Story By: RICHIE MURRAY / USAC – HAUBSTADT, IN – It’s safe to say that, over the years, no driver has accrued more success at Tri-State Speedway and the Haubstadt Hustler in USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship competition than Kevin Thomas Jr.
And that was even before he set foot on the property of the southern Indiana 1/4-mile dirt oval on Saturday night.
That’s where Thomas (Cullman, Ala.) blitzed by Justin Grant for the lead in lapped traffic on the 14th circuit of the 40-lap main event to earn a hefty sum of $20,000 while extending his record of USAC National Sprint Car victories at Tri-State to eight and his Haubstadt Hustler win total to five. No other driver has more than two in the 17-year history of the event.
KTJ’s victory also marked a redemption on two different fronts. His last visit to Tri-State in early August began with a qualifying crash, which put him behind the proverbial eight ball all night. Furthermore, in late August during Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway, Thomas saw a potential $50,000 payday go by the wayside when a radiator puncture forced him out of the race with 17 of 40 laps complete.
This time around, there was no doubt about it as Thomas put the stamp on his 44th career USAC National Sprint Car triumph, one behind 1968-1970-1975 series champion Larry Dickson for seventh place all-time. Meanwhile, it was Thomas’ fifth series win of the year, two of which have come at Tri-State after also winning this past May’s Spring Showdown.
In fact, only two drivers have captured victories in both the Spring Showdown and the Haubstadt Hustler within the same year. Daron Clayton achieved it once in 2014. However, Thomas has now completed the sweep of these two events on three distinct occasions in 2013, 2018 and now in 2024 while at the wheel of his Rock Steady Racing/Inferno Armor – Eddie Gilstrap Motors – Creative Finishing/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
On this night, it was “one for the thumb” so to speak as Thomas officially collected an entire handful of Haubstadt Hustler scores after previously mastering the course in 2013, 2017, 2018 and 2021.
“Hats off to my guys. I was a little skittish today during qualifying. I was just being pretty cautious and making sure we got two laps,” referring to his Tri-State qualifying flip in August. “Whenever you talk about rebounding, these guys definitely know how to do that. It’s a blessing to be able to drive this thing.”
That’s no joke as Thomas’ latest win provided team owner Hank Byram’s Rock Steady Racing team with its third Haubstadt Hustler win after previously reigning in 2016 and 2019 with driver Kyle Cummins. Furthermore, Byram/Rock Steady’s 30th career USAC National Sprint Car victory on this night tied Don Siebert and Dick Hammond’s Gohr Distributing team for 16th place on the all-time list.
The race also resulted in a weekend sweep for the Mach-1 Chassis, which is pretty much piloted by just two drivers on the circuit – Kyle Cummins and Kevin Thomas Jr. Cummins and his Petty Performance Racing team were victorious on Friday night at Indianapolis, Indiana’s Circle City Raceway and the Pennsylvania-based chassis was in top form again on Saturday night with Thomas at Tri-State while its constructor was in attendance to witness both wins first-hand.
“Mark Smith is here this week, and he told me before the race that he wanted to get his picture taken and not with his own phone,” Thomas quipped. “I’m glad he was here to be able to get a win. Hell, I think this car is a 2014. Kyle (Cummins) won about a million races in it, and it’s proven to be fast.”
While Thomas started fourth on the feature grid, outside front row starter Justin Grant shot out to the initial lead over pole sitter Robert Ballou. By lap two, however, Thomas was on the move, establishing himself in the second spot as he scooped under Ballou in turn three before going to work on Grant for the race lead.
Meanwhile, Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier Mitchel Moles was spying down Ballou for third on the fourth lap. As Moles ducked under in turn three, his right rear tire made contact with Ballou’s left front tire, sending Ballou skating up the racetrack. Moles went by for third as series point leader Logan Seavey followed suit to fourth, thus dropping Ballou all the way back to fifth in the blink of an eye.
Grant maintained a three to four car length grip over Thomas for much of the first half of the race. That is until lap 14 just after the frontrunners were beginning to work their way through traffic at the tail end of the field. As Grant entered turns three and four, his car suddenly bogged down, scrubbing his speed and allowing Thomas to freely drive by along the bottom to take over the lead.
