Rossburg, Ohio (May 2, 2025)………In USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car racing history, only two drivers have hit the 60-win mark. Dave Darland was the first to accomplish the feat in 2018, and on Friday night, Brady Bacon became the second to join the ultra-exclusive club.
Bacon (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) led all 30 laps from the pole position and lapped nearly half the field in the process to capture his 60th career series win during the #LetsRaceTwo opener at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway.
For Bacon, it was his third career USAC National Sprint Car win at Eldora following previous triumphant performances during the 2014 4-Crown Nationals and the opening night of #LetsRaceTwo in 2018. Bacon’s career USAC National Sprint Car win tally now stands just two behind Darland’s grand total of 62, which currently ranks number one all-time.
The third-place starting Bacon took control of the pace early in his Chris Dyson Racing/Concord American Flagpole – Macri Concrete/Triple X/Rider Chevy as he drifted out in front of outside front row starter and series point leader Kyle Cummins in turn one. A half lap later, Bacon tracked down pole starter Mitchel Moles and swooped across his nose in turn four to gain a lead in which he never relinquished.
In all practicality, Bacon had little in the way of a challenge from Moles or Cummins. However, sixth starting Justin Grant hustled to make his presence felt in the early going, swiping third from Cummins on lap eight before taking over second from Moles with a turn one slider on the 10th lap.
However, by then, Bacon’s lead had blossomed to a staggering 6.5 seconds as he began to work his way into lapped traffic where he’d remain for much of the 30-lap affair, setting a torrid pace around the circumference of the famed 1/2-mile dirt oval.
The delicate balance between aggressiveness and tentativeness weighed on Bacon’s mind as he kept his right foot on the pedal, possessing zilch knowledge of the massive lead he had established up to that point in time.
“It was really hard,” Bacon admitted of the balance. “You’re getting some good cars. Jake Swanson is pretty fast, but eventually, you’re going to have to say, ‘hey, you’re going to have to let me through or it’s not going to be good.’ I gave him a couple shots there but it’s all about momentum, and if you get caught behind someone, then you lose your speed on exit. It’s really hard to pass other guys. I don’t know how much of a lead I had and I’ve lost plenty of races here, so I wasn’t going to let up any and I just tried to get through lapped traffic as good as I could.”
With five laps remaining, Bacon continued to carve his way through the back half of the field, but in doing so, lost nearly 2.5 seconds of his advantage to Grant down the stretch. However, Bacon’s entire interval evaporated on lap 25 when Kevin Thomas Jr. (13th) and Korbyn Hayslett (12th) made contact in turn four, sending Hayslett spinning to a stop.
The lone caution of the race reset the hands of times on Bacon’s 4.1 second lead. While Bacon had thoroughly dominated the 25-car field throughout the event, the ensuing restart changed the game and breathed new life for the likes of Grant, Moles, Cummins, et al, each of whom now had another opportunity to strike.
“The restart really made me nervous,” Bacon acknowledged. “I didn’t really know what I should do, so I tried to maybe catch him off guard, and it looked like he got a decent run on me there. I knew if I cleared him, I was going to have to make some pretty big mistakes to lose.”
Grant took his shot underneath Bacon on the lap 25 resumption, but didn’t quite have enough mustard mustered up to beat Bacon to the spot at the top of turn two. Bacon kept his foot in it and powered around the outside of Grant to retain the lead, and for all intents and purposes, put the race on ice.
Bacon closed out the final five laps masterfully as he raced across the line 3.318 seconds ahead of runner-up finisher Justin Grant while Kyle Cummins took third, Mitchel Moles fourth and Robert Ballou rounded out the top-five.
Kale Drake placed sixth in the finishing order after starting 15th on the grid, which earned him Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors for his plus-nine run. In 11 USAC national starts this season, Drake has now earned five hard charger awards. In all, he's passed 81 cars in those 11 features.
Troy, Ohio's own Korbyn Hayslett advanced seven positions in the feature to earn the Inferno Armor Move of the Night. Starting 20th, Hayslett worked his way up to 11th before a lap 26 spin relegated him to the tail of the field where he proceeded to drive his way back to 13th by the end of the race.
