The USAC National Sprint Car Tour Championship kicked off its Indiana Sprint Week Thursday night, as well as Brickyard 400 weekend on the Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and saw a familiar foe back in victory lane. Justin Grant, who was the defending event winner, came back to capture another victory after starting on the pole position and also collected his 100th career USAC win across all three divisions.
“No, absolutely not,” Grant said when questioned by Flo Racing if he ever thought he’d get to 100 career victories. “My dream when I moved to Indiana was to let somebody let me sit in a Sprint Car and to go racing. Then, my dream was to just win a USAC race. I thought, gosh, if I could ever win a USAC National Sprint Car race. My whole life, racing everything, everything my parents put into it, it would all be worth it if I could win one USAC National Sprint Car race.
“I cannot believe that was 100 wins ago. It’s been an incredible career, not in terms of accomplishments, but an incredible career to live through and experience. I’ve been so fortunate and blessed with so many great partners, and great car owners along the way, and so many great people that helped me out. People who don’t necessarily work for me. It’s just friends who I made along the way that I could lean on when I need to and help me get into victory lane.
“If I had to write down every person that was responsible for me getting into 100 victory lanes, the list would be 500 people long, if not more. This year has been a bit of a struggle for us. We’ve been consistent running up front, but just not getting the wins like we’ve been accustomed to. It was starting to get a little rough there for a couple of months, but to get 100 career victories at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I couldn’t write it any better. I’m speechless.”
It was the first of nine races in over a week’s span, which started on Thursday and will conclude next Saturday. There were 37 cars on the entry list, including last year’s Indiana Sprint Week champion, Kevin Thomas Jr. Last year, Thomas Jr was in the Rock Steady Racing No.3R machine. However, Thomas Jr left the team in June and joined BBI Motorsports for what would be their first Indiana Sprint Week appearance.
Furthermore, there are eight drivers who have won the prestigious Indiana Sprint Week, which were Thomas Jr, J.J. Yeley, Brady Bacon, Robert Ballou, C.J. Leary, Chase Stockon, Grant, and Logan Seavey, to name a few.
Feature Recap
For the 35-lap feature, the front row featured Grant and Ballou, with Grant on the pole position. At the drop of the green flag, Grant had the early lead as Ballou followed suit. Meanwhile, Jake Swanson inserted himself into the picture a lap later, which saw a three-car battle for the top spot.
At 31 laps to go, Swanson used the bottom line off Turn 4 to take the lead from Grant. However, the first caution of the feature came out one lap later for several cars that had stopped in Turn 1. Jadon Rodger, Cale Coons, Ricky Lewis, and Thomas Meseraull all came to a halt.
Following the caution period, the race resumed with Swanson, Grant, Ballou, Briggs Danner, and Stockon the top five. With 26 laps to go, Swanson had a brief slip-up on the bottom lane of Turn 2, which allowed Grant to take the lead again off the top side. After taking the lead again, another caution came with 23 laps to go for two cars stuck together. It was Leary and Gunnar Setser who were stopped in Turn 1.
The race resumed, and a thriller of a battle broke out between Grant and Swanson for the top spot. Though the old saying goes, “cautions breed cautions”, as another was seen with 17 to go for Hunter Schuerenberg and Trey Osborne.
It seemed as though Grant was going to run away with the race lead, but the last yellow of the night came with five to go for Mitchel Moles, who was stopped in the middle of Turns 3 and 4.
For the final restart of the night with six laps to go, it was Grant, Swanson, Danner, Seavey, and Miller in the top five. However, despite a slew of yellows and some challenges throughout the race from Swanson, Grant held on to win back-to-back races at the Dirt Track at IMS for two years in a row.
Additionally, this was his fifth at-track victory, with three of them coming on the National Midget Tour, and now two National Sprint Car wins.
Heat Race Recaps
There were five heat races with 10 laps apiece, with the top three transferring.
For the first heat race, Charles Davis Jr and Coons were on the front row. Davis Jr was on the inside row with Coons on the outside. Davis Jr led Lap 1 over Coons after breaking away in a three-wide battle off Turn 2. A caution came out with four laps to go for Coons, who got sideways in the cushion in the middle of Turns 3 and 4. The heat went back green, and Davis Jr held off a late-race rally by Swanson for the heat victory.
Moving on were Davis Jr, Swanson, and Thomas Jr.
In the second heat, it was relatively clean and green with no yellows. However, a last-lap pass for the last transfer spot was pursued with Osborne and Meseraull, but it was Osborne who got the better of the position. Rogers won the heat race with Grant and Osborne the top three.
Kyle Cummins won the third heat race in a thriller of a last-lap pass using the high line off Turn 4 by 0.104 seconds. Shane Cottle and Stockon were the remainder of the transfers.
Shortly after the fourth heat went green, a caution came out with nine laps to go for race leader Moles, who got loose and hit the wall in the middle of Turns 3 and 4. Another yellow came out again for Moles with seven laps to go, who was stopped off Turn 4. Eventually, Moles pulled down to the infield with four to go as something was wrong with his car.
At the end of the 10-lap heat, it was Ballou getting the win with Gavin Miller and Setser taking the transfers.
In the fifth and final heat race, a caution followed with two laps to go for the No. 10 of Aric Gentry, who came to a stop in Turns 3 and 4. That was the only yellow for the heat, and Leary achieved the feat to take the final heat race. Seavey and Danner rounded out the top three
Official Race Results Following The USAC National Sprint Car on The Dirt Track at IMS
- Justin Grant
- Jake Swanson
- Logan Seavey
- Briggs Danner
- Shane Cottle
- Gavin Miller
- Robert Ballou
- Cale Coons
- Kyle Cummins
- Kevin Thomas Jr
- C.J. Leary
- Charles Davis Jr
- Gunnar Setser
- Mitchel Moles
- Chase Stockon
- Hunter Schuerenberg
- Jadon Rogers
- Trey Osborne
- Ricky Lewis
- Thomas Meseraull
Cummins continues to lead the USAC National Sprint Car Championship Points Standings over Moles by 117 points.
Up Next – The Indiana Sprint Week continues Friday night at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, Indiana, live on Flo Racing.
