Cannon McIntosh has a new title for him to brag about as the King of Coles.
The reigning Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota champion had to race methodically through momentum-swinging slide jobs at Coles County Speedway for his second Series win of 2025.
Ethan Mitchell and Gavin Miller brought the field of 22 Midgets to the green flag for the 30-lap Feature. Mitchell had the holeshot entering the first corner and took the early lead over Miller and McIntosh in third place.
Mitchell held the lead for the first 10 laps until Miller began his charge for the lead. Using a late slide job in Turns 1 and 2, Miller had to chop “Lil’ Bundy” at the entrance of the backstretch to secure the top spot on Lap 11.
Miller and Mitchell’s battle led to McIntosh, Chase McDermand, and Friday winner Karter Sarff closing on the two drivers. As the crossed flags signaled the halfway mark on Lap 15, McIntosh and Mitchell traded slide jobs for second place until light contact off of Turn 4 gave the Bixby, OK driver second place as McDermand and Sarff followed suit behind him.
A caution on Lap 17 gave McIntosh his first chance at taking the lead from his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) teammate. Miller did not carry enough speed into the restart and began the battle of the two drivers trading slide jobs around the 0.125-mile oval.
McIntosh captured the lead with 10 laps remaining, but did not have the clearance on Miller’s No. 97 as he came back to retake the lead on Lap 23.
The final caution of the night on Lap 27 gave McIntosh one final gasp at stealing the crown from Miller. On the ensuing restart, McIntosh beat his teammate to the throttle as he sailed the Mobil 1 No. 71K into Turn 1 to take back the lead for the second and final time of the Feature.
While Miller executed a Hail Mary dive on the final lap for the win, it was McIntosh who captured the checkered flag first to extend his Series all-time wins record to 13 on Saturday night.
“I felt like we were better in the middle part of the race when I got to (Gavin),” McIntosh said. “He was able to slide me, I was able to slide him, and he made it really hard for me, but I was able to fight back each time. Just when I thought I’d done enough to protect, he’d come back with another slider.
“He was able to get away towards the end, and thankfully, we had another caution so I knew I had to change up the game plan and try something different. I just started sliding myself, it worked, and was able to cover the tracks so he wasn’t able to get back by.”
Miller finished second for his fourth appearance on the Series podium in 2025. Though he is seeking his first win of the season, he is not hanging his head low from the result.
“At the end of the day, the cautions kind of hurt us there at the end,” Miller said. “I got away from him on the previous one, so I was like, ‘I’m going to do something similar’ and it worked, but Cannon’s slider checked me up a little bit off exit because he would carry a lot more speed on entry and I would slow up just to get on the top and I would carry way more exit speed than he would.
“It was just a guessing game, to be honest. I feel like the line I chose in (Turns 1 and 2) ramping it up on the wall there was a good choice because I had a lot of speed from it on the long runs. It just took a couple laps for me and me get my momentum built up.”
Sarff left the King of Coles with a third-place finish. His weekend at the track boosts his Xtreme-POWRi Challenge Series points lead to 27 over Jacob Denney heading into June.
“It was a track that was so top dominant,” Sarff said. “I mean, it was real racey, but when everyone’s all lined up, nose to tail, it’s kind of hard to get around and throw a slider on someone. It was a lot of fun and really happy we could get to the podium there. Third and first, there’s nothing to hang our heads on. I’m just super proud of our team and the weekend that we had.”
McDermand finished the Feature in fourth place, and Millersville, MO’s Joe B. Miller picked up his first top-five result of the 2025 Xtreme Outlaw Midgets season.
Leaving the King of Coles weekend, Denney remains the Series points leader with Chase McDermand in second place at 71 points behind, and Miller runs third, 105 points back.
RECAP NOTES:
Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Gavin Miller
Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Michael Faccinto
CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Kaiden Manders
TJ Forged Heat 3 Winner: Ethan Mitchell
DIRTVision Heat 4 Winner: Steven Snyder Jr
High-Point Driver: Ethan Mitchell
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Joe B. Miller, Tyler Edwards
Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger: Karter Sarff (+10)
Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Zach Boden
Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets team up with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models, DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models, and Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park for the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff on Friday-Saturday, June 20-21.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 2. 97-Gavin Miller[2]; 3. 21K-Karter Sarff[13]; 4. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 5. 51B-Joe B Miller[15]; 6. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[1]; 7. 67-Jacob Denney[5]; 8. 56E-Tyler Edwards[16]; 9. 4-Steven Snyder Jr[8]; 10. 94-Hayden Wise[19]; 11. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[21]; 12. 72-Alex Karpowicz[14]; 13. 9U-Kameron Key[12]; 14. 12-Trey Marcham[18]; 15. 98K-Brandon Carr[20]; 16. 51-Zach Boden[17]; 17. 44-Branigan Roark[22]; 18. 5D-Zach Daum[9]; 19. 55-Trevor Cline[11]; 20. 71-Kaiden Manders[7]; 21. 67K-Colton Robinson[10]; 22. 5U-Michael Faccinto[3]
