One year ago, Kyle Cummins lost out on the 2025 Eastern Storm championship on a tiebreaker.

On Tuesday night, he came back east with a vengeance at Grandview Speedway.

The Princeton, Indiana racer led all 40 laps of Tuesday’s Jesse Hockett Classic and prevailed in a dog fight with Briggs Danner throughout the second half of the race to capture victory on night one of USAC’s Yokohama Tire Eastern Storm Presented by Levan Machine at the Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania 1/3-mile dirt oval.

Cummins’ latest victory was his fifth of the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season and the 35th of his career, tying himself with Logan Seavey, Jon Stanbrough, and Rich Vogler for 14th place on the all-time list.

The triumph was also the third of Cummins’ Eastern Storm career, and places him as the early point leader of USAC Eastern Storm following the first of six rounds.

Cummins started from the pole position behind the wheel of his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO Superfoods/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy. He flexed his muscles from the get-go, running his lead out to 2.4 seconds by the 10th lap.

Danner, meanwhile, was stifled in fourth for the first 14 laps, but on the 15th going around, he finally found an alley to race by Jake Swanson on the back straightaway on lap 15. One lap later on the 16th go around, Danner slid Leary for the runner-up spot in turn three.

Within a three-lap span after that, Cummins’ advantage up front dropped from 2.4 seconds to where Danner was right on his tail tank, chiefly due to lapped traffic, which stifled Cummins and came to the benefit of Danner.

“It’s hard to pass the lap cars without just taking them out, and this is one of those places where I really struggle,” Cummins explained. “I don’t want to just run through them. It was almost like they were the same speed, just enough to where I couldn’t get a good slide on them. If I hit the bottom, I was terrible, and I was like, ‘man, somebody has to be passing me anytime.’

Cummins’ assessment was spot on. On lap 19, Danner slid past Cummins in the first turn to take over the lead. But as it turned out, it was all for naught. At the very same moment, Brenden Hires (18th) slowed dramatically to necessitate a yellow flag. By rule, scoring reverts back to the last completed lap on those particular occasions. Thus, Cummins was placed back in front of Danner for the restart just before the midway point.

Despite having no traffic in front of him for the time being, 1001 questions still ran through Cummins’ mind as he had Grandview’s favorite son, Pennsylvania native Danner right behind him. He was also fully cognizant that he would most likely encounter traffic once again before the race’s conclusion.

“We made a couple laps and I felt decent, then it started taking rubber and I was a nervous wreck because even the lapped cars were running the same speed in three and four and entering a little bit lower,” Cummins described. “So, I really wasn’t sure what to do there. I just knew that if I hit it good, it would feel good if I got up over the stuff. I wasn’t sure if that was better or not; I just really wasn’t sure where to go. Even after the restart there, I just wasn’t sure if it was cleaned off and I was hanging so bad up there. I felt like, down the backstretch, I could get a good run, but where do I go?’”

While Danner gave chase, he nearly clobbered the turn two outside wall on lap 27. As he fought to regather himself, he saw his deficit to Cummins climb to 1.7 seconds. With 10 laps remaining, Cummins’ lead was still a half-straightaway, but traffic changed that in a hurry.

Coming to the white flag, Danner was draped all over the back of Cummins, like white on rice. Entering turn three on lap 39 of 40, Danner went for it all, but as he slid up the track, he touched wheels with Cummins. The contact sent Danner into a 360-degree spin, which by rule, meant that the yellow flag was displayed and Danner was going to be relegated to the tail of the field.

It was a heartbreaking result for Danner, who wound up finishing 16th after being in position to make a dramatic pass for the victory. But on the flip side, it was a victory cincher for Cummins.

“I hated it for Briggs,” Cummins admitted. “I know he’s a fan favorite and it was just close racing. It’s just tough to pass, right? When every car is fast, you’ve got to take an advantage when you can, and sometimes, it’s just got to be close. He’s too good and he can make stuff happen out here. When he’s got a good racecar, he’s tough to beat. He’s tough in Indiana, and he’s even tougher out here.”

For the final two-lap dash to the finish line, Cummins still had an uneasy feeling no matter who was behind him.

“I really wasn’t sure what was going on,” Cummins stated. “I didn’t know if anyone had moved the bottom or not. Really, for the last two laps, I was like, I’m just going to run the top, and if I get passed, it’s just what happens.”

Newsflash. Cummins did not get passed as he finished off the victory by a .655 second margin over Jake Swanson, Brady Bacon, and C.J. Leary, with Christian Bruno impressively rounding out the top five.

For leading each and every one of the 40 laps, Cummins was the night’s K & N Filters Clean Air Award recipient.

What a debut it was for Bruno who advanced 14 spots, starting 19th and finishing fifth in what was his first career USAC National Sprint Car appearance. The USAC East Coast Sprint Car point leader was honored as the evening’s Rod End Supply Hard Charger.

