USAC SPRINTS ATOMIC RUMBLE

This Saturday night, April 16, the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship returns to Chillicothe, Ohio’s Atomic Speedway for the first time in more than a decade. (Dave Olson Photo)

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Chillicothe, Ohio (April 13, 2022)………For many, Atomic Speedway will be a new experience come this Saturday night, April 16, when the USAC AMSOIL Sprintcar National Championship returns to the Chillicothe, Ohio racetrack for the first time since 2010’s abbreviated event.

For several others, their level of Atomic experience comes in droves, with several Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series events taking place at the 3/8-mile dirt oval over the past decade.

USAC’s lone trip of the millennium to Atomic came 12 years ago when the track was still known as K-C Raceway. After two heats, however, Mother Nature doused the surface, and the remainder of the evening was called off. Five previous visits for USAC to Atomic (aka K-C) came both with and without wings.

Kenny Jacobs captured the first USAC contest at Atomic, with a wing, in 1987. Kelly Kinser delivered another winged score in 1991. Jack Hewitt went back-to-back without a wing in 1992 and 1993, while Dave Darland followed Hewitt in picking up his third career USAC National Sprint Car victory in 1994.

GOING NUCLEAR:

Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) was in attendance at the 2010 round, and only experienced a few brief laps before the rain. He qualified 12th, but his heat race was never held due to the weather interruption. The 2021 Mike Curb USAC Super License Champ has already won once this season with the series back in February at Ocala, Florida’s Bubba Raceway Park, finishing in the top-six in all three of his starts.

Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Ind.) has already won two of the first three features, both in Ocala, finishing inside the top-three in each of the three as well. He would welcome becoming the fifth driver – and the sixth occasion – to start the season by winning three of the first four features. Only Don Branson (1959-60), A.J. Foyt (1961), Larry Dickson (1970) and Damion Gardner (2010) are on that select list at the moment.

BUCKEYE WINNERS:

Five past winners of USAC National Sprintcar features in the state of Ohio are on board for Saturday’s event, all of which have previously come at Rossburg, Ohio’s Eldora Speedway. However, all five are seeking a first USAC win at Atomic, a list that includes Grant, Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, CJ Leary and Matt Westfall. Grant is among the handful, as is four-time series champion Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.), 2015 champ Ballou (Rocklin, Calif.) and 2019 titlist Leary (Greenfield, Ind.). Bacon, Ballou and Leary are all aiming to break out at Atomic after uncharacteristically rough starts in Ocala, with Bacon 10th, Ballou 16th and Leary 18th in the current standings entering the weekend.

RADIATING WITH ATOMIC EXPERIENCE:

Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) celebrated his lone USAC National Sprintcar victory in his home state back in 2006 at Eldora. Westfall has winning experience at Atomic too, capturing the BOSS Sprintcar feature at the track in 2019, and was 3rd there in 2020 and 6th in 2017.

Atomic Speedway can claim multiple generations of Hewitt participants in its history books. Jack Hewitt is the lone two-time USAC National Sprintcar feature victor at the track, having won in back-to-back seasons during 1992-93. His nephew, Dallas Hewitt, will try to join Jack as an Atomic USAC winner on Saturday. Dallas has come close to victory in recent years with BOSS, finishing as the runner-up in 2020, and 3rd in both 2016 and 2017.

Fellow Ohioan Landon Simon (Tipp City, Ohio) took 2nd with BOSS at Atomic in 2015 as well as 5th in 2019 and 8th in 2017. Ricky Lewis (Oxnard, Calif.), fresh off a USAC West Coast Sprint Car victory at Bakersfield (Calif.) Speedway in March, finished as the runner-up in July of 2021 with BOSS at Atomic.

Korbyn Hayslett (Troy, Ohio), Cody Gardner (Milford, Ohio) and Paul Dues (Minster, Ohio) will each make their first USAC appearances of the season on Saturday at Atomic, where the trio has earned their share of recent success with BOSS. Gardner raced to a 5th place result in 2019 and a 7th in 2021 while Hayslett notched a 10th in 2020 and Dues tallied a 10th in 2017.

