OCALA, Fla. — Justin Grant was hot on Brady Bacon’s tail with seven laps to go at the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship season opener at Bubba Raceway Park on Friday night.
As the pair entered turn one, a lapped car blocked Bacon’s line into the corner, which opened the door for the No. 4 TOPP Motorsports driver to dive to the inside and take the lead away.
On exit, Bacon fell into line behind Grant, but the two continues to tangle with the same lapped car for another circuit around the D-shaped, three-eighths-mile.
The crucial moment of the race occurred on lap 25, when Grant got out of shape coming out of turn four. Bacon had no choice but to run into the back of Grant, which then caused the No. 69 Hoffman Auto Racing driver to spin.
Up to that point, Bacon had led every lap.
“He spun out in front of both of us, I clipped him, he kept going and I didn’t,” Bacon said following the race. “I’ve done some similar stuff like that here, but not at the end of the race — at the beginning — and kept going.”
Bacon was sent to the back of the field and eventually finished 16th.
Meanwhile, Grant took control of the final five laps and went on to collect the checkered flag on night one at the Winter Dirt Games.
It was the 46th win of his USAC sprint career.
He lent his perspective on the incident with Bacon, saying, “That was disappointing. I was looking forward to racing him, we were having a good race. I felt like we had a better car so I felt like I was going to end up beating him, so would’ve liked to have just had that play out. I just made a mistake there — that wasn’t something I was aiming for.”
The two USAC veterans also had a conversation with each other afterwards.
Behind the leaders’ commotion, C.J. Leary quietly snuck into second in his No. 15x BGE-Dougherty Motorsports entry. Reigning USAC midget and Silver Crown champion Logan Seavey finished third in his No. 57 Abacus Racing sprint car.
Robert Ballou came in fourth, with Briggs Danner completing the top five.
Feature Results (30 Laps)
1. Justin Grant (4), 2. C.J. Leary (3), 3. Logan Seavey (5), 4. Robert Ballou (10), 5. Briggs Danner (8), 6. Jake Swanson (1), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (6), 8. Chase Stockon (7), 9. Kyle Cummins (15), 10. Jadon Rogers (9), 11. Daison Pursley (12), 12. Mitchel Moles (13), 13. Joey Amantea (17), 14. Carson Garrett (19), 15. Alex Bright (14), 16. Brady Bacon (2), 17. Tom Harris (21), 18. Matt Westfall (20), 19. Tye Mihocko (23), 20. Zach Daum (16), 21. Brandon Mattox (24), 22. Timmy Buckwalter (18), 23. Mark Smith (22), 24. Sterling Cling (11). NT