Kevin Thomas Jr. completed a two-race sweep of USAC Avanti Windows & Doors sprint car features in Arizona, winning at Mohave Valley Raceway and then at Central Arizona Raceway during the Sonoran Clash. The Cullman, Alabama driver started fifth in both features and swept the weekend for Bonneau Motorsports’ No. 78 in Mohave and for the USAC Avanti Windows & Doors Southwest Sprint Car field in Casa Grande.

At Mohave Valley Raceway Thomas—running a 360-cubic-inch engine against a field of 410-cubic-inch engines—started fifth, passed Eddie Tafoya Jr. on lap nine and, after multiple lead changes in the final three laps, retook the lead with the white flag and held it to the checkered. The victory was his ninth career USAC CRA feature win and moved him to 15th on the USAC CRA series all-time wins list; he earned $3,000 plus an additional $720 for the Rolls Scaffold 360 Challenge. Ricky Lewis charged from 10th to finish second and collected the Steve Lafond Photos Hard Charger award, Eddie Tafoya Jr. was third, Austin Williams fourth and Charles Davis Jr. fifth; R.J. Johnson posted fast time at 13.897 seconds and finished sixth. Heat winners included Braden Chiaramonte, A.J. Bender and Eddie Tafoya, and Chiaramonte flipped in his heat.

The win at Central Arizona Raceway completed the sweep. Connor Lundy briefly took the lead during an opening-lap scramble, but Thomas moved into the lead by lap two and paced the field for 24 of the 25 laps to secure the feature victory. Steve Sussex finished second, R.J. Johnson third, Bruce St. James fourth and Charles Davis Jr. fifth. Both events were staged under the USAC banner with Avanti Windows & Doors as a presenting sponsor.

Brecken Reese, 19, of Canyon, Texas, will run the full 2026 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship in the Jeff Reese-owned No. 20Q. The move puts him on the series’ 29-race tour, which will open with back-to-back Kokomo Grand Prix nights at Kokomo Speedway on April 24–25. The campaign represents a step up in commitment to build on his momentum, seek redemption and make consistent progress against full-time competitors.

Reese ran a part-time USAC midget schedule in 2025, making 16 National Midget feature starts and finishing 14th in the standings. He posted three top-10 finishes — fourth at Bloomington Speedway, seventh at The Dirt Track at IMS and 10th at Bakersfield — driving both the family car and for Grady Chandler. He said the experience taught him how to “put a full night together,” a lesson he plans to apply across the 29-race tour.

Reese also captured the 2025 POWRi Stock Non-Wing Keith Kunz Motorsports Challenge Championship, including a KKM Challenge victory at U.S. 24 Speedway in August 2025. He has multiple micro sprint and 305 sprint car wins and works outside of racing for his family’s business, Cierra Towing & Crushing.

Sixteen-year-old Bradley Cox signed with R.E.M. Motorsports to run the full 29-race 2026 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship and will compete for the Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year honor. The team, owned by Cappy and Sherry Mason, announced Cox’s official USAC rookie campaign will begin at the Kokomo Grand Prix on April 24-25, 2026, and that he will contest the entire national slate under the R.E.M. Motorsports banner.

A Colorado native who spends part of the year in Texas, Cox is a fourth-generation racer who began driving at age seven. He progressed through outlaw karts, micro sprints and non-wing 305 sprint cars, earned ASCS Elite North Non‑Wing Rookie of the Year honors at age 12 and captured the ASCS Elite North series championship in 2023 with two wins. Cox spent 2024 racing midgets regionally before stepping up to national USAC competition.

Cox made USAC national starts in 2025 at Jefferson County Speedway during Mid‑America Midget Week, where he won a heat and ran as high as seventh in the A-Main before an engine failure ended his finish. After finishing fourth in a Mason-owned POWRi midget at Tulsa’s Port City Raceway in October 2025, Cox linked with Cappy and Sherry Mason’s R.E.M. Motorsports. The team said it is targeting consistency for Cox across marquee venues such as Eldora and other Indiana tracks, with Cox’s stated primary goal to earn Rookie of the Year while gaining experience and steadiness across the full national slate.

Mack Leopard is joining Chase McDermand Racing for a full 2026 national midget campaign. The team will contest both the USAC National Midget Series and the POWRi National Midget League, a combined slate that exceeds 50 races. Leopard will run the full USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget Championship schedule, which is scheduled to begin April 24–25 at Kokomo Speedway; this will be Leopard’s first full USAC midget season and Chase McDermand described the effort as development-focused to give Leopard consistent seat time and the best chance to contend for national victories.

Leopard joins the program after a standout run at the January Chili Bowl Nationals. Reports differ on some details: some accounts credited him with 73 passes and four feature wins, while others said he tied a record by racing into nine features or set three event records and moved through from the N‑Main to the F‑Main while winning four features. Those performances, together with earlier success — including sweeping two MARA events in September 2025 for Chase McDermand Racing — helped prompt the decision to run a full national campaign.

Sources list Leopard’s age as either 15 or 16 and identify him as a native of Beavercreek, Ohio. He began racing quarter midgets at age nine and captured two Midwest Thunder championships in that class, had success in micro sprints in 2023 and posted marquee wins in 2024, including the Tom Rieck Memorial. In 2025 he made 11 USAC starts, earning fast qualifying honors and recording an eighth-place finish at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska. Leopard expressed excitement about returning to the team and publicly thanked his family, friends and partners for their support; the announcement also noted his great-grandfather, Nelson Leopard, worked as a scorer in the sport in the 1950s–60s, underscoring family ties as he begins the full-season effort.

