FIRST CROWN! CUMMINS COLLECTS FIRST 4-CROWN WIN WITH USAC SPRINTS AT ELDORA

Kyle Cummins won Saturday’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature during the 44th 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKTELCO at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway. (Josh James Artwork Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio (September 26, 2026)………Back in May of this year, Kyle Cummins checked off his first career Eldora Speedway victory in what was his 17th attempt at taming the legendary 1/2-mile Rossburg, Ohio dirt oval.

On Saturday night, the Princeton, Indiana racer checked off yet another new feat as he claimed his first career 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKTELCO triumph, this one worth a cool $15,000.

Cummins took over the lead on the seventh lap, then proceeded to pace the field until five laps remaining when Justin Grant got by and seemed destined for victory for a fleeting moment. However, a subsequent caution negated the pass as scoring reverted to the last completed lap, thus putting Cummins back in front.

From there, Cummins’ task was to fend off the relentless Grant in order to grab his 11th win of the 2026 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season aboard his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors – JUGO Superfoods/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy No. 3p.

Cummins’ second overall victory at The Big E was a special one as he picked off a monumental win in one of the most historic races on the calendar, and one he had yet to add to his resume. That is, until Saturday night.

“It’s incredible to get one win here, and to now get a second during the 4-Crown Nationals with the place packed,” Cummins grinned. “It’s pretty exciting that I get to sit my car out there (on the front straightaway) at the end of the night, and no matter what happens now, I get to be in that picture.”

Cummins’ 41st career USAC National Sprint Car win was grand in more ways than one. He has now surpassed Gary Bettenhausen and Robert Ballou to move into the top 10 in terms of all-time career feature wins with the series. Cummins now shares the 10th spot on the list with Bryan Clauson.

Starting third on the grid, Cummins trailed the front row duo of Cale Coons and Jacob Denney for the first three laps. Coons traded barbs with Denney for the first two circuits. Coons first beat Denney to the line to lead the initial lap in a near dead heat. Swapping positions on the second lap, Denney got to the line first in yet another near dead heat at the stripe. A few short moments later, Cummins sailed into second past Denney on the fourth go around.

The first of several red flags in the feature occurred on lap six when 18th running Gunnar Setser barrel rolled eight times between turns one and two. He was able to climb out and walk away but was later transported for further observation.

Once the race resumed, it didn’t take long for Cummins to charge to the front. On lap seven, Cummins raced under Denney in turn three, then slipped up to the cushion and promptly put his distance on the field.

On the 11th lap, Coons, who had drifted back to sixth, sailed it high off the exit of turn two, collected the outside wall, then endured a wild series of end-over-end flips down the back straightaway before coming to a rest. Coons was able to walk away from the carnage under his own power.

Just past the halfway mark, Grant charged into second underneath Denney in turn four to take over the runner-up spot on lap 17. By then, Cummins’ lead was 1.233 seconds, but soon, he’d have to deal with his share of lapped traffic as he ringed around the outside of the likes of Logan Seavey and Todd Hobson before encountering Saban Bibent occupying the high line just in front of him.

“They got a little tight there in lapped traffic and I got backed up behind Saban (Bibent),” Cummins recalled. “I just made a couple of mistakes and let (Grant) get there.”

Now directly on Cummins’ tail tank, Grant made his move for the lead as he split between Cummins and Hobson entering turn one on the 26th lap. Grant’s rear bumper caught Cummins’ left front wheel near the outside wall. Cummins whoa’d it up as he skated atop the cushion and narrowly avoided the concrete barrier. Grant raced away while Denney ducked under and took second from Cummins.

However, mere moments later, 11th running Robert Ballou slowed with a flat right rear tire to necessitate a caution. Ballou received fresh rubber in the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area and returned to the tail before proceeding to march back up to a 10th place result by race’s end.

For Cummins, though, it was a reprieve of epic proportions that placed him back in front of both Grant and Denney for the ensuing lap 26 restart, which quickly turned into utter chaos for several others in short order.

