BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Kyle Cummins gained Monday evening’s USAC AMSOIL Dash Automobile Nationwide Championship season opener at Volusia Speedway Park.
His 18th profession victory was his first on a half-mile race observe.
Beginning fourth, Cummins made fast work of the sector as he cut up between Logan Seavey and Mitchel Moles on the again straightway on the primary lap, then chased down and swept across the outdoors of polesitter Brady Bacon in turns three and 4 to occupy the lead.
Cummins was by no means headed for the rest of the 25-lap occasion, solely shedding floor resulting from a pair of late-race cautions which bunched up the sector and evaporated his lead momentarily. Nonetheless, no one was in the identical stratosphere as Cummins and his Petty Efficiency Racing/Avanti Home windows & Doorways – Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
“There at first, the automobile was simply nice,” Cummins famous. “I felt like I used to be struggling there on the finish and I didn’t know the place to go. A warning if you’re coming to the checkered is like probably the most horrible factor ever, however we obtained it finished and we’re fairly excited to chalk this one up. I’ve by no means gained right here earlier than and it’s an enormous half-mile. Individuals say I can’t run half miles. I believe we proved them incorrect a bit of bit tonight.”
The victory was the second for Cummins in his Winter Grime Video games profession following his triumph in February of 2023 at Ocala Speedway.
The win was the third in USAC Nationwide Dash Automobile competitors for the Petty workforce with Cummins as the driving force after the 2 competed collectively on the total season tour in 2024.
Whereas their first win collectively got here of their twenty eighth strive in 2024, this one got here proper off the bat, swiftly and decisively.
Among the many gadgets Cummins was eying redemption for was the primary of two 2024 USAC Nationwide Dash Automobile occasions at Volusia. Within the first of these, Cummins led a race-high 14 laps earlier than being surpassed by Seavey with 11 laps remaining. Seavey went on to have a good time the victory, and finally, the collection championship at season’s finish.
“Final yr was tough,” Cummins admitted. “The workforce that we’ve obtained is like household. We’re jelling very well, and I knew after the primary observe yesterday at Ocala, the automobile was nearly as good as I’ve had down right here in Florida. I’ve simply obtained to present it as much as (workforce proprietor) Jerry Petty for believing in me and giving me this chance. It took a yr, and it was numerous work. We’ve lastly discovered a great steadiness and all the fellows are working nice collectively.”
Simply previous to midway, on lap 10, Cummins had upped his result in greater than two seconds with Bacon and Daison Pursley each in tow a number of automobile lengths behind. Cummins saved Bacon and Pursley at bay.
“I ran that factor the primary 10 laps, and I believe I by no means lifted off the ground,” Cummins said. “It was attached good.”
By lap 15, Cummins had pushed his result in 4 seconds as Justin Grant rushed his means into third previous Pursley in visitors. Nonetheless, on the twentieth lap, seventeenth operating Kobe Simpson’s journey slowed to a halt in flip three surrounded in smoke with an obvious engine concern.
Thus, Cummins’ 4.235-second lead was stricken from the report, and now he needed to agency up his grip on the steering wheel with the sector on his rear bumper with 5 laps remaining.
That was of no concern to Cummins who instantly separated himself from Bacon et al. to the tune of 1.096 seconds over the subsequent four-plus laps and had a checkered flag simply inside his attain.
Nonetheless, moments after taking the white flag, the yellow flag was displayed for Jake Swanson, who slowed dramatically on the ultimate lap in the midst of flip 4.
The stoppage necessitated a green-white-checkered end. It proved to be no large factor for Cummins who as soon as extra stomped his competitors by thumping them on the restart, stretching his benefit to 0.840 seconds by the point he crossed the road.
Coming to the white flag, Pursley caught the underside between turns three and 4 to zip previous each Grant and Bacon to climb from fourth to second.
Bacon took third with Grant fourth and Briggs Danner rounding out the highest 5.
USAC AMSOIL Dash Automobile Nationwide Championship, Volusia Speedway Park, Barberville, Fla., Feb. 10, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-16.156; 2. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.228; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-16.304; 4. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.342; 5. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-16.379; 6. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-16.413; 7. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-16.440; 8. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Regular-16.531; 9. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-16.643; 10. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-16.667; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-16.708; 12. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.718; 13. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-16.719; 14. Kale Drake 2B, 2B Racing-16.720; 15. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-16.725; 16. Nic Harris, N2, Harris-16.751; 17. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-16.763; 18. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-16.773; 19. Tom Harris, 84, Harris-16.779; 20. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Staff AZ/Curb-Agajanian-16.825; 21. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE-16.914; 22. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-16.958; 23. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-16.988; 24. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-16.991; 25. John Mollick, 4J, Intelligent-17.013; 26. Mark Smith, M1, Smith-17.063; 27. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-17.090; 28. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-17.155; 29. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-17.554; 30. Eddie Vancil, 7v, Vancil-17.942; 31. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-18.276; 32. Mike Haggenbottom, 51, Hoagie-18.579; 33. Kyle Jones, 79, Corridor-NT; 34. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-NT.
ROD END SUPPLY FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 switch to the function) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Carson Garrett, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Kobe Simpson, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. John Mollick, 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr. 2:23.752
CAR IQ SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 switch to the function) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Kale Drake, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Ricky Lewis, 7. Mark Smith, 8. Brian Ruhlman, 9. Eddie Vancil. NT
K1 RACEGEAR THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 switch to the function) 1. Briggs Danner, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Joey Amantea, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Tom Harris, 7. Harley Burns, 8. Troy Carey. 2:22.162
HOOSIER TIRE FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 switch to the function) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Mitchel Moles, 4. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5. Nic Harris, 6. Gunnar Setser, 7. Matt Goodnight, 8. Mike Haggenbottom. 2:20.744
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 switch to the function) 1. Ricky Lewis, 2. Gunnar Setser, 3. Tom Harris, 4. Brian Ruhlman, 5. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 6. Mark Smith, 7. John Mollick, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Harley Burns, 10. Mike Haggenbottom, 11. Troy Carey, 12. Eddie Vancil.
FEATURE (25 laps, beginning positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Briggs Danner (7), 6. Logan Seavey (2), 7. Kale Drake (14), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 9. C.J. Leary (18), 10. Mitchel Moles (3), 11. Robert Ballou (8), 12. Chase Stockon (9), 13. Jadon Rogers (20), 14. Jake Swanson (15), 15. Ricky Lewis (24), 16. Joey Amantea (21), 17. Hayden Reinbold (12), 18. Carson Garrett (19), 19. Kayla Roell (23), 20. Brian Ruhlman (11), 21. Gunnar Setser (22), 22. Nic Harris (16), 23. Tom Harris (17), 24. Kobe Simpson (13).
