Justin Grant is joined by the family of Justin Owen in victory lane following Grant’s USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature win on Saturday night at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway. (Indy Racing Images Photo)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Lawrenceburg, Indiana (April 12, 2025)………When a jubilant Justin Grant hoisted his helmet out of the top of his roll cage following his first career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory at Indiana’s Lawrenceburg Speedway in 2012, little did anyone know that it was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to what he would go on to accomplish at the 3/8-mile dirt oval in the years to come.
On Saturday night, nearly 13 years later, Grant once again raised his helmet skyward on the cooldown lap, this time after tying Dave Darland as the winningest driver in USAC National Sprint Car history at Lawrenceburg, matching The Peoples Champ with his seventh score at the venue.
Moments later, Grant paid homage to the driver in which Saturday night’s event was honoring – Justin Owen – by bringing his car to a complete stop atop turn three, the same spot in which Owen lost his life two years earlier during a 2023 USAC Sprint Car qualifying crash.
“It’s big. It’s really, really big,” Grant reflected upon winning the second annual Justin Owen Memorial. “To tie Dave (Darland) here for all-time wins is great, and that’s special to me, but it’s really special to win this race in Justin’s memory. Admittedly, I didn’t know him very well but I raced with him down here back when I was in the (Mark Hery) 40 car. He was clearly special with as many people who support this race and with as many people who turn out and everybody doing things in his honor. It shows how special of a person he was to so many people.”
Furthermore, Grant’s personal USAC National Sprint Car win tally now stands at 56, which has him just six back of Darland’s record of 62 on the list of all-time winners and just three behind Brady Bacon’s who stands second with 59.
Starting outside the front row in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – LA Poly/Maxim/Kistler Chevy, Grant gave way to pole sitter Chase Stockon for the initial pair of laps at the start until Australian Todd Hobson (17th) flipped in turn one and also collected Jadon Rogers (20th). Hobson climbed out and walked away from the wreckage, but after the car was towed to the Indy Metal Finishing Work Area, repairs were made and Hobson rejoined the field at the tail before ultimately finishing 19th.
From then on, it was a duel at the front between Stockon and Grant, who worked the high line while Stockon operated on the lower half of the track. On lap nine, Grant zipped to the inside of Stockon off turn four, out-dragging him into turn one to take over up front.
Thereafter, Grant refused to relent on the path in which he used to strike the decisive pass, maintaining a residence on the high line while Stockon gave chase in second. But Grant was a man with a plan, stating that he felt as if he might’ve channeled his days of driving the Hery no. 40 at Lawrenceburg in the early 2010s, recalling that it had been quite some time since he had been above the cushion anywhere. But he knew that if he could stick with it it was going to pay off in a major way.
“I could just make up so much speed off of two,” Grant explained. “The backstretch was slick and I was afraid about coming across the bottom. I’d get tight in the center and then just not get that run down the back stretch. It seemed like it was pretty sketchy into one. But once you got clear of that, it was really nice and smooth up there. Honestly, I was just trying to stay up where it was smooth. It just had that one spot, then I could carry so much momentum. I knew if I could keep it out of the fence getting into one and not get choked up on a restart there, I’d be in good shape.”
Grant’s quest was soon put to the test following lap 11 when Luke Hall (17th) biked in turn three and flipped upside down, necessitating a red flag and restart. Hall was able to climb out and walk away.
Throughout the middle stages, Stockon was able to pose a challenge to Grant for the lead, briefly pulling ahead of Grant on the low side of turn two. Yet, each time, Grant promptly rocketed off the top to retake the lead from Stockon.
While Grant and Stockon were up front engaging in their own war, the tussle between the third and fourth place cars driven by Mitchel Moles (3rd) and Robert Ballou (4th) was raging. As Moles and Ballou crossed the stripe to complete lap 15, Moles’ car appeared to slow up ever so briefly, which was met by front bumper to rear bumper contact between the pair.
When the same two reached turn two side-by-side, it got even more messy when the two connected wheels with the end result being Ballou’s right rear tire ramping over Moles’ left front, which sent Moles spinning backward to a stop. Moles’ night ended on the spot after he had completed two-thirds of a sweep after setting his 17th career fast time in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying followed by a triumphant first heat race victory. Ballou, meanwhile, continued onward, and ultimately, finished on the podium.
Over the course of the final 10 laps of the 30-lap main, Stockon managed to sneak a peek on multiple occasions down underneath Grant, edging ahead just slightly on both laps 21 and 22 before giving way to the high-riding Grant who had momentum on his side as he blitzed past Stockon each time, and gradually built up a full two second lead.
In the end, Grant pushed his advantage to 2.678 seconds as he passed under the checkered flag for the second time during the 2025 USAC National Sprint Car season over Stockon, Ballou, Briggs Danner and C.J. Leary who completed the top-five.
In addition to Grant’s $7400 top prize, several more drivers collected a myriad of bonuses courtesy of the late Justin Owen’s friends and family as well as from a variety of sponsors and donations, which totaled more than $6,000 in additions to the purse.
Nick Bilbee took home $1354.00 in special race bonuses alone, plus money from Rod End Supply for earning hard charger honors by advancing from his 20th place feature starting spot to finish 11th in the feature.
