Lonnie Wheatley, KOKOMO, Ind. (August 27, 2022) – Two full nights of USAC Sprint Car racing action at “Kokomo Sprint Car Smackdown XI” have locked an elite eight drivers into Friday night’s $15,000-to-win, 40-lap championship finale.
While those eight will battle it out in “King of the Hill” fashion to determine the starting order for the front four rows, the balance of the field will slug it out through qualifying races lined up their best score over the previous two nights and then “C” and “B” Mains.
Justin Grant topped Thursday’s feature, fending off a charge from Kyle Cummins from the tail of the field while Kevin Thomas, Jr., battled past Jake Swanson one-third of the way into Friday’s preliminary feature to snare his first series win of the year.
The Lock-Ins:
3r-Kyle Cummins (688 points) – The fast qualifier on both nights over fields of 41 and 43, Cummins bounced back from a flat tire while lining up on Thursday night and then thrilled the crowd with a run through the field to snare runner-up honors before posting a fourth-place finish on Friday night.
77m-C.J. Leary (666 points) – A heat race winner on Thursday night, a better qualifying effort of second (versus 12th on Thursday) resulted in a third-place podium run after finishing off Thursday’ feature in seventh.
5m-Jason McDougal (646 points) – It was all about 4’s on Thursday with J-Mac timing in fourth quickest, finishing fourth in his heat and then fourth in the feature. The flamingo farmer salvaged a qualifying effort of 17th on Friday night with a heat race win that set him up for a seventh-place feature run.
47bc-Emerson Axsom (642 points) – Axsom has posted back-to-back fifth-place feature finishes, finding the position in different ways both nights. Axsom timed in second-quickest on Thursday night but then missed the cut through heat race action. He responded by winning the “B” Main and moved forward from 10th before starting on Friday’s pole position and ending in the same place.
4-Justin Grant (638 points) – After wiring the field in Thursday’s feature from the front row outside, Friday proved to be more challenging after timing in 13th and then backing up to a “B” Main position that he converted into a win and then worked forward from 15th to ninth in the main event.
21az-Jake Swanson (634 points) – Clocking in 16th on Thursday, the AZ shoe climbed a handful of positions from 17th to 12th before a qualifying effort of fifth on Friday night translated into a front row feature start that was converted into a runner-up finish.
12-Robert Ballou (634 points) – Qualifying tenth on Thursday night ultimately netted the pole for the feature which netted a third-place finish before missing the cut from heat race action on Friday and then climbing from 12th to eighth to land in King of the Hill action.
69-Brady Bacon (632 points) – A downed tire while running fourth in the Friday opener limited the defending series champ to an 11th-place finish on Thursday before advancing a position from seventh to claim sixth on Friday.
The remaining field’s point totals:
9. 621 Kevin Thomas, Jr.
10. 618 Jadon Rogers
11. 616 Mitchel Moles
12. 600 Thomas Meseraull
13. 572 Matt Westfall
14. 569 Anton Hernandez
15. 564 Logan Seavey
16. 563 Chase Stockon
17. 548 Dave Darland
18. 542 Max Adams
19. 524 Scotty Weir
20. 466 Carson Garrett
21. 464 Cole Bodine
22. 457 Mario Clouser
23. 447 Parker Frederickson
24. 408 Alex Bright
25. 403 Korbyn Hayslett
26. 399 Jack Hoyer
27. 399 Tom Harris
28. 396 Sterling Cling
29. 382 Tim Creech
30. 363 Brandon Mattox
31. 356 Dustin Clark
32. 347 Corey Smith
33. 342 Larry Kingseed, Jr.
34. 323 Riley Kreisel
35. 280 Paul White
36. 279 Cooper Welch
37. 276 Jack James
38. 254 Tyler Hewitt
39. 250 Tayte Williamson
40. 197 Dalton Stevens
41. 169 Zack Pretorius
42. 151 Alex Banales
43. 138 Derek Crane
44. 98 Keith Sheffer II
Saturday’s “Kokomo Sprint Car Smackdown XI” finale is set to get under way with hot laps at 6:00 p.m.