Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) became a first-time Eldora Speedway USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner on Saturday night during the 42nd running of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO. (Ryan Sellers Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio (September 21, 2024)………Twenty four hours after becoming a first-time Eldora Speedway USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget winner, Daison Pursley checked off another box by becoming a first-time USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car winner at the Rossburg, Ohio dirt oval.
The fifth-place starting Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) became the third different leader in the first one-third of Saturday night's 30-lap feature after he tracked down and slid his way past Kevin Thomas Jr. on the 10th lap, then ran away from the field to earn a $15,000 payday at the 42nd running of the 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO in his Team AZ Racing/Apache Transport – Oak Craft Elegant Cabinetry/DRC/1-Way Chevy.
“This car was on rails on all night tonight,” Pursley praised. “Coming into this, I honestly thought this would be the hardest one to win. To click that one for the first feature of the night is cool. This is an unbelievable team to drive for, and once again, I’m just lucky enough to get to hold the steering wheel and take part in these victories.”
For Pursley, it was his second career points-paying USAC National Sprint Car victory, both of which have come this year at two of the most famed 1/2-mile dirt ovals in the world after also winning at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway on the first of June.
It was certainly no comfort cruise for Pursley, however, as he was on the chase for the first nine laps while pole sitter Stevie Sussex patrolled the field by pacing the first five circuits in what was the veteran’s first career start at the 4-Crown and his first time in the seat of a Baldwin-Fox Racing machine.
The lone caution of the feature occurred on the fifth lap when series Rookie and fourth-place running Kale Drake spun to a halt on the bottom of turn four. The entirety of the field scattered high and low to avoid head-on contact with the idle Drake but all managed to miss. Drake restarted at the tail and finished 18th.
On the horse following the restart was Kevin Thomas Jr. who shot to the bottom down around the inside concrete wall in turns three and four to surge past Sussex for the lead on lap six. Pursley followed suit past Sussex into second a lap later to place himself right within striking distance of the top spot.
After briefly pondering taking the high road around Thomas for a lap or two, Pursley recalculated and found a crack in the doorway on the bottom to slip past Thomas on the front straight away on lap 10 to snare the lead, and instantly pulled away.
Pursley continuously built his advantage to three, four and five seconds as he quickly reached lapped traffic. Undeterred, he was unrelenting as he maintained his pace and cemented his case as the class of the field on this night.
In the end, Pursley made mince meat of the field by crossing the stripe 5.434 seconds ahead of the competition as Kevin Thomas Jr., Logan Seavey, Kyle Cummins and Robert Ballou rounded out the top-five.
Pursley’s performance netted him his first career 4-Crown Nationals victory of any kind after capturing the USAC National Midget portion of the BeFour the Crowns on Friday evening.
Meanwhile, Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) led four laps to earn his best career 4-Crown Nationals result in what was his 12th start in the event dating back to 2009.
For Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.), the third-place finish was fruitful as it helped him extend his USAC National Sprint Car championship point lead from 74 to 86 with just four events remaining on the schedule. Furthermore, for his efforts, Seavey was the recipient of the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night after recovering from an early-race near incident in which he almost backed himself into the turn one outside wall.
Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) also recovered from early hardship after his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports mount wasn’t able to fire for qualifying. Forced to swap the engine out, Moles ultimately made his way into the feature via the last transfer spot in the semi, then hustled from 24th to 15th in the feature to become the event’s hard charger. That earned him a $500 bonus for the Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race.
