It’s been seven years since the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship graced the quarter-mile dirt of Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. But this Saturday (Oct. 19) the series is back at the racy southern Indiana oval as part of the Harvest Cup.

Watch USAC Midgets At Tri-State Speedway!

In nine previous appearances by the series, dating back to its debut at Tri-State in 1969, no driver has repeated their USAC Midget victory. A new winner will likely emerge this Saturday night in the tenth trip to the track.  Many others, meanwhile, will be making their midget debut at the tricky paperclip-shaped track.

Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) is among those contenders.  He has won in a USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car in each of the past two seasons at Tri-State but has not reached victory lane there yet this year.  Thomas is currently tied for first with Daron Clayton in terms of all-time USAC Sprint wins at Tri-State with five.  Thomas, the 2014 USAC National Midget Rookie of the Year, ran 4^th in POWRi Midget event at Tri-State in 2014.

The man with the lockdown on Tri-State Speedway in 2019 is Kyle Cummins (Princeton, Ind.).  He is 7-for-7 thus far this year in a Sprint Car at Tri-State, including two-for-two in the USAC rounds in July and September.  Cummins, who made his first career USAC National Midget start in June at Montpelier, Ind., will make a rare Midget appearance and will pilot an RMS team car alongside teammate Thomas Meseraull.

Meseraull (San Jose, Calif.) is a 10-time USAC National Sprint winner and a midget victor indoors last December at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin.  In three Tri-State midget races, he’s finished 10^th in 2010, 3^rd in 2011 and 12^th in 2012.  He holds the Tri-State Speedway 10-lap track record of 2:20.38, set on May 21, 2011.

Chris Windom (Canton, Ill.) finished 2nd in USAC’s most recent midget appearance at Tri-State in 2012.  The 2017 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car champ is a winner at Tri-State in a sprint car, winning in the spring of 2017 en route to the series title.  Windom, who’s won his first two career USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget races in 2019 at Lawrenceburg (Ind.) Speedway and Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway, was 5^th in September’s Haubstadt Hustler sprint race at Tri-State.

USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget point leader Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, Ind.) recently took 2^nd at the same Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State after earlier winning his heat, equaling his best career showing at the track after leading 12 laps and finishing as the runner-up spot in the 2016 edition of the event.  He recently won both the USAC Midget and Sprint portion of September’s 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora coming into his first midget try at Tri-State on Saturday.

Watch USAC Midgets At Tri-State Speedway!

USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car point leader C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Ind.) has had a high rate of success in a sprint car over the years at Tri-State, but Saturday marks just his second midget race there.  In fact, that first start in 2012 at Tri-State was Leary’s first career USAC National Midget feature start, finishing 33^rd.  He won his heat and finished third in the recent Haubstadt Hustler sprint race in September.  Leary was victorious three times with MSCS in 2018 at Tri-State, capturing the Sprint Stampede, the Hoosier Sprint Nationals and the Harvest Cup.

Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.) was the fastest qualifier in both July’s Indiana Sprint Week and September’s Haubstadt Hustler at Tri-State.  He finished 3rd in July and was running 4^th in September when he ramped over the infield tire off turn four.  Grant was perfect in June at Gas City during June’s Indiana Midget Week, leading all 30 laps on the way to his lone midget victory of the season.

Jason McDougal (Broken Arrow, Okla.) was charging hard in September’s Haubstadt Hustler until, with three laps to go, heartbreak befell him while running 4^th after starting 21^st, as he slowed to a stop in turn two, ending his night.  McDougal was a 3rd place finisher at the 2018 Haubstadt Hustler and 9th in July in his two other previous USAC starts, all of which came in a sprint car for July’s USAC Midget winner in Fairbury, Neb.

Two-time USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champion Jerry Coons, Jr. (Tucson, Ariz.) was the fastest qualifier for the 2012 Hut 100 at Tri-State Speedway.  He led 82 of the 100 laps and was in front on the white flag lap when a suspension piece on the left-rear went awry, relegating him to 6^th at the finish.  He’s been strong in each of his other three USAC Midget starts at Tri-State with a 5^th in 2007, 2^nd in 2010 and 5^th in 2011.

Tyler Thomas (Collinsville, Okla.) has made three previous appearances at Tri-State in a sprint car and twice in a midget.  He took 17^th in the last USAC Midget event at Tri-State in 2012 and was 5^th in a run with POWRi there in 2014.  Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, Kans.) made a pair of POWRi starts at Tri-State in 2015, a 13^th and a 9^th.

