Lonnie Wheatley, BROKEN ARROW, Okla. (January 6, 2022) – Brady Bacon made it two years in a row by topping the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings once again in 2021.
Bacon became the third different driver to top the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings in consecutive years since its inception in 2013 along with Robert Ballou (2014 and 2015) and Kevin Thomas, Jr. (2016, 2017 and 2018).
Five of Bacon’s eight overall Non-Wing Sprint Car wins in 2021 came in USAC National Sprint Car competition as he raced to a fourth career Sprint Car championship. Victories came at Lawrenceburg, Grandview and Bloomington along with preliminary wins at Perris Auto Speedway’s “Oval Nationals” and Arizona Speedway’s “Western World Championships”.
Finishing among the top-ten in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings for the ninth consecutive year, Bacon took the top spot by 91 points over Justin Grant. With a Kokomo Smackdown triumph among his 10 wins on the season, Grant finished among the top-five for a fifth consecutive year.
2021 Oval Nationals champion Kevin Thomas, Jr., finished out the year ranked third, his sixth time among the top three including three times at the top rung of the ladder.
Jake Swanson put together his best season to date by ranking fourth with his first USAC Sprint Car win in Oval Nationals preliminary action among his eight feature wins for the year.
With a victory in the Inaugural USAC Sprint Car Nationals at Huset’s Speedway among his seven overall wins, C.J. Leary rounded out the top five to make it four years in a row among the top five including the top ranking in 2019.
Tanner Thorson ranked sixth with the balance of the top ten including Chris Windom, Logan Seavey, Robert Ballou and Jadon Rogers.
While Bacon has finished amongst the top ten during each of the nine years of the Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings, Swanson, Thorson, Seavey and Rogers each broke into the top ten for the first time.
Separated into Non-Wing 410 and Non-Wing 360 Power Rankings through 2018, those were consolidated into a single Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Ranking for 2019 and beyond with all Non-Wing 410 and injected Non-Wing 360 events included in the Rankings.
A look at the 2021 Top 50 in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings is as follows:
| Rank | Name | Wins | Points | 2020 Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brady Bacon | 8 | 863 | 1 |
| 2 | Justin Grant | 10 | 772 | 3 |
| 3 | Kevin Thomas, Jr. | 11 | 771 | 6 |
| 4 | Jake Swanson | 8 | 635 | 23 |
| 5 | C.J. Leary | 7 | 614 | 4 |
| 6 | Tanner Thorson | 5 | 556 | 39 |
| 7 | Chris Windom | 2 | 500 | 2 |
| 8 | Logan Seavey | 8 | 474 | 16 |
| 9 | Robert Ballou | 2 | 428 | 10 |
| 10 | Jadon Rogers | 8 | 389 | 15 |
| 11 | Kyle Cummins | 5 | 380 | 7 |
| 12 | Chase Stockon | 2 | 371 | 5 |
| 13 | Shane Cottle | 1 | 307 | 9 |
| 14 | A.J. Hopkins | 8 | 266 | 11 |
| 15 | Tye Mihocko | 7 | 258 | 29 |
| 16 | Damion Gardner | 7 | 252 | 65 |
| 17 | Thomas Meseraull | 5 | 252 | 17 |
| 18 | Brody Roa | 3 | 245 | 75 |
| 19 | Shane Cockrum | 6 | 227 | 19 |
| 20 | Jason McDougal | 2 | 224 | 73 |
| 21 | Wesley Smith | 10 | 202 | 38 |
| 22 | Alex Bright | 11 | 198 | 57 |
| 23 | Charles Davis, Jr. | 3 | 198 | 33 |
| 24 | Austin Williams | 2 | 195 | 52 |
| 25 | Scotty Weir | 3 | 192 | 21 |
| 26 | Matt Westfall | 2 | 182 | 13 |
| 27 | Mario Clouser | 8 | 173 | 25 |
| 28 | Kory Schudy | 7 | 154 | 56 |
| 29 | Max Adams | 5 | 142 | 18 |
| 30 | Briggs Danner | 9 | 140 | 114 |
| 31 | Nick Bilbee | 4 | 137 | 28 |
| 32 | Chase Johnson | 4 | 125 | 60 |
| 33 | Isaac Chapple | 5 | 123 | 45 |
| 34 | Brayden Fox | 0 | 122 | 40 |
| 35 | Cole Bodine | 0 | 122 | 59 |
| 36 | Chris Gansen | 0 | 113 | NR |
| 37 | Stevie Sussex | 1 | 108 | 41 |
| 38 | R.J. Johnson | 9 | 107 | 38 |
| 39 | Tyler Courtney | 2 | 102 | 12 |
| 40 | Cody Williams | 0 | 101 | 153 |
| 41 | Brady Short | 0 | 99 | 32 |
| 42 | Xavier Doney | 1 | 97 | 165 |
| 43 | Justin Zimmerman | 4 | 92 | NR |
| 44 | Zach Daum | 0 | 87 | 80 |
| 45 | Critter Malone | 1 | 86 | 49 |
| 46 | Davey Ray | 2 | 81 | NR |
| 47 | Tyler Kendall | 1 | 78 | NR |
| 48 | Paul Nienhiser | 1 | 78 | 147 |
| 49 | Jake Scott | 1 | 77 | 42 |
| 50 | Tommy Malcolm | 0 | 76 | NR |
Features Completed: 284 (153 in 2020, 243 in 2019, 197 in 2018, 225 in 2017, 206 in 2016, 218 in 2015, 224 in 2014, 235 in 2013)
Number of Different Winners: 93 (61 in 2020, 91 in 2019, 71 in 2018, 76 in 2017, 72 in 2016, 75 in 2015, 85 in 2014, 92 in 2013)
Number of Drivers to Earn Points: 294 (203 in 2020, 267 in 2019, 204 in 2018, 226 in 2017, 231 in 2016, 268 in 2015, 293 in 2013, 336 in 2013)
Note: Prior to 2019, Non-Wing Power Rankings were broken into 410-ci and 360-ci categories instead of combined into one overall ranking.
