INDIANAPOLIS — Saturday night’s finale at the Driven2SaveLives BC39 was a night to remember for RMS Racing’s Justin Grant.
After pulling off a dominant win during his prelim on Friday — which was also his first USAC triumph of the year — Grant wheeled his No. 2 midget to victory lane on a second consecutive night at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
And while he won by a two-second margin, it was no easy battle.
The action was fiery from lap one, as polesitter Emerson Axsom took early control of the race. Thursday night’s prelim winner Thomas Meseraull used the outside groove to take over the lead with four laps to go, but a flip from BC39 rookie Daniel Whitley brought the race to red.
On the restart, Grant began to make some moves from his fourth-place starting position, using the high line to get around Keith Kunz Motorsports driver Taylor Reimer and slide into third.
A slider battle between Axsom and Meseraull allowed Grant to thread the needle between the two and take the lead on lap 16. Meseraull then nudged Axsom’s No. 68 car out of the way to steal second. Tanner Thorson also got around Reimer for fifth.
As Grant was bumped by lapped traffic up front, Meseruall surged back into the lead with 14 laps to go.
But with seven to go, the No. 7x climbed the wall and slipped back to fourth, allowed Grant to once again take control. From there, it was smooth sailing for the No. 2 out front until the checkered flag flew, concluding the fifth running of the Driven2SaveLives BC39.
Grant is the fifth different winner of the event — former victors include Brady Bacon (2018), Zeb Wise (2019), Kyle Larson (2021) and Buddy Kofoid (2022). There were six formal lead changes in the 39-lap race.
Axsom finished second in his first race with KKM.
“I felt really good at the start and felt we could have stayed in the lead for a while. You see all these veterans getting mad at the young kids and then you also see a guy like T-Mez doing a slide or die and it’s pretty hypocritical,” Axsom said.
“We had a really great race car. I’m mad to finish second, but we’re racing inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”
Logan Seavey was the hard charger of the race and drove from 12th to finish third.
“Everyone’s so good at a race like this, so it’s hard to get through there,” Seavey said. “Those first four or five laps, I didn’t make any ground. I think when that red came out, I was still 12th. And then, it kind of played to my favor. Everyone settled in and ran the bottom, and I was around the top. I was able to pick off a few that way.”
It was Seavey’s best career finish at the BC39.
Thorson and Meseraull completed the top five. Karter Sarff, Chase McDermand, Reimer, Jacob Denney and Ryan Timms rounded out the top 10. Gavin Miller, who finished 20th, was the top rookie.