Cannon McIntosh took a long, tough route Wednesday night to become the first two-time winner of the BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
McIntosh, from Bixby, Oklahoma, repeated as the winner of the 39-lap USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship race after starting 19th in the No. 71K Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports machine in the 24-car field. He earned $20,039 for the win in the race honoring late USAC champion and three-time Indianapolis 500 starter Bryan Clauson.
“I’m speechless right now – this is amazing,” McIntosh said. “To do it in honor of Bryan Clauson here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway twice now, it’s just an honor. It’s all for him, and I’m sure he’s looking down, smiling and seeing another good race here.”
The Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian team swept the top three spots in the finishing order, as Gavin Miller placed second in the team’s No. 97 car and Jacob Denney third in the No. 67 entry.
McIntosh’s journey to victory lane for the second straight year at the 1/5th-mile dirt oval inside Turn 3 at IMS was as improbable as it was dramatic. He ended up upside-down in a wild crash during a qualifying race earlier in the evening and had to drive his way into the field by winning the Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts semi race.
That placed McIntosh 19th in the starting lineup. He wasn’t a factor in the first half of the race, which was dominated by pole sitter Justin Grant, who won the 30-lap feature Tuesday night.
But McIntosh began to charge through traffic and climbed to third by Lap 30 behind Grant and Denney. Grant had led every lap to that point, expanding his gap to nearly a second midway through the race, but was being challenged by Denney as McIntosh drew closer.
Grant and Denney jousted in a spirited side-by-side duel for the lead from Laps 30 to 35, with Grant holding off Denney’s repeated low slides for the top spot on both ends of the clay oval.
On Lap 36, Grant was running in the high groove exiting Turn 4 and Denney low when the two drivers banged wheels heading for the flag stand. On the next lap, Grant dove low exiting Turn 2 trying to pass Denney for the lead, but Grant’s right front wheel hit Denney’s left rear, momentarily launching Grant airborne and blunting his momentum.
That incident triggered a caution and flattened Grant’s front left tire and bent his side nerf bar into his left rear tire, effectively ending his chances to sweep the event in the No. 87 CB Industries car. Meanwhile, McIntosh squeezed past Grant and took second place.
With two laps to go, Denney and McIntosh made hard contact while battling for the lead exiting Turn 2, with Denney taking the lead. Miller was closely pursuing, ready to pounce. Just two turns later, McIntosh slid under Denney in Turn 4 for the lead with the white flag in the air while Miller and Denney made contact, all but ending their chances to win.
That bobble by his rivals let McIntosh pull away on the final lap for the victory.
“A lot of guys moved up to the top there, and it was hard to make moves,” McIntosh said. “When you throw a slide job, you lose so much momentum. So, to try and get your momentum back without getting slid was tough.
“Luckily, I was the guy coming from behind and putting those guys in bad positions and was able to get to the next guy before they could get back to me. Just kept making moves.”
Bryton Buoy led all 20 laps to win the Stoops Junior Sprint Invitational feature for young drivers. Levi Ballard, who won the first feature Tuesday night, rallied to close the gap over the final five laps but fell just short in second. Owen Larson, son of reigning Brickyard 400 presented by PPG winner Kyle Larson, finished fifth.
USAC action will return to The Dirt Track at IMS on Thursday, July 24 for the AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature as part of the NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing series. The first USAC Sprint Car race at IMS takes place the night before Brickyard Weekend for the NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series starts on the 2.5-mile IMS oval.
Visit www.ims.com for information about the Indiana Sprint Week race at IMS.