Denney (3rd) spun sideways at the top of turn three, then was smashed into by Briggs Danner (5th). Brady Bacon (6th) then plowed into Denney, sending Bacon spinning directly into the path of both Jadon Rogers (9th) and Kevin Thomas Jr. (10th) with Thomas flipping over several times.

Along the bottom of turn two, Hunter Maddox (12th) and Chance Crum (13th) collided with each other as Crum climbed over the hood of Maddox’s ride while both grounded to a halt. Just a bit further back, Stevie Sussex (14th) slammed into Danner’s stopped car, sending Sussex flipping over several times. Thankfully, all eight drivers involved were able to walk away or restart the race.

At that very same moment, Cummins was doing a little bit of observing and a little bit of guesswork in his approach to the restart.

“It was just a little bit of guessing,” Cummins admitted. “I got to see the video board on that last restart and he made a pretty good slider line there and I’m sure he knew that. I was going to kind of pretend like I was going to go to the top and just kind of dive down and then slide myself a little bit.”

With everything on the line and just a handful of laps to go, neither Cummins nor Grant were going to blink, nor were they going to give an inch, a yard, a foot or even a hand. It was game on.

“After that restart, we were both going to pick up our intensity because I wasn’t going to lose and I’m sure he wasn’t going to either,” Cummins declared. “That’s what makes it exciting around here. Our last time here, him and me were battling for the win, and here it goes again. It’s hard to count out Justin Grant here, but we always love to beat him. That’s always fun. I know he hates getting beat by us and we sure hate getting beat by him. It just rises the level of excitement.”

In what was an all-out, on the edge, high wire thrill show, Cummins and Grant absolutely ripped around the high side in a full bore barrage of speed. Any sort of hesitation from either one would’ve been game over. The process here was less about precision, and more about laying every bit of guts, soul, and bravery on the line for the win.

“Those last five laps, that was as hard as I could run this thing,” Cummins explained. “(The track) was choppy and you don’t really know where it’s at. Guys keep flipping and you don’t know why they’re flipping. It wasn’t really about hitting your marks. It was just about throwing it in there and guessing, really.”

Grant made one more try on a turn one slider on the final lap but wasn’t close enough to make Cummins check up or bat an eye. Instead, Cummins drove off into the horizon, crossing the finish line 0.778 second ahead of Grant with Jake Swanson third, and Mitchel Moles fourth.

C.J. Leary rounded out the top five while also coming away with a $300 bonus courtesy of Rosewood Machine & Tool for the Precision Move of the Race, which saw him thread the needle between a spinning Briggs Danner to his outside and a spinning Brady Bacon to his inside with inches to spare on either side during a melee with five laps remaining in the feature.

For leading the final 24 laps, Cummins earned the K & N Filters Clean Air award. Meanwhile, Saban Bibent earned his best career USAC National Sprint Car finish with a 23rd to seventh place run. His +16 performance netted him the Rod End Supply Hard Charger award.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 26, 2026 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – 44th 4-Crown Nationals Presented by NKTELCO

K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Stevie Sussex (#3R Rock Steady) (3), 2. Jacob Denney (#87 CBI-Spire) (5), 3. Briggs Danner (#39 Hogue) (6), 4. Jadon Rogers (#14 Rogers) (4), 5. Hunter Maddox (#24m Maddox) (2), 6. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus) (7), 7. Todd Hobson (#44 Soudrette) (1), 8. Tim Kent (#79 TFK) (9), 9. Dustin Ingle (#2DI Ingle) (8), 10. Paul Dues (#87x Dues) (10). 2:08.790

TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jake Swanson (#5T Daming Swanson) (2), 2. Brady Bacon (#20 Dyson) (4), 3. Chase Stockon (#92 Sertich) (1), 4. Cale Coons (#63 Dooling/Curb-Agajanian) (5), 5. Hayden Reinbold (#19 Reinbold-Underwood) (3), 6. Ryan Barr (#21B Barr) (7), 7. Nate Carle (#14c Carle) (6), 8. Brian Heitkamp (#22 Heitkamp) (9), 9. Bryce Dues (#23D Dues) (8). 2:06.692

