Justin Grant (Ione, California) celebrates his fourth consecutive Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown opening night victory on Thursday night at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway (Josh James Artwork Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Kokomo, Indiana (August 22, 2024)………“I love racing at Kokomo Speedway.”
Those words uttered by Justin Grant in the immediate afterglow of his latest USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory on Thursday night at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway may very well be the understatement of the century.
Grant (Ione, Calif.) charged from his seventh starting position, then roared past racelong leader Logan Seavey on the 20th circuit of the 30-lap feature, then led the remaining 11 laps on the 1/4-mile dirt oval to score the opening night victory of Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown XIII.
Not only does Grant have a fondness for Kokomo Speedway itself, the same could be said for the Smackdown opener. In fact, Thursday night’s triumph was the fourth consecutive year that Grant has stood in victory lane following the opening race of Smackdown weekend.
Furthermore, it’s Grant’s fourth consecutive win overall during Smackdown, extending his streak after winning all three nights in succession during the 2023 event. His latest Smackdown feature score extends his record to eight wins during the event.
As a matter of fact, no driver has won more USAC National Sprint Car feature events at Kokomo than Grant, who notched his record-setting 10th on Thursday, which pushed him to the top of the list ahead of the great Dave Darland.
Continuing the avalanche of noteworthy record-making and record-breaking accomplishments, Grant’s 52nd career USAC National Sprint Car feature victory moved him into a tie for third place all-time alongside 1978 series champion Tom Bigelow.
For a guy like Grant, it’s become routine to win at Kokomo. Yet, on the same token, each win remains routinely special for the driver of the TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Bow Foundation – TOPP Industries/Maxim/Kistler Chevy.
“It’s absolutely incredible,” Grant exclaimed. “Kokomo is the first place I drove a 410 sprint car for Jeff Walker who is my crew chief now. It’s been a special, special place to me over the years and I’ve been so fortunate to win races here. I thought this was the coolest racetrack in the world when I moved to Indiana, and to be able to win any race here is incredible to me. Dave Darland is an absolute titan and a hero of the sport. He’s a guy I idolized and a guy who helped me out a lot here. To surpass him here for USAC wins is incredible. I don’t have the proper words for it, but it sure means an awful lot. I love racing at Kokomo Speedway, and I’m just honored I get to do it.”
Grant had endured a funky season, for lack of a better term, which has proved to be perfectly imperfect. His seven USAC National Sprint Car feature wins have been counterbalanced by seven finishes of 20th or worse thus far in 2024, which has him mired ninth in series points after a pair of consecutive championship runs in the two preceding years of 2022 and 2023. Nonetheless, the team has stuck together and rallied to win two of their past three USAC Sprint starts in August.
“It’s been a rocky, rocky year but we keep squeezing out wins,” Grant stated. “We’ve actually got the same number of wins as we did last year at this point, but that’s due to (this crew). I’d burrow myself in a whole and quit if it wasn’t for those guys. They’ve got a lot more confidence in me than I do on a lot of days, and today was another one of those days. I didn’t do a very good job qualifying, but they kept me pumped up all day, kept me digging and kept me in the fight and positive. I just can’t thank them enough.”
Speaking of rocky, the initial start of the night’s feature was exactly that. The green flag was quickly followed by the red flag after third-starting Mitchel Moles biked on his entry into turn three, sending him flipping several times up the racetrack and directly into the path of sixth-starting Brady Bacon who also stopped. Moles’ night was finished while Bacon restarted at the tail and came back to finish eighth.
On the resumption, Seavey scurried out to the lead from his outside front row starting spot to gain the upper hand on pole starter C.J. Leary. Seavey quickly established an eight car length lead and maintained that distance throughout the first half of the race.
By that point, however, Grant had now reached Leary’s rear bumper in the battle for the runner-up position. On lap 18, Grant managed to scoot under Leary to take over second at the exit of turn four before setting his sights on slicing into Seavey’s healthy full second advantage.
A yellow flag moments later on lap 19 assisted Grant in that regard as the result of a six-car stack-up in between turns one and two. The incident was triggered by contact between Bacon and Jadon Rogers on the bottom of turn one amid their pursuit for the 11th position. Rogers got the worst end of the deal, spinning sideways and subsequently collecting a train of cars that included Kale Drake, Max Adams, Harley Burns, Brandon Mattox and Carson Garrett, all of whom stopped in the collision.
One lap after the ensuing restart, Grant found his way to the front, sliding Seavey for the lead in turn four on the 20th lap, then instantly began to stretch out his advantage over Seavey to several car lengths with a mere 10 laps to go. In doing so, Grant grabbed the lead by using the bottom side of the racetrack, atypical of his rim-riding style at the bullring.
“I think everybody was focused on hammering the top, and I was really able to run the bottom, which is rare for me here,” Grant admitted. “Normally, I’m the guy waiting for the top to get cleaned off and then I can make some ground. I was really able to get off the middle of two really good, then I just kept chasing the pile. It was almost Haubstadt-y. I just chased the pile around in three and four and was able to make up a lot of ground using that without the treacherousness of the curb. The guys who did try to come to the bottom had to slow down to grab it, and I felt like you could just float across there. Our car was really good, so it allowed me to do that.”
