CUMMINS CONQUERS ISW! 2026 USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK REVIEW
2026 United States Auto Club (USAC) NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters champion Kyle Cummins. (Rich Forman Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (August 3, 2026)………Kyle Cummins entered the 2026 edition of United States Auto Club (USAC) Indiana Sprint Week as the winningest driver without an ISW championship.
By the end of the week, you could scratch that statement off the list.
In a year in which he has checked off milestone after milestone on his racing resume, he added the USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters title to his ever growing list.
With two victories at Lincoln Park Speedway and the Terre Haute Action Track, and a worst finish of 10th, the Princeton, Indiana racer captured the ISW crown by a seven point margin over Justin Grant.
Cummins’ accolades include a $25,000 reward from the point fund, plus a customized, one-of-a-kind trophy constructed by Dave Thompson, and a Bridgeport Rocker constructed by John Youngs.
But more than anything, it was the achievement of a lifetime for Cummins, and another feather in the cap of the driver who made his Indiana Sprint Week debut 22 years ago in 2004.
“I’ve wanted to win on the half miles and I checked them all off my list, and I wanted to win Sprint Week,” Cummins noted. “I don’t know how many more years I want to do it and this was kind of the best case scenario. We had a great week and I thought that, if I don’t do it now, I probably won’t ever get it done again. That put a little extra pressure on me.”
Despite leading the ISW points for all but one night, Cummins felt he wasn’t as good as he needed to be down the stretch in his Petty Performance Racing/Novix Outdoors – Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy No. 3p. In turn, he was pretty nerve-wracked entering the series finale at Tri-State Speedway.
“After coming out night one and winning, I thought the car was unbelievable, and then we struggled,” Cummins explained. “Then, I got that one back at Terre Haute and then had another problem at Bloomington.”
But this team has persevered time and time again, and Cummins had total trust in the people around him, who’ve achieved a succession of successes over the last couple of seasons.
“This team is unbelievable,” Cummins praised. “(Team owner) Jerry Petty gives us everything we need, and the guys just work their butts off. It’s unbelievable what kind of time they put in from getting the car washed to maintenanced. I’m so proud of the guys: Cameron LaRose, Zach Fields, and Kasey DeRenzy. I had Cameron and the boys take the rear end and the front end out after Bloomington. I made them do a lot of work. I appreciate everything they do. What people don’t see is what they do behind the scenes, and it’s pretty remarkable. I’m kind of stubborn when it comes to having stuff just perfect. I’m thankful for everything they do. This is why we’re here.”
With his third place result in the finale, Cummins had finally gotten it done. Making it even more special is the fact that he got to celebrate it at him home track, located about a 15 minute drive away from his Princeton, Indiana home, and where he won numerous races, including eight under the USAC banner, in his career. And it’s where he made his Indiana Sprint Week debut on July 18, 2004.
“To be at Tri-State Speedway to get my first one is special,” Cummins beamed. “This is a big deal. It’s a big, big paying week too. Holy moly! $25 grand. Man, it’s been a really good week.”
The kickoff to Indiana Sprint Week began at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday, July 23, which featured an invitational field and paid national feature points, but did not count toward the Indiana Sprint Week standings. It turned out to be a milestone night for Justin Grant after he earned his 100th career USAC national victory across all divisions, joining A J Foyt, Rich Vogler, Mel Kenyon, and Dave Darland as just the fifth driver to achieve the feat.
The following night, on Friday, July 24, at Lincoln Park Speedway began the tabulating of Indiana Sprint Week points. Greeting perhaps the largest crowd in Lincoln Park history was an official Indiana Sprint Week record of 71 drivers in competition, breaking the former record of 68 at Terre Haute in 1999 and Lawrenceburg in 2003. Kyle Cummins defeated them all with a wire-to-wire performance.
A month after parting ways with Rock Steady Racing to join BBI Motorsports, Kevin Thomas Junior took them to their first ever USAC National Sprintcar victory on Saturday, July 25, at Kokomo Speedway in what was just their fifth series start together. At the same time, the Cullman, Alabama native drove himself to his long-awaited first win of the 2026 USAC National Sprint Car season.
