Cannon McIntosh Takes Last Lap win in 6th Driven2SaveLives BC39

The sixth Driven2SaveLives BC39 USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship was intended to be a three-day affair of hot laps, qualifying races, sub-card competitions and the featured 39-lap tribute to the late Bryan Clauson, beloved as both a USAC and INDYCAR Indianapolis 500 competitor. Held on The Dirt Track, a fifth-mile unpaved oval inside the third turn on the massive Indianapolis Motor Speedway grounds, the BC39 has become one of the most anticipated race meetings on the National Midget tour.

Hurricane Helene had other ideas and pushed the weekend into a single Sunday that was an array of open-wheel competition.

Holding this race Sunday afternoon and night proved to be the right response to all of the weather delays. With two 12-lap semifinal contests and a 15-lap last chance qualifier, all sponsored by Elliott’s Custom Trailers and Carts, the field was set for the 39-lap feature, taking place long after the sun had set.

Victory went to a driver who had been runner-up in this race on three different occasions, as Cannon McIntosh took advantage of issues for Chase McDermand in the third and fourth turns as the race’s front-runners approached the penultimate, white-flag lap. McDermand bounced through the turns, forcing McIntosh outside and he took McDermand at the line to lead the 38th lap. The duo battled back and fourth into the first and second turns, with McIntosh cutting back beneath McDermand on the last tour to earn his first victory in this race, along with a spot in USAC’s and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s record books and the $20,039 purse.

In a race that still has no repeat winner, McIntosh became the sixth different BC39 victor after a trio of close calls. He also led the least number of laps as he drove to victory – only two – in his Keith Kunz-Curb-Agajanian Motorsports/GearWrench – Mobil 1 – TRD/LynK/Speedway Toyota-powered Midget race car. McIntosh recorded the tightest margin of victory in the race’s six-year history, winning by a scant 0.191 seconds.

“We’ve been so close to winning here, even on prelim nights, and we just hadn’t gotten it done,” McIntosh said in relief. “I don’t think I’ve ever been that excited crossing the line. I think this is definitely No. One. To be able to win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and to put my name in the history books is pretty special.

“I’m so thankful to do this in his name with Tim [Clauson, Bryan’s father] here. It’s a really cool feeling to be able to do this, and I’m just so grateful to be able to race here,” McIntosh acknowledged.

McIntosh started sixth in the 39-lap feature and, for the majority of the race, it appeared all the breaks trended to McDermand. It seemed that each time he approached lapped traffic a caution period ensued (there were two, one on lap 18 and the second on lap 31).

The battle to win this storied contest wasn’t only between the two “Mc” drivers. Fifth-starting Jade Avedisian joined the battle around the 20-lap mark, when she collided with 2023 BC39 winner Justin Grant between the first and second turns, sending Grant tumbling and collecting Jacob Denney. She continued while Grant restarted at the rear and Denney retired.

As Avedisian worked between Kale Drake and McIntosh on lap 28, she assumed third place and, with nine to go, she went wheel-to-wheel with Drake, who won the Thursday night feature BC39 preliminary race for his first National Midget Series victory. She emerged intact from that battle while Drake was relegated to 18th at the close of 39 laps.

As these battles went on, McDermand had clear track ahead with eight laps to go, and seemed destined for victory and the big payday that went with it, but Avedisian and McIntosh were primed to battle him for that top spot. Those final eight laps were a scramble to catch McDermand, but in the end he caught himself.

On the final lap, with McIntosh on his tail into the first turn, McDermand slid up the track and McIntosh slid beneath him. Simultaneously, Avedisian got around the outside of McDermand to claim second place, failing by less than two car-lengths to overtake winner McIntosh. Behind them, McDermand held on for third, a couple of car-lengths behind Avedisian, while points leader Daison Pursley took fourth and Kevin Thomas Jr. rounded out the top five.

“I knew I was good down there and didn’t want to move, but then the opportunity presented itself coming to the white [flag],” McIntosh explained in the winner’s circle. “I actually didn’t know it was the white until he messed up and I saw it. He went in and drifted in front of me,” he said of McDermand, “but I just waited patiently and drove back under him and protected into three.”

