Kokomo Grand Prixview! USAC Midget Season begins April 24-25
COLUMN BY: Richie Murray – USAC MEDIA – KOKOMO, IN – At last, it is here!
The 71st season of USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship competition gets underway this Friday-Saturday night, April 24-25, at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway.
The Kokomo Grand Prix kicks the 29-race season off this weekend, featuring two-straight nights of full programs featuring the midgets alongside Kokomo Speedway’s sprint car division.
New driver and owner combinations, brand new shiny toys, along with a hungry group of series veteran drivers and teams are all set to take on the journey to a championship that consumes them all through Thanksgiving weekend.
The quest begins now. So, here are six storylines to set the stage for this weekend, and throughout the year.
FULL-TIMERS
Several drivers have indicated their full-time status on the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National tour in 2026, all of whom are vying for their first ever series championship.
Among them are Justin Grant (CB Industries); Thomas Meseraull and Kyle Jones (Tim Engler); Kevin Thomas Jr. and Jakeb Boxell (4 Kings Racing); Jacob Denney, Gavin Miller, Colton Robinson and Brandon Carr (Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports); Kale Drake (RMS Racing); Hayden Reinbold (Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports); Brecken Reese (Jeff Reese); Mack Leopard (Chase McDermand Racing); Bradley Cox (Cappy Mason); and Hayden Wise (Ninety-Four Racing).
Two-time series champion Logan Seavey (Abacus Racing), Gunnar Setser (Kevin Arnold) and Zach Wigal (Pat O’Dell) plan to run the high majority, if not all, the events on the season’s calendar as well.
JACOB’S LADDER
Jacob Denney enters this weekend’s Kokomo Grand Prix as the defending season opener winner at the Kokomo Grand Prix.
The Galloway, Ohio driver will now vie to become the first driver to win back-to-back USAC National Midget season opening features since Brad Sweet in 2009-2010.
Denney continued his rise last season with three wins and a career best fourth place finish in the USAC National Midget point standings in his first season with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports. Two of his three wins during the season came at Kokomo.
Over the past four seasons with the series, he’s finished 8th, 7th, 5th and 4th in the standings, and is primed to contend for his first championship this year.
TRIPLE CROWN QUEST
Justin Grant has won a lot of USAC races at Kokomo Speedway in his career, 13 in fact! Twelve of them have come in USAC National Sprint Cars, making him the all-time leader with the series at the track.
However, last year, he was finally able to grab his first ever USAC National Midget triumph at Kokomo, which was his first for the CB Industries team, and it came on the final night of the Kokomo Grand Prix.
During the latter half of the 2025 season, he was dogged by a broken left foot that is now pretty much healed. He’s already won a pair of USAC National Sprint Car races this year. Now, he’s poised to finally get a first career USAC National Midget title, which would complete his career USAC Triple Crown.
HEART & SOUL OF KTJ
Kevin Thomas Jr. is a large part of Kokomo Grand Prix lore, as he’s the only driver to start all 12 feature events in the history of the event. Furthermore, he also prevailed in the closest finish in the history of the event back in 2019, where he passed Justin Grant on the final corner of the final lap to score the win.
The Cullman, Alabama racer will run it back with 4 Kings Racing for his second full season with the team during the 2026 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship campaign.
KTJ enters the new year coming off his strongest run with the series in a decade. In 2025, he accumulated 10 top-fives, 19 top-tens and a single fast qualifying time in 23 series starts, but a first win still awaits.
This year, Thomas will drive the team’s No. 14 machine, sporting a special partnership with the Purple Heart Foundation, whose mission is to enhance the quality of life of Purple Heart recipients and other honorably discharged veterans and their families through critical assistance grants, providing resources related to TBI, PTS, mental health, and suicide prevention, academic scholarships and service dogs.
A HISTORY OF SEASON OPENERS
The Kokomo Grand Prix marks the start of the 71st season of USAC National Midget competition. This is the fourth occasion in which Kokomo will open the season, having previously done so in 2014, 2015 and 2025, with Rico Abreu, Darren Hagen and Jacob Denney winning, respectively.
Overall, Steve Lotshaw, Tony Stewart and Rich Vogler share the record for the most USAC National Midget season opening wins with three apiece.
Justin Grant can equal that record this Friday after previously scoring in 2017 at the Southern Illinois Center and in 2022 at Florida’s Ocala Speedway. In 2018, Logan Seavey won the season opener indoors at the Southern Illinois Center, and of course, Denney in 2025 at Kokomo. All aim to achieve a similar feat this Friday night at Kokomo.
In nine instances, the season opening winner has gone on to win the USAC National Midget title later that same year: Mel Kenyon (1968), Rich Vogler (1978), Steve Lotshaw (1979), Jason Leffler (1999), Bryan Clauson (2011), Rico Abreu (2014), Logan Seavey (2018), Tyler Courtney (2019) and Buddy Kofoid (2021).
THE ROOKIE BATTLE BEGINS
Also part of the mix of the storylines entering the 2026 season are the USAC National Midget Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Year contenders.
A pair of those drivers – Colton Robinson and Brandon Carr – are part of the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports stable, which has produced 10 of the past 21 Rookies of the Year with the series: Darren Hagen (2005), Bryan Clauson (2006), Kyle Larson (2011), Rico Abreu (2012), Christopher Bell (2013), Carson Macedo (2016), Tanner Carrick (2017), Logan Seavey (2018), Buddy Kofoid (2020) and Gavin Miller (2023).
Robinson (Titusville, Florida) made eight starts last year, with a pair of top-ten feature finishes. Carr (Sheffield, England) posted five starts in 2025, and is a bit of a rarity in the realm of USAC racing. The last known Englishman to win a USAC National Midget main event was Paul Bates in 1968.
Furthermore, Bradley Cox will drive for longtime Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association driver/car owner Cappy Mason. Cox (Black Forest, Colorado) made a pair of starts last year, and also was victorious in a heat race at Nebraska’s Jefferson County Speedway.
Hayden Wise (Huntersville, North Carolina) makes her first foray into USAC National Midget racing in 2026 for the family-owned Ninety-Four Racing team. Wise is a past USAC champion, capturing the 2021 Senior Honda Pavement .25 Midget title. Her uncle, Josh Wise, is a two-time USAC national driving champion in midgets (2005) and sprint cars (2006).
RACE DETAILS
The Kokomo Grand Prix will feature the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship and Kokomo Sprint Cars on each night at the 1/4-mile dirt oval on Friday-Saturday, April 24-25. On both nights, the pits will open at 3pm Eastern with the grandstands opening at 3pm. The drivers meeting is set for 5:30pm with cars hitting the track at 6pm followed by hot laps, qualifying and racing.
Adult general admission tickets for each night of the Kokomo Grand Prix are $30 with kids age 12 and under free. Pit passes are $40 for all ages each night.
Both nights of the event can be watched LIVE on FloRacing at https://flosports.link/
