Daison Pursley continued his incredible run in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series as he kicked off Mid-America Midget Week with a dominating win at Red Dirt Raceway Tuesday as Toyota drivers claimed four of the top-five finishing positions. The victory comes at the same track where the Locust Grove, Okla.-native earned his first USAC national midget victory in 2021.
In the season’s first nine races, the 19-year-old Pursley has registered four wins and eight top-three podium finishes and holds a commanding championship lead over fellow Toyota driver Cannon McIntosh.
Pursley opened Tuesday’s feature from the seventh starting position and quickly moved up to sixth on the opening lap and up to fifth by lap two. On lap nine, Pursley would make a big move moving past Jade Avedisian and Zach Daum to go from fourth to second where he set his sights on race leader Justin Grant.
The two leaders would maintain their positions through lap 18 when a caution flag would bunch the field. On the lap 19 restart, Pursley would push by Avedisian and Grant on the back straight to take over the top spot. Following another yellow flag, Daum would move up to second, but upfront it was all Pursley as he pulled away to a 4.137-second lead over the next eight laps before another caution would come out with three laps to go. After the restart, a final yellow waved on the final lap setting up a one-lap dash to the finish, but Pursley was more than up to the task pulling away to win by .814 seconds over Daum. Grant would finish third, followed by Ryan Timms in fourth and Gavin Miller in fifth to give Toyota four of the top-five finishers featuring drivers from three different teams.
Three more Toyota-powered drivers earned top-10 showings on the night with Avedisian coming home in sixth, while McIntosh was eighth and Zach Wigel placed tenth.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series continues Mid-America Midget Week on Wednesday night at Mitchell County Fairgrounds in Beloit, Kansas, before closing out the week’s activities with a pair of races at Jefferson County Speedway in Fairbury, Nebraska on Friday and Saturday.
Toyota Quotes:
Daison Pursley, CB Industries Toyota: “I love coming back here. I grew up here racing Friday nights in the micros. To come back here and race in front of all of these fans and win is really cool Hats off to Chad and the entire CB Industries team and everyone who is a part of this team – Pristine Auction, NOS Energy Drink and Toyota. This thing is absolutely phenomenal right now. This has been a dream come true kind of year. Seems like this 86 car doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.”
Toyota-Powered Drivers USAC Red Dirt Raceway Feature Results
Justin Grant – 3rd
Ryan Timms – 4th
Gavin Miller – 5th
Jade Avedisian – 6th
Cannon McIntosh – 8th
Zach Wigal – 10th
Kale Drake – 11th
Jacob Denney – 12th
Trey Zorn – 14th
Hank Davis – 21st
Toyota USAC PR
