Ocala, Florida (February 14, 2025)………For 25 consecutive laps, Kyle Cummins stalked his prey in an attempt to reel his way toward victory through clean air, through the throes of traffic and through the last desperate moment.
When Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) saw a little light around the outside of C.J. Leary on a green-white-checker restart, he reached for it and came out the other side of the tunnel as the first multi-time winner of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season on Friday night at Florida’s Ocala Speedway.
In fact, Cummins was so clutch, he actually turned the fastest lap of the race when he took over the lead on the very same lap 30 restart. It was not just his personal best lap of the race, it was the best lap of anybody in the 24-car field throughout the feature.
Cummins, who scored an opening night Winter Dirt Games XVI victory at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park on Monday, mesmerized the crowd with his daring move aboard his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors - Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy, which provided him with his 22nd career USAC National Sprint Car win, tying him for 31st all-time alongside Rick Hood, Bubby Jones and Sammy Sessions.
“On that white flag, I was going to try to sneak, and we probably would’ve both crashed,” Cummins revealed. “I thought I was going sneak, but then they called yellow, and I was all over the brakes. If (Leary) just would’ve moved up, he would’ve won that. But he left me just enough room to get through.”
For Cummins, his third career series victory in Florida made him the first driver to win Winter Dirt Games main events at both Ocala and Volusia, where he also won at to begin the week.
Furthermore, Cummins’ Valentine’s Day victory made him the fourth driver ever to win a USAC Sprint Car feature on February 14 following Chris Windom in 2019 and Brady Bacon in 2020, both at Ocala, and Daison Pursley during a 2023 non-points special event at Volusia.
Cummins began his quest from the fifth starting position at the 3/8-mile egg-shaped dirt track, but before he could even really get going, the caution was displayed for 10th running Joey Amantea who slammed the turn four wall and rode along the top edge ala skateboarder Tony Hawk before coming to a rest on all four wheels, ending his night prematurely.
On the resumption, pole sitter Leary established a lead that he ultimately held for the majority of the race, a much-needed boost for him and his Team AZ / Curb-Agajanian Racing team after finishing no better than eighth in their first four starts together this week.
Quite quickly, however, Cummins had picked his way up to second by the fifth lap as he streamed under Jadon Rogers in turn two, thus beginning his nearly racelong pursuit of Leary up front.
By the halfway point, Leary began to work through traffic, first surpassing Mark Smith to put him a lap down, followed by a slew of others. Yet Cummins was able to match Leary each step of the way and finagled his way through the gridlock as well without losing sizable ground, staying put roughly eighth tenths of a second in arrears.
Cummins tried high and low as he inched forward toward Leary, cutting down the interval to a miniscule couple of car lengths. But when Leary bobbled in turn four on the 25th lap, Cummins was able to get right to Leary’s back bumper. Seemingly, Cummins found a boost each time at the exit of turn two, which enabled him to nearly pull even on the back straightaway on multiple occasions within the final five laps.
“I kept showing the bottom down there and I knew he wasn’t really sure where to go,” Cummins explained. “He had to be hearing that motor because, around the backside there, once I could get up into it, I could really go.”
On what was thought to be the 30th and deciding lap, Cummins got the same launch off turn two, which thrusted him right to the right rear of Leary midway down the back straight. At the same moment of uncertainty for the lead, the yellow flag was thrown for the stopped car of Kayla Roell (19th) who caught the turn three wall before sliding to a stop.
Traffic was of no factor at this point with the field bunched up for the final restart on lap 30. Cummins immediately went to the well again as he bolted down the back straightaway with about a car width of space available between Leary and the outside wall. Cummins made it through to the other side, and had free reign on the top through turns three and four, which allowed him to shoot past Leary off turn four to assume control with a single lap remaining.
One lap later, Cummins had finished off the most dramatic feature ending of the season by .659 of a second to pocket another victory in front of an appreciative and applauding crowd. Daison Pursley took second for his fifth consecutive podium finish to start the season. Leary fell to third at the end after leading 29 of the 31-lap distance. Wednesday night Ocala winner Justin Grant crossed the stripe in fourth while Thursday night Ocala winner Brady Bacon rounded out the top-five.
Cummins’ “worst” performance in his Winter Dirt Games stretch this past week was a fifth on Thursday after the team experimented with a different setup before soon rectifying that move when they found it not to be to their liking.
“We tried something new last night because we were too tight the first night, so we went back to the same exact stuff we’d been running the whole time,” Cummins stated. “We didn’t second guess ourselves and we had a pretty good car tonight.”
Cummins has led the points leaving Florida before in 2016. But this year feels different as he’s put his number 3p up front night-after-night for the first five races without a single blemish outside the top-five to date. As far as being a championship contender, although it’s certainly early in the journey, Cummins points to the fact that they have now conquered events on differing racetracks at venues they had struggled mightily at as recently as last year when the foundation of the team was being constructed.
“It’s two different tracks – a big track and a small track,” Cummins reflected after winning at Volusia’s 1/2-mile and Ocala’s 3/8-mile in the past week. “We’ve struggled down here really bad. This is a tricky track, but you could move around, and we were able to qualify good and go from fifth and pass some cars and do it a little bit of the hard way.”
