ROSSBURG, Ohio — On a milestone night, Justin Grant became the 26th driver to reach 50 USAC national feature victories as he checked off his second career 4-Crown Nationals USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory at Eldora Speedway.
Grant, who won the 2016 4-Crown race, took over the lead on the fifth lap of the 30-lap feature from Jason McDougal and finished it off in fashion by becoming the first driver to reach six series victories on the season to remain afloat with an 80-point lead in his pursuit of a first USAC National Sprint Car driving title.
Grant’s fourth USAC sprint car victory at Eldora came in the 300th USAC national open wheel points paying event ever held at Eldora. Grant reaped a $10,000 reward for a rim-riding performance on one the most famed dirt tracks in the land in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – MPV Express – TOPP Industries/Maxim/Kistler Chevy.
“Eldora Speedway is so awesome,” Grant exclaimed. “It’s on the fence. It’s high stakes. It’s high risk. It’s high reward. I was having an absolute blast out there. I’ve really kind of struggled the last couple of years at Eldora and I about wrote myself off during 4-Crown here last year.”
Every win is meaningful for Grant, but this particular one especially, as he became the first driver to win three Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster races in 2022 – a 10-race miniseries within the USAC National Sprint Car schedule. Jones was Grant’s father-in-law who won six USAC National Sprint Car features at Eldora, including the first of his career in 1977.
“It’s special to win every one of these, but to win a Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster race at Eldora, this is as cool as sprint car racing gets for me,” Grant prided. “I’m on cloud nine.”
C.J. Leary started eighth and shaved Grant’s advantage during the closing laps.
But Grant remained in total control and completed the quest by racing under the checkered flag .644 seconds ahead of Leary, with Bacon third,
McDougal finished fourth with fast-qualifier Chase Stockon fifth.
The Boxscore
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Eldora Speedway, Rossburg, Ohio, Sept. 24, 2022
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-16.032; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-16.051; 3. Geoff Ensign, 5, Baldwin/Fox-16.066; 4. Shane Cottle, 74x, Hodges-16.104; 5. Isaac Chapple, 52, Chapple-16.184; 6. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-16.194; 7. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.221; 8. Jason McDougal, 5m, KO-16.237; 9. Kyle Cummins, 3R, Rock Steady-16.276; 10. Emerson Axsom, 47BC, Clauson Marshall Newman-16.278; 11. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15K, BGE Dougherty-16.316; 12. Jadon Rogers, 14, Engler-16.335; 13. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-16.339; 14. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-16.340; 15. C.J. Leary, 77m, Michael-16.341; 16. Dallas Hewitt, 18, Keen-16.391; 17. Anton Hernandez, 2B, 2B Racing-16.460; 18. Dustin Clark, 75, Clark-16.488; 19. Logan Seavey, 42, Cheney-16.500; 20. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-16.529; 21. Braxton Cummings, 71B, Cummings-16.567; 22. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-16.576; 23. Brian Ruhlman, 49, Ruhlman-16.618; 24. Jack James, 99J, James-16.683; 25. Evan Mosley, 27, Mosley-16.705; 26. Keith Sheffer II, 86, Sheffer-16.720; 27. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-16.747; 28. Nathan Moore, 48, Moore-16.749; 29. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-16.982; 30. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-16.984; 31. Larry Kingseed Jr., 59, Powell-17.002; 32. Alex Bright, 37, Felker-17.062; 33. Korbyn Hayslett, 1H, Hayslett-17.089; 34. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-17.130; 35. Chris Windom, 19, Hayward-17.216; 36. Chris Phillips, 6, Phillips-17.235; 37. Gage Etgen, 99, Etgen-17.269; 38. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.339; 39. Chad Ruhlman, 49c, Ruhlman-17.584; 40. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Anton Hernandez, 4. Kyle Cummins, 5. Braxton Cummings, 6. Isaac Chapple, 7. Evan Mosley, 8. Corey Smith, 9. Korbyn Hayslett, 10. Gage Etgen. 2:11.97
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brady Bacon, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Dustin Clark, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Carson Garrett, 7. Lee Underwood, 8. Keith Sheffer II, 9. Hunter Maddox, 10. Matt Goodnight. 2:11.68
PIT STOP USA THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Geoff Ensign, 6. Brian Ruhlman, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Larry Kingseed Jr., 9. Ryan Barr, 10. Chad Ruhlman. 2:09.23
ROD END SUPPLY FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Jadon Rogers, 3. Shane Cottle, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Brandon Mattox, 6. Dallas Hewitt, 7. Alex Bright, 8. Chris Phillips, 9. Jack James, 10. Nathan Moore. 2:13.44
C MAIN: (8 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Korbyn Hayslett, 2. Larry Kingseed Jr., 3. Chris Windom, 4. Alex Bright, 5. Lee Underwood, 6. Chad Ruhlman, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. Chris Phillips, 9. Matt Goodnight. 2:19.32
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Emerson Axsom, 2. Carson Garrett, 3. Geoff Ensign, 4. Isaac Chapple, 5. Dallas Hewitt, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Chris Windom, 8. Braxton Cummings, 9. Brian Ruhlman, 10. Ryan Barr, 11. Korbyn Hayslett, 12. Evan Mosley, 13. Corey Smith, 14. Jack James, 15. Larry Kingseed Jr., 16. Nathan Moore, 17. Keith Sheffer II. 3:32.07
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (3), 2. C.J. Leary (8), 3. Brady Bacon (5), 4. Jason McDougal (1), 5. Chase Stockon (6), 6. Shane Cottle (4), 7. Mitchel Moles (9), 8. Matt Westfall (2), 9. Kevin Thomas Jr. (14), 10. Kyle Cummins (12), 11. Geoff Ensign (10), 12. Logan Seavey (20), 13. Emerson Axsom (13), 14. Anton Hernandez (18), 15. Brandon Mattox (21), 16. Carson Garrett (16), 17. Jake Swanson (7), 18. Jadon Rogers (15), 19. Dustin Clark (19), 20. Isaac Chapple (11), 21. Dallas Hewitt (17), 22. Robert Ballou (22).