Seavey holds off the eventual DIRTcar Nationals champion to top Tuesday’s USAC finale
While Logan Seavey held control of Tuesday night’s USAC Non-Wing Sprint Car Feature, Kyle Cummins refused to make the defending Big Gator champion’s cruise to victory easy.
Seavey rocketed out to the lead from the pole position to begin the USAC National Sprint Car 30-lapper. The Sutter, CA native built his lead early while Monday’s winner Kyle Cummins worked his way forward from fourth to second in only two laps.
Cummins kept Seavey within sight but could never close in. Even when the two started to navigate traffic, Seavey sliced through quicker to grow the advantage even more. It appeared as if it would be a simple drive to the checkered flag.
And then a late caution changed everything.
A green-white-checkered restart set the stage for a dramatic conclusion. Seavey left the bottom open as he accelerated into Turn 1, and Cummins looked to see what he could find in the vacant lane. The answer was grip. Cummins drove alongside Seavey down the back straightaway, and they entered the next set of corners side by side. Seavey has just enough of a nose ahead to protect the lead and clear Cummins exiting Turn 4.
The white flag waved, and Cummins couldn’t muster one final challenge. Seavey kept him behind and bagged his third Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Little Gator trophy to go along with his 2024 Big Gator.
“It’s just chess, right?” Seavey said. “I’m trying different stuff, and he knows I’m going to do something different. He’s guessing what I’m going to do and anticipating what I’m going to do. That’s just good race car drivers and racing against good guys there. They’re tough to defend on restarts. The cautions, I didn’t really want to see.”
While Cummins couldn’t get around Seavey to sweep the two nights with USAC, his win in the opener along with Tuesday’s runner-up were narrowly enough to earn him the 2025 DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator title. He tied with Daison Pursley, but Cummins’ victory gave him the tie-breaker. It was the Princeton, IN native’s first time claiming the coveted reptile.
“Jerry (Petty) just told me I get to keep this one (Big Gator). He’s going to take the small one back to Arizona,” Cummins said with a smile. “I never expected to win anything like this. Two nights, and tonight was a great race with me and Logan there. Just got to thank everyone for putting this on. The racetrack was great, just pretty excited.”
The final spot in the top three belonged to Daison Pursley. That meant it was two nights and two podiums at Volusia as the CB Industries No. 86 debuted with the Locust Grove, OK driver behind the wheel. He nearly got by Cummins on the final lap, which would’ve given him the Big Gator.
“Just really happy with the speed we have in the CB Industries 86,” Pursley said. “It’s good. It’s just hard to win these races from sixth after you go Quick Time. Congrats to Logan and congrats to Kyle and all of them on winning the Big Gator and everything. Just overall it was a solid week for us. We’ll continue to get a little bit better at it.”
UP NEXT: The Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals continue when the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds invade Volusia Speedway Park alongside the DIRTcar Late Models on Wednesday, Feb. 12. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (1), 2. Kyle Cummins (4), 3. Daison Pursley (6), 4. Briggs Danner (2), 5. Kale Drake (19), 6. Justin Grant (5), 7. Chase Stockon (17), 8. Jake Swanson (3), 9. Brady Bacon (13), 10. C.J. Leary (24), 11. Mitchel Moles (11), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 13. Robert Ballou (7), 14. Carson Garrett (14), 15. Gunnar Setser (9), 16. Kayla Roell (25-P), 17. Mark Smith (8), 18. Hayden Reinbold (12), 19. Stevie Sussex (22), 20. Tom Harris (16), 21. Brian Ruhlman (21), 22. Joey Amantea (20), 23. John Mollick (18), 24. Harley Burns (23), 25. Ricky Lewis (15).