With his seventh place finish in the main event, Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was able to maintain a slim six-point edge over Kevin Thomas Jr. in the battle for the Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster Presented By Spire Sports + Entertainment title. One race remains in the 10-race series during the October 12 Fall Nationals at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 21, 2024 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Oval – 42nd 4-Crown Nationals Presented By NKTELCO
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-15.536; 2. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-15.935; 3. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-16.130; 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-16.174; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-16.207; 6. Stevie Sussex, 5, Baldwin/Fox-16.207; 7. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-16.266; 8. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-16.272; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-16.302; 10. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.327; 11. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-16.369; 12. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.450; 13. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-16.607; 14. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.612; 15. Trey Osborne, 11T, Osborne-16.622; 16. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.633; 17. Max Adams, 63, F & F-17.008; 18. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-17.009; 19. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-17.110; 20. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-17.152; 21. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-17.155; 22. Chance Crum, 26, Crum-17.181; 23. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-17.208; 24. Scotty Weir, 21H, Hery-17.257; 25. Kody Swanson, 77, Doran-17.325; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-17.364; 27. Steve Irwin, 0, Flying Zero-17.366; 28. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-17.520; 29. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-17.528; 30. Collin Ambrose, 36, Ambrose-17.558; 31. Travis Thompson, 7, Thompson-17.658; 32. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-17.791; 33. John Mollick, 4J, Clever-17.884; 34. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-17.936; 35. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-17.940; 36. Max Frank, 25, Middle Class-17.992; 37. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-18.029; 38. Keith Sheffer II, 86, Sheffer-18.101; 39. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-18.123; 40. Austin Cory, 00, Cory-18.208; 41. Jack James, 99, James-18.417; 42. Mike Haggenbottom, 51, Hoagie-18.481; 43. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-NT; 44. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Max Adams, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Saban Bibent, 6. Jake Swanson, 7. John Mollick, 8. Ryan Barr, 9. Brian Ruhlman, 10. Kody Swanson, 11. Jack James. 2:18.130
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Keith Sheffer II, 9. Aric Gentry, 10. Collin Ambrose, 11. Mike Haggenbottom. 2:18.838
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Hunter Maddox, 5. Trey Osborne, 6. Steve Irwin, 7. Mitchel Moles, 8. Paul Dues, 9. Travis Thompson, 10. Joey Amantea, 11. Bryce Dues. 2:23.576
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Carson Garrett, 5. Nick Bilbee, 6. Scotty Weir, 7. Max Frank, 8. Braxton Cummings, 9. Nate Schank, 10. Austin Cory. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Scotty Weir, 2. John Mollick, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Kody Swanson, 7. Brian Ruhlman, 8. Steve Irwin, 9. Braxton Cummings, 10. Matt Goodnight, 11. Ryan Barr, 12. Keith Sheffer II, 13. Mike Haggenbottom, 14. Paul Dues, 15. Max Frank, 16. Joey Amantea, 17. Nate Schank, 18. Bryce Dues, 19. Jack James, 20. Aric Gentry, 21. Collin Ambrose, 22. Travis Thompson, 23. Austin Cory. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Daison Pursley (5), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 3. Logan Seavey (7), 4. Kyle Cummins (2), 5. Robert Ballou (10), 6. C.J. Leary (6), 7. Brady Bacon (9), 8. Briggs Danner (11), 9. Matt Westfall (13), 10. Stevie Sussex (1), 11. Chase Stockon (8), 12. Justin Grant (16), 13. Jake Swanson (14), 14. Carson Garrett (12), 15. Mitchel Moles (24), 16. Trey Osborne (15), 17. Scotty Weir (22), 18. Kale Drake (4), 19. Max Adams (17), 20. Nick Bilbee (18), 21. John Mollick (23), 22. Hunter Maddox (21), 23. Chance Crum (20), 24. Saban Bibent (19). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-5 Stevie Sussex, Laps 6-9 Kevin Thomas Jr., Laps 10-30 Daison Pursley.
**Nate Schank flipped during qualifying.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-2710, 2-Brady Bacon-2624, 3-Daison Pursley-2439, 4-C.J. Leary-2412, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2402, 6-Mitchel Moles-2352, 7-Robert Ballou-2300, 8-Kyle Cummins-2222, 9-Justin Grant-2212, 10-Carson Garrett-1668.
BUBBY JONES MASTER OF GOIN’ FASTER PRESENTED BY SPIRE SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT POINTS: 1-Brady Bacon-604, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-598, 3-Daison Pursley-577, 4-C.J. Leary-575, 5-Logan Seavey-571, 6-Kyle Cummins-547, 7-Mitchel Moles-523, 8-Robert Ballou-518, 9-Justin Grant-486, 10-Chase Stockon-410.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-186, 2-Logan Seavey-174, 3-Robert Ballou-145, 4-C.J. Leary-117, 5-Justin Grant-116, 6-Kyle Cummins-115, 7-Chase Stockon-112, 8-Brady Bacon-111, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-100, 10-Joey Amantea-93.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: October 11-12, 2024 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Oval – Fall Nationals
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: C.J. Leary (15.709)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: C.J. Leary (15.536)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Scotty Weir
Hard Charger: Mitchel Moles (24th to 15th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Logan Seavey
Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race: Mitchel Moles