Watch USAC Midgets At Tri-State Speedway!

Reigning USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget champ Logan Seavey (Sutter, Calif.) was superb in his USAC Sprint Car debut at Tri-State in the spring of 2018, qualifying 2^nd and finishing 3^rd.  September BC39 winner Zeb Wise (Angola, Ind.) had a solid run in his NOS Energy Drink World of Outlaws debut last Sunday at Tri-State, finishing 14^th.  In Chad Boat’s (Phoenix, Ariz.) two previous Tri-State USAC Sprint appearances, he qualified 2^nd and 1^st, and collected a 3^rd place feature finish during the Indiana Sprint Week round in 2009.

Several drivers will be making their first trek to Tri-State this Saturday night, including July Sweet Springs, Mo. winner Tanner Carrick (Lincoln, Calif.), top Rookie Andrew Layser (Collegeville, Pa.), Karsyn Elledge (Mooresville, N.C.) and Ethan Mitchell (Mooresville, N.C.) among others.

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USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Tyler Courtney-1,601, 2-Chris Windom-1,465, 3-Logan Seavey-1,424, 4-Kevin Thomas, Jr.-1,351, 5-Zeb Wise-1,341, 6-Chad Boat-1,255, 7-Tanner Carrick-1,203, 8-Jerry Coons, Jr.-1,179, 9-Jason McDougal-1,097, 10-Tucker Klaasmeyer-1,084.

TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINS:

1. (1) Brady Bacon, Barry Butterworth, Lonnie Caruthers, Bryan Clauson, Zach Daum, Mike McGreevy, Johnny Parsons, Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. & Sleepy Tripp

TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY USAC NATIONAL MIDGET WINNERS:

1969: Mike McGreevy (6/27)

1978: Sleepy Tripp (5/5)

1979: Johnny Parsons (6/15) & Barry Butterworth (8/24)

1980: Lonnie Caruthers (5/2)

2007: Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (5/12)

2010: Bryan Clauson (5/8)

2011: Zach Daum (5/21)

2012: Brady Bacon (6/2)

PAST USAC NATIONAL MIDGET RESULTS AT TRI-STATE SPEEDWAY:

2012: 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Levi Jones, 4. Bryan Clauson, 5. Ryan Bernal, 6. Jerry Coons, Jr., 7. Darren Hagen, 8. Brett Anderson, 9. Levi Roberts, 10. Steve Buckwalter, 11. Andrew Felker, 12. Thomas Meseraull, 13. Davey Ray, 14. Mario Clouser, 15. Bobby East, 16. Caleb Armstrong, 17. Tyler Thomas, 18. Rico Abreu, 19. Cameron Hagin, 20. Dalton Armstrong, 21. Zach Daum, 22. Austin Brown, 23. Bubba Altig, 24. Chett Gehrke, 25. Colten Cottle, 26. Andy Malpocker, 27. Ryan Criswell, 28. Ted Hines, 29. Tyler Robbins, 30. Daniel Robinson, 31. Tracy Hines, 32. Mike Hess, 33. C.J. Leary, 34. Jimmy Simpson.

2011: 1. Zach Daum, 2. Tracy Hines, 3. Thomas Meseraull, 4. Darren Hagen, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Bryan Clauson, 7. Caleb Armstrong, 8. Davey Ray, 9. Bobby East, 10. Kyle Larson, 11. Kellen Conover, 12. Levi Jones, 13. Mario Clouser, 14. Travis Berryhill, 15. John Campbell, 16. Levi Roberts, 17. Bubba Altig, 18. Shane Cockrum, 19. Tanner Swanson, 20. Kody Aldrich, 21. Brady Bacon, 22. Kody Swanson, 23. Jimmy Simpson, 24. Seth Motsinger, 25. Kent Schmidt, 26. Chase Barber, 27. Michael Koontz, 28. Tyler Robbins, 29. Gavin Galbraith, 30. Mike Hess, 31. Brad Kuhn, 32. Doug Day, 33. Dalton Armstrong.

