Back 2 Back At Butler! Kyle Cummins Repeats In Michigan

June 28, 2026  ·
  Press Release

You could say that Kyle Cummins seemingly had everything going his way entering Saturday night’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event at Quincy, Michigan’s Butler Motor Speedway.

The Princeton, Indiana racer was fresh off a USAC Eastern Storm championship and possessed a pretty hefty point lead in the season-long USAC National Sprint Car standings. Oh yeah. He was also revisiting a racetrack that he had won at exactly nine months earlier to the day.

Cummins and his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO Superfoods/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy No. 3p kept it rolling, leading all 30 laps to capture his second consecutive USAC victory on Butler’s 3/8-mile dirt oval.

Furthermore, Cummins is the first driver to win back-to-back USAC National Sprint Car feature events in the state of Michigan since Jack Hewitt in 1994-1995.

Cummins’ 36th career USAC National Sprint Car victory moved him into sole possession of 14th place all-time, ahead of 35-time winners Rich Vogler, Jon Stanbrough, and Logan Seavey. Cummins is now just one win shy of 1977-81-82 champion Sheldon Kinser at 37.

Whereas Cummins’ 2025 Butler triumph was a barnburner duel between himself and Justin Grant, the 2026 edition was all Cummins from start to finish.

Cummins was initially slated to start on the outside of the front row. However, when pole sitter C.J. Leary was ruled to have jumped the start, he was penalized one row, back to the inside of row two. Therefore, Cummins was moved to the pole position with Keith Sheffer II outside.

Taking control from the outset, Cummins led the opening lap while Sheffer was duking it out for the second spot with Mitchel Moles. That particular battle didn’t last long as Sheffer, a Michigan native, stumbled and biked atop the turn two cushion on the second lap and flipped over. Sheffer was able to restart at the tail before pulling off just 10 laps into the race with a 24th place result.

Cummins’ main challenger throughout the 30-lap main event was lapped traffic. In the first half of the race, Cummins took his lead to roughly 1.5 seconds but was forced to do most of his work on the high side. With gridlock occupying the bottom and middle lines, Cummins had to find a place where they weren’t.

“I just had to make it work,” Cummins stated. “It would feel good through the middle, and then once you hit the dust, man, you were just along for the ride, and luckily, I was able to get around them.”

A brief reprieve from traffic came on lap 13 when Jason Ferguson (21st) and Abby Hohlbein (23rd) tangled and stopped in turn two to bring out the yellow flag and cleared the path in front of the leaders for the time being.

From there, Cummins sailed away again to the tune of 1.5 seconds. That is, until lap 20, when he met the back of the field once again, and Cummins was in a spot where he had to simultaneously pounce while practicing patience through traffic, lest he be prey for the likes of Stockon and Moles running second and third.

“I think the lapped cars actually slowed me down enough to get a little bit lower to hit the bottom, especially in one and two,” Cummins explained. “If I slowed down to their speed on entry, my car would just roll around the bottom really good. So, I would just wait. It felt like if you missed it a little bit, you hung out. So, I would just kind of follow them and follow them, and surely, have a little bit of pressure and they’d slide up. So, if I slid up, I could just shoot the gap, and even if I wasn’t as good coming off, I could at least get in front of him. It was definitely one of those where you’re riding the brakes and just hoping nothing happens.”

That said, Stockon managed to get within five car lengths of Cummins with three to go. But it was a bit of a mirage as Cummins had just gotten around the lapped car of Brian Ruhlman and had freedom ahead of them. Meanwhile, Stockon and Moles were running side-by-side for position while also trying to stay away from the lapper fray.

That was all fine and dandy with Cummins who finished off the job, taking the checkered flag by a 0.968 second margin with Stockon beating Moles to the line for second. Briggs Danner made a late surge on the high wire to fourth past Leary with three laps remaining. Robert Ballou followed suit past Leary moments later to round out the top five.

By leading each and every one of the 30 laps en route to his sixth feature win of the USAC National Sprint Car season, Cummins was feted as the K & N Clean Air Award recipient.

Justin Grant’s time of 14.872 seconds landed him LearnLab Fast Qualifying honors for the night. It was his second quick time in a row with the series after also achieving the same feat last Sunday at Action Track USA in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. His sixth USAC National Sprint Car fast time of the season is tied for the most alongside Cummins, and the 45th of his career puts him sixth most all-time in series history.

Hayden Reinbold was stacked deep in the feature field. Starting 22nd in the field of 24, he made a fine run up through the field to finish 13th. His plus-nine made him the evening’s Rod End Supply Hard Charger.

Also of note, Kevin Thomas Jr. made his USAC National Sprint Car debut with the BBI Motorsports team, with which he won in USAC CRA and USAC Southwest Sprint Car competition in 2026. KTJ and the Rock Steady Racing team parted ways following Eastern Storm last Sunday. Thomas finished 11th at Butler.