On Sunday, July 26, Justin Grant conquered the very same event in which he broke his foot at during an accident one year ago. Lawrenceburg Speedway had been mostly kind to him throughout his career, and on this night, it was back in his good graces as he raced by Cummins with two laps to go to earn his 101st career USAC national victory. It seemed fitting for Grant that his very first USAC national win in 2012 came during Indiana Sprint Week at Lawrenceburg, and so did his 101st. Furthermore, the event was the 200th Indiana Sprint Week race held under USAC sanctioning, 30 years to the day after the first one on July 26, 1996.
Brady Bacon had previously conquered the likes of Lawrenceburg, Lincoln Park, Plymouth, Bloomington, and Terre Haute during his USAC Indiana Sprint Week career. On Tuesday night, July 28, he made it six career Indiana Sprint Week victories at six different racetracks after adding Indianapolis, Indiana’s Circle City Raceway to his checklist in a dominating performance from start to finish. As an aside, with his eighth place result, Cummins recorded his 30th consecutive top 10 finish with the series, breaking Kevin Thomas Jr.’s all-time record of 29, set just one season ago in 2025. In the meantime, third place finisher Mitchel Moles took over the ISW point lead.
Over the course of Indiana Sprint Week, victory has been knock, knock, knockin’ on Jake Swanson’s door with finishes of 2nd, 5th, 5th, 3rd. In the first Indiana Sprint Week event held at Paragon Speedway in 28 years on Wednesday, July 29, Swanson battled a gnarly cushion and a bevy of traffic to score his first ISW victory in three years, and his first USAC National Sprint Car score any kind since February 2026 at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park. With a runner-up result, Cummins ascended back into the ISW point lead.
Kyle Cummins has always desired to make champion moves whenever the pressure is on. By all accounts, he certainly made a champion level move to take the lead and the victory on Thursday, July 30, at the Terre Haute Action Track. On a restart with just two laps remaining, Cummins dove under Brady Bacon in turn three to race to victory. With a purse of $46,750, a $10,000 winner’s share, and a minimum of $1,000 to start, the 16th running of the Don Smith Classic was the highest paying event in the 39-year history of Indiana Sprint Week.
One year earlier, Robert Ballou endured an accident at Bloomington Speedway that left him with a broken back and wound up costing him the remainder of the 2025 season. In the penultimate round of ISW on Friday, July 31, just one day shy of a full year since that accident, Ballou returned to the scene and conquered the red clay after race leader Gavin Miller ran out of fuel on the back straightaway on the final lap, ending his bid for a first career USAC National Sprintcar victory. Fittingly, Ballou drove the No. 12 to the win as he became just the 12th driver in USAC National Sprint Car history to reach the 40-win mark.
While Justin Grant won the night during the Saturday, August 1, ISW finale at Tri-State Speedway, it was Kyle Cummins who won the week. Grant charged from his seventh starting position to earn his third victory of the week and became the first to reach 70 career USAC National Sprint Car victories. Then, he was greeted by a raucous crowd, many of whom directed their umbrage toward Grant following a heat race incident that involved himself and Robert Ballou, who flipped wildly after wheel to wheel contact. Grant’s 14th career ISW victory moved him to third all-time behind only Dave Darland (20) and Jon Stanbrough (16).
USAC Indiana Sprint Week 2026 paid out $25,000 to the champion with an overall point fund being a record-setting $52,200. The top 10 breakdown in the point standings went as follows: 1. Kyle Cummins ($25,000), 2. Justin Grant ($10,000), 3. Mitchel Moles ($5,000), 4. Jake Swanson ($3,000), 5. Brady Bacon ($2,200), 6. Kevin Thomas Jr. ($1,800), 7. Logan Seavey ($1,600), 8. Robert Ballou ($1,400), 9. Jadon Rogers ($1,200), and 10. C.J. Leary ($1,000). Positions nine and 10 were added to the point fund thanks to Jason Keefer Racing.
All in all, 97 drivers participated in Indiana Sprint Week 2026 – the most since 2004 – with drivers hailing from 16 different United States this year: Indiana (55), California (11), Arizona (4), Texas (4), Illinois (3), Missouri (3), Ohio (3), Colorado (2), Pennsylvania (2), Alabama (1), Kansas (1), Kentucky (1), Michigan (1), New Mexico (1), Oklahoma (1), and Washington (1), plus three more from Australia: Victoria (2) and New South Wales (1).
