ILLINOIS SWEEP! MOLES BACKS IT UP AT RED HILL FOR $10,000 PAYDAY

Mitchel Moles swept both races at Red Hill Raceway this weekend, scoring $10,000 for his
victory on Saturday night at the Sumner, Illinois 3/8-mile dirt oval. (Rich Forman Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Sumner, Illinois (June 6, 2026)……For Raisin City, California’s Mitchel Moles, Red Hill Raceway officially became a home away from home this weekend.

After winning Friday night’s feature at the Sumner, Illinois 3/8-mile dirt oval, Moles backed it up on Saturday night to win the inaugural Illinois Sprint Car Championship, co-sanctioned by both the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Car Series.

For the second consecutive night, Moles charged from his sixth place starting position to take over the lead just one lap prior to the halfway point. Moles then paced the final 16 laps, then had to pass and repass Briggs Danner after a restart with two laps remaining to pick up the $10,000 victory.

It was just like déjà vu for Moles, but this time, he stuck the celebratory cage stand in victory lane after losing his balance following Friday’s triumph. After all, he’s gotten accustomed to winning of late in his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.

“What a great experience; ten thousand dollar richer,” Moles beamed. “They always say that when you get one, you can just keep them rolling. Well, I got one and then it kind of just never really happened. I got another one, and it still never really happened. But I can feel the momentum rolling now. I’m very excited for what’s to come.”

Moles’ fourth victory of the 2026 USAC National Sprint Car season has already doubled his previous season high, and his ninth career series win lifted him to 58th place on the all-time list alongside Mario Andretti, Briggs Danner, Pat O’Connor, Hunter Schuerenberg and Robbie Stanley.

“Like I told (car owner) Andy (Reinbold), if we could ever start winning these races from sixth, we’d be good,” Moles said. “Really, all we’ve done is I’ve just turned it up a little bit myself. We’ve got cars pretty similar and everything’s really the same. I just kind of started pushing. I crashed a lot there for a little while, so I’m kind of inching back towards pushing again.”

With it, Moles became the first multi-time USAC National Sprint Car winner at Red Hill in six tries. It’s a track he likens to a supersized version of another venue in his native California where he cut his teeth racing micro sprints, bringing a little slice of life with him to southeastern Illinois.

“I grew up racing at a place called Plaza Park and it’s like a miniature version of this,” Moles explained. “We used to run a bunch up above the cushion like that all the time. It’s great to finally see something from that. Nothing’s really transferred from California for me out here. I feel like this track just really suits my driving style with the way you have to get above the cushion and turn down and run a bunch of throttle in qualifying.”

Initially, Cale Coons got the jump from the outside of the front row and led the opening two laps. But on lap three, disaster struck for the leading Rookie of the Year contender as he biked on the entry into turn one, slammed the outside wall and helicoptered around a few times before coming to a rest on all fours, ending his race and his bid for a first career USAC national victory. As a consolation prize, Coons was the weekend’s Parallax Group Passing Master titlist, advancing a total of 13 positions throughout the two nights of racing.

Jake Swanson took over as the new leader, but soon thereafter, Moles was already surging. Moles took fifth from Justin Grant midway down the back straightaway on the ninth lap. By lap 13, Moles had his patented Red Hill high-low line working to perfection, and made up significant ground in turn two to rein in Kyle Cummins and Swanson for the lead.

On lap 15, Moles first rocketed by Cummins on the bottom of turn one, then dove low under Swanson in turn three a half lap later to reach the front of the pack. It was a type of line he basically had all to himself.

“It was just kind of the same thing as last night,” Moles acknowledged. “The turn down lane was good for me and none of those guys were using it. Then, I kind of showed it to Kyle (Cummins) and he was just too low on entry. He wasn’t getting up above it like I was.”

Moles grew his lead to three seconds with five laps remaining while Danner went to second a lap later as he throttled around the outside of Swanson at the exit of turn four.

But for the second night in a row, Chase Stockon (5th) slowed with a shredded right rear tire with two laps to go. This time, it occurred on the back straight amid a bevy of traffic. Seventh running Jadon Rogers, a runner-up finisher on Friday, had no place to go and plowed into Stockon’s ride, sending Rogers spinning to a stop and Stockon to the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area.

That set up another duel featuring Moles at the front of the line for a two-lap shootout to decide the win. Danner took his shot with a slider in turn three on the white flag lap, which Moles countered by slicing back under Danner off the exit of turn four to retain the lead.

Moles answered yet again on the final lap when Danner drove it in deep on the bottom of turn one, then slid up in front of Moles to nab the lead ever so briefly. Midway through turns one and two, however, Moles turned and pointed his car to the bottom at the exit of turn two to rip away the lead just like that.

“You don’t want to go do something you haven’t been doing the whole race, especially down in turn one,” Moles said. “It’s so slick on entry and Andy was telling me under yellow that I had a decent lead. But I did go to the top. It was hard to get off two. If he slid me there, I’d have a better shot. But it was definitely harder to get off two than it was off four. I knew if he slid me over there, I could turn down.”

