Brownsburg, Indiana (July 23, 2025)………Three years is a long time in the world of a racecar driver.
But after 1125 days, C.J. Leary finally busted through to become a USAC Silver Crown race winner once again during Wednesday night’s USAC RaceAid 100 at Brownsburg, Indiana’s Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Since that point in time, the Greenfield, Indiana native has experienced several flirtations with victory, including eight runner-up finishes and 248 laps led with nary a victory to show for his efforts.
At IRP, he had finished inside the top five in six of his last seven starts, including runner-up results in 2022 and again this past May. And just last Saturday, he started from the pole and led 36 laps before falling to second late in the going on the dirt at Hutchinson, Kansas’ Salt City Speedway.
Just four days after Salt City on the .686-mile paved oval at IRP, victory did not elude Leary any longer. Starting second, he passed racelong leader Bobby Santos just before the midway point, then led the remaining 51 circuits of the 100-lapper to score his first Silver Crown triumph since Oregon, Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway in June of 2022, also on pavement.
“I felt like we lost one last weekend due to our tire choice at Hutchinson,” Leary lamented. “But it’s a good week to get fast. Indiana Sprint Week starts tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it, but we needed this win badly. It’s been a long time since we’ve been in victory lane.”
In fact, Wednesday’s IRP score was Leary’s first in USAC national competition since February of 2024 with the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship at Florida’s Ocala Speedway, more than 17 months ago! He also captured a USAC Sprint Car non-points special event in that time frame in September of 2024 at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
By doing so, Leary earned his fourth career USAC Silver Crown win, tying himself with Kyle Larson, Jeff Swindell and Rich Vogler for 36th place all-time.
Furthermore, Leary gave DRC Chassis its first pavement USAC Silver Crown victory since 19 years to the day on July 23, 2006, when Wayne Reutimann Jr. was declared the victor at the Milwaukee Mile in Wisconsin. That came in what was deemed the “new generation” car era for the series.
Leary’s triumph was also the first for Team AZ-Petty-Rossi Racing on pavement in their Avanti Windows & Doors – Apache Transportation/DRC/Stanton Chevy, and the first for Leary since joining the team prior to the start of the 2025 campaign after competing with Klatt Enterprises for three seasons between 2022-2024.
“That was a long race. Those last couple of laps felt like an eternity,” Leary exhaled. “This place has never been one of my best racetracks, but I was excited to come here today.”
Despite claiming IRP as not being among his strong suits, his recent results there beg to differ. Leary has been strong of late at IRP, a process he attributes to his time driving the Klatt No. 6 under the tutelage of USAC Hall of Fame mechanic and car builder Bob East, coupled with the prowess of his newly constructed ride that he just wheeled to victory lane.
“I think getting seat time with Bob East the last couple of years has been good and Joe Devin built a fabulous racecar over the winter. He put so many man hours into it, I’m so thankful.”
The win was also special for C.J. whose father, Chuck Leary, passed away in March at the age of 59. Chuck made eight Silver Crown starts at IRP between 1994-2000, winning the pole and finishing third in August of 1999. It was C.J.’s first USAC victory since his father’s passing.
“I know my dad would be so proud. He loved this place,” C.J. beamed. “He probably hit the wall everywhere around here but never did get the win.”
Just prior to the start of the feature, it was announced that fourth starting Kody Swanson and his Doran Binks Racing team had changed a right rear tire, which meant, by rule, they’d have to start at the back of the pack for the feature.
While Bobby Santos established the early lead from his pole starting position, Swanson had picked his way up to the eighth position. But suddenly, on lap 11, Swanson dropped to the apron and fell off the pace as his engine lost power and smoked up the cockpit, which abruptly ended the night of the nine-time IRP Silver Crown race winner.
Meanwhile, Leary slotted into the second spot on lap 19 as he charged under Justin Grant in turn three, then went to work on tracking down Santos. Following a side-by-side battle for several laps with Leary through the middle and Santos to his outside, Leary emerged in front on the 50th lap in turns three and four and began to steadily pull away from the pack.
Santos began to fall down the running order as Grant dove under Santos for second in turns one and two on lap 52. Dakoda Armstrong followed suit to third past Santos on lap 55.