Also, Carson Garrett picked up $604 as the first non-transfer from the semi-feature. Chase Stockon recorded the second fastest time in hot laps while Logan Seavey was the second quickest in qualifying, with both drivers earning a $404 reward. Briggs Danner pocketed an extra $264 as the fourth place feature finisher. An extra $26 apiece went to the fourth place finishers from each heat race: Shawn Westerfeld, Jadon Rogers, Austin Nigh and Jake Swanson.
C.J. Leary made the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night. All in all, it was a bounce back night for the 2019 USAC National Sprint Car champ who finished his evening by winning his heat race, then racing to a top-five feature finish.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 12, 2025 – Lawrenceburg Speedway – Lawrenceburg, Indiana – 3/8-Mile Dirt Track – Justin Owen Memorial
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-14.267; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-14.268; 3. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-14.307; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-14.326; 5. Saban Bibent, 98, Wedgewood-14.335; 6. Shawn Westerfeld, 4J, Fischesser/Owen-14.413; 7. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-14.430; 8. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-14.520; 9. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming/Swanson-14.567; 10. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-14.660; 11. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-14.678; 12. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-14.685; 13. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-14.737; 14. Todd Hobson, 98H, Doran/Wedgewood-14.741; 15. Daison Pursley, 86, CBI-14.754; 16. Austin Nigh, 97, Nigh-14.762; 17. Max Adams, 17GP, Dutcher-14.766; 18. Luke Hall, 23s, Simon-14.794; 19. Kale Drake 2B, 2B Racing-14.821; 20. Nick Bilbee, 69, Bilbee/Hoffman-14.842; 21. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-14.848; 22. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-14.883; 23. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-14.903; 24. Ryan Barr, 21B, Barr-15.027; 25. Kayla Roell, 4K, Roell-15.063; 26. Nate Carle, 14c, Carle-15.392; 27. Zach Lamb, 73, Lamb-15.491; 28. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Boyd-NT.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Mitchel Moles, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. Todd Hobson, 4. Shawn Westerfeld, 5. Nate Carle, 6. Luke Hall, 7. Carson Garrett. NT
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Daison Pursley, 2. Kale Drake, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Jadon Rogers, 5. Kyle Cummins, 6. Logan Seavey, 7. Zach Lamb. 2:01.73
HOOSIER TIRE THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Nick Bilbee, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Austin Nigh, 5. Gunnar Setser, 6. Ryan Barr, 7. Braydon Cromwell. 2:03.03
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature) 1. C.J. Leary, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Hayden Reinbold, 4. Jake Swanson, 5. Kayla Roell, 6. Max Adams. 2:02.00
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Max Adams, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Ryan Barr, 4. Luke Hall, 5. Carson Garrett, 6. Zach Lamb, 7. Braydon Cromwell. 2:35:55
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Chase Stockon (1), 3. Robert Ballou (4), 4. Briggs Danner (11), 5. C.J. Leary (8), 6. Logan Seavey (9), 7. Kyle Cummins (12), 8. Jake Swanson (10), 9. Daison Pursley (7), 10. Gunnar Setser (5), 11. Nick Bilbee (20), 12. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 13. Kale Drake (19), 14. Hayden Reinbold (14), 15. Max Adams (17), 16. Ryan Barr (22), 17. Kayla Roell (23), 18. Shawn Westerfeld (3), 19. Todd Hobson (15), 20. Austin Nigh (16), 21. Mitchel Moles (6), 22. Luke Hall (18), 23. Nate Carle (24), 24. Jadon Rogers (21). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-8 Chase Stockon, Laps 9-30 Justin Grant.
**Saban Bibent flipped during qualifying. Todd Hobson flipped on lap 3 of the feature. Luke Hall flipped on lap 11 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-587, 2-Justin Grant-577, 3-Daison Pursley-543, 4-Logan Seavey-457, 5-Jake Swanson-436, 6-C.J. Leary-425, 7-Briggs Danner-425, 8-Mitchel Moles-424, 9-Robert Ballou-400, 10-Kale Drake-398.
PARALLAX GROUP USAC NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-55, 2-C.J. Leary-44, 3-Briggs Danner-31, 4-Jadon Rogers-26, 5-Chase Stockon-24, 6-Kyle Cummins-19, 7-Robert Ballou-18, 8-Jake Swanson-17, 9-Kayla Roell-15, 10-Harley Burns-14.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: May 2-3, 2025 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 1/2-Mile Dirt Track – #LetsRaceTwo
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: C.J. Leary (14.572)
2nd Fastest Driver in Hot Laps: Chase Stockon (14.636)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Mitchel Moles (14.267)
2nd Fastest Qualifier: Logan Seavey (14.268)
26th Fastest Qualifier: Nate Carle (15.392)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Mitchel Moles
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Hoosier Tire Third Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
4th Place Heat Race Finishers: Shawn Westerfeld, Jadon Rogers, Austin Nigh & Jake Swanson
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Max Adams
First Semi Non-Transfer: Carson Garrett
4th Place Feature Finisher: Briggs Danner
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Nick Bilbee (20th to 11th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: C.J. Leary
