Following a major changeover during the offseason, Cannon McIntosh got back on track in more ways than one during Friday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship season opener at the Belleville (Kan.) Short Track.

A mere 616 days since his most recent USAC feature victory in September of 2022, McIntosh returned to glory on the 1/4-mile dirt oval, grabbing the lead from his outside front row starting position, then dominating the 30-lap distance from start to finish.

The triumph was McIntosh’s first USAC win for Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports since driving for team full-time in 2020. That year, McIntosh won twice before switching over to the family-owned Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports team where he raced full-time between the 2021-23 seasons.

His remigration to KKM has already paid dividends, ending his 41-race winless streak in USAC competition and netting him his seventh career series victory, moving him into 97th on the all-time list alongside Tommy Astone, Jack Hewitt, Don Horvath, Page Jones, Kenneth Nichols, Larry Patton, Les Scott, Len Sutton and Johnnie Tolan.

McIntosh’s performance also provided car entrant Mike Curb his 199th USAC national victory, placing him just one shy of becoming the first entrant to reach the 200-win mark.

A solid start was imperative, and McIntosh made it priority number one in his Gear Wrench – TRD – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota, although he wasn’t initially able to throw down the gauntlet nor was he able to apply the dagger quite yet as he followed his teammate and pole sitter Gavin Miller for the first three-quarters of a lap. That’s when Miller left the bottom in turn four, thus opening the door for McIntosh to scoot on by on the low line.

“I knew it was going to be important to get a good start, especially with how much work they did to the bottom,” McIntosh explained. “I didn’t know if it would go away much, at least in one and two. I thought that maybe it would go away in three and four, so I just stayed committed down there after Gavin made a mistake there on the first lap. We were able to get by and I tried to minimize mistakes the whole race.”

USAC Highlights Belleville Short Track National Midget Opener

USAC National Midget Results At Belleville Short Track Results

1. Cannon McIntosh (2)

2. Daison Pursley (4)

 3. Gavin Miller (1)

4. Jerry Coons Jr. (3)

5. Kyle Jones (5)

 6. Zach Daum (19)

7. Justin Grant (6)

 8. Logan Seavey (23)

9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13)

10. Kale Drake (12)

11. Jacob Denney (8)

12. Jake Bubak (11)

13. Gary Taylor (24)

14. Ashton Torgerson (16)

 15. Ryan Timms (7)

16. Austin Torgerson (20)

17. Matt Westfall (22)

18. Zach Wigal (18)

19. Steven Snyder Jr. (14)

 20. Jake Andreotti (15)

21. Kaylee Bryson (10)

22. Hank Davis (9)

23. Curtis Spicer (25)

24. Ethan Mitchell (17)

25. Keith Rauch (21). NT