Cannon McIntosh Returns to Xtreme Outlaw Midgets Victory Lane in Midget Roundup Opener
Mac is back.
Cannon McIntosh has spent the first quarter of the 2025 Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota season looking for the speed that took him to the title in 2024.
On Saturday night at Airport Raceway, he returned triumphantly to Victory Lane with reassurance that his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports (KKM) No. 71K is moving in the right direction.
McIntosh began the program with the TJ Forged Heat 3 win, then started the Feature in fourth with his teammate Jacob Denney drawing a six-car invert for the 25 laps around the 1/6-mile track.
Series rookie Hayden Wise led the field to the green flag, with Corbin Rueschenberg possessing second place as McIntosh overtook KKM teammate Gavin Miller for third on the opening circuit.
McIntosh hunted down Rueschenberg for the first six laps until a slip from Rueschenberg’s No. 26 through Turns 1 and 2 opened the door for McIntosh to take over second place on Lap 7.
While Wise continued to show the way, McIntosh began to shorten her 1.6-second lead when lap traffic began to factor into the race for the lead at the halfway point.
Wise struggled to get by the lapped cars as McIntosh closed in on her No. 94 Toyota-powered Midget until his chance for the lead arose on Lap 14.
Attempting to avoid contact with the lappers through Turns 3 and 4, Wise slid up the surface and gave McIntosh enough room to fill the gap and pass the rookie for the Feature lead.
With Wise’s struggles on the high side – leading to Rueschenberg and Miller taking over the podium positions – McIntosh held the two drivers at bay to drive towards his 12th career Series win and second Midget Roundup victory.
Since leaving Farmer City Raceway 15th in Series points, McIntosh is up to sixth as he continues to climb towards his second consecutive title.
“It was tough,” McIntosh said. “Sometimes, it’s not always about being the fastest car or driver, even though I think we were the best car out there. I felt like you had to make the right moves early in the race, then falling in line and trying to pick off the traffic in front of you. It was one of those tricky races where you had to be there to capitalize once the leader got into traffic and make consistent laps at the end.
“I owe it to the crew for sure. They give me a good racecar every time, and it’s just taken time for Beau and I to get our package figured out. I feel like every race, we get closer, whether we run good or bad, because we learn no matter what. We’re definitely making the right strides and going in the right direction.”
Rueschenberg finished second to earn his first career top five and podium finish with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets on Saturday night.
“Yeah, it was definitely a curveball,” Rueschenberg said. “The track didn’t really change too much through the night. In the Feature, it changed so much, but the challenge of adapting the track made things a bit different tonight.
“We’ve shown a lot of speed this year with (Xtreme). We’ve been knocking on the door, but it’s our best finish so there’s nothing to hang our heads on. I’m really happy, but not satisfied. It’s just me and my dad doing this, so I couldn’t be anymore happier.”
Miller wrapped up the night’s podium with a third-place run at Airport. The result moves him up to third in the standings, 98 points behind leader Jacob Denney.
“It was definitely tough out there,” Miller said. “We kind of just had a wait for someone to make a mistake and slide up, and there’s very few of those, which made it really hard to pass. I got back into third, and just struggled to get around (Rueschenberg). So he forced me to tuck in there and we stayed bumper to bumper there.
“I just got to thank all my guys for doing an amazing job again. We’ve been out on the road for a couple weeks now, and it’s been hard on them. I feel like we’ve been on a good roll here with three straight podiums. We just need things to fall into place a little bit better for us.
Wise finished the night in fourth, and Michael Faccinto picked up his second consecutive top five with the Series in 2025.
RECAP NOTES:
Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Gavin Miller
Toyota Heat 1: Bradley Cox
CASM Safety Products Heat 2: Jacob Denney
TJ Forged Heat 3: Cannon McIntosh
High-Point Driver: Jacob Denney
Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger: Chase McDermand
Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Keith Rauch
Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets compete once more with the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association at Airport Raceway for the finale of the Midget Roundup on Sunday night, May 25.
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 (25 Laps): 1. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[5]; 2. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[3]; 3. 97-Gavin Miller[4]; 4. 94-Hayden Wise[1]; 5. 5U-Michael Faccinto[11]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[16]; 7. 72-Alex Karpowicz[8]; 8. 67-Jacob Denney[6]; 9. 00-Brecken Reese[17]; 10. 45-Bradley Cox[2]; 11. 56E-Tyler Edwards[10]; 12. 60X-Trevor Cline[7]; 13. 98K-Brandon Carr[15]; 14. 9U-Kameron Key[12]; 15. 2-Kyler Johnson[22]; 16. 76R-Keith Rauch[20]; 17. 67K-Colton Robinson[9]; 18. 91-Lance Bennett[19]; 19. 2D-Luke Icke[18]; 20. 27B-Jake Bubak[14]; 21. 27-Jeremy Huish[21]; 22. (DNS) 3Z-Trey Zorn
