GAS CITY, Ind. — Throughout Thursday night’s James Dean Classic at Indiana’s Gas City I-69 Speedway, Justin Grant experienced the fluctuating feeling of a season-long USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship battle swaying in the balance.
During the heat races, his point lead vanished for a brief moment when Brady Bacon scored a victory. Shortly thereafter, Grant regained a grip on the lead when he answered with his very own heat race win.
With all that said, there was absolutely no fluctuation whatsoever in the feature from the eighth lap onward.
As soon as Grant assumed the point, he gained total command of the race at hand and control of the big picture in terms of the series point lead by scoring his 10th series win of the season aboard his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Bow Foundation – TOPP Industries/Maxim/Kistler Chevy.
The performance turned in by Grant was one for the record books as he became just the 11th driver in the series’ 68-year history to reach double-digit feature victories in a single USAC National Sprint Car season, joining Tom Bigelow (14 in 1977), Robert Ballou (13 in 2015), J.J. Yeley (13 in 2003), Larry Dickson (12 in 1968), Pancho Carter (12 in 1976), Bubby Jones (11 in 1979), Tyler Courtney (11 in 2018), Larry Dickson (10 in 1970), Pancho Carter (10 in 1977) and Jay Drake (10 in 2000).
Grant won the Indiana Sprint Week round at Gas City in July. His 44th USAC National Sprint Car win of Grant’s career now moves him to within one of Larry Dickson (45 wins) for sixth on the all-time list.
Starting seventh in the 22-car field, Grant had some strenuous work to perform in the 30-lap span. Initially, Shane Cottle bolted to the lead from his outside front row starting position on lap one.
However, Cottle’s lay of the land was short-lived as third-starting Robert Ballou split between Cottle and pole starter Emerson Axsom in turn one on lap two to position himself at the forefront of the field.
Following a yellow flag for a spin by 22nd running Rylan Gray between turns one and two on lap six, Bacon was the newest riser through the pack as he flashed around the outside of Emerson Axsom for second place on the restart.
Quickly, though, it became readily apparent that Grant came to play. First, he hit the alley between Axsom and Bacon in turn four on lap seven to escape from fourth to second. Less than a lap later, Grant was in the lead as he blazed by Ballou midway down the back straight to surge into the lead on lap eight.
Grant launched away to a near full-straightaway lead as the race neared the halfway mark, more than three seconds ahead with 15 laps remaining as Ballou, Axsom and Bacon fought like bulldogs on a porkchop for the second spot.
In traffic, Grant was unattainable as his lead ballooned to five seconds with 10 laps to go.
“While I was working lapped traffic, I kept seeing a black and white car kind of poking down there; I thought it was Axsom,” Grant revealed. “I thought I had mega pressure in lapped traffic the whole time, so I had no idea we were that good. It was so slick around here, but I knew our car was really, really good. I was kind of worried about somebody getting the bottom rolling.”
Meanwhile, behind him, Matt Westfall was crawling the bottom with perfection to edge his way up to the third spot past Ballou on lap 24 after beginning his race from mid-pack in the 22-car starting field.
However, Grant’s lead was erased on lap 25 when Daison Pursley performed a 360-degree spin in turn four which necessitated a caution. Nonetheless, it wasn’t enough to deter Grant who stepped away from the pack over the final six laps while riding the rim as the trailing Axsom and Westfall rolled the bottom in their pursuit.
Grant was too much to handle as he earned a 1.408-second victory over Axsom, Westfall, Ballou and Bacon.
With Bacon finishing fifth and Grant first, Grant’s series point lead increased to 15 markers with four races remaining.
“With Brady, the pressure is never off,” Grant acknowledged. “He’s a really good race car driver; he always finds a way; and he keeps his cool. He’s just so, so hard to beat. It’s an honor to compete with him in this deal. I’ve had to become a lot better of a racecar driver because of him. It’s fun to go toe-to-toe with him and he’s as good as it gets. When we can come out on top, it feels really, really good and really rewarding.”
The Boxscore
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Gas City I-69 Speedway, Gas City, Indiana, Sept. 21, 2023
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-11.712; 2. Logan Seavey, 2B, 2B Racing-11.792; 3. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-11.829; 4. Max Adams, 5x, Adams-11.841; 5. Jack Hoyer, 11, Hoyer-11.906; 6. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-11.944; 7. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-11.959; 8. Daison Pursley, 5p, KO-11.962; 9. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-11.965; 10. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-11.991; 11. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.992; 12. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-12.010; 13. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.050; 14. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-12.089; 15. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.114; 16. Jadon Rogers, 17GP, Dutcher-12.121; 17. Harley Burns, 16B, Burns-12.134; 18. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.135; 19. Isaac Chapple, 6, Chapple/Hall-12.146; 20. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.146; 21. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-12.168; 22. Colten Cottle, 57, Hazen-12.202; 23. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-12.209; 24. Jackson Slone, 16, Borzio/Slone-12.236; 25. Sterling Cling, 34, SCR-12.250; 26. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.288; 27. Thomas Meseraull, 23, NIKSTE-12.314; 28. Geoff Ensign, 3F, Ensign-12.360; 29. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-12.481; 30. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-12.488; 31. Wes Pinkerton, 21, Hajduk-12.548; 32. Dustin Ingle, 2DI, Ingle-12.556.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Harley Burns, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Jack Hoyer, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. Saban Bibent, 8. Brandon Mattox. 2:06.47
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. C.J. Leary, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Thomas Meseraull, 7. Colten Cottle, 8. Wes Pinkerton. NT
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Rylan Gray, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Isaac Chapple, 6. Dustin Ingle, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Geoff Ensign. NT
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Zack Pretorius, 2. Max Adams, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Jadon Rogers, 6. Sterling Cling, 7. Daison Pursley. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Chance Crum, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Dustin Ingle, 8. Jack Hoyer, 9. Brandon Mattox, 10. Geoff Ensign, 11. Saban Bibent, 12. Colten Cottle, 13. Matt Mitchell, 14. Wes Pinkerton. 2:44.36
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (7), 2. Emerson Axsom (1), 3. Matt Westfall (12), 4. Robert Ballou (3), 5. Brady Bacon (6), 6. Max Adams (4), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (8), 8. Logan Seavey (10), 9. Jadon Rogers (17), 10. C.J. Leary (15), 11. Mitchel Moles (14), 12. Carson Garrett (13), 13. Jake Swanson (5), 14. Harley Burns (18), 15. Daison Pursley (11), 16. Chance Crum (16), 17. Isaac Chapple (19), 18. Chase Stockon (22), 19. Zack Pretorius (9), 20. Rylan Gray (20), 21. Shane Cottle (2), 22. Thomas Meseraull (21).