SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Four years after earning his first career Mike Curb Super License championship, Justin Grant did it once again this year, tallying the most points throughout the USAC national racing season to pick up the $5,000 bonus and a license to compete in all three series next year.
Grant finished the campaign with 5,527 combined points throughout the USAC Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink National Midget seasons, 315 more than runner-up Chris Windom. He was also the only driver to compete in all 93 USAC national features during the year, which tops the previous record of 77 for most USAC starts in a year.
The Californian’s first Super License award came in 2017 and and now Grant is just the sixth driver to earn the award multiple times, joining four-time winner Tracy Hines, three-time winners Bryan Clauson and J.J. Yeley, as well as two-time recipients Dave Darland, Josh Wise and Tyler Courtney.
Grant’s second Super License is just as special to him but feels that his this year was stronger than his performance in 2017.
“It’s definitely a grind beating up and down the road running all of the national races, and it’s awesome that Mike Curb and Curb Records put up an award to recognize that and to support the guys who are doing it,” Grant said. “Mike is a great gentleman; I’ve met him a couple times and he’s an incredible supporter of racing. It’s great to win an award of his and they’re both really special. I also feel like I ran better in all three series than I did in 2017. Both of them are neat and both of them are an honor to win.”
Jumping between the Hemelgarn Racing Silver Crown car, the TOPP Motorsports sprint car and the RMS Racing midget from February to November can be tiring, but Grant credits his support system that helped him win 12 times between the three series.
He was also one of two drivers to win in all three series this year.
“I’m really fortunate to have great teams and great crews that support me as I jump all over the place and jam around from racetrack to race track,” Grant said. “I drive awesome race cars and I couldn’t do that without my teams, the crews that work on them, and the partners that support us. I’m just in a fortunate position to be everywhere I want to be and hit all the national races.”
Following his USAC Silver Crown title in 2020, he came up short of another championship this year. He did manage to make history, however, becoming the first driver to finish in third-place in the USAC Silver Crown, national sprint and national midget standings in a single season.
Grant is also the sixth driver to finish in the top three in all three series in a single year. He joins Rich Vogler (1980, ’81 and ’89), Ken Schrader (1983), Tony Stewart (1995), Yeley (2002 and ’03) and Windom (2020).
“We ultimately wanted to win some championships but coming home third in all of them was a pretty good effort,” Grant said. “It was my first year with the midget team and my first year running the sprint car team out of my shop in Indianapolis. We had kind of a rocky year in the Silver Crown car, but, for the other two, I felt those were really good efforts for new situations and new surroundings.
“It’s awesome to win the Super License and have something to show for, not only all my hard work, but also for my teams, crews and partners.”