ATOM SMASHERS:

Several individuals in the driver lineup will make their Atomic debut this weekend, a list that includes Jason McDougal, Chase Stockon, Kyle Cummins, Jake Swanson and Logan Seavey, all of whom possess top-ten finishes thus far this year. McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) finished as the runner-up in Ocala’s February opener.  Stockon (Fort Branch, Ind.) ran two nights inside the top-four with a 3rd and a 4th. Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) collected two in the top-six with a 4th and a 6th place effort. Swanson (Anaheim, Calif.) notched a 7th on night two. Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) is one of five to finish inside the top-ten in each of the first three races this year along with Grant and Stockon as well as Buddy Kofoid and Carson Short.

Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.), the 2020 USAC National Sprintcar Rookie of the Year, will look to turn it around as he seeks his first career USAC win following a career-best second place finish 364 days prior to this Saturday’s race. The USAC National Most Improved Driver of 2020, Brandon Mattox (Terre Haute, Ind.), will seek to do the same in getting back into the top-five of the finishing order for the first time with the series since April of 2021. Second year driver and USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year candidate, Alex Banales (Lafayette, Ind.), will attempt to crack the starting field for the first time in 2022.

Meanwhile, micro sprint, PA Sprint Series 305 and USAC East Coast 360 Sprint Car veteran Austin Graby (Lebanon, Pa.) will make his USAC National Sprint Car debut at Atomic, driving for the same Lotier-Nemeth Motorsports team that Timmy Buckwalter made 38 series starts with between 2018 and 2021. Graby has served as the car chief for the team in recent years.

Full coverage of Saturday’s event at Atomic Speedway can be watched LIVE on www.FloRacing.com at https://bit.ly/3dgONXz.

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2022 USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP DRIVER POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10)

POS.     PTS.      DRIVER, HOMETOWN

1            220       Emerson Axsom (R), Franklin, Ind.

2            207       Justin Grant, Ione, Calif.

3            200       Buddy Kofoid (R), Penngrove, Calif.

4            189       Chase Stockon, Fort Branch, Ind.

5            169       Kyle Cummins, Princeton, Ind.

6            164       Tanner Thorson, Minden, Nev.

7            162       Jason McDougal, Broken Arrow, Okla.

8            153       Carson Short, Marion, Ill.

9            152       Logan Seavey, Sutter, Calif.

10          142       Brady Bacon, Broken Arrow, Okla.

(R) represents a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Rookie

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2022 USAC AMSOIL SPRINTCAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP OWNER POINT STANDINGS (TOP-10)

POS.     PTS.      ENTRANT, TEAM LOCATION

1            220       Clauson Marshall Newman Racing, Fishers, Ind. (#47BC)

2            207       TOPP Motorsports, Rochester, Ind. (#4)

3            200       Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports, Columbus, Ind. (#67)

4            189       KO Motorsports, Owensville, Ind. (#5s)

5            169       Rock Steady Racing, Dupont, Ind. (#3R)

6            164       Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports, Gilbert, Ariz. (#19AZ)

7            162       KO Motorsports, Owensville, Ind. (#5m)

8            153       RCM Motorsports, Marion, Ill. (#21x)

9            152       Baldwin-Fox Racing, West Lafayette, Ind. (#5)

10          142       Dynamics, Inc., Milford, Ohio (#69)

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ATOMIC SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINS:

2-Jack Hewitt

1-Dave Darland, Kenny Jacobs & Kelly Kinser

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ATOMIC SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL SPRINTCAR WINNERS:

1987: Kenny Jacobs (6/20)

1991: Kelly Kinser (8/24)

1992: Jack Hewitt (8/29)

1993: Jack Hewitt (8/28)

1994: Dave Darland (8/27)

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TRACK RECORDS FOR USAC NATIONAL SPRINT CARS AT ATOMIC SPEEDWAY:

1 Lap – 7/31/2010 – Dave Darland – 13.712 – 98.454 mph

10 Laps – 8/28/1993 – David Harrison – 2:27.28 – 91.662 mph

12 Laps – 8/29/1992 – Gary Fisher – 3:07.91 – 86.212 mph