Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) captured Friday’s victory on night two of Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Smackdown XIII at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway. (Indy Racing Images Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 23, 2024)………In recent years, the second night of Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown has been a honey hole of sorts for Kevin Thomas Jr.
In 2021 and 2022, the Cullman, Alabama racer captured back-to-back second night victories during the event at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway. After a one-year aberration in 2023, Thomas was back in winner’s circle following Friday night’s second round Smackdown performance in his Rock Steady Racing/Inferno Armor – Eddie Gilstrap Motors – Creative Finishing/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.
Thomas started his race from the outside of the front row and was never headed for the entirety of the 30-lap distance, scoring a dominant victory, which was the sixth of his USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship career at the 1/4-mile, five of which have occurred during Smackdown.
Overall, it was yet another major milestone in the career of KTJ. His 43rd career USAC National Sprint Car triumph moved him past 1974 and 1976 series champion Duane “Pancho” Carter for eighth place on the all-time series win list.
In his first season with Rock Steady Racing, Thomas has netted the team four feature victories, and in the process, provided car owner Hank Byram his 29th career USAC National Sprint Car win as an entrant, tied for 18th all-time alongside Paul Leffler.
It’s been quite a turnaround for Thomas in the past month at Kokomo. During July’s USAC Indiana Sprint Week round, while battling for second, he soon found himself upside down after contact with the turn four wall and fence. In the aftermath, Thomas returned to the track behind the wheel of “Frankencar,” a machine featuring a patchwork of mismatched pieces and panels assembled together.
“We were looking like a mixed bag of tricks there at the end of Indiana Sprint Week,” Thomas recalled. “We had different body panels from different cars, but it was still fast. We put a nice new body on that car, and it’s done us very well.”
There were no such worries tonight as Thomas did most of his work on the bottom half of the racing surface from the get-go, and nobody was able to get under his skin or underneath him throughout the entire duration.
“I do prevail a little bit better when it’s a little more patient and technical on the bottom,” Thomas explained. “Tonight, it wasn’t necessarily technical, but we’ve got a good racecar whenever it comes to being able to rotate, get squared up and get down the straightaway at a good rate of speed.”
As KTJ held the initial serve on the opening lap, Thursday’s opening night Smackdown winner Justin Grant was surging under pole sitter Anton Hernandez for second place in turn three on the second lap.
Behind those two, the jockeying for position was frenzied, but resulted in a bit of heartburn for fourth running Robert Ballou who was contacted in the rear bumper by the fifth place car driven by Mitchel Moles in between turns three and four, which sent Ballou spinning to a stop. The eighth running car of Daison Pursley was unable to avoid the melee and careened into the side of Ballou’s car. After time spent in the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area, both Ballou and Pursley restarted at the tail and proceeded to finish eighth and 13th, respectively.
Moles, who set fast time during Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying to kick off the night, rolled past Hernandez for the third spot with a turn one low side dive on lap five. Series point leader Logan Seavey followed suit to fourth a half lap later in turns three and four as Hernandez fell back to fifth.
Hernandez’s night became even more weary on lap 11 when he and Briggs Danner tangled amid a battle for fifth, sending both spinning in turn four. Kyle Cummins (7th) found no place to turn and slammed into the side of Danner, sending both Cummins and Danner flipping upside down. Cummins returned to finish 11th while Danner was done for the evening. Hernandez restarted at the tail and finished 15th.
On the lap 11 restart, Moles pounced his way to the second position as he snuck under Grant for the spot entering turn three. However, even just one lap following the restart, Moles still had a full second of ground to make up and chase down KTJ to contend for the race lead.
Thomas maintained a decisive one second interval through the middle stages before wedging himself between the 20th and 21st place cars of Hayden Reinbold and Jack Hoyer in turn one on lap 20 to escape with his breathing room intact. That is until 10th running Harley Burns flipped wildly, 3.5 times to be precise, entering turn three on the 20th lap. Burns walked away from the incident after what had been his best Smackdown run to date.
From there onward, Thomas remained untouched up front as he perused the bottom in precision-like fashion to prevail by 0.991 seconds over Mitchel Moles, Justin Grant and Brady Bacon with C.J. Leary rounding out the top-five.
“Hats off to my guys,” Thomas complimented. “I am one difficult dude to deal with whenever I’m slow. They stick by me every moment of the day. It’s a testament to what they do with their race team and making the changes to make me happy, which isn’t easy, but I do know what I want in a racecar. We’re getting there, and I’m super glad that we got a win tonight, which I assume locks us into Saturday. We can go watch a concert and I don’t have to drive home pissed off. It’s been a good weekend for us and I’m proud of everybody.”