Grant went unblemished down the stretch as he pulled away to a 2.028 second victory over Daison Pursley, Briggs Danner and Seavey while Robert Ballou rounded out the top-five.
Daison Pursley (Locust Grove, Okla.) took over second place with a late-race surge on lap 23 as he drove under Seavey for the spot in turns one and two aboard his Team AZ Racing/Apache Transport – Oak Craft Elegant Cabinetry/DRC/1-Way Chevy. In three USAC starts in 2024 at Kokomo, Pursley hasn’t finished worse than fourth. He won June’s Indiana Midget Week round, then finished fourth during Indiana Sprint Week and was second on Thursday in the Smackdown opener.
Briggs Danner (Allentown, Pa.) started mid-pack, but he sure wasn’t intent on staying there. Rolling off 14th, he picked his way through the field to move into a podium spot late as he raced by Seavey on lap 27 to slot into the third position where he’d go on to finish in his Hogue Racing Enterprises/E. Schneider & Sons – Boulevard Truck Repair/DRC/Rider Chevy. That earned him the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Ricky Lewis (Oxnard, Calif.) had a fine ride, starting 24th on the grid before making his all the way up to finish 10th in the main event, earning himself a $200 bonus as the J & J Trucking Hard Charger.
Trey Osborne (Columbus, Ohio) earned his way into the feature lineup with style. He made a late race pass in the semi-feature to secure the fourth and final transfer spot, which presented him him a brand new right rear Hoosier Tire.
Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Ind.) overcame a 30th place qualifying time to win his heat race and transfer his way into the feature. Unfortunately, after running as high as ninth in the feature, an accident dropped him to 19th at the finish line. Despite the unheralded ending, his performance netted him Hard Work honors for the evening.
Jack Hoyer (Frankfort, Ind.) was the recipient of the night’s “Top Local” award courtesy of Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage. The parameters for the local driver award entail a driver who is currently inside the top-20 of the 2024 Kokomo Speedway points, but is not inside the top-20 of the USAC standings. Hoyer ran as high as 12th and finished 16th in what was his first career Smackdown feature start.
Kevin Thomas Jr. (Cullman, Ala.) recorded his 40th career fast qualifying time in USAC National Sprint Car competition on this night. That moved him past Levi Jones for sixth place on the all-time list.
The 50 cars on hand were a Sprint Car Smackdown record for a single night, breaking the previous record of 46 entries set on the opening night of the 2023 event.
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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: August 22, 2024 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 13th Annual Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown XIII
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.782; 2. Brady Bacon, 69, Dynamics-12.817; 3. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.901; 4. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.901; 5. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.902; 6. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.908; 7. Daison Pursley, 21AZ, Team AZ-12.968; 8. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.971; 9. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.988; 10. C.J. Leary, 15x, BGE Dougherty-13.013; 11. Carson Garrett, 15, BGE Dougherty-13.030; 12. Shane Cottle, 2E, Epperson-13.139; 13. Trey Osborne, 11T, Osborne-13.142; 14. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-13.148; 15. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.148; 16. Jake Swanson, 47, Eades-13.153; 17. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-13.159; 18. Max Adams, 63, F & F-13.161; 19. Luke Hall, 23s, Simon-13.181; 20. Jack Hoyer, 57H, Hazen-13.187; 21. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-13.197; 22. Chase Stockon, 5s, KO-13.211; 23. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-13.230; 24. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell-13.297; 25. Weston Gorham, 71w, Gorham-13.341; 26. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.345; 27. Stevie Sussex, 77s, Sturgeon-13.348; 28. Anton Hernandez, 5, Baldwin/Fox-13.364; 29. Ricky Lewis, 41, Stensland-13.379; 30. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-13.400; 31. Rylan Gray, 06, Gray-13.408; 32. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.411; 33. Cody Williams, 92, Sertich-13.413; 34. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-13.419; 35. Austin Hawkins, 5A, Hawkins-13.428; 36. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-13.429; 37. Parker Frederickson, 34, Frederickson-13.430; 38. Matt Goodnight, 39G, Goodnight-13.438; 39. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.462; 40. Frankie Guerrini, G3, F & F-13.486; 41. Kyle Shipley, 4u, AJR-13.486; 42. Colin Grissom, 00, Grissom-13.548; 43. David Gasper, 04, Burton-13.602; 44. Brayden Clark, 4c, Clark-13.724; 45. Aaron Davis, 11, Davis-13.724; 46. Max Frank, 25, Middle Class-13.787; 47. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-13.802; 48. Nate Schank, 1, Schank-13.827; 49. Jack James, 99, James-14.317; 50. Michael Daugherty, 3.14, Daugherty-14.335.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Harley Burns, 2. Carson Garrett, 3. Jake Swanson, 4. Kobe Simpson, 5. Kevin Thomas Jr., 6. Briggs Danner, 7. Rylan Gray, 8. Kyle Shipley, 9. Todd Hobson, 10. Max Frank. 2:14.053
