Eight Chili Bowl Nationals victories and 200 USAC national feature wins tell you everything about the legacy Keith Kunz Motorsports has built in grassroots racing. The Indiana-based team has helped shape the careers of future NASCAR stars, including Kyle Larson, Tony Stewart, and Christopher Bell, giving young drivers a platform to turn dirt-track talent into something much bigger. For decades, KKM has been a powerhouse in midget racing, but its remarkable story is approaching a turning point that could leave a major void in the sport.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Keith Kunz Motorsports is shutting down at the end of the 2026 season. For decades the team ran at the front of USAC midget racing and sent its drivers on to bigger series. The announcement comes as the team continues its current campaign, with Jacob Denney leading its effort in the USAC National Midget Series.
The closure follows growing signs of change around the team’s Indiana operation. Kunz recently listed the team’s facility in Columbus, Indiana, for $2.95 million. The property covers 4.52 acres and includes a 15,500-square-foot industrial building, with approximately 11,900 square feet of warehouse space, six overhead doors, and two mezzanines. The listing also notes an RV storage business on the property that generates $6,000 per month.
However, the property listing did not itself announce the team’s closure or explain the reason behind the decision. The shutdown announcement adds a new dimension to the sale, but no specific financial, personal, or operational cause has been established in the available reporting. Nor is there confirmed information that KKM’s race cars and equipment will be sold as part of the transition.
That final campaign gives KKM’s drivers a chance to finish on a high note. Denney has been leading the points standings, while Gavin Miller and Colton Robinson have also been part of the team’s full-time program.
The USAC season is scheduled to conclude at Ventura Raceway on November 28, after which attention traditionally turns to the Chili Bowl Nationals in Tulsa. KKM’s success at the prestigious indoor midget event makes its future especially relevant as the next edition approaches.
The news also carries implications for Toyota’s driver-development pipeline. KKM has long served as a proving ground for young talent, giving drivers opportunities to compete in high-level midget racing before moving into larger national series.
The team’s graduates include Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Rico Abreu, Buddy Kofoid, Logan Seavey, and the late Bryan Clauson. With the operation set to close, questions will naturally turn to where emerging drivers will go to find the same combination of competitive equipment, technical support, and opportunities to develop.
Larson’s rise is one of the clearest examples of what the team has provided. Kunz spotted the young Californian competing in midgets at Perris Auto Speedway when Larson was 18 years old. That relationship helped give Larson a platform to develop his skills before he went on to become the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion with Hendrick Motorsports. He also won the 2015 24 Hours of Daytona overall with Chip Ganassi Racing, further demonstrating the range of talent that emerged from his early dirt-track years.
Tony Stewart’s connection to Kunz’s racing world also underlines the operation’s importance to grassroots motorsports. Stewart competed in USAC and other open-wheel disciplines before becoming a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, and he has long been associated with the dirt-racing community that KKM helped sustain.
Kunz’s influence stretches well beyond individual victories: his operation created a place where ambitious drivers could sharpen their craft, attract attention, and build careers that reached far beyond midget racing.
Kunz had very little to start with. For much of the 1990s he lived on purse money alone, took what he needed, and put the rest back into the cars. He and Pete Willoughby started Keith Kunz Motorsports around 2000, after Willoughby’s trucking company folded, and the team kept winning for more than two decades. Now it’s closing.
He summed up the moment with a simple reflection: “Everything comes to an end at some point.”