Denney Captures Chad McDaniel Memorial

BELOIT, Kan. — Jacob Denney took the lead on lap 16 and led the final 15 laps of the race in leading a Toyota podium sweep of Wednesday night’s Chad McDaniel Memorial feature at Mitchell County Fairgrounds Raceway.

Cannon McIntosh finished second and Kale Drake was third in round two of Mid-America Midget Week for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series.

The win is the eighth of the season for Denney and the 29th national midget feature win of his career. He continues to lead the USAC national point standings.

Starting from the outside of the front row, it was Drake who would quickly move into the lead followed by Brecken Reese, McIntosh and Denney. The top four would maintain those positions until lap six when Denney would move up to third. He would pass Reese for second on lap 12, running 1.3-seconds behind Drake in his RMS Toyota.

From there, Denney would quickly begin to close, cutting the lead to just more than half a second by lap 13 and eventually power past Drake on lap 16. After a lap 17 caution, Denney would open up more than a one-second lead.

After a pair of cautions in the closing laps, Denney would lead the field to green on lap 28 and pull out to a comfortable lead on the way to the win, followed by McIntosh, who earned his second consecutive runner-up finish, Drake and Justin Grant.

Denney has now run fourth or better in each of his last four races at Mitchell County.

“I just started trying different stuff to make more speed down the straightaways,” Denney said. “I felt better, but not good enough to run away from the field. I have to thank my KKM team. They give me a great car every night. Without JBL, Toyota this wouldn’t be possible. I’ve been starting 15th or worse so we’ve had to pass a lot of cars. So, to qualify good tonight was really nice it makes your race a lot easier.”

USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Mitchell County Fairgrounds Raceway, Beloit, Kansas, July 8, 2026

LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Drake Edwards, 40D, McDermand-12.238; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-12.239; 3. Brecken Reese, 20Q, Reese-12.364; 4. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.414; 5. Kale Drake, 4, RMS-12.453; 6. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.522; 7. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-12.534; 8. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.564; 9. Jakeb Boxell, 54, 4 Kings-12.591; 10. Mack Leopard, 40L, McDermand-12.614; 11. Cale Coons, 85, Central-12.646; 12. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.683; 13. Drew Sherman, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.684; 14. Kyle Jones, 27x, Joyner-12.690; 15. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-12.726; 16. Garrett Benson, 27B, Bourke-12.762; 17. Bradley Cox, 45, Mason-12.766; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.848; 19. Gaige Weldon, 35L, Ledger-12.865; 20. Matt Sherrell, 21AJ, Huddleston-12.890; 21. Adam Trimble, 5D, Matejka/Heffner-12.959; 22. Jeff Stasa, 91, Stasa-12.984; 23. Trey Zorn, 00, Chandler-12.999; 24. Zack Merritt, 43m, RKO-13.050; 25. Shyla Ernst, 42, RKO-13.259; 26. Brandon Carr, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.425; 27. Mikey Blackard, 71, Henry/Hamilton-13.450; 28. Blaze Bennett, 10B, Bennett-13.612; 29. Lance Bennett, 44x, RKO-14.132; 30. Dylan Doyle, 37, Doyle-14.348; 31. Caiden Warren, 12w, Warren-NT.

K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kale Drake (5), 2. Bradley Cox (2), 3. Jakeb Boxell (4), 4. Drake Edwards (6), 5. Adam Trimble (1), 6. Drew Sherman (3), 7. Lance Bennett (8), 8. Shyla Ernst (7). 1:44.862

TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Ethan Mitchell (2), 2. Mack Leopard (4), 3. Cannon McIntosh (5), 4. Kyle Jones (3), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 6. Brandon Carr (7), 7. Jeff Stasa (1), 8. Dylan Doyle (8). 1:45.603

K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (3), 2. Hayden Reinbold (5), 3. Cale Coons (4), 4. Brecken Reese (6), 5. Trey Zorn (1), 6. Gaige Weldon (2), 7. Caiden Warren (8), 8. Mikey Blackard (7). 1:43.367 (New Track Record)

INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gavin Miller (5), 2. Jacob Denney (6), 3. Garrett Benson (3), 4. Matt Sherrell (2), 5. Colton Robinson (4), 6. Zack Merritt (1), 7. Blaze Bennett (7). 1:46.211

FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brandon Carr (4), 2. Drew Sherman (1), 3. Gaige Weldon (2), 4. Zack Merritt (3), 5. Jeff Stasa (5), 6. Caiden Warren (8), 7. Lance Bennett (7), 8. Mikey Blackard (10), 9. Blaze Bennett (6), 10. Dylan Doyle (11), 11. Shyla Ernst (9). 2:42.162

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (3), 2. Cannon McIntosh (1), 3. Kale Drake (2), 4. Justin Grant (8), 5. Jakeb Boxell (11), 6. Brecken Reese (4), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 8. Hayden Reinbold (10), 9. Gavin Miller (7), 10. Matt Sherrell (20), 11. Garrett Benson (17), 12. Colton Robinson (14), 13. Drake Edwards (6), 14. Ethan Mitchell (9), 15. Bradley Cox (18), 16. Mack Leopard (12), 17. Cale Coons (13), 18. Brandon Carr (24), 19. Trey Zorn (22), 20. Kyle Jones (16), 21. Gaige Weldon (19), 22. Drew Sherman (15), 23. Adam Trimble (21), 24. Zack Merritt (23).

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