Denney Does The Job In Western World 360s

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — Jacob Denney may be new to sprint cars in 2026, but he looked every bit the part of a veteran during Thursday night’s Western World Championships USAC Southwest 360 Sprint Car feature at Central Arizona Raceway.

The Galloway, Ohio, native swept the program after recording fast time in qualifying and capturing a heat race win before going on to lead the final nine laps to take his first career USAC Southwest Sprint Car feature victory in his first ever visit to the three-eighths-mile dirt oval.

Starting fifth, Denney steadily worked his way up through the pack while pole sitter Kevin Thomas Jr. paced the field for much of the duration of the 25-lap race with Gavin Miller in tow.

Miller appeared to be Thomas’ fiercest foe. But with nine laps remaining and working his way through lapped traffic, Miller attempted to split the difference between A.J. Hernandez (16th) and Daylin Perreira (17th) midway between turns one and two.

However, Miller just barely clipped Perreira’s right front tire with his own left rear tire, sending Miller into a 360 degree spin. Saddled with a flat left rear tire, Miller was forced to the work area before ultimately restarting at the tail and finishing 11th.

With the gap closed up between Thomas and new second place occupant Denney, it was a whole new ballgame.

One lap after the restart, Thomas got a bit wiggly on the turn four cushion. With a full head of steam and a full stride of momentum, Denney fired off a slide job on Thomas for the lead in turns one and two on lap 18, and the move stuck. From there, the race was an All American Slam for Denney.

Denney edged away from Thomas down the stretch to close out a 1.975-second victory in his CB Industries-Spire Motorsports/NationsGuard – PristineAuction.com – NOS Energy Drink/Spike/Stanton Chevy No. 87.

Following Denney to the stripe were Thomas, R.J. Johnson and Ricky Thornton Jr., with Ryan Bernal rounding out the top five.

The finish:

Feature: (25 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jacob Denney (5), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 3. R.J. Johnson (8), 4. Ricky Thornton Jr. (6), 5. Ryan Bernal (12), 6. Ricky Lewis (16), 7. J.J. Yeley (2), 8. Briggs Danner (20), 9. Chaz Baca (21), 10. David Gasper (10), 11. Gavin Miller (3), 12. Dayton Shelton (13), 13. Grant Schaadt (9), 14. A.J. Hernandez (11), 15. Bruce St. James (14), 16. Jake Helsel (7), 17. Daylin Perreira (22), 18. Joshua Shipley (23), 19. Austin Cato (17), 20. Koen Crawford (18), 21. Bryan Ledbetter Jr. (24), 22. Lonnie Oliver (19), 23. Mickey Gile (15), 24. Elijah Gile (4). 

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