The Kokomo Smackdown Lock-Ins!

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.

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