Danner’s first career USAC National Sprint Car fast qualifying time came at Grandview back in 2021. On Tuesday, he laid down a lap of 13.787 seconds to earn fast time honors in LearnLab Qualifying.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 16, 2026 – Grandview Speedway – Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania – Yokohama Tire Eastern Storm Presented by Levan Machine / Jesse Hockett Classic – 1/3-Mile Dirt Track

LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-13.797; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-13.915; 3. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-13.921; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.035; 5. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-14.052; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.060; 7. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-14.186; 8. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.199; 9. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.241; 10. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.261; 11. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-14.291; 12. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.347; 13. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-14.647; 14. Joe Kata, 10, Kata-14.665; 15. Steven Drevicki, 19s, Drevicki-14.728; 16. Christian Bruno, 3BC, Franckowiak-14.730; 17. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.842; 18. Ronald Helmick, 22R, Helmick-14.877; 19. Brenden Hires, 2, Danner-14.960; 20. Matthew Swift, 03, Swift-15.469; 21. Olivia Thayer, 39T, Thayer-15.630; 22. Joey Crilly, 22, Vahlsing/Crilly-15.764; 23. Jason Cherry, 67c, Cherry-15.776; 24. Dirk Rimrott, 1x, Rimrott-16.119; 25. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-NT.

K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (2), 2. Briggs Danner (6), 3. Brady Bacon (4), 4. Logan Seavey (3), 5. Justin Grant (5), 6. Brenden Hires (7), 7. Joey Crilly (8), 8. Christian Bruno (1). NT

TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Hayden Reinbold (1), 2. Mitchel Moles (4), 3. Charles Davis Jr. (3), 4. C.J. Leary (5), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 6. Joe Kata (2), 7. Jason Cherry (7). 2:31.980

K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Chase Stockon (4), 2. Steven Drevicki (2), 3. Ronald Helmick (1), 4. Kyle Cummins (5), 5. Jake Swanson (6), 6. Robert Ballou (3), 7. Olivia Thayer (7), 8. Dirk Rimrott (8). 2:35.591

FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (1), 2. Jake Swanson (4), 3. Brady Bacon (10), 4. C.J. Leary (2), 5. Christian Bruno (19), 6. Justin Grant (3), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 8. Mitchel Moles (11), 9. Logan Seavey (12), 10. Chase Stockon (7), 11. Robert Ballou (14), 12. Cale Coons (8), 13. Hayden Reinbold (9), 14. Steven Drevicki (16), 15. Charles Davis Jr. (13), 16. Briggs Danner (6), 17. Jason Cherry (22), 18. Joe Kata (15), 19. Olivia Thayer (20), 20. Ronald Helmick (17), 21. Joey Crilly (21), 22. Brenden Hires (18), 23. Dirk Rimrott (23). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-40 Kyle Cummins.

**Matthew Swift flipped during qualifying.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1382, 2-Justin Grant-1280, 3-Mitchel Moles-1255, 4-Briggs Danner-1186, 5-Jake Swanson-1147, 6-Logan Seavey-1138, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1136, 8-Chase Stockon-1089, 9-C.J. Leary-1068, 10-Robert Ballou-983.

USAC YOKOHAMA TIRE EASTERN STORM PRESENTED BY LEVAN MACHINE POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-76, 2-Jake Swanson-75, 3-Brady Bacon-70, 4-C.J. Leary-68, 5-Justin Grant-62, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-61, 7-Christian Bruno-59, 8-Mitchel Moles-56, 9-Logan Seavey-51, 10-Chase Stockon-51.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kevin Thomas Jr.-68, 2-Cale Coons-59, 3-Hayden Reinbold-57, 4-Jacob Denney-52, 5-Justin Grant-51, 6-Briggs Danner-47, 7-Robert Ballou-47, 8-Brady Bacon-44, 9-Logan Calderwood-39, 10-Chase Stockon-38.

USAC EASTERN STORM PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Christian Bruno-14, 2-Brady Bacon-8, 3-Mitchel Moles-5, 4-Jason Cherry-5, 5-Briggs Danner-4, 6-Jake Swanson-3, 7-Logan Seavey-3, 8-Chase Stockon-3, 9-Robert Ballou-3, 10-Steven Drevicki-2.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 17, 2026 – Bridgeport Motorsports Park – Swedesboro, New Jersey – Yokohama Tire Eastern Storm Presented by Levan Machine / Jesse Hockett Classic – 4/10-Mile Dirt Track

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jake Swanson (13.483)

LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Briggs Danner (13.787)

K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Cale Coons

TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Hayden Reinbold

K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Christian Bruno (19th to 5th)

K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Kyle Cummins (40 laps led)

Highest Finishing 360 c.i. Driver: Jason Cherry (17th)

Second Highest Finishing 360 c.i. Driver: Joe Kata (18th)

Third Highest Finishing 360 c.i. Driver: Joey Crilly (21st)

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