Of the 97 drivers participating, 10 drivers started all nine feature events: Kyle Cummins, Briggs Danner, Justin Grant, CJ Leary, Mitchel Moles, Jadon Rogers, Hunter Schuerenberg, Logan Seavey, Chase Stockon, and Jake Swanson. Seventeen drivers competed in every event, including all of those listed above, plus Kevin Thomas Jr,. Robert Ballou, Hayden Reinbold, Cale Coons, Kobe Simpson, Troy Carey, and Brandon Mattox.
A handful of drivers earned their best career USAC National Sprintcar finishes during Indiana Sprint Week: Gavin Miller (3rd at Kokomo), Harley Burns (6th at Tri-State), and Dalton Stevens (10th at Tri-State).
Jake Swanson passed 60 cars throughout the series to earn the Parallax Group / ProSource Passing Master Championship. He trailed Hunter Schuerenberg by eight points entering the finale at Tri-State but made a plus-11 run from 19th to 8th in the feature to earn the $1,000 reward, which accounted for positions advanced every time cars were on track.
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2026 USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK STATISTICS
2026 USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK SCHEDULE & WINNERS:
July 23: The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway | Speedway, Indiana
WINNER: Justin Grant (TOPP Motorsports #4)
July 24: Lincoln Park Speedway | Putnamville, Indiana
WINNER: Kyle Cummins (Petty Performance Racing #3p)
July 25: Kokomo Speedway | Kokomo, Indiana
WINNER: Kevin Thomas Jr. (BBI Motorsports #15)
July 26: Lawrenceburg Speedway | Lawrenceburg, Indiana
WINNER: Justin Grant (TOPP Motorsports #4)
July 28: Circle City Raceway | Indianapolis, Indiana
WINNER: Brady Bacon (Chris Dyson Racing #20)
July 29: Paragon Speedway | Paragon, Indiana
WINNER: Jake Swanson (Daming Swanson Motorsports #5T)
July 30: Terre Haute Action Track | Terre Haute, Indiana
WINNER: Kyle Cummins (Petty Performance Racing #3p)
July 31: Bloomington Speedway | Bloomington, Indiana
WINNER: Robert Ballou (Ballou Motorsports #12)
Aug 1: Tri-State Speedway | Haubstadt, Indiana
WINNER: Justin Grant (TOPP Motorsports #4)
2026 INDIANA SPRINT WEEK FEATURE WINS
3-Justin Grant (July 23 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, July 26 at Lawrenceburg Speedway & August 1 at Tri-State Speedway)
2-Kyle Cummins (July 24 at Lincoln Park Speedway & July 30 at the Terre Haute Action Track)
1-Brady Bacon (July 28 at Circle City Raceway)
1-Robert Ballou (July 31 at Bloomington Speedway)
1-Jake Swanson (July 29 at Paragon Speedway)
1-Kevin Thomas Jr. (July 25 at Kokomo Speedway)
POINT STANDINGS
POS. PTS. DRIVER, HOMETOWN
1. 569 Kyle Cummins, Princeton, Indiana
2. 562 Justin Grant, Ione, California
3. 545 Mitchel Moles, Raisin City, California
4. 523 Jake Swanson, Anaheim, California
5. 522 Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
6. 403 Kevin Thomas Jr., Cullman, Alabama
7. 400 Logan Seavey, Sutter, California
8. 392 Robert Ballou, Rocklin, California
9. 382 Jadon Rogers, Worthington, Indiana
10. 359 C.J. Leary, Greenfield, Indiana
11. 355 Briggs Danner, Allentown, Pennsylvania
12. 352 Chase Stockon, Fort Branch, Indiana
13. 349 Hunter Schuerenberg, Sikeston, Missouri
14. 320 Hayden Reinbold, Gilbert, Arizona
15. 294 Gavin Miller, Allentown, Pennsylvania
16. 276 Gunnar Setser, Columbus, Indiana
