Barberville, Florida -- Of Kyle Cummins’ now 18 career USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victories, none had ever come on a 1/2-mile dirt track, nor in a season opener, nor at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park.

Cummins (Princeton, Ind.) checked off all those boxes in one fell swoop in a dominant romp to win Monday night’s Winter Dirt Games XVI round at Volusia, part of the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals festivities.

Starting fourth, Cummins made quick work of the field as he split between Logan Seavey and Mitchel Moles on the back straightway on the first lap, then chased down and swept around the outside of pole sitter Brady Bacon in turns three and four to occupy the lead, once and for all.

Cummins was never headed for the remainder of the 25-lap event, only losing ground due to a pair of late-race cautions which bunched up the field and evaporated his lead momentarily. Yet, when all was said and done, nobody was in the same stratosphere as Cummins and his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors - Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.

“There at the beginning, the car was just great,” Cummins noted. “I felt like I was struggling there at the end and I didn’t know where to go. A caution when you’re coming to the checkered is like the most terrible thing ever, but we got it done and we’re pretty excited to chalk this one up. I’ve never won here before and it’s a big 1/2-mile. People say I can’t run 1/2-miles. I think we proved them wrong a little bit tonight.”

The victory was the second for Cummins in his Winter Dirt Games career following his triumph in February of 2023 at Ocala Speedway, and his second in the Sunshine State of Florida. Overall, it was his 18th career USAC National Sprint Car win, tying him with Parnelli Jones for 27th on the all-time list.

Furthermore, the win was the third in USAC National Sprint Car competition for the Petty team with Cummins as the driver after the two competed together on the full season tour in 2024. Whereas their first win together came in their 28th try in 2024, this one came right off the bat, swiftly and decisively, in the first opportunity they faced.

Among the items Cummins was eying redemption for was the first of two 2024 USAC National Sprint Car events at Volusia. In the first of those, Cummins led a race-high 14 laps before being surpassed by Seavey with 11 laps remaining. Seavey went on to celebrate the victory, and ultimately, the series championship at season’s end.

“Last year was rough,” Cummins admitted. “The team that we’ve got is like family. We’re jelling really well, and I knew after the first practice yesterday at Ocala, the car was as good as I’ve had down here in Florida. I’ve just got to give it up to (team owner) Jerry Petty for believing in me and giving me this opportunity. It took a year, and it was a lot of work. We’ve finally found a good balance and all the guys are working great together.”

Just prior to halfway, on lap 10, Cummins had upped his lead to more than two seconds with Bacon and Daison Pursley both in tow several car lengths behind. Cummins julienned, mashed and pureed his way in, out and between the rash of sudden traffic in order to keep Bacon and Pursley at bay, and successfully, he did just that.

“I ran that thing the first 10 laps, and I think I never lifted off the floor,” Cummins stated. “It was hooked up good.”

By lap 15, Cummins had pushed his lead to four seconds as Justin Grant rushed his way into third past Pursley in traffic. However, on the 20th lap, 17th running Kobe Simpson’s ride slowed to a halt in turn three surrounded in smoke with an apparent engine issue. Thus, Cummins' 4.235 second lead was stricken from the record, and now he had to firm up his grip on the steering wheel with the field on his rear bumper with just five laps remaining.

That was of no issue to Cummins who immediately separated himself from Bacon et al. to the tune of 1.096 seconds over the next four-plus laps and had a checkered flag just within his reach. However, moments after taking the white flag, the yellow flag was displayed for Jake Swanson (12th), who slowed dramatically on the final lap in the middle of turn four. His car limped to the pits, but he was able to refire and rejoin the field.

The stoppage necessitated a green-white-checker restart/finish. Once again, it proved to be no big thing for Cummins who once more stomped his competition by thumping them on the restart, stretching his advantage to 0.840 seconds by the time he crossed the line as the winner.

Meanwhile, coming to the white flag, Pursley stuck the bottom between turns three and four to zip past both Grant and Bacon in succession to climb from fourth to second, where he ultimately wound up in the final order. Bacon took third with Grant fourth and Briggs Danner rounding out the top-five.

Nic Harris of Atlanta, Illinois made his Winter Dirt Games debut a memorable one on this night at Volusia.  He went seventh to fifth on the final lap of his heat race to gain the final transfer spot into the feature. That performance earned him the evening's Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.

In CB Industries’ first outing as a USAC National Sprint Car team, Daison Pursley drove the team’s car to quick during Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying. For Pursley, it was his eighth career fast time in USAC Sprint competition, tying Shane Cottle, Bubby Jones, Kelly Kinser, Pat O’Connor and Hunter Schuerenberg for 59th all-time. For Boat, it was his first participation with the USAC National Sprint Cars since competing as a driver in February of 2010 at California’s Perris Auto Speedway 15 years ago.

USAC National Sprint Cars at Volusia Speedway Park Results

1. Kyle Cummins (4), 2. Daison Pursley (6), 3. Brady Bacon (1), 4. Justin Grant (5), 5. Briggs Danner (7), 6. Logan Seavey (2), 7. Kale Drake (14), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 9. C.J. Leary (18), 10. Mitchel Moles (3), 11. Robert Ballou (8), 12. Chase Stockon (9), 13. Jadon Rogers (20), 14. Jake Swanson (15), 15. Ricky Lewis (24), 16. Joey Amantea (21), 17. Hayden Reinbold (12), 18. Carson Garrett (19), 19. Kayla Roell (23), 20. Brian Ruhlman (11), 21. Gunnar Setser (22), 22. Nic Harris (16), 23. Tom Harris (17), 24. Kobe Simpson (13)