Courtesy USAC Media Relations (Josh James Artwork Photo)
Speedway, Indiana (November 28, 2022)………Justin Grant had a special season on the USAC trail in 2022, and along with it comes the special awards.
For the second consecutive year, the Ione, Calif. native captured the Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship. For Grant, it’s his third such title, having earned the reward in 2017, 2021 and now 2022.
Grant becomes just the fourth driver to win the honor on three different occasions, joining J.J. Yeley (2001-2002-2003) and Bryan Clauson (2010-2011-2012). Tracy Hines has won the award more times than anybody else, on four occasions in 2000, 2008, 2013 and 2014.
No other driver started every USAC national event throughout the year and no other driver accumulated more total points throughout the three national divisions during the course of the 2022 campaign than Grant.
In 82 combined USAC national starts in 2022, the Ione, Calif. native totaled 4,991 points, more than a thousand markers over his nearest competition, earning a $10,000 bonus.
“It’s a neat reward,” Grant exclaimed. “It’s cool to be acknowledged for being at the front of all three series throughout the course of the year. Anything with Mike Curb’s name on it carries some weight. He’s been a staple in USAC racing for a long time and winning an award with his name on it is really neat and it’s even neater that it pays a few more bucks this year.”
Grant’s 2022 journey included a first USAC National Sprint Car driving championship and he was the lone driver to win feature in all three series during the year with one Silver Crown victory, six in the sprint cars and five more in midgets.
It’s something that Grant doesn’t take for granted, not the first time he corralled the overall USAC National Drivers Championship, nor the second or third time as well.
“Driving with USAC specifically is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid,” Grant said. “To be in the position to run all these races and to do this is amazing and I want to do as much of it as I can. I’m really fortunate to have great car owners, great partners and great crews and the ability to go and run all these races is really on them with how much they provide for me and how hard they work to keep me going, beating up and down the road.”
As Grant alluded to, it’ takes more than a driver to make it all work. There are several facets that work to make it a success and three teams in which Grant competed for to achieve the feat: Hemelgarn Racing (Silver Crown), TOPP Motorsports (Sprint Car) and RMS Racing (Midget).
“I get to come in and be the hero at the end of the night,” Grant continued. “It’s really a lot about all about them and my wife at home taking care of the kids and holding the house down while I’m out on the road racing. I’ve just got a really good circle around me, great car owners, great partners, great crews, great wife and a great family. There’s a ton of people on the backend that you don’t see on FloRacing who make it possible for everybody to see me on FloRacing every night.”
Curb has offered the reward annually since the 1999 USAC season, and now in his 24th year of bestowing the honor upon USAC’s top overall points champion. The title was rechristened as the National Drivers Championship to more properly represent the accomplishment of achieving the feat, which so few have done.
The prize had previously been known as the USAC National Drivers Championship for a span of three years between 2010-2012 as well as the Super License in recent years.
The new Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Champion will be honored at USAC’s Night of Champions in December of 2022.
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MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONS:
1999: Dave Darland
2000: Tracy Hines
2001: J.J. Yeley
2002: J.J. Yeley
2003: J.J. Yeley
2004: Jay Drake
2005: Josh Wise
2006: Josh Wise
2007: Jerry Coons Jr.
