No stranger to “Smackdown” victories having won in 2012 and 2015, Chris Windom took the National Sprint Car “special event” win on Wednesday.  Leading from wire-to-wire, Windom continued having a dominant season. The Illinois driver is currently leading in the USAC and Kokomo point standings. No USAC points were awarded on Wednesday night, the special event does count for the “Sprint Car Smackdown” series.

#5 Chris Windom and #7 Tyler Courtney battled for the top spot with Windom running the bottom most of the race. Photos by Jim DenHamer.

Windom jumped to the lead at the start, with Brady Bacon following. Tyler Courtney and Justin Grant made up the remainder of the lead pack. With Windom protecting the bottom line, Tyler Courtney ran the top as the two lead cars put distance between themselves and the field. Justin Grant battled with Dave Darland for the third spot through the middle of the race. 

#38 Chet Williams and #19 Chad Bloespflug.

Moving to the topside as he encountered lap traffic, Windom picked off the lap cars one at a time. Courtney took the opportunity to move to the bottom and close in on the leader before encountering a hole in the track that tossed Sunshine’s sprinter up the track, giving the leader a chance to distance himself.

Windom set sail from that point and continued to move through lap traffic to the checkered flag in a caution-free race. Tyler Courtney finished second with Justin Grant rounding out the podium.

Jim DenHamer’s photo gallery from Kokomo:

USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship “Special Event” Race Results: August 22, 2018 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana

Qualifying: 1. Dave Darland, 36D, Goodnight/Curb-Agajanian-12.843; 2. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-12.918; 3. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 69, Dynamics-12.936; 4. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-12.976; 5. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.149; 6. Jason McDougal, 71p, Daigh/Phillips-13.191; 7. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.198; 8. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.237; 9. Dakota Jackson, 3R, Rock Steady-13.247; 10. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall/Newman-13.255; 11. Clinton Boyles, 57, Hazen-13.260; 12. Timmy Buckwalter, 7, LNB-13.279; 13. Chad Boespflug, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.291; 14. Shane Cottle, 5G, Goacher-13.327; 15. Colten Cottle, 5c, Cottle-13.372; 16. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.427; 17. Brady Bacon, 99, Bacon-13.450; 18. Carson Short, 5CB, Briscoe-13.555; 19. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-13.560; 20. Paul Dues, 87, Dues-13.615; 21. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.637; 22. Jake Scott, 1, Thickstun-13.661; 23. Travis Hery, 21H, Hery-13.692; 24. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-13.787; 25. Chet Williams, 38, Fortune-13.803; 26. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.840; 27. Dallas Hewitt, 2, Hewitt-13.849; 28. Logan Seavey, 5B, Briscoe-13.855; 29. Tony DiMattia, 50, TDM-13.856; 30. Thomas Meseraull, 00, Meseraull-13.886; 31. Dustin Webber, 9, Webber-13.938; 32. Josh Cunningham, 63, Cunningham-13.943; 33. Tyler Thomas, 2E, Epperson-13.983; 34. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-14.019; 35. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-14.023; 36. Korey Weyant, 44w, Liguori-14.071; 37. Brian Karraker, 23, Karraker-14.216; 38. Pat Giddens, 26, Giddens-14.242; 39. Cap Henry, 14, Wilson-14.294; 40. Matt Cooley, 19c, Cooley-14.321; 41. Adam Wilfong, 45, Wilfong-14.392; 42. Brandon Spencer, 22, Spencer-14.403; 43. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox/Nigg-14.447; 44. Buddy Lowther, 31, Lowther-14.493; 45. Colin Parker, 33, Scott-14.564; 46. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.663; 47. Jackson Slone, 16, Slone-14.769; 48. Carmen Perigo, 21, Stehman-14.774; 49. Luke Harbison, 40, Harbison-14.809; 50. Bryar Schroeter, 21s, Schroeter-14.876; 51. Jeff Nanny, 60, Cunningham-15.024; 52. David Hair, 44, Hair-15.156; 53. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-15.893; 54. Rick Rhodes, 58, Frederickson-16.004.

Heat Races (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature).

First Heat: 1. Bacon, 2. Weir, 3. Chapple, 4. Karraker, 5. Perigo, 6. Mattox, 7. Frederickson, 8. Harbison, 9. Rhodes. NT

Second Heat: 1. Grant, 2. T. Thomas, 3. Meseraull, 4. DiMattia, 5. Weyant, 6. Seavey, 7. Cunningham, 8. Spencer, 9. Nanny. 2:11.81

Third Heat: 1. Windom, 2. Ballou, 3. Buckwalter, 4. McDougal, 5. T. Hewitt, 6. Cooley, 7. Hery, 8. Henry, 9. C. Short. NT

Fourth Heat: 1. Courtney, 2. Darland, 3. Stockon, 4. Sussex, 5. D. Hewitt, 6. Cummings, 7. Lowther, 8. Slone, 9. Hair. 2:08.99

Firth Heat: 1. S. Cottle, 2. Andretti, 3. Boyles, 4. Williams, 5. Scott, 6. Mosley, 7. Wilfong, 8. Parker, 9. Dues. NT

Sixth Heat: 1. K. Thomas, 2. Leary, 3. Boespflug, 4. Jackson, 5. C. Cottle, 6. Webber, 7. Giddens, 8. Schroeter, 9. Westfall. NT

C Main (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi): 1. Short, 2. Hery, 3. Henry, 4. Cunningham, 5. Giddens, 6. Spencer, 7. Frederickson, 8. Wilfong, 9. Parker, 10. Nanny, 11. Lowther, 12. Dues, 13. Rhodes, 14. Schroeter, 15. Hair, 16. Harbison, 17. Slone. NT

Semi (12 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature): 1. Sussex, 2. Short, 3. Jackson, 4. Williams, 5. DiMattia, 6. McDougal, 7. C. Cottle, 8. Karraker, 9. Hery, 10. Seavey, 11. Mattox, 12. D. Hewitt, 13. Cummings, 14. T. Hewitt, 15. Henry, 16. Webber, 17. Weyant, 18. Perigo, 19. Scott, 20. Mosley, 21. Cooley, 22. Cunningham. NT

Feature (27 laps – starting positions in parentheses): 1. Chris Windom (1), 2. Tyler Courtney (2), 3. Justin Grant (3), 4. Dave Darland (9), 5. Brady Bacon (4), 6. Robert Ballou (8), 7. C.J. Leary (11), 8. Shane Cottle (5), 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (6), 10. Jarett Andretti (10), 11. Clinton Boyles (15), 12. Carson Short (19), 13. Stevie Sussex (18), 14. Scotty Weir (7), 15. Chase Stockon (14), 16. Isaac Chapple (12), 17. Timmy Buckwalter (13), 18. Dakota Jackson (20), 19. Chad Boespflug (16), 20. Tony DiMattia (22), 21. Chet Williams (21), 22. Thomas Meseraull (17). 6:10.53

**Westfall flipped during the sixth heat.

Feature Lap Leaders: Laps 1-27 Windom