SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Winning the Bettenhausen 100 requires skill, speed, good timing, and good fortune.
Briggs Danner had all of those traits in spades throughout Saturday afternoon’s 63rd running of the Bettenhausen 100 Presented by Hunt Brothers Pizza at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
The Allentown, Pennsylvania racer was in the hunt all day as he chased Grant for the first 87 circuits of the scheduled 100-lap event on the one-mile dirt oval in Springfield. When Grant’s engine expired on the 88th lap, Grant pounced to the front, then withstood a late-race restart to capture his first mile dirt victory.
The race was halted after 96 laps when ninth place running Danny Jennings endured a vicious series of end-over-end flips down the front straightaway. Jennings was checked and released following the accident.
Saturday’s event got off to a late start due to overnight showers that delayed practice by an hour. Three massive crashes during the feature required a lengthy cleanup. Furthermore, a 3:30pm Central deadline was slated for the race due to setup commencing for Saturday night’s concert by The Chicks on the front straightaway stage.
All of those factors ended the race four laps short of the full distance, the first shortened Springfield race since 2021.
Overall, it was Danner’s third career USAC Silver Crown victory, and his second of the season after capturing a victory on the pavement at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway in July.
No matter what, he’ll take them however he can get them after leading the final nine laps at the helm of his DMW Motorsports/Advanced Materials Technologies – Phoenix Pavers/DRC/Fisher Chevy.
“This is one of the coolest wins I’ve had, for sure,” Danner exclaimed. “These dirt miles are the coolest races all year long in my opinion. I don’t know if it’s just my modified racing background or what it is, but this whole kind of 100-lap strategy deal with fuel and tire (strategy) is really cool. I look forward to these races every year.”
As for Grant, he now owns the distinction of being the driver who led the most laps in a single Bettenhausen 100 without winning the race (87). That broke the record of 85 laps led by Chris Windom during the 2013 Bettenhausen 100.
“I kind of hate winning them like that,” Danner admitted. “I felt a little bit better than Justin all race, but it’s just so tough to pass and I don’t want to win because of him blowing up. I’d like to see it go to the end.”
The start of race was an adventure of catastrophic proportions. On the initial green flag, visibility was at a premium as the 28-car starting field kicked up a wall of dust. In the middle of it, 28th place starting Bettenhausen 100 Rookie Bret Tripplett ramped over the right rear tire of Russ Gamester on the front straightaway, sending Tripplett flipping numerous times nose-to-tail, end-over-end before being clipped by Dave Berkheimer before Tripplett’s mangled machine came to a rest on its side.
On the second attempt at a green flag, virtually the same result befell 21st place starting Joey Moughan who flipped wildly in turn one. He too was able to walk away under his own power.
The third attempt was finally the charm as the field completed the restart clean and green with Grant settling into the lead up front with Danner in tow, and the top-two remained that way for practically the first two-thirds of the race. On lap 63, Danner used a higher line to pull right alongside Grant for the top spot off the exit of turn two. Yet, Grant was able to muscle away to maintain the spot.
Brian Tyler, who had made yet another miraculous charge from 19th to fifth, saw his race end suddenly on the back straightaway on the 68th lap, the victim of an engine issue which ended an incredible run for the four-time Bettenhausen 100 winner.
Danner was continuously hounding Grant whose lead had shrunk from a full second to four car lengths with 20 laps to go. On the 81st lap, both drivers swung around the lapped car of Hayden Reinbold to put him a lap down in turn two just as Danner began to poke his nose to the inside of Grant in turn two. But once again, Grant hung on, while Jake Swanson slipped into third past Jerry Coons Jr. moments later on lap 82, five seconds behind the top-two.
Everything you thought you knew about the race soon came apart at the seams with 13 laps remaining when Grant’s car suddenly slowed on the back straightaway, handing over the lead to Danner, who was making just his third Springfield start and his 20th career USAC Silver Crown appearance.