For the final time in turn three, Moles got ahead of the curve, using the same line to bolt from the top to the bottom off turn four to secure the victory to the tune of a 0.530 second margin.

Danner took second with Kevin Thomas Jr. advancing seven positions from his 10th starting spot to finish third and earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors. Swanson led 12 laps and grabbed fourth while Hayden Reinbold was fifth, up seven spots from his 12th starting position.

“That was the lane I’ve been running all night. Especially on the last corner, that’s why I went up there,” Moles stated. “I buried it in there and I said, ‘if Briggs is here, he can have it and take it all.’ Hats off to them. I think he started right behind me. He did a really good job, and those guys are clicking too. I’m so excited to see what’s to come. We’re two of the younger guys. So, I’m excited for what’s to come for the sport.”

For the second straight night, Moles captured the K & N Filters Clean Air Award after leading the most laps (16). To open the night, Moles recorded his 33rd career USAC National Sprint Car fast qualifying time, moving him into a tie with Chase Stockon for 12th place all-time after a quick lap of 14.615 in LearnLab Qualifying.

For it all, Moles gave major props to the crew who sets up the No. 19AZ.

“Andy just makes the right calls,” Moles pinpointed. “Right before qualifying tonight, he walked over and said, ‘hey, I need to do this. What do you think?’ And I’m like, ‘do it.’ And it was light years better. Hats off to my guys. They work so freaking hard and they’ve dealt with a lot of adversity with me, especially Andy. He’s been here through the whole thing and it’s going to make me emotional, but I’ll try not to do that.”

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 6, 2026 – Red Hill Raceway – Sumner, Illinois –Illinois Sprint Car Championship – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – Co-Sanctioned by the Midwest Thunder 410 Sprint Car Series

LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.615; 2. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.696; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.698; 4. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.714; 5. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-14.771; 6. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-14.797; 7. C.J. Leary, 24x, Maddox-14.945; 8. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.981; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.992; 10. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-15.071; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-15.134; 12. Wesley Smith, 44, WSR-15.142; 13. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-15.286; 14. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-15.303; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.322; 16. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-15.452; 17. J.J. Hughes, 76J, Hughes-15.600; 18. Kent Schmidt, 5K, Schmidt-15.763; 19. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-15.782; 20. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-15.823; 21. Michael Clark, 8, Clark-NT; 22. Steve Thomas, 20, Thomas-NT.

K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Charles Davis Jr. (2), 2. Jadon Rogers (1), 3. Logan Seavey (3), 4. Mitchel Moles (6), 5. C.J. Leary (4), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Aric Gentry (7). 2:07.282

TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (4), 2. Cale Coons (5), 3. J.J. Hughes (1), 4. Chase Stockon (6), 5. Hayden Reinbold (3), 6. Troy Carey (7), 7. David Gasper (2). NT

K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, all transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (6), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 3. Jake Swanson (5), 4. Wesley Smith (3), 5. Robert Ballou (2), 6. Kent Schmidt (1). NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (6), 2. Briggs Danner (7), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 4. Jake Swanson (1), 5. Hayden Reinbold (12), 6. Justin Grant (3), 7. Robert Ballou (14), 8. Kyle Cummins (4), 9. C.J. Leary (9), 10. Logan Seavey (11), 11. Chase Stockon (5), 12. Charles Davis Jr. (8), 13. Jadon Rogers (15), 14. J.J. Hughes (16), 15. Aric Gentry (19), 16. Wesley Smith (13), 17. Troy Carey (18), 18. Kent Schmidt (17), 19. Steve Thomas (20), 20. Cale Coons (2), 21. Michael Clark (21). NT

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Cale Coons, Laps 3-14 Jake Swanson, Laps 15-30 Mitchel Moles.

**David Gasper flipped during the second heat.

USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1306, 2-Justin Grant-1218, 3-Mitchel Moles-1199, 4-Briggs Danner-1142, 5-Logan Seavey-1087, 6-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1075, 7-Jake Swanson-1072, 8-Chase Stockon-1038, 9-C.J. Leary-1000, 10-Robert Ballou-939.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Cale Coons-59, 2-Hayden Reinbold-51, 3-Briggs Danner-47, 4-Kevin Thomas Jr.-44, 5-Robert Ballou-44, 6-Justin Grant-40, 7-Logan Calderwood-39, 8-Chase Stockon-38, 9-Brady Bacon-37, 10-Kyle Cummins-34.

FINAL ILLINOIS SPRINT CAR CHAMPIONSHIP PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Cale Coons-13, 2-Mitchel Moles-12, 3-Hayden Reinbold-10, 4-Aric Gentry-10, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-9, 6-Briggs Danner-8, 7-Kyle Cummins-8, 8-Robert Ballou-8, 9-Troy Carey-8, 10-Steve Thomas-8.

CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Cale Coons (14.741)

LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (14.615)

K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Charles Davis

TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Briggs Danner

K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins

Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kevin Thomas Jr. (10th to 3rd)

K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Mitchel Moles (16 laps led)

Illinois Sprint Car Championship Parallax Group Passing Master Champion: Cale Coons (13)