Logan Seavey recorded his 16th career Fast Qualifying time in USAC National Sprint Car competition, tying him for 30th all-time alongside fellow USAC national champions Rollie Beale, Jack Hewitt and Doug Kalitta. Seavey has won in all three USAC national divisions at Eldora, but on this night, he earned his first career Fast Qualifying award during Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying at a time 15.755 seconds.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 2, 2025 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – #LetsRaceTwo
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.755; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-15.859; 3. Shawn Westerfeld, 4J, Fischesser/Owen-15.894; 4. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-15.903; 5. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-15.943; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-15.943; 7. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-15.956; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-15.979; 9. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-16.015; 10. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-16.021; 11. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-16.064; 12. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-16.081; 13. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-16.095; 14. Kale Drake 2B, 2B Racing-16.157; 15. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-16.220; 16. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.226; 17. Matt Westfall, 23s, Simon-16.241; 18. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-16.277; 19. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-16.283; 20. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-16.291; 21. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-16.350; 22. Saban Bibent, 77, Wedgewood-16.376; 23. Abby Hohlbein, 2A, 2B Racing-16.397; 24. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-16.465; 25. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-16.524; 26. Nate Carle, 14c, Carle-16.545; 27. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-16.648; 28. Bryce Dues, 23D, Dues-16.910; 29. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Boyd-NT; 30. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Hayden Reinbold, 5. Kyle Shipley, 6. Gunnar Setser, 7. Saban Bibent, 8. Logan Seavey, 9. Chance Crum, 10. Bryce Dues. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Matt Westfall, 3. Briggs Danner, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Kale Drake, 6. Kevin Thomas Jr., 7. Jadon Rogers, 8. Abby Hohlbein, 9. Nate Carle, 10. Braydon Cromwell. 2:13.013
HOOSIER TIRE / COOK OUT THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Chase Stockon, 4. Ryan Barr, 5. Shawn Westerfeld, 6. Korbyn Hayslett, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. Kayla Roell, 9. Zack Pretorius. 2:16.597
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Hunter Maddox, 4. Saban Bibent, 5. Braydon Cromwell, 6. Zack Pretorius, 7. Kayla Roell, 8. Abby Hohlbein, 9. Nate Carle, 10. Bryce Dues. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (3), 2. Justin Grant (6), 3. Kyle Cummins (2), 4. Mitchel Moles (1), 5. Robert Ballou (8), 6. Kale Drake (15), 7. Chase Stockon (11), 8. Briggs Danner (13), 9. C.J. Leary (7), 10. Logan Seavey (9), 11. Matt Westfall (16), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 13. Korbyn Hayslett (20), 14. Jake Swanson (12), 15. Jadon Rogers (19), 16. Gunnar Setser (18), 17. Saban Bibent (21), 18. Shawn Westerfeld (5), 19. Hunter Maddox (22), 20. Hayden Reinbold (14), 21. Zack Pretorius (23), 22. Kayla Roell (25-P), 23. Ryan Barr (17), 24. Braydon Cromwell (24), 25. Kyle Shipley (4). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Brady Bacon.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-659, 2-Justin Grant-657, 3-Daison Pursley-543, 4-Logan Seavey-508, 5-Mitchel Moles-491, 6-Briggs Danner-480, 7-C.J. Leary-479, 8-Jake Swanson-478, 9-Robert Ballou-466, 10-Kale Drake-457.
PARALLAX GROUP USAC NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-81, 2-C.J. Leary-48, 3-Briggs Danner-41, 4-Jadon Rogers-30, 5-Chase Stockon-28, 6-Justin Grant-21, 7-Robert Ballou-21, 8-Kyle Cummins-19, 9-Gunnar Setser-19, 10-Daison Pursley-17.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 3, 2025 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – #LetsRaceTwo
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Kyle Cummins (15.811)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Logan Seavey (15.755)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Hoosier Tire / Cook Out Third Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jadon Rogers
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kale Drake (15th to 6th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Korbyn Hayslett
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