Past Top Tens in Non-Wing Sprint Car Power Rankings:
2020 – 1. Brady Bacon (11) 618, 2. Chris Windom (7) 557, 3. Justin Grant (7) 530, 4. C.J. Leary (4) 503, 5. Chase Stockon (3) 503, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (3) 466, 7. Kyle Cummins (7) 383, 8. Dave Darland (1) 340, 9. Shane Cottle (3) 313, 10. Robert Ballou 312.
2019 – 1. C.J. Leary (4) 701, 2. Justin Grant (8) 697, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (7) 689, 4. Tyler Courtney (9) 678, 5. Brady Bacon (8) 671, 6. Chris Windom (8) 632, 7. Thomas Meseraull (12) 492, 8. Chase Stockon (1) 486, 9. Kyle Cummins (14) 468, 10. Jason McDougal (1) 354.
2018 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (15) 917, 2. Chris Windom (9) 863, 3. Tyler Courtney (12) 785, 4. C.J. Leary (6) 664, 5. Justin Grant (10) 655, 6. Dave Darland (4) 642, 7. Brady Bacon (5) 578, 8. Robert Ballou (5) 553, 9. Chase Stockon (2) 529, 10. Thomas Meseraull (7) 384.
2017 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (18) 928, 2. Justin Grant (9) 682, 3. Chris Windom (10) 667, 4. Tyler Courtney (7) 616, 5. Robert Ballou (4) 599, 6. C.J. Leary (8) 479, 7. Brady Short (7) 465, 8. Thomas Meseraull (6) 454, 9. Chad Boespflug (2) 437, 10. Brady Bacon (3) 436.
2016 – 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (13) 782, 2. Brady Bacon (3) 742, 3. Chris Windom (5) 661, 4. Thomas Meseraull (8) 658, 5. Dave Darland (2) 632, 6. Chad Boespflug (6) 555, 7. Robert Ballou (4) 503, 8. Chase Stockon (3) 497, 9. Shane Cottle (4) 451, 10. C.J. Leary (3) 446.
2015 – 1. Robert Ballou (18) 959, 2. Dave Darland (6) 895, 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6) 649, 4. Chase Stockon (5) 607, 5. Brady Bacon (9) 601, 6. Jon Stanbrough (2) 577, 7. Brady Short (16) 561, 8. C.J. Leary (4) 517, 9. Thomas Meseraull (9) 466, 10. Shane Cottle (5) 419.
2014 – 1. Robert Ballou (11) 822, 2. Dave Darland (11) 750, 3. Jon Stanbrough (8) 705, 4. Bryan Clauson (9) 671, 5. Justin Grant (8) 625, 6. Brady Short (12) 605, 7. Chase Stockon (4) 532, 8. Brady Bacon (4) 477, 9. Chad Boespflug (7) 438, 10. Shane Cottle (3) 410.
2013 – 1. Dave Darland (9) 631, 2. Bryan Clauson (11) 627, 3. Brady Short (10) 531, 4. Jon Stanbrough (3) 509, 5. Chase Stockon (3) 507, 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (10) 496, 7. Robert Ballou (5) 474, 8. Chris Windom (6) 414, 9. Chad Boespflug (6) 390, 10. Brady Bacon (2) 389.
The Open Wheel Power Rankings are determined by cumulative points based on a sliding scale dependent upon car count at Sprint Car and Midget events across all sanctions and non-sanctions throughout North America.