“I felt good running behind him,” Thomas said of the situation. “But being good and passing somebody who is good are two different circumstances. Being able to run the right part of the racetrack whenever I’m alone by myself, that allows me to enter at the right speeds and I’m not trying to critique myself on whether that was faster or better. I can just go out there and naturally drive. Being out front allows you to do that. As I was trying to chase Justin, I got lucky in lapped traffic. He got a full hornet’s nest, and that didn’t help him there. I’m just glad we were able to pounce whenever we needed to and have the car to stay there.”
Moments later, on lap 16, 16th running Gunnar Setser, making his second career USAC National Sprint Car start, endured a vicious flip along the front straightaway as he raced side-by-side with KO Motorsports teammate Kayla Roell. As he attempted to avoid contact with her just under the flag stand, Setser veered left, which promptly dug his right rear tire into the track surface and sent him barrel-rolling five times into turn one. For Setser, it was his second flip of the night after also taking a tumble in virtually the same spot on the opening lap of the fourth heat race. Both times, he was able to walk away under his own power.
By halfway, Thomas had opened up his lead to 1.5 seconds over Grant and maintained roughly the same interval as he continued to make his pathway through lapped traffic. But on lap 32, the man who was chasing him, Grant, performed a half-spin in turn four. Brady Short (17th) had no time to avoid and collided into the left rear of Grant’s ride. Grant continued onward without stopping while Short’s race ended on the spot with heavy front end damage.
The incident also left Grant with lingering damage to his left rear shock, which he’d endure for the final nine laps. On the ensuing restart, Ballou took advantage of Grant’s misfortune by gliding underneath in turn four to grab the second spot. Grant subsequently took a precipitous drop all the way down to ninth by race’s end.
As Thomas led by 1.4 seconds and appeared headed to a comfortable outcome, the yellow flag suddenly stifled his pursuit. On lap 39, seventh running Kale Drake slid to a stop on the top side of turns three and four, erasing what would’ve been his best career USAC National Sprint Car run to date.
For the final two-lap shootout, Thomas utilized the upper line while Ballou was digging on the bottom. Ultimately, Thomas punctuated the 40th and final lap by crossing the stripe 0.390 seconds ahead of Ballou with Kyle Cummins third, Mitchel Moles fourth and Brady Bacon fifth.
However, an ongoing melee was underway behind the front runners at the finish line. Daison Pursley (11th) smashed into the outside turn four wall on the final corner, then bounced back directly into the path of Jadon Rogers who made contact with Pursley. Carson Garrett ramped over the left rear tire of the slowing Pursley while Kendall Ruble careened into the side of Garrett. Miraculously, no drivers got upside down in the accident as they all crossed the finish line in an unsavory manner.
Robert Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) fell from second to fifth early, but soon found his groove thereafter. He worked his way back up to second during the waning laps to finish as the runner-up in his Ballou Motorsports/Suburban Subaru – Deaton’s Waterfront Services/DRC/Ott Chevy. That earned him the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night and also tied his best career Haubstadt Hustler result after finishing second in 2014. Furthermore, Ballou remains the only driver in contention to collect a payday for the NOS Energy Drink Trifecta. After finishing third at Kokomo in July and second on this night at Tri-State, a third-place or better run at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway on October 12 would earn him a $10,000 bonus.
Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) experienced a solid weekend after winning on Friday night at Circle City Raceway before finishing third at Tri-State in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy. Overall, it was Cummins’ seventh career Haubstadt Hustler podium finish.
Despite the tumultuous finish that saw him fly sideways under the checkered flag, Kendall Ruble (Vincennes, Ind.) was highly pleased with his performance that netted him hard charger honors after starting 24th and finishing 11th.
