In Thursday night’s “Smackdown VII” opener, Courtney became the first to win three consecutive “Smackdown” features, having won the final two nights of last year’s smackdown series before capturing his latest.  Leading the final 11 laps after sliding past C.J. Leary on the way to his 14^th career series victory, tying him with the likes of Billy Cassella, Jim Hurtubise, Lee Kunzman and Bruce Walkup on the all-time win list.

Top 3: CJ Leary, Tyler Courtney, and Brady Bacon. Photos by Jim DenHamer.

Sprint Car Smackdown night one photo gallery by Jim DenHamer:

USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship Race Results: August 23, 2018 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – “Sprint Car Smackdown VII”

Qualifying: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.643; 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.699; 3. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-12.738; 4. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-12.826; 5. Tyler Thomas, 2E, Epperson-12.842; 6. Kyle Cummins, 3c, EZR/Cummins-12.866; 7. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.900; 8. Chad Boespflug, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.909; 9. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-12.963; 10. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-12.988; 11. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.022; 12. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.060; 13. Dakota Jackson, 3R, Rock Steady-13.065; 14. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.069; 15. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-13.111; 16. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-13.136; 17. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-13.157; 18. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-13.174; 19. Carson Short, 5CB, Briscoe-13.218; 20. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.270; 21. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.307; 22. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.310; 23. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.318; 24. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-13.345; 25. Dallas Hewitt, 2, Hewitt-13.388; 26. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.436; 27. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-13.439; 28. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.470; 29. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-13.488; 30. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-13.548; 31. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-13.593; 32. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-13.710; 33. Brian VanMeveren, 24, VanMeveren-13.911; 34. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-13.926; 35. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-14.362.

Heat Races (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature):

First Heat: 1. S. Cottle, 2. Bacon, 3. T. Thomas, 4. Grant, 5. Hodges, 6. Westfall, 7. Jackson, 8. Hewitt, 9. VanMeveren. 2:13.69

Second Heat: 1. K. Thomas, 2. Weir, 3. Chapple, 4. Stockon, 5. Cummins, 6. DiMattia, 7. Andretti, 8. Williams, 9. Dues. NT

Third Heat: 1. Windom, 2. Leary, 3. Courtney, 4. Short, 5. Sussex, 6. C. Cottle, 7. Karraker, 8. Wilson, 9. Ballou. NT

Fourth Heat: 1. Darland, 2. Buckwalter, 3. McDougal, 4. Perigo, 5. Boyles 6. Mattox, 7. Seavey, 8. Boespflug. NT

Semi (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature): 1. Cummins, 2. Ballou, 3. Seavey, 4. Jackson, 5. Andretti, 6. Hodges, 7. Westfall, 8. Boyles, 9. C. Cottle, 10. DiMattia, 11. Mattox, 12. Karraker, 13. Sussex, 14. Hewitt, 15. Wilson, 16. Williams, 17. Dues, 18. VanMeveren. 2:47.54

Feature (30 laps – starting positions in parentheses): 1. Tyler Courtney (4), 2. C.J. Leary (1), 3. Brady Bacon (8), 4. Justin Grant (6), 5. Chris Windom (10), 6. Dave Darland (3), 7. Jason McDougal (11), 8. Kyle Cummins (7), 9. Tyler Thomas (2), 10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (5), 11. Chase Stockon (9), 12. Jarett Andretti (13), 13. Scotty Weir (17), 14. Carson Short (18), 15. Logan Seavey (15), 16. Tony DiMattia (24), 17. Dakota Jackson (12), 18. Isaac Chapple (20), 19. Carmen Perigo (21), 20. Robert Ballou (14), 21. Timmy Buckwalter (19), 22. Shane Cottle (16), 23. Josh Hodges (22), 24. Matt Westfall (23). NT

**Boespflug flipped during the fourth heat. Buckwalter flipped after the checkered flag in the fourth heat.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-20 Leary, Laps 21-30 Courtney.