To add to his accolades, Cummins also collected the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night for his winning pass.
Daison Pursley’s Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying time to begin the night was his third of the season through five races. It was also the 10th fast time of his USAC National Sprint Car career, tying him with Sonny Ates, Jim Hurtubise, Thomas Meseraull and Jake Swanson for 52nd all-time.
Meanwhile, Robert Ballou and crew had to replace the rear end on their machine early in evening prior to the heat races. By the end of the night, Ballou was moving forward as he went plus-six in the feature from 15th to 9th. The performance earned him hard charger honors for the night.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: February 14, 2025 – Ocala Speedway – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XVI – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-14.041; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.097; 3. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.128; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.139; 5. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-14.193; 6. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.197; 7. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.226; 8. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-14.231; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.282; 10. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-14.284; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.301; 12. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.355; 13. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.358; 14. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE-14.370; 15. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.411; 16. Nic Harris, N2, Harris-14.463; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.508; 18. Ricky Lewis, 74B, Lewis-14.561; 19. Kale Drake 2B, 2B Racing-14.571; 20. Mark Smith, M1, Smith-14.626; 21. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-14.646; 22. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-14.673; 23. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-14.695; 24. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-14.718; 25. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-14.855; 26. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-14.895; 27. John Mollick, 4J, Clever-14.922; 28. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-15.079; 29. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-15.244; 30. Eddie Vancil, 7v, Vancil-15.464; 31. Dustin Burtron, 51, Holston-16.216; 32. Stevie Sussex, 5, Baldwin/Fox-NT; 33. Oliver Akard, 32, Rase-NT.
ROD END SUPPLY FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Joey Amantea, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Daison Pursley, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Robert Ballou, 7. Kobe Simpson, 8. Troy Carey. 1:59.224
CAR IQ SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Carson Garrett, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Eddie Vancil. 1:57.253
K1 RACEGEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Gunnar Setser, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. John Mollick, 8. Dustin Burtron. 1:58.297
HOOSIER TIRE FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Mark Smith, 5. Nic Harris, 6. Kayla Roell, 7. Tom Harris. 1:58.365
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Kayla Roell, 5. Tom Harris, 6. Matt Goodnight, 7. Kobe Simpson, 8. Troy Carey, 9. Dustin Burtron, 10. John Mollick, 11. Eddie Vancil. NT
FEATURE: (31 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (5), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. C.J. Leary (1), 4. Justin Grant (3), 5. Brady Bacon (7), 6. Jadon Rogers (2), 7. Briggs Danner (4), 8. Chase Stockon (8), 9. Robert Ballou (15), 10. Jake Swanson (12), 11. Mitchel Moles (11), 12. Logan Seavey (13), 13. Kale Drake (9), 14. Kevin Thomas Jr. (14), 15. Carson Garrett (16), 16. Gunnar Setser (17), 17. Hayden Reinbold (19), 18. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (22), 19. Harley Burns (23), 20. Kayla Roell (24), 21. Mark Smith (21), 22. Ricky Lewis (20), 23. Nic Harris (18), 24. Joey Amantea (10). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-29 C.J. Leary, Laps 30-31 Kyle Cummins.
**John Mollick flipped during the semi.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-385, 2-Daison Pursley-379, 3-Justin Grant-364, 4-Brady Bacon-299, 5-Logan Seavey-297, 6-Mitchel Moles-286, 7-C.J. Leary-276, 8-Briggs Danner-270, 9-Jake Swanson-270, 10-Kale Drake-248.
USAC WINTER DIRT GAMES XVI POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-385, 2-Daison Pursley-379, 3-Justin Grant-364, 4-Brady Bacon-299, 5-Logan Seavey-297, 6-Mitchel Moles-286, 7-C.J. Leary-276, 8-Briggs Danner-270, 9-Jake Swanson-270, 10-Kale Drake-248.
USAC NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-32, 2-Kale Drake-28, 3-Jadon Rogers-26, 4-Robert Ballou-17, 5-Briggs Danner-15, 6-Harley Burns-12, 7-Daison Pursley-11, 8-Jake Swanson-11, 9-Kyle Cummins-10, 10-Chase Stockon-10.
HUGHES RACING / INDIANA MAFIA / FLAMINGO SANDY WINTER DIRT GAMES XVI SPRINT CAR PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-38, 2-Jadon Rogers-37, 3-Kale Drake-31, 4-Robert Ballou-29, 5-Kyle Cummins-27, 6-Briggs Danner-26, 7-Justin Grant-22, 8-Daison Pursley-22, 9-Chase Stockon-20, 10-Ricky Lewis-20.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: February 15, 2025 – Ocala Speedway – Ocala, Florida – Winter Dirt Games XVI – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: C.J. Leary (14.202)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Daison Pursley (14.041)
Rod End Supply First Heat Winner: Joey Amantea
Car IQ Second Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
K1 RaceGear Third Heat Winner: Kale Drake
Hoosier Tire Fourth Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Robert Ballou
Hard Charger: Robert Ballou (15th to 9th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Kyle Cummins
