Doran Binks’ Swanson Pads Points Lead

Thanks to a solid second-place finish in the USAC Silver Crown race at Eldora Speedway Saturday night, Doran Binks Racing and driver Kody Swanson bolstered their lead in the series’ championship and now have 742 points to their closest rivals’ 715 with only two races remaining in 2024.

Swanson, the winningest driver in series history, is going for an unprecedented eighth championship in USAC’s top division.

Going into the event their lead was 12 points in the driver and entrant standings, but they more than doubled that to 27 when Swanson took the checkered flag 0.489 seconds after Mitchel Moles did in the wee hours of Sunday morning.

The 50-lap race was part of the 42nd running of the 4-Crown Nationals presented by NKTELCO. The program featured the NOS Energy Drink midget national championship, USAC AMSOIL sprint car national championship, Kubota High Limit Racing sprint cars, and the USAC Silver Crown national championship.

Swanson was third in USAC Silver Crown qualifying on Friday night. His No. 77, which is sponsored by Mission Foods, Glenn Farms, and Wilke Orthodontics, was just 0.077 seconds off Daison Pursley’s fast time of 17.605 seconds for the half-mile dirt track. A total of 27 drivers took time.

Moles, who would go on to win his first USAC Silver Crown race ever, started fourth and passed Swanson for third on the second lap. After a yellow with five laps down for Dave Berkheimer’s spin in Turn 2, defending champion Logan Seavey went to the work area with a brake issue after running in tenth place.

Moles passed Brady Bacon for second on that restart, and then the fifth-place driver, Chase Dietz, stopped on the backstretch after hitting the wall to bring out the second yellow with six laps down. Dietz went to the work area but was unable to restart.

Bacon was penalized for jumping that restart, which allowed Swanson to regain third and moved Brian Ruhlman into fourth. Pursley still led, while Moles was trying to figure out a way by him.

Lap 13 was lucky for both Moles and Swanson, as they both passed Pursley on that lap to take over first and second, respectively. Swanson made his move on the outside.

Moles had a 2.591-second lead over Swanson, who was 1.139 seconds ahead of Pursley, when Moles had a very close call working lap 21. He got up over a car he was lapping driven by Tom Savage in Turns 3 and 4. Savage’s car caught on fire and he bailed out before it even fully stopped. Although the incident brought out the third yellow with 20 laps down, Moles never stopped so he was able to retain his lead and his car seemed no worse for the experience.

At the halfway point five laps later Swanson was 1.675 seconds behind Moles and 1.428 seconds ahead of Pursley.

Briggs Danner passed Pursley for third on lap 27 and hounded Swanson for most of the rest of the race. On lap 30 Moles had extended his lead to 2.986 seconds while Swanson was 1.753 seconds ahead of Danner, but Swanson and Danner were both able to cut those figures later.

Mark Smith, who was 14th, stopped in Turn 1 with 34 laps down to bring out the fourth yellow. Under that caution Zach Daum, who was 16th, pitted with a flat right-rear tire, and he also had lost his brakes.

After that restart Swanson was able to run about a half-second behind Moles. Swanson, whose car is powered by a Hampshire-prepped Chevy engine, set his fastest lap of the race on lap 40. He was 0.612 seconds behind Moles at the time, while Danner had closed to just 0.276 seconds behind him with just 10 laps remaining.

But the flagman had to wave the caution four more times, and all those yellows were for drivers who suffered flat right-rear tires. Kaylee Bryson lost hers while running 10th with 41 laps down. Matt Goodnight, who was 16th, had his disintegrate with eight laps to go. The eighth-place driver, Chase Stockon, suffered the same fate with 45 laps down. Bacon was running sixth when his Hoosier let go with two laps remaining.

Danner kept the pressure on Swanson during all those restarts, but Swanson was 0.430 seconds ahead of the young driver when the checkered waved at 1:47 a.m. Sunday morning.

Following Moles, Swanson and Danner at the end were Pursley and Ruhlman. Matt Westfall, Justin Grant, Carmen Perigo, C.J. Leary and Seavey rounded out the top 10.

The next USAC Silver Crown event is Sunday, Oct. 6 at the Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track. The season finale is Saturday, Oct. 19 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Ind. That’s not far from Swanson’s base in Indianapolis. He’s a native of Kingsburg, Calif.

All of the series’ races are streamed live on Flo Racing.

“We had a really good car, and I am glad to have been getting closer,” Swanson said afterwards. “I think this is our third second-place finish in a row, but I’d love to get everyone on this team a win on the dirt. Ultimately I just wasn’t quite fast enough tonight. Mitchel and his team did a great job, so congrats to them on the win. We still had a really good day, and I’m thankful for the effort from everyone that is part of this Doran Binks Racing team, and this dirt program too. We’ve got so many people pulling for us to do well, whether here at the track, back at the shop, or calling in over the phone, and I’m grateful for each of them. Thanks again to Mission Foods, Wilke Orthodontics, Glenn Farms, and everyone who keeps us on the track, and gives us the chance to go out and compete for it.”

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Doran Binks Racing PR