KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Each and every time a driver passes through turn two at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway, the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame stands as a representation to what so many racers aspire to achieve.
Gary Bettenhausen, Dick Tobias, Sammy Sessions, Tom Bigelow, Sheldon Kinser and Sammy Swindell are among the few who have won a USAC National Sprint Car main event at Knoxville and were also enshrined in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
To win a USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship main event at Knoxville is truly an iconic feat. To win on Hall of Fame weekend at Knoxville, that’s what dreams are made of.
The Sprint Car Capital of the World welcomes the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship to Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway for back-to-back nights of full programs on May 30-31. The Avanti Windows & Doors Corn Belt Clash presents $9,000-to-win for the Friday night opener followed by Saturday night’s $15,000-to-win finale at the famed half-mile.
Justin Grant and Brady Bacon, among others, have added USAC wins of their own in recent years at Knoxville, and someday, their names are sure to be called upon at the NSCHOF. Drivers make their name at this place. Always have and always will. After all, a place christened as The Sprint Car Capital of the World has that type of presence.
This weekend, we’ll find out who’s next to make their mark at one of the most legendary dirt tracks in the world.
AVANTI POWER
First and foremost, Jerry Petty’s support of the Corn Belt Clash, and the sport as a whole, can’t be understated. His own Petty Performance Racing team will bring two cars, one for USAC National Sprint Car point leader and five-time 2025 series winner Kyle Cummins and another for USAC CRA Sprint Car champion R.J. Johnson.
Furthermore, Petty’s support is attached to at least three other entries in the event, including the car sponsored by his business, Avanti Windows & Doors, for Yeley Racing who will field Stevie Sussex in car No. 2 for the event, plus associate sponsorships on the cars driven by Hayden Reinbold for Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports and C.J. Leary in the Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian entry.
Not to mention, Petty has put his full support behind the Corn Belt Clash, making the event $9,000-to-win for Friday’s opener and $15,000-to-win for Saturday’s finale.
GRANTLAND
One of only three multi-time USAC National Sprint Car winners at Knoxville, Justin Grant joined the ranks in 2024 with his second score on the famed half-mile.
Since winning his first USAC National Sprint Car event at Knoxville in 2017, Grant has reeled off finishes of first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and sixth at the Sprint Car Capital of the World, marking a rare distinction of finishing in each of the top-six spots at one point or another in his career.
Entering Knoxville, Grant ranks second in series points and is the leader in both the USAC Silver Crown and NOS Energy Drink National Midget points as he pursues the single season Triple Crown.
Grant and TOPP Motorsports currently possess 48 career USAC National Sprint Car wins together. Another two this weekend at Knoxville would tie them for the all-time record for winningest combos in series history alongside Brady Bacon and Dynamics, Inc.’s 50.
CORN BELT BACON
While he no longer drives the Dynamics, Inc. No. 69, Brady Bacon has continued his winning ways with the USAC National Sprint Cars in 2025, winning twice, once each at Ocala and Eldora.
Only one driver has won more than two USAC National Sprint Car features at Knoxville Raceway. In fact, that driver has won four throughout his illustrious career, and that’s Bacon.
The Broken Arrow, Okla., native scored at Knoxville in 2011, then swept both nights of the Corn Belt Clash in 2019 and capped the weekend with a triumph in 2020.
In 11 career Knoxville USAC Sprint Car starts, Bacon has only finished outside the top-three once. It’s a profile that features four wins, five seconds and a third, and no finish worse than 10th. On both nights of the 2024 Corn Belt Clash, Bacon took second.
SPECIAL NIGHT
Jake Swanson scored a last-lap victory during the June 2023 Corn Belt Clash. Earlier that same night, Swanson set quick time during qualifying as well.
Thus far in 2025, Swanson remains on the hunt for his first feature win at the wheel of the Daming Swanson No. 5t.
Swanson has been a solid citizen so far in 2025, sitting seventh in points in a standings logjam that has just 45 points separating fourth place from seventh heading into Knoxville.
While Swanson was a first-time USAC winner at Knoxville, many more would like to recreate the magic that it takes to breakthrough for a first win at Knoxville.
Seven drivers currently residing inside the top 10 of the USAC National Sprint Car points are vying for a first Knoxville triumph, including the likes of point leader Kyle Cummins (1st), Mitchel Moles (3rd), Logan Seavey (4th), Robert Ballou (5th), Kale Drake (6th), C.J. Leary (8th), Briggs Danner (9th), plus past USAC National Sprint Car feature winners Kevin Thomas Jr., Jadon Rogers and Chase Stockon, all of whom are making the trip out to Knoxville.
TEAM AZ
Only one team on the tour has captured back-to-back USAC National Sprint Car wins at Knoxville in each of the past two seasons. That’s Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian Racing.
In 2023, they scored a last lap victory with Jake Swanson at the wheel of the No. 21az, then repeated the feat in 2024 with Daison Pursley as their wheelman.
This weekend, the team will try to make it three-years-in-a-row with a third different driver as C.J. Leary looks to tally his first USAC feature win as the driver of the No. 21az.
WEST COAST INVADERS
Quite a bit of west coast talent will be rolling in for the Corn Belt Clash, including USAC CRA regulars R.J. Johnson, Charles Davis Jr. and Logan Calderwood.
One-time USAC National Sprint Car main event winner Ryan Bernal will wheel one of the top rides on the USAC CRA circuit, the Tom & Christy Dunkel No. 17x.
Reigning USAC CRA champion Johnson will pilot a car for event sponsor Petty Performance Racing while Davis will be in the seat of his own No. 47 and Calderwood in the family-owned No. 6.
All four own previous Corn Belt Clash experience with Bernal corralling three sixth place results between 2019-2020; Johnson was 19th in 2017; Davis was 16th in 2023 and 2024; Calderwood was 18th in 2024.
