[Indy1808]

Wow was well worth the trip and being zombie like today. Speaking of that nap time is coming up.💤💤💤

[Jerry Shaw]

Just the battle between Daron Clayton and Kevin Thomas Jr. was worth more than the price of admission. So was the skillful, dominant performance by Kyle Cummins. Right off the bat Carson Short jumped out to the lead, as fellow front row starter KT Jr. dropped back a few spots to 4th and Sunshine grabbed the runner up position. Darland began to fade and Chase Stockon was on the move from his 7th row starting position. A handful of laps in, the leader jumped the turn 2 curb (which there was a substantial one forming on both ends), banged it off the wall and rolled it, ending up on his side. Tyler Courtney would be the new leader on the restart, 7 laps in. Stockon was up to 9th. At this point, Clayton and Brady Short were pretty close to where they started, in the back half of the field. On the restart, Courtney was immediately under pressure from Cummins, but was holding him off. A few laps later Aaron Farney, who was running a strong race up to that point, biked it in turn 3, ran up the track and crashed straight into the wall in turn 4. He would be done. Stockon was up to 6th. Clayton and Short were starting to make their way through the field. So, on the restart Courtney was still the leader, but most had the sense that his lead was living on borrowed time, as Kyle before the yellow came out for Farney seemed to be tracking him and was trying different types of runs at the front runner. After this restart Tyler did a good job holding Kyle off again, until close to the halfway point he ran up into the rough stuff in turn 1, got bogged down, Cummins dove low and who was going to win the 2016 Haubstadt Hustler was never in doubt, from that point on. This the time frame that Clayton was on his tear through the field. When he got up to Chase Stockon, the battle for 6th was a real good one. What he had to do to pry 5th place out of the jaws of Shane Cottle was even better. That set the stage for the best rumble of the race, as Daron reeled in KT. He caught him, dove under him and appreared to have 4th secured. But Thomas fought back and those 2 were all over each other for a whole bunch of laps. Many times when it looked like Clayton had gotten the best of him, KT kept going up into the cushion, that had proven detrimental to several others and found the speed up there to battle back with the surging Clayton, even though many times he biked or jumped his car in doing so. He seemed undeterred. While this great battle was going on, Cottle got underneath both of them and took what those 2 had been battling for. Then there was a yellow. On that restart, Clayton immediately went after Cottle, passed him and took that spot and seemed to be locked into a solid 3rd. But, then a few laps later Daron jumped the cushion in turn 2, almost got sideways and Shane seized the opportunity and had the spot back. This reignited the battle between DC and KT, which went on for several laps until Daron dove low in turn 1, looped it down by the tires, spun and his great run was over. Then on the final restart, with 2 to go, Kyle skated away again and Shane and KT made a charge to try to take Sunshine's runner up spot away, which he had held solid for many laps. Shane was the one that made the serious run and nearly took 2nd away as they came to the checkered. I had to look at Race-Monitor when I was out on US 41 to know who exactly crossed the line first, between him and Tyler.

There were some really great battles, especially the one between Thomas and Clayton, which may be the best I've seen all year. Tyler Courtney and Shane Cottle just battled and fought off challenges all 40 laps to finish second and third. It's was another Haubstadt night where a Daron Clayton charge through the field was what had them on their feet. And we got to see another masterful performance by Kyle Cummins, who just seems to get better every year. Not only here, but everywhere else, too.

[illiNOISE]

On a full moon night, Sunshine couldn't quite eclipse Cummins.(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)