2008: Tracy Hines
2009: Cole Whitt
2010: Bryan Clauson
2011: Bryan Clauson
2012: Bryan Clauson
2013: Tracy Hines
2014: Tracy Hines
2015: Dave Darland
2016: Brady Bacon
2017: Justin Grant
2018: Tyler Courtney
2019: Tyler Courtney
2020: Chris Windom
2021: Justin Grant
2022: Justin Grant
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2022 MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
1. 4,991 Justin Grant
2. 3,968 Logan Seavey
3. 3,164 C.J. Leary
4. 3,117 Mitchel Moles
5. 2,910 Brady Bacon
6. 2,819 Emerson Axsom
7. 2,670 Thomas Meseraull
8. 2,388 Buddy Kofoid
9. 2,369 Robert Ballou
10. 2,148 Jason McDougal
11. 2,079 Matt Westfall
12. 1,910 Jake Swanson
13. 1,864 Chase Stockon
14. 1,829 Kyle Cummins
15. 1,736 Jadon Rogers
16. 1,726 Kaylee Bryson
17. 1,669 Bryant Wiedeman
18. 1,666 Cannon McIntosh
19. 1,439 Kevin Thomas Jr
20. 1,306 Jacob Denney
21. 1,290 Brenham Crouch
22. 1,279 Zach Daum
23. 1,244 Taylor Reimer
24. 1,130 Shane Cottle
25. 1,039 Brandon Mattox
26. 1,021 Ethan Mitchell
27. 977 Hayden Reinbold
28. 956 Chance Crum
29. 930 Jade Avedisian
30. 783 Dominic Gorden
31. 760 Chase McDermand
32. 697 Max Adams
33. 675 Tanner Thorson
34. 668 Kody Swanson
35. 632 Briggs Danner
36. 596 Ryan Timms
37. 585 Jace Park
38. 575 Cade Lewis
39. 569 Alex Banales
40. 525 Mario Clouser
41. 518 Brian Tyler
42. 504 Maria Cofer
43. 488 Daison Pursley
44. 455 Shane Cockrum
45. 454 Charles Davis Jr
46. 431 Alex Bright
47. 428 Mariah Ede
48. 420 Trey Gropp
49. 404 Travis Welpott
50. 379 Dallas Hewitt
51. 332 Cole Bodine & Bobby Santos
53. 327 Xavier Doney
54. 325 Kyle Robbins
55. 322 Brent Beauchamp
56. 319 Gregg Cory
57. 314 Sterling Cling
58. 264 Blake Brannon
59. 255 Taylor Ferns
60. 244 Dave Berkheimer
61. 242 Carson Short
62. 236 Travis Buckley
63. 230 Nathan Byrd
64. 229 Davey Hamilton Jr
65. 223 Eric Gordon
66. 220 Kyle Shipley
67. 218 Wyatt Burks
68. 216 Ricky Lewis
69. 210 Gavin Miller
70. 208 Brady Short
71. 202 Carmen Perigo
72. 199 Derek Bischak
73. 197 Mike McVetta
74. 194 Sam Johnson
75. 189 Steven Drevicki
76. 178 Bryan Gossel
77. 174 Brian Ruhlman
78. 172 Harley Burns
79. 157 Tom Paterson
80. 156 Jack Hoyer
81. 154 Casey Buckman
82. 153 Brian Hayden
83. 147 Russ Gamester
84. 143 Brayden Fox
85. 142 Austin Nemire
86. 141 Davey Ray
87. 129 Nick Bilbee & Kyle O’Gara
89. 127 Dustin Clark
90. 119 Nick Hamilton
91. 118 Mike Haggenbottom
92. 113 Jerry Coons Jr
93. 101 Tanner Swanson
94. 100 Patrick Bruns
95. 98 Steve Buckwalter
96. 95 Braxton Cummings
97. 93 Jake Day
98. 91 Kyle Steffens
99. 89 Brandon Morin
100. 88 Patrick Lawson & Landon Simon
102. 87 Kaidon Brown
103. 82 Jimmy Light
104. 74 Kendall Ruble
105. 64 Chad Boespflug & Tyler Roahrig
107. 63 Adam Taylor
108. 59 J.R. Ewing
109. 56 Rylan Gray
110. 55 Saban Bibent & Bill Rose
112. 51 Danny Long
113. 46 Terry Babb
114. 43 Jake Simmons
115. 42 Dave Peperak
116. 41 A.J. Fike & Chris Windom
118. 39 Matt Goodnight
119. 38 Korey Weyant
120. 37 Tye Mihocko
121. 36 Cary Oliver
122. 34 Oliver Akard
123. 33 Nathan Moore, Steven Russell & Kent Schmidt
126. 31 Mark Smith & Chris Urish
128. 27 Ryan Newman
129. 25 Mark Bitner
130. 24 Chris Fetter
131. 18 Tommy Nichols
132. 10 David Byrne, Chelby Hinton, Anthony Macri, Nate McMillin & Ronnie Wuerdeman
