It’s A USAC Sweep For Pursley During 4-Crown Saturday

ROSSBURG, Ohio – Saturday during championship night at Eldora Speedway’s 4-Crown Nationals, Daison Pursley inserted himself into United States Auto Club immortality.

Joining the most exclusive of clubs, Pursley became just the fourth driver in the event’s 43-year history to sweep all three USAC national divisions in a single night, winning the sanction’s national sprint car, national midget, and Silver Crown features at the half-mile dirt track.

Though he missed out on Jack Hewitt’s 1998 feat of winning all four crowns – after a mechanical issue left him short in the High Limit-sanctioned winged sprint car main – Pursley still equaled Hewitt (’98), Kyle Larson (2011), and Logan Seavey (2023) with his hat trick of USAC triumphs.

Banking $15,000 for each win, Pursley took home a total of $45,000 from Eldora in one night.

Pursley began his quest by dominating the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series main event.

Jumping from third to first on the initial start, Pursley led from start to finish in the 30-lapper with his No. 86 Avanti Windows & Doors-sponsored, CB Industries-prepared sprinter and took the checkered flag 1.438 seconds clear of veteran Kyle Cummins.

“I love Eldora,” said the young Pursley in victory lane. “There’s not much else I can say about this place. It’s absolutely phenomenal. Tracks like this are what dreams are made of, right here, racing on the fence like that and putting it all out there.

“I’ve said it all weekend, but I’m just surrounded by great people that allow me to drive their race cars. Chad has let me drive three of them this week, and I couldn’t be more thankful for the friendship with him and the job that we have to come out here and do business together,” Pursley added. “You’ve got to win the first one if you want to win them all, and this was the one I was stressing about a bit.

“CBI works so hard and deserves to win almost every race with the effort they put in; I’m just lucky to be able to hold the steering wheel for them.”

Pursley stormed up the middle lane at the beginning of the race, sliding to second in turn one before tapping the cushion and shooting past pole starter Matt Westfall.

From there, the 20-year-old from Locust Grove, Okla., opened up multi-second advantages seemingly at will throughout each stint at the historic half-mile dirt track.

By the time the first yellow flag waved with 13 to go – for a shredded left-rear tire on eighth-running Gunnar Setser’s machine – Pursley had a gap of more than three seconds over his closest pursuer, series point leader Kyle Cummins.

Nothing changed on the resumption, with Pursley firing off strong but having to redouble his efforts when another caution waved one lap later for the slowing No. 57 of Logan Seavey.

No challenge came to Pursley when the green flag waved with 12 to go, and he again roared off to a two-second lead as Briggs Danner rose late to move into second on lap 24 of 30.

Danner’s charge ended four circuits later, however, as he lost a right-rear tire entering turn one with two to go and collected third-running Justin Grant when the No. 39 bounced down off the outside wall.

That reset the field one last time, with Cummins and Kevin Thomas Jr. closest behind the leader, but no one could stay with Pursley as he steamed away to his second USAC national sprint car win of the year and the fourth of his career across 96 series starts.

Cummins came home second, followed by Thomas, 10th-starting Brady Bacon, and Jake Swanson.

Following the High Limit run, Pursley lined up seventh in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature and wasted little time in fighting his way forward for CB Industries.

While polesitter Steven Snyder Jr. led early, Pursley moved into the top four by lap four, and then benefited from Snyder’s misfortune a few circuits later.

In turn one starting the seventh rotation, Snyder caught the cushion and crashed hard amid a battle for the top spot with Kevin Thomas Jr.

It ended Snyder’s night and put Pursley among the top three for the ensuing restart.

Thomas controlled the field briefly, but Pursley moved into the runner-up spot on lap eight and quickly began stalking the lead while running the extreme top side of the racetrack.

Pursley got a run to pull nearly even with Thomas at the crossed flags, before pitching his car into turn one on lap 14 and igniting a lap-long slider war for supremacy.

The run off turn four coming to 11 to go was the difference, giving Pursley a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

He drove off to a dominant 3.536-second victory over Thomas, with Logan Seavey, Justin Grant, and Drake Edwards filling out the midget top five.

“Man, half-mile midget racing is just all about momentum,” Pursley noted after his 10th USAC midget win and first this year. “I just tried to get to the top as soon as I could. Logan [Seavey] actually started running the middle in [turns] three and four … and it was really working out for him early, so I kind of moved down a bit before I found myself migrating back up again.

“After the yellow, I didn’t think I’d get as close as I did on that next restart … but I settled back in and was able to get by him out of [turn] four after halfway. This car just got better and better as the race went on.”

If it was possible, Pursley’s score in the Silver Crown nightcap was perhaps the most efficient of all three of his USAC races during the program.

After rolling from the outside pole alongside C.J. Leary, Pursley made the decisive pass through turns three and four, winning his second slider duel of the night with authority on lap eight of 50.

