Boxell, No. 54, Ended 43-Year Eldora Drought
NXTbets Pro | Published On: September 27, 2026
Thomas Jr. took Thursday
Kevin Thomas Jr. turned a strong start into a breakthrough at Eldora Speedway, winning the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature Thursday night in Rossburg, Ohio. Thomas Jr. started third in the 25-lap race and moved into position late, taking the lead on lap 22 while racing in traffic. He then held on through a green-white-checkered restart and won by 0.885 seconds for his first feature victory at Eldora after 48 career USAC main event starts there. The win gave Thomas Jr. his third USAC victory of the season and the ninth of his career. Justin Grant chased him to second, Hayden Reinbold finished third, Daison Pursley took fourth and Jakeb Boxell crossed fifth, giving the front of the field a mix of familiar USAC names and another driver who returned to the spotlight two nights later. Jacob Denney set the pace in qualifying for the Thursday event with a lap of 16.060 seconds, while Logan Seavey fought through early engine trouble and still climbed from 20th to 10th by the finish.
Boxell delivered Saturday breakthrough
Jakeb Boxell produced the bigger milestone Saturday night, winning his first career USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature in the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway. Boxell controlled the race from the start and led all 25 laps of a caution-free feature, then crossed the line 0.826 seconds ahead of Jacob Denney after 7 minutes, 30.696 seconds. The victory was worth $15,000 and gave the No. 54 its first USAC National Midget win in 43 years. It also made Boxell the first driver to score his first USAC National Midget victory in the 4-Crown since Danny Stratton in 2005. Denney stayed closest to him and took second, while Justin Grant finished third, Logan Seavey finished fourth and Daison Pursley rounded out the top five. The result gave Boxell a career-defining win and put the No. 54 back in the winner’s circle after a long gap.
Denney, Seavey and the rest
The weekend at Eldora also reinforced how tight the top end of the USAC midget field remains. Denney’s second-place finish Saturday extended his series points lead and gave him his seventh top-two finish of the season, keeping him in control of the championship race while Boxell celebrated the headline victory. Denney had already shown speed Thursday by earning the fastest qualifying lap, and he stayed near the front again in the feature. Seavey also made his presence felt across both nights. On Thursday, he recovered from early engine trouble to gain 10 spots and finish 10th, a salvage job that limited the damage from a rough start. On Saturday, he finished fourth after being boxed out late by Boxell’s use of lapped traffic, leaving him just outside the podium in another strong run at Eldora. Grant stayed in the mix both nights as well, finishing second Thursday and third Saturday, while Pursley added two more top-five results with fourth and fifth-place finishes. Taken together, the two races showed the strength of the USAC midget field, with Thomas Jr. and Boxell each leaving Eldora with a major victory and a clear place in the weekend’s story.