“I feel like I don’t quite have enough races under my belt for this kind of a deal to know exactly when to go and feel everything out,” Danner acknowledged. “But I know Justin (Grant) and (crew chief) Dennis (LaCava) had a really good car today. To keep pace with them is great, and I could apply pressure when I felt like I needed to. It was just tricky the way the rubber was moving around. In three and four, there was a little spot where it was dirty, so you’d slide to catch the rubber and it was just a little hard to hit there. I’m just trying to put a couple laps together and save my stuff, and I was worried about fuel at the end there.”
Danner kept Swanson, Coons, et al. at bay down the stretch, and was holding a 0.831 second margin lead on lap 97 when Jennings’ car reportedly had a mechanical failure on the left front, which sent him veering into the wall before enduring a series of vicious flips, which also entangled first-time USAC Silver Crown starter Mitchell Davis who came to a rest nose first against the turn one outside wall, adjacent from Jennings.
Danner finished ahead of runner-up Jake Swanson who equaled his best career series finish of second. Jerry Coons Jr. took third for his 13th career top five finish in the Bettenhausen 100 in his 22nd career Springfield Mile start.
C.J. Leary extended his championship point lead with a fourth-place result as he recorded his 13th consecutive top-five finish with the series dating back to the 2025 season.
Saban Bibent rounded out the top five with his best career series finish, which was also the best for longtime series car owners Sammy and Mouren Fetter.
USAC Silver Crown Championship, Illinois State Fairgrounds, Springfield, Illinois, Aug. 22, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-31.504; 2. Briggs Danner, 10, DMW-31.736; 3. Jerry Coons Jr., 24, Haggenbottom-31.992; 4. Jake Swanson, 6, Klatt-32.351; 5. Saban Bibent, 88, Fetter-32.512; 6. C.J. Leary, 21, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi/Curb-Agajanian-32.609; 7. Mario Clouser, 20, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi/Curb-Agajanian-32.787; 8. Chris Urish, 77, Urish-32.898; 9. Trey Osborne, 27, Wood-32.945; 10. Mitchel Moles, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-32.960; 11. Hayden Reinbold, 119, Reinbold/Underwood-32.975; 12. Bret Tripplett, 65, SV-33.273; 13. Chase Stockon, 69, Pink 69-33.335; 14. Danny Jennings, 61, Grace-33.615; 15. Chelby Hinton, 62, Klatt-33.785; 16. Shane Cockrum, 97, Lein-33.913; 17. Carmen Perigo, 52, Stehman-33.918; 18. Mitchell Davis, 38, Shoestring-34.043; 19. Kaylee Bryson, 11, Abacus/Droplight-34.075; 20. Chris Fetter, 15, Fetter-34.076; 21. Brian Tyler, 81, BCR-34.104; 22. Jimmy Light, 118, Thomas-34.177; 23. Joey Moughan, 29, Moughan-34.201; 24. Colten Cottle, 14, McQuinn-34.471; 25. Steve Gennetten, 64, GGR-35.279; 26. Gregg Cory, 32, Williams/Cory-35.641; 27. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-35.997; 28. Russ Gamester, 51, Gamester-NT; 29. Kenny Gentry, 18, Gentry-NT; 30. Kyle Steffens, 8, Steffens-NT; 31. Korey Weyant, 99, Weyant-NT; 32. Mark Bitner, 4, Yeska-NT (time of 35.475 disallowed due to missing scales).
FEATURE: (96 laps, shortened from 100 laps due to time constraints, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Briggs Danner (2), 2. Jake Swanson (4), 3. Jerry Coons Jr. (3), 4. C.J. Leary (6), 5. Saban Bibent (5), 6. Mitchel Moles (10), 7. Carmen Perigo (16), 8. Chase Stockon (13), 9. Shane Cockrum (15), 10. Chelby Hinton (14), 11. Steve Gennetten (22), 12. Hayden Reinbold (11), 13. Danny Jennings (12), 14. Mitchell Davis (17), 15. Chris Urish (8), 16. Justin Grant (1), 17. Russ Gamester (26), 18. Kaylee Bryson (18), 19. Brian Tyler (19), 20. Trey Osborne (9), 21. Mario Clouser (7), 22. Jimmy Light (20), 23. Gregg Cory (23), 24. Joey Moughan (21), 25. Dave Berkheimer (24), 26. Mark Bitner (25), 27. Bret Tripplett (28), 28. Colten Cottle (27).
