Kyle Cummins Reacts After Winning 2026 USAC Indiana Sprint Week Title
The 2025 USAC Sprint Car Champ has no earned an Indiana Sprint Week title, holding off race winner Justin Grant on points to claim his first.
Video Transcript
Kyle Cummins, who has cut his teeth at this racetrack.
Kyle, 2025 was an amazing year for yourself and Petty Performance Racing.
Picked up the national championship.
But in 2026, you're an Indiana Sprint Week titleist.
Yeah, just, thank the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's, I did some praying there before hot laps or before the, feature there, and, I just told him whatever His will is, if it's meant to be, it's meant to be, and if it's not, just we'll live with it and go on.
So, you know, just, calmed me down a little bit.
And, I'll tell you what, that race was, felt good for the Every time we had the restart, it felt great.
And then once them guys got out, then Mose got around me on the bottom, and I wasn't great on the bottom.
And then I found that top line a little bit, and I was like, "Oh, I can hustle here."
And then here come Justin, just drove by all of us.
And so then I was like, "Oh boy, if he wins, I finish fourth or fifth.
I don't know what the math is, but it's not good."
So with the pressure of Jayden there behind me, and, and it was like three wide for a while, and my car was only good plugged up in the fence.
And, I got tied a couple times and, I was racing for my life.
That was, I've wanted e- I've wanted to win of these, the half miles, and I checked them off my list.
And, I wanted to win Sprint Week, and, I don't know how many more years I'm gonna do it.
And, this was kind of the best case scenario.
We had a great week.
And, I thought, "If I don't do it now, I probably won't ever get it done again."
So, that was, put a little extra pressure on me, but, just, you know, just thank everybody, you know, Jerry Petty with Avanti Windows and Doors, Bev, they're at home.
Joanie flew out.
Jerry thought it was gonna rain, didn't make it, so he don't get to sit in that rocker first.
And then just all my sponsors.
There's, Avanti Windows and Doors, Jeff Clump, with Novix Tree Stands, man, come on board.
Thanks a lot.
His whole family's down here.
Camo Wrap got him his first, our first and his first, Sprint Week title.
And just Jugo Super Foods, Premier Cycling, Apache Transport, Phil Rossi, Lucas Oil of Evansville, S&C Machine, Mach 1 Chassis, Mark's here.
FK with, Sure-Bel shocks.
K1 gave me some new gloves for, for, said it was good luck and won at, Terre Haute.
Bell Helmets.
Just everyone on the side of this thing, you know, I can't thank them enough.
I hope I'm not missing anybody.
This is a, this is a big deal.
You know, to, it's a big, big paying race.
Holy moly, 25 grand, that's, We've had a pretty good week it seems like this week.
So, yeah, it's been a really good week.
You were excited to win Lincoln Park Speedway, which feels like an eternity ago by this point.
You were excited, more excited you said, to win at Terre Haute Action Track, which you felt like was better than that win over at Lincoln Park.
Sitting here tonight in Victory Lane, before I introduce you to your new Bridgeport Rocker, to Jerry's new Bridgeport Rocker, where does this one rank?
It's, it's not a win, but it's, im- it's probably, it's a definitely a different feeling to run third and still be, like, super excited.
But, you know, the wins were good and, and I felt like coming out night one winning, I thought the car was unbelievable.
And then we struggled, and then got that one back at, Terre Haute and, and then had another, you know, problem last night.
And, I think we had a really good car all week.
So, just proud of the guys, Cameron Larose, Zach Fields, Casey DeRenzi, my wife, kids.
You know, she held down the fort dri- drove up and down every night.
All the other guys, you know, all my family, everyone that's here, just putting in the extra effort.
I had Cameron and the, the boys, they took the rear end out, front end out after last night, and, I made them do a lot of work.
And, you know, I appreciate everything they do.
The, what, what people don't see is what they do, behind the scenes, and it's, it's pretty remarkable.
And, I'm, kinda stubborn when it comes to, having stuff just perfect.
So, you know, thanks for everything they do.
This is why we're here.
And, you know, can't wait to sit in that rocker.
And, we're gonna have a very, relaxing and, calm night, and, just, kinda live it up.
It was one of the most chaotic Indiana Sprint Weeks in recent memory.
Nobody made it out unscathed, including yourself with a tough night last night over at Bloomington Speedway.
How did you guys get this thing and yourselves turned back around and ready for today to make sure that you sat in a Bridgeport Rocker by the end of the night?
You know, I, just, a lot of the, the team is unbelievable, right?
Jerry Petty gives us everything we need.
And the guys just work their butts off.
They, it's unbelievable what kind of time they put in from getting the car washed to getting it maintenanced.
And, and then also just, you know, a lot of praying, a lot of, you know, God making the right decisions and, and letting me, keeping me calm a little bit.
And, you know, just, to have him on my side, you know, I got a little superpower behind me.
So, you know, hopefully, Thanks for all the fans.
You know, to be at Tri-State Speedway, you know, to get my first one, I'm glad it didn't rain out and we got to actually finish it.
Although earlier tonight I was hoping that it rained out, and, 'cause Justin's great here, Mose is great here, and, and Bacon's good here.
So it was, I haven't been as good as I need to be, and I was pretty nervous coming into tonight.
But, just thanks for all the guys.
Thanks for all the fans coming out.
You guys killed it on buying T-shirts.
Novix, thanks for coming on the board.
And, you know, thank my dad.
I, all my, late night home calls every night.
"What'd we do?
What'd we do wrong?
What do we need to do?"
And, just my whole support system.
Thanks everybody, thanks the fans, and, can't wait to take a couple week break.
