INDIANAPOLIS – Thursday night’s Driven2SaveLives BC39 presented by NOS Energy Drink at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was almost everything that Kevin Thomas Jr. hoped it would be.

However, the Cullman, Ala., native couldn’t quite seal the deal, despite starting on the pole and leading the first 30 laps of the $15,000-to-win, 39-lap feature in the iconic No. 63 Dooling-Hayward Motorsports midget.

Thomas appeared to have the measure of the quarter-mile dirt track nestled inside turn three of the world-famous 2.5-mile IMS oval, jumping out to the early lead and opening up a full second over eventual winner Brady Bacon by lap 12, but Bacon was persistent on the bottom groove and slowly but surely began reeling Thomas in to contend for the top spot.

After a trio of mid-race cautions, Bacon made his first bid for the lead on lap 24, pulling side-by-side with Thomas coming off turn four but not able to complete the pass and having to fall back into line.

Heavy traffic was ahead, though, and that eventually made the difference in the fight for the win.

As Thomas attempted to work around the Petry Motorsports entry of Jason McDougal with nine laps left, he lost just enough momentum for Bacon to storm up the inside again off turn four. The second time around, Bacon was able to complete the slide job and establish firm command over the field.

Shortly after, Chad Boat dove past Thomas to take over second, and from that point to the finish Thomas could only watch as the top two drove into the distance while he was forced to settle for third.

“(The lapped traffic) was irritating, but it’s part of racing,” said Thomas after the feature. “It was good to lead there in the beginning, because when you’re out front you get to use what (parts of the) track you want, but when you get to lap cars, second and third have the ability to search around and find places that are just a little bit faster than you are.

“That’s just part of it,” Thomas continued. “They had great race cars, but we had a great race car too and we were right up in there.”

Thomas then paid a nod to the huge crowd that braved the rains and several format changes to take in the inaugural event on the IMS dirt track on Thursday. The feature pushed off just after midnight.

“Thanks to all the fans for coming out and sticking out the weather,” said Thomas. “It was pretty cool to see everyone pack the stands … even on the backstretch back there. Hats off to everyone who came together to put this deal on and allowed us to come out here and show the world what we can do.”

However, that didn’t take away from the sting that Thomas felt for missing out on such a monumental victory.

He was hoping to bring the Dooling/Hayward team – the same team that event namesake Bryan Clasuson drove to much of his USAC success with – back to prominence on the stage that Clauson reached by competing in three Indianapolis 500s.

“Man, it’s tough. We wanted this one really bad,” lamented Thomas. “For me, for Joe (Dooling) and Brodie (Hayward), for what it means to this team and Bryan’s legacy with them … I wish we could have gotten it done.

“We just got beat,” Thomas noted. “The guy behind the wheel and in the seat just has to do a lot better job.”