TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — The Terre Haute Action Track is where it all began for Mitchel Moles and Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports.
Exactly four years ago to the day, May 20, 2022, Moles made an impressive USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship debut, leading 19 of the 30 laps before finishing second. Since then, the Raisin City, California, racer had always felt that it had been one he let slip away.
Fast forward to Wednesday night’s 56th annual Tony Hulman Classic at the half-mile dirt oval on May 20, 2026, where Moles used the lessons he’s learned in that four year span to finally reign triumphant at Terre Haute for the first time in his career.
This time around, Moles led all 30 laps from the pole to earn a commanding 4.388-second victory at the helm of his Reinbold-Underwood Motorsports/AME – Mesilla Valley Transportation/Spike/Stanton Chevy.
“This is where I cut my teeth with (car owner) Andy (Reinbold),” Moles reflected. “We lost one to C.J. (Leary), and I told Andy that if I was ever back in that position again, I wasn’t going to lose it. I now knew what to do and I knew what I did wrong. When you mess something up, it’s always good to come back. But I didn’t think it would take me four years. Andy let me crash a bunch of stuff to get to this point, so this win is really for him.”
As Moles pulled into victory lane, it became apparent that his right rear tire was deflated, but it hung on just long enough. With the win, Moles earned a $10,000 prize, plus the custom rifle that has been awarded to the Hulman Classic winner for well over half a century. \
“I love money and I love guns, so this one’s a really good one for us,” Moles exclaimed.
Moles’ win was his second of the USAC National Sprint Car season and the seventh of his career.
Moles continued his roll with his ninth top-five result with the series in his past 11 starts, a stretch which has included five top-two finishes and a pair of wins.
“I’m happy for my whole team,” Moles stated. “My guys have been working really hard. They’ve battled adversity and they’ve battled with the problems I’ve given them even before that. I was trying to talk them out of everything they were doing with the car. Andy kind of gave me the look, and I’m like, ‘OK, I’ll go away.’
Throughout the entire duration, all were on the chase to track down Moles. Chase Stockon made moves early, diving under outside front row starter Robert Ballou for the second position in turn three on the second lap. Jake Swanson followed suit past Ballou into third moments later.
After David Gasper (18th) slowed to a stop on the front straightaway on lap six, the ensuing restart resulted in a major melee on the back straight.
Defending Hulman Classic winner Justin Grant got a run to the inside of Swanson for the third spot on lap seven. The two cars touched wheels, sending Grant spinning backward into the outside wall, which lifted his rear wheels off the ground and crumpled his rear bumper and tail tank, but he managed to keep going.
Meanwhile, Swanson’s front end was knocked out from the resulting contact. Without any control, Swanson veered nose first into the inside guardrail, which sprayed a shower of sparks and spun his car around 180 degrees to a stop.
Grant’s car displayed no other signs of wear on the restart as he and Stockon proceeded to exchange the second position five times on each end of the Action Track in a two-lap span between the seventh and ninth circuit. Stockon crossed over Grant’s turn three maneuver on lap nine to secure the spot.
Kevin Thomas Jr. ran down Grant with an inside move on the back straight on lap 15 to gain the third position. During the final laps, Grant threw the kitchen sink at him, but Thomas was able to thwart off the pressure to maintain the show position.
Moles continuously ratcheted up his lead to two seconds, to three, and to four, and had little to no pressure at the end as he sliced his way through the tail end of the field, taking no chances as he remained on the hammer.
“I wasn’t going to give up or slow down; that’s how you lose these races,” Moles admitted. “To beat guys like Chase (Stockon) and Robert (Ballou) and Justin (Grant) and Kyle Cummins, those guys have been so good here. So, I’m very, very, very happy to pull this one off, and hopefully, it’s one of many to come.”
Moles finished the job nearly a straightaway ahead of runner-up Stockon with Thomas third, Grant fourth and Ballou fifth.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Terre Haute Action Track, Terre Haute, Ind., May 20, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-19.567; 2. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-19.578; 3. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-19.682; 4. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-19.849; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-19.863; 6. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-19.941; 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-20.002; 8. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-20.010; 9. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-20.079; 10. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-20.106; 11. J.J. Yeley, 51, Horn-20.114; 12. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-20.117; 13. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-20.162; 14. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-20.330; 15. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-20.386; 16. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-20.391; 17. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-20.494; 18. Max Adams, 42, Cheney-20.510; 19. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-20.536; 20. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-20.609; 21. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-20.695; 22. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-20.813; 23. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-20.903; 24. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-20.914; 25. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-21.016; 26. Adam Taylor, 8T, Doherty-21.019; 27. Jake Simmons, 7s, Simmons-21.747; 28. Carl Rhuebottom, 83, Rhuebottom-23.005; 29. Austin Nigh, 97, Nigh-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (3), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 3. Kyle Cummins (6), 4. Jake Swanson (5), 5. Logan Seavey (2), 6. Trey Osborne (1), 7. Jadon Rogers (7), 8. Harley Burns (8), 9. Brandon Mattox (9), 10. Carl Rhuebottom (10). 2:45.701
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Hayden Reinbold (2), 2. J.J. Yeley (3), 3. Chase Stockon (6), 4. Briggs Danner (4), 5. Robert Ballou (5), 6. Hunter Maddox (1), 7. Jack Hoyer (7), 8. Charles Davis Jr. (8), 9. Adam Taylor (9), 10. Austin Nigh (10). 2:46.628
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (6), 2. Ricky Lewis (3), 3. Logan Calderwood (2), 4. Mitchel Moles (5), 5. Max Adams (1), 6. Cale Coons (7), 7. David Gasper (4), 8. Troy Carey (8), 9. Jake Simmons (9). 2:45.951
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. David Gasper (1), 2. Jadon Rogers (2), 3. Charles Davis Jr. (5), 4. Harley Burns (4), 5. Jack Hoyer (3), 6. Adam Taylor (8), 7. Brandon Mattox (7), 8. Austin Nigh (10), 9. Troy Carey (6), 10. Jake Simmons (9), 11. Carl Rhuebottom (11). 4:15.326
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (1), 2. Chase Stockon (5), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (9), 4. Justin Grant (4), 5. C.J. Leary (7), 6. Kyle Cummins (6), 7. Robert Ballou (2), 8. Hayden Reinbold (8), 9. Briggs Danner (10), 10. Cale Coons (18), 11. Ricky Lewis (12), 12. Trey Osborne (15), 13. Logan Seavey (13), 14. Logan Calderwood (14), 15. Charles Davis Jr. (21), 16. Max Adams (17), 17. Hunter Maddox (16), 18. Jack Hoyer (23), 19. J.J. Yeley (11), 20. Harley Burns (22), 21. Jadon Rogers (20), 22. Jake Swanson (3), 23. Adam Taylor (24), 24. David Gasper (19).