Thomas did, in fact, lock himself into Saturday night’s $30,000-to-win feature event at Kokomo as well as the King of the Hill duels. Justin Grant is the top-point earner of the weekend and is locked in along with Thomas, Logan Seavey, Brady Bacon, C.J. Leary, Robert Ballou, Daison Pursley and Mitchel Moles.
Mitchel Moles (Raisin City, Calif.) flipped upside down on lap one of Thursday’s opening night Smackdown feature. On Friday, he bounced back to finish as the runner-up for his best career USAC result at Kokomo in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME Electrical – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.
“I felt like we were going to be really good last night if I had just made it through those first couple of laps,” Moles lamented. “But I want to say ‘I’m sorry’ to Robert (Ballou). I got kind of bombarded there and he was sideways in front of me trying to stick the bottom, and I got bombarded by the guys in front of me. I thought I had a little room and tagged him and spun him out. That’s not how I like to race, and I apologize to them and their whole team. They all work really hard to get out here like all of us. My guys gave me a great racecar, and it was great all night. We just made a little mistake there early in the race last night and it hurt us.”
One night after notching the win, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) came back with another strong run, finishing third in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Bow Foundation – TOPP Industries/Maxim/Kistler Chevy. Although his streak of four consecutive Smackdown victories dating back to the 2023 was ended, he still placed himself as the number one overall seed entering Saturday’s weekend finale.
“Tonight, everybody was fired off on the bottom and the top was really, really dirty,” Grant explained. “It was fast around the bottom there and I just let the middle of the race get away from me. I made the right decisions with the shocks under the last red (flag) and felt like we had as good of a car as anybody the last 10 laps. In the middle of the race, I wasn’t as on it as I needed to be. Our car is really good, but I was concerned about the middle portion of the race. You’d like to win but I felt pretty good about my car at the end.”
Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.) notched several awards for his Friday night performance. He earned $200 as the J & J Trucking Hard Charger as he made his way from 24th to 9th. Earlier in the night, he picked up an extra $100 as the ProSource Hard Work award recipient. Just to make his way into the feature lineup, he advanced from 12th to 4th in the Semi, earning the final transfer spot on the last lap to earn himself a new Hoosier right rear tire.
On the other side of the equation, Kyle Shipley (Phoenix, Ariz.) experienced heartbreak on the last lap when the final transfer spot in the semi-feature slipped from his grip. As a consolation, he earned a $300 reward as the first non-transfer courtesy of The Frolic Bar & Grill.
Max Adams (Loomis, Calif.) earned accolades as Friday’s top local driver in the feature field as the native Californian, who now makes his home in Indiana, finished 10th, earning a $100 bonus from Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage.
Brandon Mattox (Terre Haute, Ind.) made a nifty move to steal a victory on the final lap of the semi-feature. That earned the veteran racer the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 23, 2024 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 13th Annual Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.626; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.640; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.746; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.844; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.897; 6. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin/Fox-12.897; 7. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-12.907; 8. Stevie Sussex, 77s, Sturgeon-12.913; 9. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-12.913; 10. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.917; 11. Ricky Lewis, 41, Stensland-12.923; 12. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.953; 13. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-13.008; 14. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.010; 15. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.027; 16. Trey Osborne, 11T, Osborne-13.085; 17. Cody Williams, 92, Sertich-13.119; 18. Max Adams, 63, F & F-13.138; 19. Jake Swanson, 47, Eades-13.174; 20. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-13.179; 21. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-13.191; 22. Jack Hoyer, 57H, Hazen-13.194; 23. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-13.220; 24. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-13.223; 25. Frankie Guerrini, G3, F & F-13.226; 26. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.259; 27. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-13.264; 28. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.296; 29. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.314; 30. Luke Hall, 23s, Simon-13.334; 31. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-13.338; 32. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.353; 33. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-13.373; 34. Max Frank, 25, Middle Class-13.421; 35. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-13.441; 36. Brayden Clark, 4c, Clark-13.445; 37. