2019 USAC Silver Crown-Sprints-Midgets at Eldora Speedway

Kevin Thomas Jr. Wins 4-Crown Pole in Dyson Debut

Kevin Thomas Jr. Wins 4-Crown Pole in Dyson Debut

Kevin Thomas, Jr. captured the pole position for Saturday's USAC Silver Crown season finale at Eldora Speedway's 4-Crown Nationals.

Sep 28, 2019 by Richie Murray
Kevin Thomas Jr. Wins 4-Crown Pole in Dyson Debut

So far, so good.  Kevin Thomas, Jr.’s debut in the Chris Dyson Racing USAC Silver Crown car went as smoothly as he could have planned. 

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Thomas drew the final pill in the draw and, thus, was the final car to make a qualifying attempt in Friday’s time trial session. After a lengthy rain delay prior to practice, the Cullman, Ala. driver laid down the best lap of the night at 16.054 seconds. It was the fastest lap by a Silver Crown pole winner at Eldora since Mat Neely in 2006.

Things are looking good for Thomas, who finished 2nd in last year’s event at Eldora, and has still yet to win a Silver Crown race in his career. Last year's runner-up finish came behind winner C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) who will start 10th on Saturday. Jason McDougal, who finished 4th a year ago in Dyson's car, will start from the outside of the front row in the same Foxco Racing car that Thomas drove in last year’s race.

Kody Swanson (Kingsburg, Calif.) qualified 3rd and will clinch an unprecedented fifth USAC Silver Crown Championship Car Series title by presenting at Saturday’s main event. Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Okla.) qualified 4th and will start alongside Swanson in the second row. Bacon’s Klatt Enterprises team and Swanson’s Nolen Racing team are involved in a tight series owner title race that is separated by only 15 points. A 4th place finish or better by Bacon in the Klatt car on Saturday will secure the owner’s title.

Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.), a 2016 Silver Crown champ and 4-Crown Silver Crown winner, will start 6th. Six-time Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions titlist Chad Kemenah (Alvada, Ohio) will lineup 7th.  Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.), a 2017 4-Crown Silver Crown winner, is slotted in 11th.  And last year’s pole winner Shane Cottle (Kansas, Ill.) will start from the 24th spot in the 27-car field.

On Saturday, September 28, Silver Crown teams will again have a practice session leading into their 50-lap main event which will also feature complete shows for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midgets, USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars and the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions.

On Saturday, pits open at 11am Eastern, spectator gates open at noon, autograph session from 3-4pm, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and cars on track at 5:30pm.  General admission tickets are $34 for ages 13 & up and free for ages 12 & under.  Reserved tickets are $39 for ages 13 & up and $9 for ages 12 & under.

The USAC portion of the 4-Crown can be watched LIVE and on-demand on FloRacing, listened to via live audio on the USAC app as well as live timing and scoring on both the USAC app and the Race-Monitor app.

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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING RESULTS: 

September 27, 2019 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 38th 4-Crown Nationals

STARTING LINEUP

ROW 1:

1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 9, Dyson-16.054             

2. Jason McDougal, 56, Foxco-16.070

ROW 2:

3. Kody Swanson, 20, Nolen-16.176

4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-16.250

ROW 3:

5. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.321

6. Chris Windom, 17, Goodnight/Byrd-16.366

ROW 4:

7. Chad Kemenah, 15, Hampshire/Kemenah-16.445

8. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-16.483

ROW 5:

9. Ronnie Wuerdeman, 33, Wuerdeman-16.523

10. C.J. Leary, 10, DMW-16.548

ROW 6:

11. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-16.562

12. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-16.992

ROW 7:

13. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-17.048

14. Jimmy Light, 123, Two-Three-17.074

ROW 8:

15. Steve Buckwalter, 53, Five Three-17.078

16. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-17.094

ROW 9:

17. Dallas Hewitt, 57, Hewitt-17.138

18. Austin Mundie, 47, Butler-17.143

ROW 10:

19. Eric Gordon, 78, Armstrong/Slinkard-17.192

20. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.272

ROW 11:

21. Mike Haggenbottom, 24, Haggenbottom-17.279

22. Terry Babb, 34, Morford-17.378 

ROW 12:

23. John Heydenreich, 43, Felker-17.448

24. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-17.456

ROW 13:

25. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.569

26. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-18.941

ROW 14:

27. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall/Marshall-NT

USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-577, 2-Justin Grant-514, 3-David Byrne-456, 4-Kyle Hamilton-381, 5-Bobby Santos-378, 6-Eric Gordon-375, 7-Chris Windom-342, 8-Mike Haggenbottom-328, 9-Kyle Robbins-320, 10-Austin Nemire-315.

NEXT USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE: September 28, 2019 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 38th 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKT.tv