BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Twenty-four hours earlier, Brady Bacon and the Dynamics, Inc. crew experienced the lowest of lows when a magneto issue knocked the team out of the feature at Lincoln Park Speedway before the green flag waved.
On Friday night, Bacon won the Sheldon Kinser Memorial, the sixth and penultimate round of the 34th annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week by AMSOIL at Bloomington Speedway.
Once again, resiliency from the Bacon/Hoffman/Dynamics camp was on full display, as for the second year in a row, the team endured a similar magneto fate at Lincoln Park one night, then bounced back the following evening with a feature victory for the Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts – TelStar/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
“It’s just a testament to the whole Hoffman team,” Bacon praised. “When something goes wrong, we put our noses down and keep working. We know we’re doing the right thing, it’s just that sometimes things get out of your control. You just can’t get down about it. You just plug away and keep trying.”
Bacon’s 38th career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory was a special one indeed. The triumph broke a tie the Broken Arrow, Okla. native held with the race’s namesake, Sheldon Kinser, for ninth all-time.
The victory also proved special as it thrust Bacon back into the thick of the Indiana Sprint Week championship race following heartache the night prior that dropped him from first to fourth. Heading into Saturday’s finale at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Bacon now rides just 12 points behind point leader Logan Seavey in his quest to earn a first ISW crown since 2016.
Despite having not won a USAC National Sprint Car feature since April 22 at Pennsylvania’s Grandview Speedway, Bacon had constantly found himself in contention at the front, as proven by recording a series-high 22 top-fives throughout his first 25 starts.
As proven time and time again, even when the racing gods weren’t exactly on their side for the night, the team found a way to plug away and find success substantially more often than not.
“Sometimes the racing luck just doesn’t go your way,” Bacon acknowledged. “We just know that it’s coming. It comes in waves. Some guys have good luck like Seavey went on a tear and started in the front every night and was able to capitalize and win. We’re able to grind it out even if we get dealt a bad hand and able to get a good finish when we’re capable of doing that. That’s how we’re going to try to win this championship. If we get lucky, we might even pull off Sprint Week.”
Kyle Cummins earned his best result of 2021 Indiana Sprint Week with a second-place finish in his Rock Steady Racing/Mid-America Safety Solutions – Project Oversight/Mach-1/Cummins Chevy.
“Brady is really, really good here running right through the middle; I don’t know how he does it,” Cummins pondered. “I tried a little bit and, a couple times, I felt like I had a little bit of grip. His drive off and side bite on the straightaway is unbelievable.”
C.J. Leary finished third for the second consecutive night aboard his Michael Motorsports/Kodiak Products – Gray Auto – Valvoline/DRC/Cressman Ford after leading the first 14 laps of the 30-lap affair.
“We just didn’t get the car quite tight enough,” Leary admitted. “This is Indiana Sprint Week. These guys are tough. I felt like I could roll the bottom there at the end and maybe get Kyle back. I knew Brady was going to be too good the way he was rolling right through the middle. I want to apologize to Chris Windom for missing the bottom a little bit there on the start and sliding up. We didn’t really make contact, but I feel like I may have scared him a bit and he got into the cushion.”
To see full results, turn to the next page.