Feature winner Kevin Thomas Jr. wrestles with Justin Grant for position during Saturday afternoon's Smackdown X prelim feature at Kokomo Speedway. (Travis Branch Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media\
Kokomo, Indiana (August 28, 2021)………In a sun-splashed matinee performance by the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, a sliver of daylight was all Kevin Thomas Jr. needed.
On a restart with five laps remaining, the Cullman, Ala. native slipped by leader Logan Seavey, who glanced off the wall between turns one and two, cracking open a window of opportunity for Thomas to drive through to victory Saturday afternoon during the final prelim of the weekend for Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Smackdown X at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway.
The afternoon affair couldn’t have come soon enough for Thomas, of Cullman, Ala., admitting his confidence was a little low following Friday night’s 11th place finish, which snapped his streak of 16 consecutive top-10 finishes with the series.
The 2016 Smackdown and Kokomo champ got back on track at just the right time in the heat of the day, scoring his sixth USAC National Sprint Car feature win of the year while piloting his KT Motorsports/Dr. Pepper Presents the Ronald McDonald House Charities/DRC/Speedway Chevy.
Thomas began his race from the third position, but the initial individual on the move off the starting blocks was Friday night winner Justin Grant who launched from his fourth starting spot to split between front row starters Matt Westfall and Jadon Rogers exiting turn four on the opening lap, putting Grant at the top of the pecking order in quick fashion.
Following Chase Johnson’s ramp up the turn four wall 11 laps into the event that necessitated a yellow, on the ensuing restart, it appeared as if Thomas may soon be the one to overtake Grant for the top spot as he checked high, then raked the bottom while Grant occupied the bottom/middle. However, Seavey took both by surprise and burst from third to first around the outside exiting turn four to assume the lead.
Thomas, never shy to express his candor, spoke of the up-and-down nature of this portion of the race, which saw him bounce back-and-forth between challenging for the lead before quickly being relegated back to third in the rundown.
“I felt we were good,” Thomas relayed. “I didn’t know the top was going to come in that early. When I was restarting behind Justin there, I took a peek at it, and I didn’t think it was that good; it looked pretty dirty. The next thing you know, Justin and I are down there stuck in the middle of the racetrack. Seavey goes blowing by us, then I made a few bad decisions and I let Brady get back by me. I just had to do a few little things there in the cockpit, mainly getting my crap together. I knew I had a good racecar; I just had to do what I needed to do.”
Brady Bacon then entered the fray, taking third from Grant on lap 13, then second from Thomas on lap 14 with a dazzling flick of the steering wheel that cut him from the top of four to the bottom of one and into the runner-up spot at the halfway point.
With six to go and running third, Thomas took note of a couple of slight slip-ups that worked to his advantage. Race leader Seavey got a tad tight on the cushion and tapped the wall, forcing second-running Bacon to chock up ever so slightly just behind Seavey. Thomas, meanwhile, had already committed to the bottom and went unfettered past Bacon and into the second position.
When 10th running Emerson Axsom spun a stop in turn two on lap 26, that closed the slight gap that existed between Seavey and Thomas and put them back into a restart scenario. Seavey’s car lifted the left rear on the entry to turn one, sending his car skating across the cushion. With Seavey’s tap of the wall and resulting scrubbed speed, Thomas had gone by and become the new leader.
From that point onward, four trips around the quarter-mile dirt oval were all safe and sound for Thomas who notched his 33rd career USAC National Sprint Car feature win, elevating his total above that of USAC and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Rollie Beale for sole possession of 13th all-time.
For Seavey, it was oh-so-close after leading a race-high 15 laps in his Baldwin-Fox Racing/Fox Paving – Claxton Engines/DRC/Claxton Chevy. The Sutter, California driver had to settle for second, 1.723 seconds behind Thomas, and readily admitted he could’ve done without the yellows.
“The track got cleaner and cleaner and was gripping up, actually,” Seavey explained. “I think I just got myself a little too tight. I was just trying not to make too big of adjustments, but I knew the track was getting slicker and slower. I just couldn’t get off the corners as good as I needed to and made a little bit of an adjustment, but I just didn’t run hard enough there on those last couple laps. I just really didn’t need the yellows. KTJ just found a little bit better line in one and two. It was so treacherous, and then the top at exit got really slick and it just lost everything that made it good in the beginning of the race and I just didn’t move with the racetrack. To be leading and knowing the track’s changing, you just don’t know where to go. He figured it out and I just need to be a little bit better.”
Brady Bacon became a major player in his bid for victory late in the going in his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts – TelStar/Triple X/Rider Chevy, ultimately finishing third to remain up front with a healthy lead of the standings in pursuit of his fourth career series crown.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 28, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Smackdown X – (Daytime Event)
FLIGHT ONE FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 5, Baldwin-12.863; 2. Tanner Thorson, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.971; 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 9K, KT-13.149; 4. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.163; 5. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-13.288; 6. Alex Bright, 20, Hummer-13.293; 7. Max Guilford, 79BT, Goodnight-13.351; 8. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.404; 9. C.J. Leary, 77m, Michael-13.492; 10. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-13.509; 11. Koby Barksdale, 16K, Knight-13.516; 12. Cole Bodine, 57x, DCT-13.519; 13. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.631; 14. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.856; 15. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.866; 16. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.141; 17. Anthony D'Alessio, 01, D'Alessio-14.180; 18. Jack James, 99, James-14.262; 19. Ted Kirkpatrick, 63LK, Sturgeon-14.267; 20. Brandon Long, 12, Ballou-14.371; 21. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-14.717.