The event was also round eight of 10 in the third annual Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster Presented By Spire Sports + Entertainment series. With his fifth place result at Tri-State, Bacon retains a 22-point lead over Thomas with two events remaining on September 21 at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway and October 12 at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 14, 2024 – Tri-State Speedway – Haubstadt, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 17th Haubstadt Hustler
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-13.216; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-13.312; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.491; 4. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-13.505; 5. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-13.557; 6. Carson Short, 21m, Edwards-13.589; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.591; 8. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.637; 9. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.670; 10. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-13.700; 11. Brady Short, 61m, Edwards-13.714; 12. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-13.752; 13. Kayla Roell, 5K, KO-13.766; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.776; 15. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.804; 16. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-13.825; 17. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-13.842; 18. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.848; 19. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-13.880; 20. Dustin Beck, 75, Henson/Rupp-13.922; 21. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.956; 22. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-14.056; 23. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-14.073; 24. J.J. Hughes, 76, Hughes-14.087; 25. Sam Scott, 7s, Scott-14.091; 26. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-14.203; 27. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-14.233; 28. Donny Brackett, 4B, Brackett-14.285; 29. Kendall Ruble, 17, Ruble-14.319; 30. Nathan Seale, 1s, Seale-14.671; 31. Austin Hawkins, 5A, Hawkins-14.986; 32. Colton Booten, 2J, Pritchett-15.308.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Kayla Roell, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Kendall Ruble, 7. Sam Scott, 8. Brandon Mattox. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Kyle Cummins, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Hunter Maddox, 6. Nathan Seale, 7. Carson Short. 2:14.315
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Brady Short, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Kale Drake, 6. Austin Hawkins, 7. Nate Schank. NT
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Dustin Beck, 4. Carson Garrett, 5. J.J. Hughes, 6. Donny Brackett, 7. Colton Booten, 8. Gunnar Setser. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kendall Ruble, 2. Gunnar Setser, 3. Joey Amantea, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Austin Hawkins, 6. Sam Scott, 7. Nathan Seale, 8. Nate Schank, 9. Aric Gentry, 10. Donny Brackett, 11. Carson Short, 12. Colton Booten. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 2. Robert Ballou (1), 3. Kyle Cummins (5), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. Brady Bacon (8), 6. Logan Seavey (3), 7. C.J. Leary (7), 8. Chase Stockon (10), 9. Justin Grant (2), 10. Carson Garrett (16), 11. Kendall Ruble (24), 12. Daison Pursley (11), 13. Matt Westfall (15), 14. Jadon Rogers (17), 15. Kayla Roell (13), 16. Kale Drake (18), 17. J.J. Hughes (23), 18. Dustin Beck (19), 19. Brady Short (12), 20. Hayden Reinbold (14), 21. Hunter Maddox (21), 22. Joey Amantea (22), 23. Gunnar Setser (9), 24. Brandon Mattox (20). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-13 Justin Grant, Laps 14-40 Kevin Thomas Jr.
**Gunnar Setser flipped during the fourth heat. Donny Brackett flipped during the semi. Nathan Seale flipped during the semi. Gunnar Setser flipped on lap 16 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-2638, 2-Brady Bacon-2564, 3-Daison Pursley-2357, 4-C.J. Leary-2344, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2326, 6-Mitchel Moles-2318, 7-Robert Ballou-2234, 8-Justin Grant-2166, 9-Kyle Cummins-2154, 10-Carson Garrett-1628.
BUBBY JONES MASTER OF GOIN’ FASTER PRESENTED BY SPIRE SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-544, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-522, 3-C.J. Leary-507, 4-Logan Seavey-499, 5-Daison Pursley-495, 6-Mitchel Moles-489, 7-Kyle Cummins-479, 8-Robert Ballou-452, 9-Justin Grant-440, 10-Chase Stockon-361.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-176, 2-Logan Seavey-169, 3-Robert Ballou-140, 4-C.J. Leary-117, 5-Kyle Cummins-115, 6-Justin Grant-112, 7-Chase Stockon-112, 8-Brady Bacon-109, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-99, 10-Joey Amantea-92.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: September 21, 2024 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 42nd 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Logan Seavey (13.214)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (13.216)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kendall Ruble
Hard Charger: Kendall Ruble (24th to 11th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Robert Ballou