After running caution free for the initial 76 laps, the first and only yellow flag of the night was displayed on lap 77 when fifth running Jake Trainor came to a stop in turn four with a mechanical issue, ending his night.
By then, Leary had run his lead to more than four seconds. But after the yellow is when Leary turned up the wick even further by running the fastest lap of the race on lap 83. In comparison, no other driver in the field ran their fastest lap after lap seven!
May’s IRP USAC Silver Crown winner Tyler Roahrig made his way into the top three on lap 87 with an outside pass of Armstrong in turns three and four, but just a minute or so later on lap 90, Roahrig dropped to the bottom on the back straightaway and crawled his way back to the pits, out of the race with a 10th place result.
Leary’s advantage continued to balloon down the stretch, crossing the finish line 6.209 seconds ahead of the field as point leader Justin Grant took second, Dakoda Armstrong third, Nathan Byrd fourth and Bobby Santos fifth.
Kaylee Bryson advanced plus-six by racing her way from her 13th starting spot to finish seventh to earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors. In what was her sixth career USAC Silver Crown start at IRP, the seventh place run equaled her best finish at the track, which she also achieved in October 2023.
It was a career best USAC night for the Byrdman. Nathan Byrd finished with his best USAC Silver Crown result to date. His fourth place run topped his previous best of fifth in 2022 at World Wide Technology Raceway. With that, he earned the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Bobby Santos scored his sixth career USAC Silver Crown pole during Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying, tying him with Gary Bettenhausen, Steve Chassey, Jack Hewitt, and Larry Rice for 20th place all-time. Five of Santos’ six career series poles have occurred at IRP. Overall, it was Santos’ first pole position with the series since May of 2023, also at IRP.
USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 23, 2025 – Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park – Brownsburg, Indiana – .686-Mile Paved Oval – USAC RaceAid 100
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Bobby Santos, 98, DJ-21.232; 2. C.J. Leary, 21, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi-21.277; 3. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-21.372; 4. Kody Swanson, 77, Doran Binks-21.393; 5. Jake Trainor, 6, Klatt-21.465; 6. Dakoda Armstrong, 5, C & A-21.588; 7. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-21.682; 8. Nathan Byrd, 40, Meyer-21.711; 9. Tyler Roahrig, 41, Newman-21.770; 10. Taylor Ferns, 55, Ferns-21.843; 11. Mario Clouser, 92, Kazmark-21.889; 12. Kyle Steffens, 8, Steffens-21.945; 13. Matt Westfall, 54, 4 Kings-22.042; 14. Kaylee Bryson, 26, Pierce-22.198; 15. Dave Doran, 7, Doran Binks-23.772; 16. Derek Bischak, 22, Rice/Abacus-NT; 17. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-NT; 18. Billy Wease, 60, Meyer-NT.
FEATURE: (100 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Justin Grant (3), 3. Dakoda Armstrong (5), 4. Nathan Byrd (7), 5. Bobby Santos (1), 6. Kyle Steffens (11), 7. Kaylee Bryson (13), 8. Mario Clouser (10), 9. Matt Westfall (12), 10. Tyler Roahrig (8), 11. Jake Trainor (4), 12. Taylor Ferns (9), 13. Russ Gamester (6), 14. Dave Doran (15), 15. Kody Swanson (14), 16. Dave Berkheimer (16). 39:59.269
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-49 Bobby Santos, Laps 50-100 C.J. Leary.
USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-585, 2-C.J. Leary-517, 3-Matt Westfall-422, 4-Kyle Steffens-350, 5-Kody Swanson-341, 6-Dakoda Armstrong-281, 7-Dave Berkheimer-276, 8-Mario Clouser-273, 9-Bobby Santos-272, 10-Logan Seavey-271.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-158, 2-Briggs Danner-97, 3-Kyle Cummins-86, 4-Gunnar Setser-82, 5-Justin Grant-79, 6-C.J. Leary-75, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-70, 8-Robert Ballou-66, 9-Logan Seavey-62, 10-Chase Stockon-61.
NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 9, 2025 – Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery – Salem, Indiana – .555-Mile Paved Oval
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Practice Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (21.460)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Bobby Santos (21.232)
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kaylee Bryson (13th to 7th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Race: Nathan Byrd
