In a night where Mother Nature played her hand, even she couldn’t stop Jacob Denney’s dominance.
The Galloway, OH native’s record-making season continued on Friday night at Doe Run Raceway with his ninth score of the 2025 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota season as he marches toward his first Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series title.
Denney led the field to the green flag and took his Midget to the cushion as front row starter Zach Daum’s No. 16 machine was glued to the bottom and stayed even with the Series points leader.
On Lap 5, rain began to fall on the surface, but it did not stop the competition around the 0.165-mile track as Denney slowly separated himself from Daum.
Gavin Miller joined the mix as Denney created a distance of 1.4 seconds over Daum as Miller attempted the top and bottom lanes to get to his side.
When Daum opened the bottom on Lap 14, Miller pounced and took second from Daum while the halfway signal was shown to his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) teammate.
Trouble arose for the inaugural Series champ on Lap 18 as Daum went spinning around the bottom of Turn 1, ending his chances for a first Xtreme Outlaw Midget victory in 2025 on Friday.
Denney kept a firm command of the pace at the lead while Miller continued experimenting with differing lines to make ground on the No. 67 JBL Audio LynK Chassis.
Miller’s attempts to gain ground were ineffective as Denney cruised to his ninth career Xtreme Outlaw Midgets win. While Denney extended the single-season wins record, he tied Karter Sarff for second place in all-time wins with five races left in the year.
“I was really trying to stay consistent with my line,” Denney said. “I knew Daum was gonna be on the bottom because that’s his bread and butter down there. I tried going down a couple of times, and it was pretty good, and then I got super tight and biked it, and I was like, ‘Alright, we’re done with that.
“When it rains that hard, it’s like they took the water truck to it. Like, it gets super grippy for two or three laps so I ran right through the middle lane and then moved up when it began to slip. And, for those one or two laps, you can either be behind the eight ball or you can get way ahead of everybody. Luckily, I made the right decision to roll the middle in those couple laps.”
Miller took second place to wrap up the night at Doe Run. His finish moves the No. 97 SoundGear Toyota to second in the overall Series standings, 313 points away from Denney.
“It was definitely tough,” Miller said. “(Daum) would move up off of the bottom where he was running, and you had to time it right. It made it a little tricky, but the track was heavy because of the drizzles through the race. It got really slimy, but the team did a great job once again. Obviously, we didn’t want to finish second there, but I felt like we had an amazing car there at the end.”
Xtreme Outlaw Rookie of the Year leader Kameron Key took third place for the final night of Series racing in his home state. The result moves the driver of the Trifecta Motorsports No. 9U back to the top three in overall points.
“It was really a variable that you’re not used to having to deal with,” Key said. “The track, especially after the red flag, it kind of got slimy in spots and good in others, so you were kind of guessing. But, I mean, it was the same for everybody.
“You had to just be smooth with the throttle and not let yourself get tight or loose, so it actually turned out to be a lot of fun. I thought once we got going, the track was really good top to bottom, so I was really pleased with it.”
Recap Notes:
Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Gavin Miller
Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Kameron Key
CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Zach Daum
High-Point Driver: Kameron Key (4)
Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger Award: Hayden Wise (+10)
Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Devin Camfield
Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series enters the final night of the 2025 season as the “World Famous” Highland Speedway awaits the Midgets on Saturday, Sept. 6.
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. 67-Jacob Denney[1]; 2. 97-Gavin Miller[3]; 3. 9U-Kameron Key[4]; 4. 7X-Kyle Jones[10]; 5. 21K-Karter Sarff[12]; 6. 55-Trevor Cline[5]; 7. 5U-Michael Faccinto[15]; 8. 94-Hayden Wise[18]; 9. 72-Alex Karpowicz[8]; 10. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[9]; 11. 16-Zach Daum[2]; 12. 98K-Brandon Carr[16]; 13. 71K-Brecken Reese[11]; 14. 67K-Colton Robinson[7]; 15. 05-Alex Midkiff[14]; 16. 17C-Devin Camfield[19]; 17. 17H-Austin Wood[17]; 18. 32-Trey Marcham[13]; 19. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 20. 91-Mitchell Davis[20]