17. 241 Harley Burns, Brazil, Indiana
18. 218 Cale Coons, Greencastle, Indiana
19. 214 Ricky Lewis, Oxnard, California
20. 172 Dalton Stevens, Scurry, Texas
21. 157 Trey Osborne, Columbus, Ohio
22. 138 Jack Hoyer, Frankfort, Indiana
23. 136 Eli Wilhelmus, Newburgh, Indiana
24. 133 Charles Davis Jr., Buckeye, Arizona
25. 131 David Gasper, Goleta, California
26. 128 Thomas Meseraull, San Jose, California
27. 119 Kobe Simpson, Bonham, Texas
28. 113 Colin Parker, Martinsville, Indiana
29. 111 Max Adams, Loomis, California
30. 105 Todd Hobson, Clyde, Victoria
31. 104 Zack Pretorius, Yorktown, Indiana
32. 93 Todd Moule, Heathcote, Victoria
33. 80 Troy Carey, Tullamore, New South Wales
34. 80 Brandon Mattox, Terre Haute, Indiana
35. 77 Chance Crum, Snohomish, Washington
36. 61 Logan Calderwood, Goodyear, Arizona
37. 60 R.J. Miller, Edgewood, Texas
38. 60 Travis Oldfield, Albuquerque, New Mexico
39. 55 Beau Brandon, Elwood, Indiana
40. 54 Austin Nigh, Greenfield, Indiana
41. 52 Mike Larrison, Avon, Indiana
42. 52 J.J. Yeley, Phoenix, Arizona
43. 50 Wyatt Burks, Topeka, Kansas
44. 49 Carson Short, Marion, Illinois
45. 48 Hunter Maddox, Bedford, Indiana
46. 42 Shawn Westerfeld, Guilford, Indiana
47. 40 Dakota Earls, Independence, Missouri
48. 40 Logan Prickett, Shelbyville, Indiana
49. 40 Jake Scott, Morgantown, Indiana
50. 40 Cody Trammell, Smithville, Indiana
51. 39 Aric Gentry, Robards, Kentucky
52. 36 Garrett Abrams, Rushville, Indiana
53. 36 Shane Cottle, Kansas, Illinois
54. 35 Kendall Ruble, Vincennes, Indiana
55. 30 Michael Clark, Brazil, Indiana
56. 30 Parker Frederickson, Kokomo, Indiana
57. 30 Gabriel Gilbert, Greenwood, Indiana
58. 30 Kyle Johnson, Greencastle, Indiana
59. 30 Brennon Marshall, Edgewood, Texas
60. 30 Jim Tribby, Martinsville, Indiana
61. 30 James Turnbull II, Indio, California
62. 30 Blake Vermillion, Greencastle, Indiana
63. 30 Jesse Vermillion, Greencastle, Indiana
64. 29 Dustin Webber, Goshen, Ohio
65. 28 Jordan Kinser, Gosport, Indiana
66. 28 Keith Sheffer II, Jerome, Michigan
67. 28 Chet Williams, Newburgh, Indiana
68. 20 Daylan Chambers, Bowling Green, Indiana
69. 20 Braydon Cromwell, Lone Jack, Missouri
70. 20 Rylan Gray, Greenfield, Indiana
71. 20 Tony Helton, Cloverdale, Indiana
72. 20 Collin Jackson, Evansville, Indiana
73. 20 Steve Justis, Evansville, Indiana
74. 20 Justin Meneely, Brazil, Indiana
75. 20 Evan Mosley, Lapel, Indiana
76. 20 Devan Myers, Delphi, Indiana
77. 20 Brandon Spencer, Nashville, Indiana
78. 10 Ryan Barr, Piqua, Ohio
79. 10 Bryan Brewer, Vallonia, Indiana
80. 10 Nate Carle, West Harrison, Indiana
81. 10 Brayden Clark, Tipton, Indiana
82. 10 Daniel Clodfelter, Rockville, Indiana
83. 10 Austin Cory, Morristown, Indiana
84. 10 Colten Cottle, Kansas, Illinois
85. 10 Braxton Cummings, Bedford, Indiana
86. 10 Ivan Glotzbach, Fillmore, Indiana
87. 10 Matt Goodnight, Winchester, Indiana
88. 10 Frankie Guerrini, San Rafael, California
89. 10 Kole Kirkman, Kokomo, Indiana
90. 10 Jesse Miller, Cloverdale, Indiana
91. 10 Shey Owens, Indianapolis, Indiana
92. 10 Evan Parker, West Terre Haute, Indiana
93. 10 Steven Pritchett, Evansville, Indiana
94. 10 Aidan Salisbury, Colorado Springs, Colorado
95. 10 Sam Scott, Patoka, Indiana
96. 10 Noah Whitehouse, Greenfield, Indiana
FEATURE LAPS L
