Jones closes gap in USAC national title race

Levi Jones claimed his second USAC national championship, winning the AMSOIL National Sprint Car title with a second-place finish in the 31st Pacific Coast Nationals at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif.

Bud Kaeding of Campbell, Calif. captured Saturday night's 30-lap sprint car race, leading the final 23 laps after race leaders Bryan Clauson and Damion Gardner tangled on Lap 7. Tracy Hines of New Castle, Ind., led all 30 laps of the USAC Mopar National/Western Midget race.

Jones, who also won the USAC Silver Crown Series title, cut into Clauson's lead in the 2010 National Drivers Championship standings. Clauson, who leads the USAC Mopar National Midget standings after finishing third in the midget race, now leads the National Drivers Championship standings by five points 1,099-1,094. Jerry Coons Jr. is third, 55 points back, as the Midget series heads to its next-to-last race Nov. 20 at Ventura, Calif.

INDYCAR will award the winner of USAC's inaugural National Drivers Championship a scholarship to compete on the oval schedule in 2011 Firestone Indy Lights, kicking off at the Firestone Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in May.