FLIGHT TWO FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-13.102; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.122; 3. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-13.187; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 2, Yeley-13.200; 5. Scotty Weir, 4p, Pedersen-13.246; 6. Emerson Axsom, 39BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-13.356; 7. Stevie Sussex, 77, Wingo-13.468; 8. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.486; 9. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-13.493; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-13.504; 11. Mario Clouser, 6, EZR-13.532; 12. Brent Beauchamp, 29, LB-13.544; 13. Chase Johnson, 22, Goodnight-13.563; 14. Jason McDougal, 5m, KO-13.778; 15. Max Adams, 57, Hazen-13.856; 16. Tye Mihocko, 2E, Epperson-13.908; 17. Ryan Thomas, 77FR, Wingo-14.003; 18. Steven Drevicki, 19s, DeGre-14.517; 19. Brayden Clark, 42, Jackson/Clark-14.719; 20. David Hair, 44, Hair-14.773.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Max Guilford, 6. Koby Barksdale, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Zack Pretorius, 9. Anthony D’Alessio, 10. Ryan Barr, 11. Ted Kirkpatrick.
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Tanner Thorson, 5. Alex Bright, 6. Brandon Long, 7. Sterling Cling, 8. Jack James, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Eddie Tafoya Jr. NT
INDY METAL FINISHING THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Chris Windom, 2. Max Adams, 3. Mario Clouser, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Scotty Weir, 6. Stevie Sussex, 7. Jake Swanson, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Ryan Thomas, 10. Brayden Clark.
INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Jason McDougal, 6. Brent Beauchamp, 7. Steven Drevicki, 8. Tye Mihocko, 9. Thomas Meseraull, 10. David Hair.
THE FROLIC BAR & GRILL C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Ryan Thomas, 2. Anthony D’Alessio, 3. Tye Mihocko, 4. Steven Drevicki, 5. Jack James, 6. David Hair, 7. Brayden Clark, 8. Ryan Barr, 9. Ted Kirkpatrick, 10. Brandon Long. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Scotty Weir, 4. Alex Bright, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Chase Johnson, 7. Koby Barksdale, 8. Max Guilford, 9. Sterling Cling, 10. Brandon Mattox, 11. Matt Goodnight, 12. Jason McDougal, 13. Tye Mihocko, 14. Brent Beauchamp, 15. Anthony D’Alessio, 16. Steven Drevicki, 17. Ryan Thomas, 18. Zack Pretorius. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 2. Logan Seavey (6), 3. Brady Bacon (7), 4. Justin Grant (4), 5. C.J. Leary (8), 6. Tanner Thorson (5), 7. Jake Swanson (11), 8. Shane Cottle (12), 9. Chris Windom (9), 10. Chase Stockon (18), 11. Cole Bodine (10), 12. Kyle Cummins (19), 13. Jadon Rogers (2), 14. Matt Westfall (1), 15. Stevie Sussex (17), 16. Thomas Meseraull (16), 17. Emerson Axsom (15), 18. Scotty Weir (13), 19. Mario Clouser (20), 20. Max Adams (22), 21. Alex Bright (14), 22. Chase Johnson (21), 23. Brandon Long (23-P). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
**Eddie Tafoya flipped during the second heat.
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-10 Justin Grant, Laps 11-25 Logan Seavey, Laps 26-30 Kevin Thomas Jr.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-2024, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1977, 3-Justin Grant-1964, 4-C.J. Leary-1801, 5-Tanner Thorson-1754, 6-Chris Windom-1698, 7-Jake Swanson-1647, 8-Robert Ballou-1618, 9-Chase Stockon-1283, 10-Kyle Cummins-1126.
SMACKDOWN X POINTS: (Top-8 Locked Into Saturday Night Feature) 1-Justin Grant-678, 2-Logan Seavey-659, 3-C.J. Leary-659, 4-Tanner Thorson-658, 5-Brady Bacon-654, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-646, 7-Chris Windom-641, 8-Kyle Cummins-627.
SMACKDOWN X PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Cole Bodine-23, 2. Steven Drevicki-16, 3-Max Adams-14, 4-Brady Bacon-12, 5-Logan Seavey-12, 6-Shane Cottle-12, 7-Chase Stockon-12, 8-Kyle Cummins-10, 9-Jake Swanson-10, 10-Justin Grant-9.
OVERALL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Chris Windom-136, 2-Brady Bacon-128, 3-Justin Grant-121, 4-Tanner Thorson-118, 5-Robert Ballou-109, 6-Thomas Meseraull-103, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-101, 8-Logan Seavey-100, 9-Kyle Cummins-79, 10-Buddy Kofoid-71.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 28, 2021 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Track – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Smackdown X
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
GSP Driving Performance of the Night: Chase Johnson
Fatheadz Eyewear Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner: Cole Bodine
Indy Metal Finishing Third Heat Winner: Chris Windom
Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jake Swanson
KSE Racing Products / Irvin King Hard Charger: Chase Stockon (18th to 10th)
Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher: Jadon Rogers
Saldana Racing Products First Non-Transfer: Koby Barksdale
ProSource Hard Work Winner: Max Adams