KOKOMO, Ind. (April 26, 2025) – Jacob Denney took the lead on lap 13 and dominated the remainder of the 30-lap feature at the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ season-opener at Kokomo Speedway Saturday as Cannon McIntosh placed second and Daison Pursley was third to give Toyota a podium sweep on the night.
In winning the USAC opener, Denney has now scored three victories overall this season after winning in both POWRi and Xtreme Outlaws earlier this year. It’s the ninth overall national midget feature win for a Toyota-powered driver in 2025.
McIntosh began the night on the pole, but Kevin Thomas Jr. and Denney would use the faster high side of the track to move past him on the opening lap.
Denney would reel in Thomas early, passing him briefly for the lead on lap six, but sticking right on his tail through the first 12 laps before eventually sliding under Thomas in turn two to take the lead on lap 13. A lap later, McIntosh would overtake Thomas for second.
McIntosh would pull within .8 seconds of Denney on lap 17 as the Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) drivers paced the field, but Denney’s dominance on the top side would allow him to begin to pull away. He would eventually stretch the lead out to four seconds before a late-race caution would bunch the field for restart with just two laps remaining. At that point, Toyota-powered drivers had assumed the top five positions in the field with Kale Drake running third, Pursley fourth and Justin Grant in fifth.
On the restart, Denney would again pull away from the field on the way to a 1.555-second win over McIntosh, while Pursley would overtake Drake for the final podium position with Drake finishing fourth and Grant coming home in fifth.
Toyota drivers captured four more spots in the top 10 as Gavin Miller placed sixth, Karter Sarff was seventh, Drake Edwards was eighth and Steven Snyder finished ninth.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series is back in action at Kokomo Speedway Sunday.
“This car was on rails. Once we got in front, I just put the hammer down the rest of the way. I thought I was going to lose the race on that late restart. We’ve had a super-fast car early on. Hopefully we can keep it up the rest of the year.”
- Jacob Denney: Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota
“You had to move around a lot. Early I thought we were going to be able to make the bottom work, but they had momentum right away on the top and got around us. I felt we got the bottom going in the middle part of the race, but there was just so much lapped traffic that I couldn’t get the speed i wanted. The Mobil 1 Toyota was fast all night. Hats off to this KKM crew and to Mobil 1, Toyota. Hopefully, we can do a little better tomorrow and I can execute better on the restarts.”
- Cannon McIntosh: Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota
Toyota-Powered Drivers Kokomo Saturday Feature Results
Jacob Denney – 1st
Cannon McIntosh – 2nd
Daison Pursley – 3rd
Kale Drake – 4th
Justin Grant – 5th
Gavin Miller – 6th
Karter Sarff – 7th
Drake Edwards – 8th
Steven Snyder – 9th
Sam Johnson – 15th
Brecken Reese - 18th
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