K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (#30 Leary) (4), 2. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP) (6), 3. Gunnar Setser (#5G Setser) (5), 4. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou) (2), 5. Chance Crum (#83 Crum) (3), 6. Caleb Shietze (#2B 2B Racing) (1), 7. Chad Wilson (#6w Wityk) (7), 8. Cody Trammell (#34T Trammell) (8), 9. Mike Miller (#33m Marshall) (10), 10. Jack James (#99 James) (9). 2:07.701

INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#15 BBI) (2), 2. Mitchel Moles (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood) (5), 3. Kyle Cummins (#3p Petty) (6), 4. Jakeb Boxell (#54 Westfall) (4), 5. Shawn Westerfeld (#4J Fischesser-Owen) (3), 6. Saban Bibent (#98 Wedgewood) (1), 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (#51T Tafoya) (7), 8. Brian Ruhlman (#49 Ruhlman) (8), 9. Derek Hastings (#32m Marshall) (9). 2:08.474

ALSO AT THE TRACK: Trey Osborne (#6T Osborne).

FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Caleb Shietze (2), 2. Logan Seavey (4), 3. Saban Bibent (3), 4. Todd Hobson (1), 5. Chad Wilson (6), 6. Ryan Barr (5), 7. Eddie Tafoya Jr (7), 8. Brian Ruhlman (10), 9. Nate Carle (8), 10. Cody Trammell (9), 11. Dustin Ingle (13), 12. Brian Heitkamp (12), 13. Derek Hastings (14), 14. Bryce Dues (15), 15. Jack James (17), 16. Paul Dues (18), 17. Mike Miller (16), 18. Tim Kent (11). 3:28.778

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (3), 2. Justin Grant (4), 3. Jake Swanson (7), 4. Mitchel Moles (12), 5. C.J. Leary (8), 6. Hayden Reinbold (15), 7. Saban Bibent (23), 8. Chase Stockon (21), 9. Shawn Westerfeld (17), 10. Robert Ballou (19), 11. Jacob Denney (2), 12. Brady Bacon (5), 13. Hunter Maddox (18), 14. Chance Crum (16), 15. Todd Hobson (20), 16. Caleb Shietze (22), 17. Briggs Danner (6), 18. Jadon Rogers (13), 19. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 20. Stevie Sussex (9), 21. Logan Seavey (24), 22. Cale Coons (1), 23. Jakeb Boxell (14), 24. Gunnar Setser (11). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Lap 1 Cale Coons, Laps 2-6 Jacob Denney, Laps 7-30 Kyle Cummins.

**Paul Dues & Mike Miller flipped during the semi. Gunnar Setser flipped on lap 6 of the feature. Cale Coons flipped on lap 11 of the feature. Kevin Thomas Jr. & Stevie Sussex flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-3009, 2-Justin Grant-2812, 3-Mitchel Moles-2752, 4-Jake Swanson-2482, 5-Briggs Danner-2386, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2346, 7-C.J. Leary-2229, 8-Chase Stockon-2227, 9-Robert Ballou-2210, 10-Logan Seavey-2185.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Hayden Reinbold-142, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-139, 3-Justin Grant-136, 4-Robert Ballou-124, 5-Chase Stockon-111, 6-Briggs Danner-108, 7-Cale Coons-108, 8-Jacob Denney-102, 9-Jake Swanson-95, 10-Mitchel Moles-86.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: October 9, 2026 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – Greg Staab Memorial

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Kyle Cummins (15.811)

K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Stevie Sussex

TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Jake Swanson

K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: C.J. Leary

Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.

Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Caleb Shietze

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Saban Bibent (23rd to 7th)

K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Kyle Cummins (24 laps led)

Rosewood Machine & Tool Precision Move of the Race: C.J. Leary