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.447; 38. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-13.471; 39. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.566; 40. David Gasper, 04, Burton-13.596; 41. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-13.611; 42. Weston Gorham, 71w, Gorham-13.646; 43. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.664; 44. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-13.678; 45. Jack James, 99, James-13.981; 46. Colin Grissom, 00, Grissom-14.063; 47. Michael Daugherty, 3.14, Daugherty-14.221; 48. Austin Hawkins, 5A, Hawkins-14.263; 49. James Boice, 69x, Boice-15.376.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Trey Osborne, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Anton Hernandez, 5. Kyle Shipley, 6. Rylan Gray, 7. Colin Grissom, 8. Brayden Clark, 9. Hunter Maddox, 10. Ricky Lewis. 2:14.198
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Briggs Danner, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Logan Seavey, 4. Jack Hoyer, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Saban Bibent, 7. Cody Williams, 8. Joey Amantea, 9. Weston Gorham, 10. Michael Daugherty. 2:12.824
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Todd Hobson, 4. Max Adams, 5. Matt Westfall, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Austin Hawkins, 10. Braydon Cromwell. 2:12.950
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Hayden Reinbold, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Kale Drake, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Zack Pretorius, 7. Nate Schank, 8. Kobe Simpson, 9. Max Frank, 10. James Boice. 2:14.891
STEEL-IT FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Frankie Guerrini, 6. Luke Hall, 7. David Gasper, 8. Carson Garrett, 9. Jack James. 2:11.421
TRAILER ALARMS C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Brayden Clark, 2. Kobe Simpson, 3. Matt Goodnight, 4. Weston Gorham, 5. Max Frank, 6. Hunter Maddox, 7. Jack James, 8. Austin Hawkins, 9. Michael Daugherty. 2:18.245
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brandon Mattox, 2. Stevie Sussex, 3. Frankie Guerrini, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Kyle Shipley, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Cody Williams, 8. Nate Schank, 9. Zack Pretorius, 10. Rylan Gray, 11. Matt Westfall, 12. Brayden Clark, 13. Kobe Simpson, 14. Luke Hall, 15. David Gasper, 16. Matt Goodnight, 17. Weston Gorham, 18. Ricky Lewis, 19. Saban Bibent. NT
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 2. Mitchel Moles (6), 3. Justin Grant (3), 4. Brady Bacon (13), 5. C.J. Leary (9), 6. Logan Seavey (5), 7. Shane Cottle (16), 8. Robert Ballou (4), 9. Jadon Rogers (24), 10. Max Adams (17), 11. Kyle Cummins (14), 12. Jake Swanson (18), 13. Daison Pursley (10), 14. Trey Osborne (8), 15. Anton Hernandez (1), 16. Kale Drake (12), 17. Stevie Sussex (11), 18. Brandon Mattox (15), 19. Frankie Guerrini (21), 20. Jack Hoyer (19), 21. Hayden Reinbold (23), 22. Harley Burns (22), 23. Briggs Danner (7), 24. Todd Hobson (20). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Kevin Thomas Jr.
**Briggs Danner & Kyle Cummins flipped on lap 11 of the feature. Harley Burns flipped on lap 20 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-2357, 2-Brady Bacon-2278, 3-Daison Pursley-2141, 4-C.J. Leary-2109, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-2074, 6-Mitchel Moles-2025, 7-Robert Ballou-1979, 8-Justin Grant-1915, 9-Kyle Cummins-1900, 10-Carson Garrett-1517.
SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN XIII POINTS: (Top-8 locked into Saturday night’s feature) 1-Justin Grant-694, 2-Kevin Thomas Jr.-664, 3-Logan Seavey-652, 4-Brady Bacon-648, 5-C.J. Leary-644, 6-Robert Ballou-644, 7-Daison Pursley-642, 8-Mitchel Moles-615.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-168, 2-Logan Seavey-146, 3-Robert Ballou-134, 4-C.J. Leary-113, 5-Kyle Cummins-108, 6-Justin Grant-107, 7-Chase Stockon-101, 8-Brady Bacon-99, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-96, 10-Joey Amantea-92.
SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN XIII PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Jadon Rogers-24, 2-Briggs Danner-18, 3-Nate Schank-18, 4-Jake Swanson-16, 5-Justin Grant-14, 6-Brady Bacon-14, 7-Ricky Lewis-14, 8-Robert Ballou-13, 9-Shane Cottle-13, 10-Mitchel Moles-11.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: August 24, 2024 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 13th Annual Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown XIII
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: C.J. Leary (12.865)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (12.626)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Trey Osborne
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Briggs Danner
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Brady Bacon
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Steel-It Fifth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Trailer Alarms C-Main Winner: Brayden Clark
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Brandon Mattox
Hoosier Tire Last Semi-Transfer: Jadon Rogers
The Frolic Bar & Grill First Non-Transfer: Kyle Shipley
ProSource Hard Work: Jadon Rogers
J & J Trucking Hard Charger: Jadon Rogers (24th to 9th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Brandon Mattox
Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage Top Local Driver: Max Adams (10th)
