Back Like He Never Left – Swanson Nets Fourth Little 500 Victory

📸 Jack Kessler

ANDERSON, IN - The late 2010’s at the Little 500 were dominated by Kody Swanson. He won the race three times in four years, winning all three in dominating fashion, including having been the most recent driver to have the entire field lapped at the finish in 2019. Seven years later, the Kingsburg, CA driver made his way back to Little 500 victory lane with his fourth win on Saturday night. He was among the last of the leaders to pit and found numerous cars in between himself and Davey Hamilton Jr. He worked his way through the field, taking the lead in lapped traffic with 27 to go and running away with the 78th Annual Unified Group Services Little 500 Presented by ED Martin Automotive Sales.

“These races are hard to get to the end of, let alone be in position to win and you’ve got to capitalize on those opportunities. Davey did a great job in lapped traffic and we had fresher tires that kept me in it,” Swanson said. “We may have gotten lucky there guessing the right direction in traffic. It’s one of the benefits of being second in line and you’ve got to take the opportunities when they come.”

Swanson has now won the Little 500 with three different teams. He won the 2016 race with Hoffman Auto Racing before going back-to-back with Nolen Racing in 2018-2019. The fourth win comes with Doran Racing, a team he’s competed in the Little 500 win with since 2021. In that time, he had finished second once and third twice.

“I feel like we’ve been in the mix a lot and a couple of years we’ve been on the podium.It’s a hard race to win. I knew that, everyone who’s tried it knows it. Everyone’s special to win, it’s special to win one tonight, no matter how.”

With his fourth win, he is now tied for the third most wins all-time. The driver he shares that mark with is Tom Cherry, who dominated in the first years of the Little 500 with wins in 1950, 1952, and 1954-1955. He still has a ways to catch the all-time record of nine set by Eric Gordon, meanwhile he’s just one behind Bob Frey for second most.

“Obviously Eric Gordon’s got the mark way out in front but just to be in the conversation. There’s a lot of great drivers that have competed in this race and to win it any amount of times is special. I appreciate the chance to try it each year and do it with great people.”

Davey Hamilton Jr and Kirk Morgan Racing chose to come in for their second pit stop before the rest of the leaders, and it nearly paid off in a big way. The strategy call ends with a career-best second place finish.

“Truthfully, I think we did everything right. The only thing I think I would say we neededto change was we tried a pit strategy, it just didn’t work,” said Hamilton. “We tried anundercut and that 40 lap difference on this tire is a lot.”“I’m happy with it. We were third last year, second this year, so hopefully it’s in the rightdirection to be on top next year.”

The full Little 500 results can be found below.

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Little 500 Official Results:

1. Kody Swanson

2. Davey Hamilton Jr

3. Dakoda Armstrong

4. Jake Trainor

5. Mario Clouser

6. Ryan Newman

7. Derek Bischak

8. Travis Welpott

9. Colton Bettis

10. Rylan Gray

11. Colin Grissom

12. Landon Butler

13. Billy Wease

14. Justin Grant

15. CJ Leary

16. Tyler Roahrig

17. Logan Seavey

18. Michael Lewis

19. Anthony Nocella

20. Brian Vaughn

21. Jackson Macenko

22. David Goodwill

23. Rob Keesling

24. Josh Poore

25. Donnie Adams Jr

26. Bobby Santos III

27. Garrett Saunders

28. Justin Harper

29. Chris Schmelzle

30. Shane Hollingsworth

31. Tony Main

32. Kyle O’Gara

33. Shane Butler