If you thought Kyle Cummins was going to wind it down after wrapping up the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship with four races remaining, you thought wrong.

Playing with house money, so to speak, the Princeton, Indiana driver’s responsibilities now revolved around simply concentrating on winning races rather than counting points night-in and night-out.

In his first race as the champion on Friday night at Kansas’ Dodge City Raceway Park, Cummins led early, fell behind, then capitalized when Kevin Thomas Jr. had a run-in with lapped traffic. From there, Cummins led the final 22 circuits to capture his 10th win of the series season in his Petty Performance Racing/Avanti Windows & Doors - Premier Recycling/Mach-1/Stanton Chevy.

“Points racing is stressful,” Cummins noted. “It’s every day and you’ve got to be on kill every time you hit the racetrack. If you’re not, you’re losing. Mentally, you’ve got to be ready for it. It was a tough season and I’m glad to get it done. That way, we can go out and have some fun.”

It was quite a monumental night for Cummins in terms of his place in USAC National Sprint Car history. For instance, with his latest victory, he set a new single season USAC National Sprint Car record with his 42nd top-10 finish, breaking the record formerly held by Brady Bacon since 2021. Furthermore, Cummins tied Bacon’s 2021 record for most top-fives in a season at 36.

To add to it, Cummins became the second driver this season to reach double digits in feature victories, joining Justin Grant in that category. This marks the first time in 48 years that multiple drivers have surpassed 10 wins in a single USAC National Sprint Car season. Back in 1977, Tom Bigelow hit 14 wins while Pancho Carter tallied 10.

Ironically, there’s another record Cummins is threatening to overtake, which also involves Carter and Bigelow. Carter’s final 369 point margin over Bigelow in 1976 stands as the largest USAC National Sprint Car differential between first and second in series history. Cummins’ Dodge City triumph pushed his lead to 378 with three races remaining.

Cummins’ 30th career USAC National Sprint Car victory also tied him with Chris Windom for 19th place on the all-time series win list.

Results USAC National Sprint Cars Dodge City Raceway Park Friday

1. Kyle Cummins (2)

2. Briggs Danner (5)

3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4)

 4. C.J. Leary (7)

5. Chase Stockon (1)

 6. Justin Grant (8)

7. Mitchel Moles (10)

8. Logan Seavey (3)

9. Hayden Reinbold (12)

10. Trey Osborne (13)

 11. Gunnar Setser (15)

 12. Stevie Sussex (11)

13. Jake Swanson (6)

14. Wyatt Burks (9)

15. Wesley Smith (14)

16. Saban Bibent (19)

 17. Caleb Stelzig (22)

18. Anthony Nicholson (18)

19. Kobe Simpson (17)

20. Dakota Earls (20)

21. Cooper Sullivan (23)

22. Paul White (21)

23. R.J. Miller (16). NT