Dakoda Armstrong’s journey to a first career USAC national victory included its share of twists, turns and excursions that took him down a variety of paths throughout the past two decades of his career behind the wheel.

His road to an initial USAC Silver Crown victory during Friday night’s Bytec Dairyland 100 at Wisconsin’s Madison International Speedway was just about as adventurous from start to finish in his C & A Motorsports/Meristem Crop Performance – Armstrong Farms/Beast/Stanton Chevy.

During the final 12 laps of the event, he went from being on the verge of his first career top-five finish with the series to leading his first laps to becoming the 2024 season’s third first-time USAC Silver Crown race winner following Kaylee Bryson (Belleville) and Daison Pursley (Port Royal), the most first-time winners with the series since 2019.

Two decades ago, in 2004, Armstrong (New Castle, Ind.) became USAC’s youngest champion. At 13 years, one month and two days, he clinched that year’s USAC Kenyon Midget title. He then raced frequently in USAC’s National Sprint Car and Midget divisions, and even made his USAC Silver Crown debut in 2009.

After earning Rookie of the Year honors with the ARCA Stock Car series in 2010, Armstrong went on to make 133 starts with NASCAR’s Xfinity Series and 44 more in NASCAR Truck Series competition during the decade of the 2010s. By 2023, 14 years after his most recent series start, Armstrong was back in the seat of a Silver Crown car, incidentally, at Madison. One year later, he was standing in victory lane at the very same venue.

“When I was younger, I ran USAC a lot,” Armstrong recalled. “So, it’s amazing to get into one of these Silver Crown cars and win and beat the best. I thought we’ve been good enough that we could’ve gotten a few of these, so it’s good to finally get out there and get one done.”

USAC Silver Crown Results Port Royal Speedway Saturday

1. Dakoda Armstrong (4)

 2. Bobby Santos (3)

3. Justin Grant (7)

4. Trey Osborne (6)

5. Logan Seavey (8)

6. Russ Gamester (10)

7. Trey Burke (11)

8. Jackson Macenko (13)

9. C.J. Leary (2)

10. Gregg Cory (12)

11. Kody Swanson (1)

12. Taylor Ferns (5)

 13. Kyle Steffens (9)

14. Nathan Moore (14)

15. Dave Berkheimer (15)