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Stevie Sussex, 2. Shane Cottle, 3. Daison Pursley, 4. Brady Bacon, 5. Chase Stockon, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Colin Grissom, 8. Parker Frederickson, 9. Hunter Maddox, 10. Joey Amantea. NT
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Anton Hernandez, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Max Adams, 5. Robert Ballou, 6. Trey Osborne, 7. Cody Williams, 8. David Gasper, 9. Nate Schank, 10. Matt Goodnight. 2:13.579
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Logan Seavey, 5. Luke Hall, 6. Brayden Cromwell, 7. Hayden Reinbold, 8. Brayden Clark, 9. Saban Bibent, 10. Jack James. 2:13.931
STEEL-IT FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. C.J. Leary, 3. Jack Hoyer, 4. Brandon Mattox, 5. Weston Gorham, 6. Frankie Guerrini, 7. Zack Pretorius, 8. Aaron Davis, 9. Austin Hawkins, 10. Michael Daugherty. 2:17.580
TRAILER ALARMS C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Kyle Shipley, 2. Brayden Clark, 3. Nate Schank, 4. David Gasper, 5. Aaron Davis, 6. Todd Hobson, 7. Saban Bibent, 8. Matt Goodnight, 9. Hunter Maddox, 10. Joey Amantea, 11. Jack James, 12. Max Frank, 13. Michael Daugherty. 2:16.860
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Robert Ballou, 4. Trey Osborne, 5. Weston Gorham, 6. Matt Westfall, 7. Chase Stockon, 8. Frankie Guerrini, 9. Kyle Shipley, 10. Braydon Cromwell, 11. Luke Hall, 12. Rylan Gray, 13. Cody Williams, 14. Hayden Reinbold, 15. Nate Schank, 16. Brayden Clark, 17. Zack Pretorius, 18. Colin Grissom, 19. David Gasper. 2:42.697
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (7), 2. Daison Pursley (4), 3. Briggs Danner (14), 4. Logan Seavey (2), 5. Robert Ballou (13), 6. C.J. Leary (1), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (12), 8. Brady Bacon (6), 9. Jake Swanson (19), 10. Ricky Lewis (24), 11. Stevie Sussex (9), 12. Carson Garrett (15), 13. Brandon Mattox (18), 14. Kyle Cummins (5), 15. Trey Osborne (17), 16. Jack Hoyer (21), 17. Kale Drake (22), 18. Kobe Simpson (23), 19. Jadon Rogers (11), 20. Hunter Maddox (25-P), 21. Harley Burns (8), 22. Max Adams (20), 23. Anton Hernandez (10), 24. Shane Cottle (16), 25. Mitchel Moles (3). NT
(P) represents a provisional starter
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Logan Seavey, Laps 20-30 Justin Grant.
**Joey Amantea flipped during the second heat. Hunter Maddox flipped during the second heat. Aaron Davis flipped after the checkered flag during the C-Main. Mitchel Moles flipped on lap 1 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Logan Seavey-2291, 2-Brady Bacon-2209, 3-Daison Pursley-2097, 4-C.J. Leary-2043, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1996, 6-Mitchel Moles-1945, 7-Robert Ballou-1919, 8-Kyle Cummins-1854, 9-Justin Grant-1840, 10-Carson Garrett-1507.
USAC NATIONAL PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Daison Pursley-168, 2-Logan Seavey-146, 3-Robert Ballou-134, 4-C.J. Leary-109, 5-Justin Grant-107, 6-Kyle Cummins-105, 7-Chase Stockon-101, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-95, 9-Joey Amantea-92, 10-Brady Bacon-90.
SPRINT CAR SMACKDOWN XIII PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Briggs Danner-15, 2-Ricky Lewis-14, 3-Jake Swanson-10, 4-Justin Grant-9, 5-Robert Ballou-9, 6-Nate Schank-9, 7-Kyle Shipley-8, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-6, 9-Carson Garrett-5, 10-Brandon Mattox-5.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: August 23-24, 2024 – Kokomo Speedway – Kokomo, Indiana – 1/4-Mile Dirt Oval – 13th Annual Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown XIII
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Logan Seavey (13.042)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Kevin Thomas Jr. (12.782)
Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner: Harley Burns
Rod End Supply Second Heat Winner: Stevie Sussex
T.J. Forged Third Heat Winner: Anton Hernandez
Car IQ Fourth Heat Winner: Justin Grant
Steel-It Fifth Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
Trailer Alarms C-Main Winner: Kyle Shipley
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Hoosier Tire Last Semi-Transfer: Trey Osborne
ProSource Hard Work: Jadon Rogers
J & J Trucking Hard Charger: Ricky Lewis (24th to 10th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Briggs Danner
Jeff’s Jam-It-In Storage Top Local Driver: Jack Hoyer (16th)
