Tyler Courtney leads all drivers in terms of Sprint Car Smackdown VIII points following Thursday night’s round one of three for the eighth annual event featuring USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars at Indiana's Kokomo Speedway.

Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) set quick time in qualifying, won his heat race and finished second in Thursday night's feature event behind winner Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.).  Meseraull stands third in points, five behind Courtney, while third place feature finisher Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) occupies the second slot in the standings, four behind Courtney.

Drivers who are in the top-8 of the standings following Friday’s second round of Smackdown VIII will clinch an automatic spot in Saturday’s $11,000-to-win feature event.

1. (168) Tyler Courtney

2. (164) Justin Grant

3. (163) Thomas Meseraull

4. (156) Brady Bacon

5. (156) Chase Stockon

6. (151) Kyle Cummins

7. (148) Hunter Schuerenberg

8. (145) Scotty Weir

9. (139) C.J. Leary

10. (137) Chris Windom

11. (135) Dave Darland

12. (134) Carson Short

13. (134) Kevin Thomas, Jr.

14. (134) Logan Seavey

15. (133) Jason McDougal

16. (121) Dustin Smith

17. (121) Isaac Chapple

18. (116) Shane Cottle

19. (111) Carmen Perigo

20. (109) Max Adams

21. (97) Matt Westfall

22. (95) Brandon Mattox

23. (92) Josh Hodges

24. (91) Cole Ketcham

25. (91) Corey Smith

26. (89) Tye Mihocko

27. (86) Timmy Buckwalter

28. (83) Sterling Cling

29. (82) Jarett Andretti

30. (80) Brian VanMeveren

31. (78) Ty Tilton

32. (76) Matt Goodnight

33. (72) Dustin Christie

34. (68) Travis Hery

35. (53) Anthony D'Alessio

36. (28) Brad Greenup

The racing festivities at Kokomo continue Friday, August 23.  All gates open at 3pm Eastern with cars on track at 6:45pm.  Adult general admission tickets are $25 and children age 12 and under free.  Pit passes are $35 apiece.

On the final night of Smackdown on Saturday, August 24, all gates open at 3pm Easter with cars on track at 6pm.  Adult general admission tickets are $35 and children age 12 and under free.  Pit passes are $45 apiece.  The Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series will also be on the event card.

All three nights of Smackdown will be shown live and on-demand on FloRacing.  You can listen to live audio of each night on the USAC app and follow along with live timing and scoring on the Race-Monitor app as well as the USAC app.