KTJ’s former ride, the No. 3R, was in competition at Butler. Well, kind of. Harley Burns utilized his own car and equipment, which just so happened to formerly be owned by the Rock Steady team. For entrant points purposes, Burns ran the car with a No. 3R on the nose and tail tank and entered it under Rock Steady Racing. The end result was his best career USAC finish of ninth.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 27, 2026 – Butler Motor Speedway – Quincy, Michigan – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track

LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.872; 2. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.927; 3. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-15.122; 4. Keith Sheffer II, 86, Sheffer-15.135; 5. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-15.137; 6. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-15.144; 7. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.206; 8. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-15.235; 9. Harley Burns, 3R, Rock Steady-15.241; 10. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.270; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-15.272; 12. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-15.315; 13. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-15.567; 14. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-15.567; 15. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-15.638; 16. Beau Brandon, 21BB, Brandon-15.659; 17. Josh Turner, 4T, Turner-15.661; 18. Rylan Gray, 1, Gray-15.704; 19. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-15.798; 20. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-15.893; 21. Tony Helton, 87, Helton-16.083; 22. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-16.115; 23. Abby Hohlbein, 11A, Hohlbein-16.125; 24. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-16.133; 25. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-16.224; 26. Kole Kirkman, 18K, Dice-16.274; 27. Jack James, 99, James-16.483; 28. Max Frank, 25, Frank-16.492; 29. Jason Ferguson, 33F, Ferguson-17.106; 30. Chad Wilson, 6w, Wityk-NT (time of 16.538 disallowed due to illegal tire).

K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (5), 2. Justin Grant (6), 3. Zack Pretorius (3), 4. Tony Helton (1), 5. Brian Ruhlman (7), 6. Harley Burns (4), 7. Jason Ferguson (8), 8. Josh Turner (2). 2:08.862

TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (6), 2. Robert Ballou (4), 3. Trey Osborne (3), 4. C.J. Leary (5), 5. Rylan Gray (2), 6. Kole Kirkman (7), 7. Aaron Davis (1), 8. Chad Wilson (8). 2:05.955

K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (5), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 3. Chase Stockon (6), 4. Ryan Barr (2), 5. Abby Hohlbein (1), 6. Jack James (7), 7. Gavin Miller (3). 2:06.459

INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cale Coons (2), 2. Jake Swanson (4), 3. Briggs Danner (5), 4. Keith Sheffer II (6), 5. Hayden Reinbold (1), 6. Beau Brandon (3), 7. Max Frank (7). 2:04.124

FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gavin Miller (2), 2. Harley Burns (1), 3. Beau Brandon (3), 4. Jason Ferguson (8), 5. Kole Kirkman (4), 6. Aaron Davis (6), 7. Chad Wilson (10), 8. Jack James (5), 9. Josh Turner (9), 10. Max Frank (7). NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (2), 2. Chase Stockon (4), 3. Mitchel Moles (5), 4. Briggs Danner (9), 5. Robert Ballou (11), 6. C.J. Leary (1), 7. Justin Grant (6), 8. Logan Seavey (7), 9. Harley Burns (10), 10. Jake Swanson (13), 11. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 12. Gavin Miller (16), 13. Hayden Reinbold (22), 14. Cale Coons (8), 15. Zack Pretorius (14), 16. Trey Osborne (15), 17. Ryan Barr (19), 18. Rylan Gray (18), 19. Beau Brandon (17), 20. Brian Ruhlman (23), 21. Tony Helton (20), 22. Jason Ferguson (24), 23. Abby Hohlbein (21), 24. Keith Sheffer II (3). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kyle Cummins.

**Jason Ferguson flipped during qualifying. Keith Sheffer II flipped on lap 2 of the feature.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1724, 2-Mitchel Moles-1634, 3-Justin Grant-1614, 4-Briggs Danner-1535, 5-Chase Stockon-1407, 6-Jake Swanson-1407, 7-Logan Seavey-1374, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1351, 9-C.J. Leary-1331, 10-Robert Ballou-1294.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Hayden Reinbold-77, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-76, 3-Robert Ballou-70, 4-Cale Coons-64, 5-Briggs Danner-61, 6-Justin Grant-57, 7-Jacob Denney-52, 8-Chase Stockon-50, 9-Brady Bacon-44, 10-Logan Seavey-39.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: July 3-4, 2026 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – Sprintacular – 5/16-Mile Dirt Track

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Chase Stockon (15.079)

LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant (14.872)

K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins

TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles

K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Logan Seavey

Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Cale Coons

Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Gavin Miller

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Hayden Reinbold (22nd to 13th)

K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Kyle Cummins (30 laps led)

NEXT: Cedar Lake Thriller Leads Sheldon Haudenschild To World Of Outlaws Milestone

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Author: Press Release