TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Justin Grant took the point lead in the 36th annual NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week standings with his third victory in five races Wednesday night at the Terre Haute Action Track.
The initial attempt at a green flag was waved off when it was deemed that polesitter Jake Swanson jumped the start. Swanson was penalized one row and Grant was elevated to the front row. However, it was new pole starter Bacon who pounced early to grab the lead on lap one.
Major trouble came on lap two when 18th running Joey Amantea flipped wildly at the entry to turn one. Ricky Lewis narrowly avoided contact with Amantea and spun backwards to a stop.
The early penalization didn’t deter Swanson as he swooped into the lead on the lap-two restart with a major run off turn two past Bacon.
Third-running Grant attempted to slide Swanson in turn three but split the difference and slotted into second. Grant tried again in turn three on lap four, sliding across the nose of Swanson, who was prepared and reacted accordingly by cutting back under to retake the lead.
On the lap-10 restart following seventh-running Logan Seavey’s stoppage for a new right-rear tire, Grant found his way to the lead, changing his plan of execution by blowing around the outside of Swanson for the top spot on the back straight.
While Swanson and Bacon traded barbs back-and-forth for the runner-spot as the race pressed through the midway point, Grant capitalized and ran his lead up to a 2.314-second margin until Seavey stopped again.
Grant was just about to hit lapped traffic at the time of the yellow, but instead, the caution bunched up the field for a restart with 13 laps remaining. That’s where Swanson made a sudden burst to run alongside Grant for the lead on the lap-18 restart, but Grant successfully fended off the challenge.
Swanson’s misfire at Grant opened the door for Bacon to close in and overtake Swanson for the second spot in turn one on lap 19.
On lap 24, Grant now had company with Bacon hot on his trail just three car lengths behind when Grant bobbled in turn two. Mere moments later, the same exact spot caught third-running Swanson who snagged the cushion and barrel rolled multiple times before coming to a rest.
After very nearly junking it, so to speak, it was at that point that Grant admittedly needed a little guidance and reassurance to settle down during the red flag period, a moment in which Grant felt relieved in more ways than one.
“I was starting to make mistakes, especially down in turns one and two,” Grant recalled. “I knew I had a little more in the tank if I needed it in three and four, but I was maybe running the entry into one and two too hard. I would actually get on top of the curb, then it grabbed the floor pan and tried to turn me over. Under that red, (crew chief Jeff Walker) came out, and he’s like, ‘buddy, calm down. We’re fine. As long as we don’t make any mistakes, we’re not going to lose this race. Just settle down.’”
Grant’s reassurance was challenged immediately when Bacon attempted to slide Grant for the lead on the lap 24 restart, but Grant made a narrow escape around the outside of turn two to maintain his stranglehold on the position. Bacon’s maneuver turned out to be to the benefit of Kevin Thomas Jr. who drifted by Bacon for second place a half lap later in turns three and four.
Bacon nearly found complete disaster in turns one and two on lap 25, getting all but the right front tire off the ground before landing back on all fours, which sent him free-falling all the way back to eighth. Miraculously, Bacon jumped back on the horse and was able to make up four of those spots in the final laps to bring it home fourth.
In the end, however, it was all Grant who widened his lead to 4.898 seconds by the time he hit the finish line for an $8,000 prize ahead of Kevin Thomas Jr., C.J. Leary, Bacon and Emerson Axsom.
Grant entered the event tied atop the standings with Brady Bacon after four races, but jumped to the lead on lap 10 of the historic half-mile oval and led the final 21 circuits for his sixth USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Championship triumph of the season aboard the TOPP Motorsports No. 4.
Grant, who started the feature third, held off seventh-starter Kevin Thomas Jr. to take the checkered flag first.
C.J. Leary, Bacon and Emerson Axsom rounded out the top five.
Grant has an eighth point lead over Bacon in the Sprint Week standings, while Axsom holds a 14-point advantage over Bacon in the yearlong points.
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING
1. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-20.289; 2. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-20.372; 3. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-20.541; 4. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-20.549; 5. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-20.626; 6. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-20.710; 7. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-20.749; 8. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-20.847; 9. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-21.075; 10. Tye Mihocko, 5, Wilson-21.081; 11. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-21.106; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 42, Cheney-21.114; 13. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-21.238; 14. Logan Seavey, 2B, 2B Racing-21.249; 15. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-21.251; 16. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-21.272; 17. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-21.353; 18. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-21.401; 19. Travis Thompson, 7, Thompson-21.411; 20. Daison Pursley, 5p, KO-21.422; 21. Ricky Lewis, 41, Brown-21.492; 22. Justin Zimmerman, 1, D-Up-21.584; 23. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-21.588; 24. Max Adams, 17GP, Dutcher-21.650; 25. Travis Millar, 93AU, Millar-21.705; 26. Dalton Stevens, 99x, Stevens-21.799; 27. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-21.801; 28. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-21.823; 29. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-21.848; 30. Geoff Ensign, 17, On The Gass-21.868; 31. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-22.065; 32. Joey Amantea, 88J, Amantea-22.129; 33. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-22.218; 34. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-22.394.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT
(8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Sterling Cling, 3. Emerson Axsom, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Ricky Lewis, 7. Travis Millar, 8. Logan Calderwood, 9. Matt Westfall. NT
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT
(8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Brady Bacon, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Tye Mihocko, 5. Justin Zimmerman, 6. Geoff Ensign, 7. Dalton Stevens, 8. Troy Carey, 9. Logan Seavey. 2:50.42
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT
(8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Briggs Danner, 4. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 5. Travis Thompson, 6. Charles Davis Jr., 7. Braxton Cummings. 2:52.95
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT
(8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Daison Pursley, 3. Carson Garrett, 4. Joey Amantea, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Max Adams, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. C.J. Leary. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI
(12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Charles Davis Jr., 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Justin Zimmerman, 8. Dalton Stevens, 9. Matt Westfall, 10. Travis Millar, 11. Braxton Cummings, 12. Max Adams, 13. Hunter Maddox, 14. Logan Calderwood, 15. Troy Carey, 16. Travis Thompson. 4:19.96
FEATURE Results (30 laps)
1. Justin Grant (3), 2. Kevin Thomas Jr. (7), 3. C.J. Leary (8), 4. Brady Bacon (2), 5. Emerson Axsom (10), 6. Kyle Cummins (4), 7. Shane Cottle (17), 8. Mitchel Moles (5), 9. Robert Ballou (6), 10. Logan Seavey (13), 11. Matt Westfall (22-P), 12. Daison Pursley (18), 13. Carson Garrett (9), 14. Tye Mihocko (11), 15. Charles Davis Jr. (14), 16. Sterling Cling (16), 17. Ricky Lewis (23), 18. Chase Stockon (20), 19. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (19), 20. Jake Swanson (1), 21. Brandon Mattox (15), 22. Briggs Danner (12), 23. Joey Amantea (21). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter