By T.J. Buffenbarger
ROSSBURG, Ohio (September 24, 2016) — Justin Grant added the biggest feature win of his career winning the USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series portion of the 4-Crown Nationals Saturday night at Eldora Speedway. Grant took the lead from Matt Westfall and on lap 10 and held off a late race surge by Chris Windom for the victory.
“I don’t know what it was like behind me, but it was exciting looking gout the front of this 17 car,” said Grant. “The holes in one and two were a handful, and it seemed like it was fastest just to run right through them. Then three and four was a little tricky and you had to be careful not to get into the fence down there. When you get into lapped traffic it was just on hope and a prayer.”
Grant and Windom raced hard, but clean through the last portion of the sprint car feature.
“Chris raced me clean. I think he was pressuring me most of the race. He slid me real clean, I have to thank him for that.” said Grant.
Matt Westfall and Thomas Meseraull started on the front row for the 30-lap feature. Westfall took the lead while Grant passed Meseraull for second. Meseraull continued to drop back through the field as Windom, Dave Darland, and Brady Bacon moved him back on consecutive laps.
Up front Grant began to close on Westfall for the lead. Grant bobbled on lap six and allowed Westfall to pull away, but Grant quickly closed the gap and starting to apply pressure for the lead. Grant made his move on lap 11 diving under Westfall for the lead. Westfall tired to turn under Grant to counter, but could not make the pass.
Behind the race for the lead Windom continued his march through the field diving under Darland to take third position on lap 10 and Westfall for second on lap 13.
The caution appeared for Scotty Weir and allowed the field to be bunched up again. Windom tried to drive under Grant for the lead, but Granted crossed over and maintained the lead. Behind them Darland passed Westfall for third on lap 13. One lap later Brady Bacon moved Westfall back one more spot taking away the fourth spot.
Grant pulled away with Windom trying to keep pace. With 10 laps to go Grant began to close in on the back of the field. Then with four laps to go Grant got sideways in turn four while overtaking slower cars and Windom quickly closed the gap. With two laps to go Windom closed in on Grants back bumper. On the final lap Windom made a dive for the lead through turns three and four, but Grant used his momentum to hold off Windom for the victory. Bacon, Darland, and Tyler Courtney rounded out the top five.
USAC Amsoil National Sprint Car Series
4-Crown Nationals
Eldora Speedway
Rossburg, OH
Saturday September 24, 2016
Qualifying: 1. 32 – Chase Stockon, 16.514; 2. 69 – Brady Bacon, 16.612; 3. 5 – Chris Windom, 16.612; 4. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 16.705; 5. 98E – Chad Boespflug, 16.901; 6. 11 – Dave Darland, 16.918; 7. 17 – Justin Grant, 17.048; 8. 18K – Dallas Hewitt, 17.105; 9. 33M – Matt Westfall, 17.113; 10. 17N – Nick Bilbee, 17.172; 11. 9X – Thomas Meseraull, 17.190; 12. 97 – Bret Mellenberndt, 17.193; 13. 1 – Kevin Thomas Jr. , 17.248; 14. 18 – Jarett Andretti, 17.249; 15. 57 – Shane Cottle, 17.283; 16. 22S – Scotty Weir, 17.301; 17. 24 – Landon Simon, 17.314; 18. 17GP – Aaron Farney, 17.320; 19. 39 – Matt Goodnight, 17.354; 20. 30 – C.J. Leary, 17.355; 21. 63 – Kody Swanson, 17.398; 22. 15 – Brandon Whited, 17.433; 23. 74X – Josh Hodges, 17.440; 24. 52 – Issac Chapple, 17.451; 25. 50 – Tony Dimattia, 17.459; 26. 20 – Jerry Coons Jr. , 17.542; 27. 66S – Corey Smith, 17.552; 28. 1W – Mitch Wissmiller, 17.557; 29. 66 – Carson Short, 17.609; 30. 320 – Bill Rose, 17.719; 31. 7X – Logan Hupp, 17.730; 32. 9X – Luke Hall, 17.741; 33. 37 – Jake Blackhurst, 17.836; 34. 74 – Drew Rader, 17.847; 35. 21 – Travis Hery, 17.852; 36. 2C – Tim Creech, 17.856; 37. 24L – Lee Underwood, 17.883; 38. 3W – Kyle Wissmiller, 18.036; 39. 2I – Dustin Ingle, 18.203; 40. 19 – Joe Bares, 18.259;
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps): 1. 63 – Kody Swanson, 2. 24 – Landon Simon, 3. 1 – Kevin Thomas Jr, 4. 33M – Matt Westfall, 5. 98E – Chad Boespflug, 6. 32 – Chase Stockin, 7. 66 – Carson Short, 8. 50 – Tony DiMattia, 9. 37 – Jake Blackhurst, 10. 24L – Lee Underwood. (First four finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps): 1. 17GP – Aaron Farney, 2. 69 – Brady Bacon, 3. 11 – Dave Darland, 4. 15 – Brandon Whited, 5. 17N – Nike Bilbee, 6. 20 – Jerry Coons Jr, 7. 18 – Jarett Andretti, 8. 320 – Bill Rose, 9. 3K – Kyle Wissmiller, 10. 74 – Drew Rader. (First four finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps): 1. 39 – Matt Goodnight, 2. 74 – Josh Hodges, 3. 17 – Justin Grant, 4. 9X – Thomas Meseraull, 5. 57X – Shane Cottle, 6. 21 – Travis Hery, 7. 7X – Logan Hupp, 8. 66S – Corey Smith, 9. 2I – Dustin Ingle, 10. 5 – Chris Windom. (First four finishers transfer to the A-Main)
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps): 1. 30 – C.J. Leary, 2. 52 – Issac Chapple, 3. 22S – Scotty Weir, 4. 18X – Dallas Hewitt, 5. 97 – Bret Mellenberndt, 6. 9N – Luke Hall, 7. 19 – Joe Bares, 8. 2C – Tim Creech, 9. 23C – Tyler Courtney, DNS: 1W – Mitch Wissmiller. (First four finishers transfer to the A-Main)
B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 32 – Chase Stockon, 2. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 3. 5 – Chris Windom, 4. 98E – Chad Boespflug, 5. 97 – Brett Mellenberndt, 6. 18 – Jarett Andretti, 7. 20 – Jerry Coons Jr, 8. 17N – Nick Bilbee, 9. 57 – Shane Cottle, 10. 66 – Carson Short, 11. 320 – Bill Rose, 12. 9N – Luke Hall, 13. 7X – Logan Hupp, 14. 74 – Drew Rader, 15. 19 – Joe Bares, 16. 37 – Jake Blackhurst, 17. 21 – Travis Hery, 18. 2C – Tim Creech, 19. 3W – Kyle Wissmiller, 20. 24L – Lee Underwood, 21. 2Di – Dustin Ingle, 22. 50 – Tony DiMattia. DNS 66S – Corey Smith. (First eight finishers transferred to the A-Main)
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 17 – Justin Grant, 2. 5 – Chris Windom, 3. 69 – Brady Bacon, 4. 11 – Dave Darland, 5. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 5. 23C – Tyler Courtney, 6. 18X – Dallas Hewitt, 7. 32 – Chase Stockon, 8. 33M – Matt Westfall, 9. 74X – Josh Hodges, 10. 17N – Nick Bilbee, 11. 15 – Brandon Whited, 12. 1 – Kevin Thomas Jr, 13. 97 – Bret Mellenberndt, 14. 18 – Jarett Andretti, 15. 52 – Issac Chapple, 16. 9X – Thomas Meseraull, 17. 20 – Jerry Coons Jr, 18. 39 – Matt Goodnight, 19. 66 – Carson Short, 20. 17GP – Aaron Farney, 21. 98E – Chad Boespflug, 22. 63 – Kody Swanson, 23. 22S – Scotty Weir, 24. 24 – Landon Simon, 25. 30 – C.J. Leary.