Trey Osborne captured his first USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory at Ocala Speedway, leading all 30 laps in the No. 6t and earning the K&N Filters Clean Air Award. The 23-year-old, in just his 23rd USAC start, began the feature on the pole after a six-car inversion despite clocking the sixth fastest time in qualifying. He was the first driver to record his maiden USAC national win since Carson Garrett in July 2025. His prior best USAC finish had been eighth at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July 2025. Osborne’s comeback follows a February 2024 crash that fractured multiple vertebrae, plus mechanical failures and a broken quad in 2025.

Osborne finished 0.965 seconds ahead of Chase Stockon, Logan Seavey was third, Kyle Cummins fourth, and Jake Swanson fifth. The feature included several incidents, a lap-2 multi-car flip involving Kobe Simpson and Saban Bibent (Simpson was scored 23rd), a lap-22 contact between Osborne and Stockon that briefly sent Osborne’s car airborne, and a late scramble after Gunnar Setser and Jadon Rogers slowed. Osborne’s car emitted smoke from its left headers during the race.

Kyle Cummins was the LearnLab Fast Qualifier with a 14.675 lap time, and Logan Seavey topped the Dirt Draft Hot Laps at 14.887. The feature served as the opening night of the Ocala portion of Winter Dirt Games XVII on the three-eighths-mile Ocala Speedway oval. It was the first of four nights at the track, following two nights of competition at Volusia Speedway Park. Logan Seavey left Ocala as the USAC AMSOIL points leader with 223 points, followed by Jake Swanson on 213 and Kevin Thomas Jr. third with 198. The series continues at Ocala Speedway February 12–14.

Jake Swanson won the round-two USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National feature at Volusia Speedway Park earlier this week. He took the lead on lap six of the 30-lap Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals finale of Winter Dirt Games XVII, after starting third. An initial pass of C.J. Leary was briefly negated by a caution before leading to the checkered flag. He lapped 10 cars, built a multi-second advantage by lap 15, and finished 6.951 seconds ahead in 3:26.025. Swanson earned the Little Gator trophy, a $12,000 winner’s purse, the Clean Air Award for leading 25 laps, and posted the fastest Dirt Draft Hot Laps time.

Logan Seavey finished second, claimed the Big Gator trophy, and reportedly secured his second career DIRTcar Nationals championship. Seavey remained the USAC AMSOIL points leader after Volusia with 151 points, four clear of Swanson. Seavey had won round one at Volusia, running green-to-checkered and setting a new USAC track record for the 25-lap distance in 8:10.705.

Kevin Thomas Jr. finished third on the night, followed by Justin Grant and Briggs Danner. Brady Bacon charged from 18th to finish sixth, earning Hard Charger recognition and the event lead in passing master points. Heat winners reported for the weekend included Kevin Thomas Jr., Kyle Cummins, and Briggs Danner.

Logan Seavey won the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season opener at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., earlier this week. He took the feature at Winter Dirt Games XVII and set a new 25-lap track record of 8:10.705. Seavey, driving the Abacus Racing/Mountain Mechanical – Droplight – Indy Powersports/DRC/Stanton Chevy, held off a late charge from Brady Bacon and prevailed by 0.646 seconds.

Bacon led a race-high 19 laps and mounted a decisive late move, with reports differing on precisely when Seavey took control. Two accounts said he ran green-to-checkered, while another said he took the lead from Bacon on lap 20. But all agree Seavey fended off Bacon’s move in turns one and two on the final lap and regained the lead exiting turn two to hold the last half lap.

The victory was Seavey’s 34th career USAC triumph and his third straight USAC National Sprint Car feature win, dating to the final weekend of 2025 at Central Arizona Raceway. It moves him within one win of tying Rich Vogler and Jon Stanbrough for 14th on the USAC all-time wins list. The result left Seavey and Bacon tied atop the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship standings with 76 points each. Justin Grant finished third, C.J. Leary fourth, and Briggs Danner fifth. Jake Swanson posted the LearnLab qualifying fast-time at 16.489 seconds, while C.J. Leary posted the fastest hot lap at 16.352 seconds. The heat winners were Kevin Thomas Jr., Kyle Cummins, and Briggs Danner. Brady Bacon collected the K&N Filters Clean Air Award, and Chase Stockon earned Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors after charging from 17th to eighth.

Justin Grant posted the fastest lap in Sunday afternoon practice for the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship at Ocala Speedway, turning a 14.856-second lap in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – LA Poly/Maxim/Stanton Chevy entry. A noted figure at the Winter Dirt Games, Grant entered the session as an eight-time feature winner and the series’ winningest driver. He topped a 22-car timed practice that saw Mitchel Moles record the second-quickest time at 14.918, with Logan Seavey (15.006), Chase Stockon (15.013), and C.J. Leary (15.052) rounding out the top five. Organizers said more teams were expected to join the field as the week progressed. The times offered an early look at speed and contenders ahead of the headline race nights.

The Ocala session was part of Winter Dirt Games XVII Presented by Yokohama Tire, the multi-event build-up tied into the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Following the practice, the program was set to move to Volusia Speedway Park for events on February 9–10 and then return to Ocala Speedway for four consecutive nights of racing from February 11–14. Teams and drivers used the timed runs to assess setups and form as the series prepared for its Ocala headliners. Grant’s quick lap underlined his continued strength at the Winter Dirt Games venue while the close times among the top five signaled a competitive field for the upcoming nights. With additional entrants expected, the practice only began to shape the pecking order that will be tested once the multi-night program gets underway.