Richie Murray
JUNE 4, 2025
Paragon, Indiana (June 4, 2025)………Jacob Denney’s USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship career basically jump started with his first career series victory during USAC Indiana Midget Week in 2022.
On Wednesday night, IMW provided the stage for the Galloway, Ohio racer once again to slay the field, this time at Paragon Speedway in round two of the 21st annual edition of the series.
Denney’s third career IMW score came in wire-to-wire fashion by leading all 30 laps from the outside of the front row at the 3/8-mile. His latest IMW win came exactly two years to the day of his most recent triumph in the miniseries back in 2023.
His third career USAC Indiana Midget Week win marks the third different track and the third different team for which Denney has won with in the series over the past four seasons: 2022 at Lincoln Park Speedway with Mounce-Stout Motorsports; 2023 at Tri-State Speedway with Tom Malloy; and now in 2025 at Paragon with Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports.
Denney’s second win of the USAC National Midget season is the fifth overall in his career, lifting him to 122nd place all-time alongside Mike Bliss, Lonnie Caruthers, Larry Dickson, Mike Fedorcak, Burt Foland, Mack McClellan, Danny McKnight, Cliff Spalding, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jerry Weeks.
Needless to say, the trip to Paragon went more smoothly than his last trip to the track with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget series in 2023 where he “exited stage right,” so to speak, in turns three and four. This time, it was clean and green for the 20-year-old Denney and his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/JBL Audio – TRD – Toyota – Mobil 1/LynK/Speedway Toyota.
Denney established the lead from the get-go as he gapped pole sitter K.J. Snow by 10 car lengths on the opening lap. By lap five, Denney’s mission had led him to a nearly three second lead, all of which was of utmost importance and went according to plan.
“With that much track rework, you’ve got to get out and go and make your own laps and be the guy to dictate where you move around and which lines are fast,” Denney explained. “The first start was important and I knew each restart was going to be just as important because the corners are so sharp here. You just have to lift getting into them. I didn’t want anybody to drive up in there and slide me.”
In the distance behind Denney, the race for second was up for the taking as Hayden Reinbold began to pressure Snow for the position. On the seventh lap, Reinbold tagged the rear bumper of Snow entering turn three and subsequently slid up the racetrack, allowing seven cars to roar past as he dropped all the way back to 10th. Justin Grant capitalized and moved into third.
Following 20th place running Zach Wigal’s stoppage in turns one and two on the 11th lap, the yellow flag dissipated Denney’s 2.1 second lead. Nonetheless, it was merely a temporary disturbance as Denney quickly reestablished his commanding lead to the tune of nearly three seconds.
Grant found his way into second as he slide under Snow to grab second in turn four on the 12th lap. Kale Drake followed suit and glided under Snow in turns three and four on lap 16 to slot into the show position.
Few races go to exact perfection for the eventual winner, and that too can be said about Denney’s experience. Entering lapped traffic, continued to keep the hammer down around the outside. Without mirrors or spotters in a 30-lap race, urgency is preferred over complacency.
“I had to move up for lapped traffic and about turned it over, so I definitely held my breath for the last three laps there,” Denney revealed after his close encounter of the third turn cushion. “I kept looking back after any mistake I made, and from the middle of one and two, I could see them entering turn one without making a mistake. So I just had to take a deep breath, because down in turns one and two, you’re running really hard, and in turns three and four, you really have to take it easy running across the slick.”
In the end, Denney took it to the stripe 2.537 seconds ahead of the competition, crossing under the checkered flag ahead of runner-up Justin Grant with Kale Drake, K.J. Snow and Cannon McIntosh occupying the top-five in the final running order.
Justin Grant brought his ride home in second place, and in the process, rose from fifth to second in USAC Indiana Midget Week points with two rounds down and four to go. It also helped him retain his overall season long USAC National Midget point lead.
Meanwhile, Kale Drake retained his USAC Indiana Midget Week point lead with another podium result, finishing third after starting seventh.
Seventeenth place finisher Zach Daum took the ProSource Hard Work Award winner as the last driver finishing the feature on the lead lap. However, he was not all that pleased after a last lap incident relegated him to a 17th place result, and afterward, stalked the racing the racetrack while carrying his steering wheel and looking for the culprit.
Snow met fire in the feature as K.J. Snow, making just his second career USAC National Midget feature start, came home with an impressive fourth place finish with the same team and number Daison Pursley utilized to capture the 2024 USAC Indiana Midget Week crown. For his efforts, Snow was named the recipient of the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Kyle Cummins advanced eighth positions from 16th to eighth in the feature to earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors.
Karter Sarff’s first run in a midget at Paragon got off to a hot start as he achieved his second career USAC Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifying Time after also setting quick time. Sarff ultimately finished sixth in the feature to stick himself right in the middle of the Indiana Midget Week title fight where he currently resides third, 13 points out of the lead.