There were, as expected, a range of emotions for the top three finishers. Cannon McIntosh is no longer a runner-up in this important race, while Jade Avedisian was oh-so-close to becoming the first woman winner of a USAC National Midget feature. This was her fourth runner-up result in the series. McDermand, after taking the lead from Pursley and assuming the point for what he thought would be the final lead of the race, was devastated. But that’s racing. McDermand understood: “I ran 38 decent laps and one really, really bad one,” he said.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: September 29, 2023 – The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, Indiana – 1/5-Mile Dirt Track – Driven2SaveLives BC39 FIRST ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Jacob Denney (#25 Malloy), 2. Gavin Miller (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres), 4. Shane Cottle (#44 4 Kings), 5. Jerry Coons Jr. (#85 Central), 6. Zach Wigal (#89 CBI), 7. Mitchel Moles (#19A Reinbold-Underwood), 8. Bryce Massingill (#40x McDermand), 9. Stephen Schnapf (#11s Martin), 10. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 11. Gunnar Setser (#43 Arnold), 12. Frankie Guerrini (#63 F & F), 13. Glenn Styres (#0G Styres), 14. Kameron Key (#21J TKH), 15. Briggs Danner (#98 Schneider), 16. Brady Bacon (#21H TKH), 17. Drake Edwards (#3p Petty), 18. Todd Hobson (#75AU Griffiths), 19. Kevin Cook (#77 Cook), 20. Karter Sarff (#21K Sarff), 21. Jeff Schindler (#8x Giddy Up). NT SECOND ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant (#2 RMS), 2. Thomas Meseraull (#7x Engler), 3. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus), 4. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), 5. Ryan Timms (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 6. Tyler Edwards (#14s Mounce-Stout), 7. Darin Naida (#3R Binks), 8. Kaylee Bryson (#58 Abacus), 9. Emerson Axsom (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 10. Kevin Newton (16TH Second Law), 11. C.J. Leary (#54 4 Kings), 12. Zach Daum (#7u Trifecta), 13. Joel Myers Jr. (#1 Crouch), 14. Alex Karpowicz (#19 Mounce-Stout), 15. Cody Beard (#7B Beard), 16. Adam Taylor (#7T ATM), 17. Cameron La Rose (#3J Petty), 18. Kyle Jones (#27x Joyner), 19. Davey Ray (#15J Wimmenauer). 2:33.837 ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS LAST CHANCE QUALIFIER: (15 laps, top-8 transfer to the feature) 1. Zach Wigal, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Tyler Edwards, 5. Kaylee Bryson, 6. C.J. Leary, 7. Zach Daum, 8. Kameron Key, 9. Bryce Massingill, 10. Frankie Guerrini, 11. Kevin Newton, 12. Gunnar Setser, 13. Hayden Reinbold, 14. Joel Myers Jr., 15. Briggs Danner, 16. Alex Karpowicz, 17. Cody Beard, 18. Glenn Styres, 19. Darin Naida, 20. Stephen Schnapf. NT ALSO AT THE TRACK: Chris Baue (#36 Baue) FEATURE: (39 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Cannon McIntosh (6), 2. Jade Avedisian (5), 3. Chase McDermand (1), 4. Daison Pursley (2), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 6. Logan Seavey (12), 7. Gavin Miller (9), 8. Thomas Meseraull (10), 9. Kameron Key (24), 10. Tyler Edwards (20), 11. Jerry Coons Jr. (15), 12. Zach Daum (23), 13. Ryan Timms (16), 14. C.J. Leary (22), 15. Zach Wigal (17), 16. Kyle Cummins (11), 17. Emerson Axsom (19), 18. Kale Drake (3), 19. Justin Grant (8), 20. Mitchel Moles (18), 21. Kaylee Bryson (21), 22. Ethan Mitchell (14), 23. Shane Cottle (13), 24. Kyle Jones (25-P), 25. Jacob Denney (7), 26. Hayden Reinbold (26-P). NT (P) represents a provisional starter FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Daison Pursley, Laps 3-37 Chase McDermand, Laps 38-39 Cannon McIntosh. **Justin Grant flipped on lap 25 of the feature. USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-1244, 2-Cannon McIntosh-1157, 3-Ryan Timms-1066, 4-Logan Seavey-1052, 5-Zach Daum-1036, 6-Jacob Denney-968, 7-Justin Grant-963, 8-Gavin Miller-946, 9-Zach Wigal-862, 10-Kale Drake-853. USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-194, 2-Logan Seavey-180, 3-Robert Ballou-145, 4-Justin Grant-129, 5-C.J. Leary-125, 6-Kyle Cummins-117, 7-Chase Stockon-112, 8-Brady Bacon-111, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-103, 10-Matt Westfall-101. NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: November 15, 2024 – Placerville Speedway – Placerville, California – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – Hangtown 100 CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS: Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Jacob Denney (12.302) First Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Jacob Denney Second Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Justin Grant Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Last Chance Qualifier Winner: Zach Wigal Hard Charger: Kameron Key (24th to 9th) Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Jade Avedisian Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Race: Kale Drake (18th)