), 8. Cole Wakim (13), 9. Kobe Simpson (2), 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (12), 11. Elijah Gile (9), 12. Verne Sweeney (15), 13. Tyler Cato (17), 14. Chet Williams (10), 15. Brecken Guerrero (14), 16. Marty Hawkins (16), 17. Austin Williams (7). NT
FEATURE: (35 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gavin Miller (3), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 3. Justin Grant (10), 4. Jake Swanson (5), 5. Stevie Sussex (4), 6. David Gasper (16), 7. Jadon Rogers (7), 8. Mitchel Moles (12), 9. C.J. Leary (9), 10. Cale Coons (8), 11. J.J. Yeley (14), 12. Kyle Cummins (2), 13. Jacob Denney (21), 14. Ryan Bernal (6), 15. Briggs Danner (17), 16. Chase Stockon (18), 17. Hayden Reinbold (19), 18. Connor Lundy (23), 19. Logan Seavey (15), 20. Trey Osborne (22), 21. Charles Davis Jr. (20), 22. Brecken Guerrero (26-P), 23. Ricky Lewis (13), 24. Ricky Thornton Jr. (24), 25. R.J. Johnson (11), 26. Verne Sweeney (25-P). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-23 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 24-35 Gavin Miller.
**Dayton Shelton flipped during the second qualifier. Wayne Siddle flipped during the fourth qualifier. Austin Williams flipped during the semi.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-3333, 2-Justin Grant-3150, 3-Mitchel Moles-3075, 4-Jake Swanson-2873, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2657, 6-Briggs Danner-2654, 7-C.J. Leary-2498, 8-Chase Stockon-2485, 9-Logan Seavey-2446, 10-Robert Ballou-2341.
AVANTI WINDOWS & DOORS USAC CRA SPRINT CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-R.J. Johnson-1511, 2-Austin Williams-1177, 3-Connor Lundy-1058, 4-Verne Sweeney-937, 5-Brecken Guerrero-921, 6-Ricky Lewis-825, 7-Dayton Shelton-696, 8-Eddie Tafoya Jr.-661, 9-Charles Davis Jr.-644, 10-Cole Wakim-582.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-154, 2-Hayden Reinbold-149, 3-Kevin Thomas Jr.-142, 4-Robert Ballou-133, 5-Briggs Danner-121, 6-Chase Stockon-119, 7-Jacob Denney-114, 8-Mitchel Moles-110, 9-Cale Coons-109, 10-Jake Swanson-105.
WESTERN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PARALLAX GROUP / PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Mitchel Moles-26, 2-J.J. Yeley-26, 3-Jacob Denney-16, 4-Jadon Rogers-16, 5-Gavin Miller-15, 6-Ricky Lewis-15, 7-Trey Osborne-15, 8-Cole Wakim-15, 9-Justin Grant-13, 10-Kyle Cummins-13.
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jake Swanson (15.221)
K1 RaceGear / Sexton Fire Protection First Qualifier Winner: C.J. Leary
TJ Forged / Roy Miller Freight Lines Second Qualifier Winner: Jadon Rogers
K & N Filters / Rescue Mission Alliance Third Qualifier Winner: Cale Coons
Indy Powersports Fourth Qualifier Winner: Ricky Lewis
The Underwood Dash Presented by AME Electrical Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Hayden Reinbold
Rod End Supply Hard Charger / Lafond Jar of Change: David Gasper (16th to 6th)
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Kevin Thomas Jr. (23 laps led)
Western World Championships Parallax Group / ProSource Passing Master Champion: Mitchel Moles (26)
Whiz Kid Western World Championships Rookie of the Year: Gavin Miller (1st)