The Princeton, IN native put on a clinic in traffic and survived a pair of late restarts to top Monday’s DIRTcar Nationals race
By Alex Nieten
Kyle Cummins was forced to settle for second at Volusia Speedway Park a year ago, but he wasn’t about to suffer the same fate in 2025.
Last year, Cummins was passed for the lead with 10 laps remaining and watched as Logan Seavey pulled away to win. A Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals gator pried from his grasp. But like any good Sprint Car driver, Cummins returned even better.
The USAC National Sprint Cars rolled into “The World’s Fastest Half Mile” on Monday to launch their 2025 season, and Cummins and his Petty Performance Racing team rolled out a rocket ship. The Princeton, IN native blasted to the lead around Brady Bacon’s outside on Lap 2, and that was all she wrote. Cummins sliced through traffic and grew his lead north of four seconds.
A pair of late yellows gave his fellow competitors a chance, but they were no match. Cummins didn’t slip either time the green flag came back out and rolled comfortably to a season opening triumph.
“The team that we got now is like family, and we’re gelling really well,” Cummins said. “I knew with the first practice last night at Ocala, the car is as good as I’ve had down here in Florida. Just got to give it up to Jerry Petty for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. It took a year. It was a lot of work. We finally found a good balance, and all the guys are working great together.”
Cummins is up to 21 career victories with the USAC National Sprints. While tonight was his first at Volusia, it wasn’t his first in the state of Florida as he topped another Winter Dirt Games event at Ocala Speedway in 2023. He becomes the fifth different driver to win in five USAC races at DIRTcar Nationals.
The runner-up spot belonged to Daison Pursley. It was the first night for the CB Industries No. 86 wingless Sprint Car, and they fell just a spot short of debuting in Victory Lane. This year’s Chili Bowl Nationals runner-up spent ethe early part of the race in third before slipping to fourth. But Pursley ripped by the two cars ahead of him on the final restart to claim second.
“I felt like I was just kind of moving around the entire race,” Pursley said. “Finally, it came to me. I felt like I kind of caught them off guard trying the bottom down the back straightaway and out of (Turn 2). Just happy with the speed the 86 has right out of the gate.”
The final spot on the podium belonged to Brady Bacon. The “Macho Man” continues to knock on the door of a Volusia victory. He finished second in 2022 with the Xtreme Outlaws Sprint Cars, was runner-up with USAC last year, and added a third top three on Monday. Bacon felt that Cummins’ speed early in the Feature made the difference.
“He was better than us in the beginning, but I felt like we were pretty even at the end,” Bacon explained. “That last restart I just tried something and tried to hug the bottom and just didn’t get enough drive down the back straightaway, and Daison snuck by us. I figured I’d just kind of gamble and go for the win, and it just didn’t work out.”
UP NEXT: The Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals roll on with another night of USAC National Sprint Car and DIRTcar Racing Late Model action on Tuesday, Feb 11. For tickets, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
FEATURE RESULTS:
FEATURE: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Briggs Danner (7), 6. Logan Seavey (2), 7. Kale Drake (14), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 9. C.J. Leary (18), 10. Mitchel Moles (3), 11. Robert Ballou (8), 12. Chase Stockon (9), 13. Jadon Rogers (20), 14. Jake Swanson (15), 15. Ricky Lewis (24), 16. Joey Amantea (21), 17. Hayden Reinbold (12), 18. Carson Garrett (19), 19. Kayla Roell (23), 20. Brian Ruhlman (11), 21. Gunnar Setser (22), 22. Nic Harris (16), 23. Tom Harris (17), 24. Kobe Simpson (13).