From there, in a race slowed by only two caution periods, Pursley led the final 43 circuits and ended his night 2.558 seconds clear of Leary at the checkered flag.

It marked the third Silver Crown victory of Pursley’s career in just eight starts, but his first such win in 4-Crown competition and arguably the greatest of those three scores.

Soaking in the moment afterward, Pursley attempted to put into words just what the historic feat meant to him – especially being less than four year removed from a spinal injury that could have ended his career and, at the time, left him an incomplete quadriplegic.

“I never imagined all this,” Pursley admitted. “I started coming to Eldora in 2021 [before his accident on the West Coast], and this place intimidated me as a kid, for sure. But getting hooked up with the right people and watching a ton of film does so much for a driver at a place like this.

“This is where so many big races are held, and I knew if I wanted to put my name in the hat with the best in the sport, I had to start getting good here,” he added. “I’ve grown to love this place so much. Running right against the fence takes a lot of bravery, but I feel like I’ve come close to mastering it now.”

In total, Pursley won four Eldora features over two days, after also topping Friday night’s Great Lakes Super Sprints main event in a 360ci sprint car for CB Industries. It made for a career-defining week.

“It’s a lot of racing, for sure, but I feel like I’m still super young and I love racing anytime I can,” he said. “I know I won’t be able to race as much as I am long term, so I’m just trying to appreciate moments like this when they come and stay super thankful for the position I’m in with so many great teams.”

Carmen Perigo, Grant, and Brady Bacon were the rest of the top five in the Silver Crown event, with Grant clinching the division championship just by starting the feature.

But the night’s story was Pursley, who became the youngest member of one of the most difficult fraternities in short-track auto racing to join and continued to inspire all who watch him compete.

The finishes:

USAC Sprint Car Feature (30 laps): 1. 86-Daison Pursley [3]; 2. 3P-Kyle Cummins [5]; 3. 3R-Kevin Thomas Jr. [4]; 4. 20-Brady Bacon [12]; 5. 5T-Jake Swanson [2]; 6. 21AZ-C.J. Leary [10]; 7. 92-Chase Stockon [14]; 8. 5G-Gunnar Setser [7]; 9. 86S-Keith Sheffer Jr. [15]; 10. 54-Matt Westfall [1]; 11. 19AZ-Mitchel Moles [11]; 12. 2B-Mario Clouser [16]; 13. 98-Saban Bibent [21]; 14. 19-Hayden Reinbold [8]; 15. 57-Logan Seavey [13]; 16. 83C-Chance Crum [17]; 17. 17GP-Stevie Sussex III [18]; 18. 4K-Kayla Roell [23]; 19. 39-Briggs Danner [6]; 20. 4-Justin Grant [9]; 21. 4J-Nathan Carle [24]; 22. 49-Brian Ruhlman [20]; 23. 21B-Ryan Barr [22]; 24. 15-Carson Garrett [19].

USAC Midget Feature (25 laps): 1. 86-Daison Pursley [7]; 2. 14-Kevin Thomas Jr. [5]; 3. 57-Logan Seavey [8]; 4. 87-Justin Grant [3]; 5. 83-Drake Edwards [11]; 6. 14JB-Jakeb Boxell [4]; 7. 71K-Cannon McIntosh [10]; 8. 67-Jacob Denney [2]; 9. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold [6]; 10. 63-Cale Coons [12]; 11. 97-Gavin Miller [9]; 12. 43-Gunnar Setser [16]; 13. 71B-Braxton Cummings [17]; 14. 4R-Ronnie Gardner [13]; 15. 40X-Mack Leopard [18]; 16. 07-Tim Kent [14]; 17. 4-Steven Snyder Jr. [1]; 18. 21K-Cord Kisthardt [15].

USAC Silver Crown A Feature (50 laps): 1. 09-Daison Pursley [2]; 2. 21-C.J. Leary [1]; 3. 52-Carmen Perigo Jr. [20]; 4. 91-Justin Grant [4]; 5. 9-Brady Bacon [3]; 6. 86-Chase Dietz [6]; 7. 20-Mario Clouser [8]; 8. 10-Briggs Danner [5]; 9. 19-Mitchel Moles [9]; 10. 54-Matt Westfall [12]; 11. 24-Kevin Thomas Jr. [10]; 12. 8-Kyle Steffens [21]; 13. 69-Chase Stockon [13]; 14. 22-Logan Seavey [18]; 15. 49-Brian Ruhlman [19]; 16. 6-Jake Swanson [7]; 17. 88-Saban Bibent [15]; 18. 32-Gregg Cory [26]; 19. 78-Rob Caho Jr. [25]; 20. 92-Shane Cottle [17]; 21. 118-Jimmy Light [16]; 22. 38-Tom Savage [22]; 23. 31-Dave Berkheimer [27]; 24. 65-Travis Mahoney [24]; 25. 166-Joe Trenca [23]; 26. 7-Kyle Robbins [14]; 27. 81-Chelby Hinton [11].