2010: 1. Bryan Clauson, 2. Jerry Coons Jr., 3. Caleb Armstrong, 4. Shane Hmiel, 5. Zach Daum, 6. Dereck King, 7. Nick Knepper, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Brad Loyet, 10. Thomas Meseraull, 11. Henry Clarke, 12. Brad Kuhn, 13. Tim Siner, 14. Daniel Adler, 15. Shane Cockrum, 16. Kyle Hamilton, 17. Mario Clouser, 18. Tyler Robbins, 19. Levi Jones, 20. Kent Schmidt, 21. Hud Cone, 22. Bobby East, 23. Tracy Hines, 24. Austin Brown, 25. Davey Ray, 26. Evan Lents, 27. Alex Bowman, 28. Darren Hagen, 29. Gavin Galbraith, 30. Kellen Conover, 31. Andrew Felker, 32. Levi Roberts, 33. Travis Berryhill.

2007: 1. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., 2. Hud Cone, 3. Darren Hagen, 4. Brad Kuhn, 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Cole Carter, 7. Davey Ray, 8. Tom Hessert III, 9. Brady Bacon, 10. Danny Stratton, 11. Kevin Swindell, 12. Shane Cottle, 13. Mike Hess, 14. Bobby East, 15. Levi Jones, 16. Brad Loyet, 17. Zach Daum, 18. Mat Neely, 19. Gary Taylor, 20. Donnie Lehmann, 21. A.J. Felker, 22. Nick Knepper, 23. Damion Gardner, 24. Josh Wise, 25. Dave Darland.

1980: 1. Lonnie Caruthers, 2. Jerry Weeks, 3. Johnny Parsons, 4. Sleepy Tripp, 5. Steve Lotshaw, 6. Jeff Heywood, 7. Mel Kenyon, 8. Bob Wente, 9. Nick Gojmeric, 10. Marty Davis, 11. Warren Mockler, 12. Dave Keith, 13. Bob Bennett, 14. Kenneth Nichols, 15. Alan Brown, 16. Jerry Nuckles, 17. Tracy Potter, 18. Bob Carey, 19. Bobby Grim, Jr., 20. Jerry Harris.

1979: (8/24) 1. Barry Butterworth, 2. Sleepy Tripp, 3. Rich Vogler, 4. Bob Wente, 5. Mel Kenyon, 6. Steve Lotshaw, 7. Lonnie Caruthers, 8. Chuck Gurney, 9. Ken Schrader, 10. Jeff Nuckles, 11. Warren Mockler, 12. Nick Gojmeric, 13. Chris Cumberworth, 14. Jerry Weeks, 15. Kenneth Nichols, 16. Bob Bennett, 17. Bill Renshaw, 18. Stan Fox, 19. Dave Ray, 20. Danny Frye, Jr.

1979: (6/15) 1. Johnny Parsons, 2. Jerry Weeks, 3. Steve Lotshaw, 4. Dana Carter, 5. Rick Goudy, 6. Rich Vogler, 7. Wes Stafford, 8. Barry Butterworth, 9. Stan Fox, 10. Lonnie Caruthers, 11. Lee Carey, 12. Ken Schrader, 13. Terry Wente, 14. Tim Pangborn, 15. Steve Cannon, 16. Mel Kenyon, 17. Ron Mullen, 18. Bob Wente, 19. Jerry Nuckles, 20. Chuck Gurney.

1978: 1. Sleepy Tripp, 2. Ron Shuman, 3. Lonnie Caruthers, 4. Mel Kenyon, 5. Steve Cannon, 6. Larry Gates, 7. Jeff Heywood, 8. Mack McClellan, 9. Steve Lotshaw, 10. Jeff Nuckles, 11. Ron Eden, 12. Dave Stoltz, 13. Bubby Jones, 14. Tim Pangborn, 15. Rich Vogler, 16. Jerry Weeks, 17. Stan Fox, 18. Chris Cumberworth, 19. Kevin Olson, 20. Wes Stafford.

1969: 1. Mike McGreevy, 2. Dave Strickland, 3. Roger West, 4. Les Scott, 5. Clark Templeman, 6. George McBeath, 7. Gary Irvin, 8. Dave Ward, 9. Bill Renshaw, 10. Sonny Ates, 11. Mel Cornett, 12. Rob Greentree, 13. Merle Bettenhausen, 14. Bob Tattersall, 15. Larry Kirkpatrick, 16. Mel Kenyon, 17. Jack Fitzpatrick, 18. Steve Troxell.