MERCED, Calif. — Logan Seavey wrapped up the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National championship after a fourth-place finish on Tuesday night at Merced Speedway.
It marks Seavey’s second national midget title, with his first coming in 2018. It was also Seavey’s second USAC championship this season, as the California racer previously secured his first title in the USAC Silver Crown Series.
Seavey leads Justin Grant by 249 points with two races remaining.
• Kyle Larson is expected to try for his fourth Turkey Night Grand Prix victory on Saturday night at Ventura (Calif.) Raceway.
Larson became the 54th entry in the 82nd running of the prestigious event will steer his own No. 1k midget. Larson won both USAC national midget races last weekend at California’s Placerville Speedway.
Larson previously on the Turkey Night Grand Prix in 2012, 2016 and 2019.
• In seven career USAC National Midget starts at Merced Speedway, Buddy Kofoid has finished inside the top three in six of them.
The Penngrove, Calif., racer eked by Tanner Carrick on the final lap Tuesday night, beating him to the line by .042 seconds to finish second in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/Mobil 1 – TRD – Curb Records/Lynk/Speedway Toyota.
• Tanner Carrick narrowly missed out on a runner-up finish at Merced in his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/DR Horton – CVC Concrete/Lynk/Speedway Toyota.
However, he did earn his best finish of the USAC National Midget season in the process. Carrick scored a third-place result, his best finish at Merced since 2020.
• Tanner Thorson’s Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying run was the 26th of his USAC National Midget career, moving him past Gary Bettenhausen and into a tie with Jason Leffler for 15th all-time.
Furthermore, Thorson’s time of 11.526 seconds eclipsed the former record of 11.635 set by Buddy Kofoid in 2021.
It was the first of three USAC National Midget track records at Merced rewritten on Tuesday night. Jesse Love’s 10-lap heat race victory bested Chris Windom’s 2021 record by more than five seconds while Jade Avedisian’s 12-lap time for her semi-feature win was more than nine seconds faster than Taylor Reimer’s from 2022.
• Race winner Spencer Bayston and his Dyson Racing teammate, Carson Macedo, were among the interlopers mixed in with the USAC regulars in Tuesday night’s 30-car field.
• Spencer Bayston’s victory on Tuesday night was his first USAC triumph in more than five years, with the most recent of his six career midget wins coming during the 2018 edition of Indiana Midget Week.
His sixth career series victory moved him to 106th on the all-time list alongside Donnie Beechler, George Benson, Dana Carter, Bob Cicconi, Robby Flock, Nick Fornoro Jr., Arnie Knepper, Cannon McIntosh, Ricky Shelton, Mike Streicher, Dave Strickland Jr., Kevin Thomas Jr. and Roger West.
• The USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget Series continues Wednesday at Merced Speedway before moving to Ventura (Calif.) Raceway for Saturday’ season-ending Turkey Night Grand Prix. Fifty-four midgets are entered in the event that will also include the USAC West Coast sprint cars.
Richie Murray contributed to this report.