By Richie Murray
Speedway, Indiana (November 29, 2023)………Justin Grant’s second straight USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship isn’t the only impressive accolade he repeated during the 2023 campaign.
For the third consecutive season, and fourth time overall, the Ione, Calif. racer captured the $10,000 Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship, amassing more total points across the three USAC national divisions throughout the duration of the 2023 campaign.
Grant (2021-2022-2023) now becomes just the third driver to win the honor in three consecutive seasons, joining J.J. Yeley (2001-2002-2003) and Bryan Clauson (2010-2011-2012).
Furthermore, with his first such Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship arriving in 2017, Grant also added his name to the very short list of drivers who’ve earned the reward four times overall, a list which includes only himself and Tracy Hines (2000-2008-2013-2014).
“To have my name alongside the legends and heroes of the sport, it’s why I love the lists and I love seeing where my career stacks up against other guys careers,” Grant explained. “I jokingly say that I feel like my name is devaluing that list, but it’s starting to feel more and more like it belongs. I know how big of a deal those guys were to me, watching them as I grew up and then getting to race against them. They’re huge names and icons and I’m awfully, awfully proud to have my name along with them.”
In making 73 combined USAC national starts in 2023, the Ione, Calif. native totaled 4,394 points, just 184 markers more than second place finishing Logan Seavey.
Curb is accustomed to “records” as a hit making musician and the founder of Curb Records, but now racers like Grant are beginning to make records of their own in association with Curb, a record Grant is proud to have his name be a part of.
“It’s super special for me to not only win it once, but to win it four times now,” Grant exclaimed. “Our on-track performance is one thing, but being able to keep car owners and partners and crew people happy and wanting to go up and down the road with me year after year is another point of pride. It’s a little bit different when we go win a big race or a series championship, which is entirely performance based. But to me, the Mike Curb award speaks more about your ability to manage your role as a driver and multiple race teams. I struggled with that early in my career, so it’s a point of pride now that I’ve been able to be successful at that.”
Additionally, Grant once again finished inside the top-three of all three USAC national divisions’ point standings, also doing so in 2021. In 2023, he tallied a first with the AMSOIL National Sprint Cars for TOPP Motorsports, second with the NOS Energy Drink National Midgets for RMS Racing and third with the Silver Crown series for Hemelgarn Racing. He now stands behind only Rich Vogler in that category, the man who was the first to finish inside the top-three in all three in 1980 before repeating in 1981 and again in 1989.
“Being able to be in the points hunt in all three divisions for a few years now is really cool,” Grant reflected. “We want to win all three, and when you don’t, it always feels like a bit of a disappointment, but it gives you a little perspective on the accomplishment and it’s nice to take a breath and look at the fact that there aren’t many guys who’ve had the opportunity to race for all three, and there’s even less guys who’ve had the opportunity to race for all three in a single year.”
Grant is beyond thankful for the opportunity, and while soaking in the accomplishments at season’s end, he doesn’t take any of it for granted.
“To be one of those guys, and to do my job after having that opportunity, makes me feel very grateful and fortunate for the opportunities I have, the car owners I have, the partners I have, the crews that work on them, my family at home and my wife and kids that support me while I’m out on the road.”
This year marked the 25th year of the Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship. Curb has offered the reward annually since the 1999 USAC season to honor USAC’s top overall points champion. Once known as the USAC Super License, the title was rechristened as the National Drivers Championship to more properly represent the accomplishment of achieving the feat, which so few have done. Now Grant will once again accept the honor during USAC’s Night of Champions at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis on Friday night, December 8, 2023.
“The passion he has for motorsports, and especially our form of motorsports, is great, and the fact that he has an award to honor and pay a guy who beats up and down the road and lays it out on the line night-in and night-out is incredible,” Grant said of Curb. “These are dangerous racecars at the end of the day, and when you’re in one as many nights of the year as we are, your odds of getting hurt go up substantially. It feels good to be recognized for that, and it feels good to be appreciated and it means a lot knowing that Mike Curb is willing to do that. He’s done this for a long time now, and I’m honored to win it.”
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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
2023: Justin Grant
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2023 MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS
POS PTS DRIVER
1 4394 Justin Grant
2 4210 Logan Seavey
3 3362 Emerson Axsom
4 3073 Daison Pursley
5 2562 C.J. Leary
6 2547 Brady Bacon
7 2345 Mitchel Moles
8 2196 Jake Swanson
9 2107 Kyle Cummins
10 2012 Matt Westfall
11 2005 Kevin Thomas Jr.
12 1977 Robert Ballou
13 1975 Chase Stockon
14 1705 Thomas Meseraull
15 1457 Bryant Wiedeman
16 1429 Ryan Timms
17 1407 Jade Avedisian
18 1373 Carson Garrett
19 1363 Jacob Denney
20 1227 Gavin Miller
21 1190 Cannon McIntosh
22 1177 Taylor Reimer
23 1087 Shane Cottle
24 1075 Jake Andreotti
25 995 Hayden Reinbold
26 921 Jadon Rogers
27 832 Tanner Thorson
28 829 Chase McDermand
29 822 Kody Swanson
30 770 Briggs Danner
31 766 Max Adams
32 703 Mario Clouser
33 623 Brandon Mattox
34 567 Jesse Love
35 561 Daniel Whitley
36 539 Chance Crum
37 528 Charles Davis Jr.
38 475 Jerry Coons Jr.
39 465 Ethan Mitchell
40 447 Kaylee Bryson
41 436 Joey Amantea
42 400 Mariah Ede
43 399 Taylor Ferns
44 382 Bobby Santos
45 345 Sterling Cling
46 334 Trey Burke
47 322 Eddie Tafoya Jr.
48 319 Brent Beauchamp
49 301 Travis Welpott
50 299 Derek Bischak
51 245 Wayne Johnson
52 241 Kyle O’Gara
53 237 Russ Gamester
54 221 Brady Short
55 216 Davey Hamilton Jr.
56 211 Rylan Gray
57 205 Dalton Stevens
58 201 Dave Berkheimer
59 177 Chase Dietz
60 176 Kyle Steffens
61 173 Bryan Gossel
62 173 Gregg Cory
63 173 Mike McVetta
64 172 Dakoda Armstrong
65 164 Xavier Doney
66 155 Tyler Roahrig
67 148 Zack Pretorius
68 143 Tom Harris
69 139 Carmen Perigo
70 137 Billy Wease
71 137 Nathan Byrd
72 135 Tom Paterson
73 130 Steve Buckwalter
74 129 Shane Cockrum
75 125 Tanner Swanson
76 120 Kayla Roell
77 120 Kyle Robbins
78 117 Dallas Hewitt
79 110 Kevin Newton
80 109 Cole Bodine
81 97 Chris Fetter
82 95 Casey Buckman
83 95 Jason McDougal
84 95 Travis Millar
85 92 Ivan Glotzbach
86 90 Oliver Akard
87 90 Peter Hunnibell
88 89 Ava Gropp
89 88 J.J. Hughes
90 81 Davey Ray
91 79 Brenham Crouch
92 76 Saban Bibent
93 71 Patrick Lawson
94 71 Trey Osborne
95 70 Chris Urish
96 70 Ryan Barr
97 66 Patrick Bruns
98 65 Jacob Wilson
99 61 Danny Long
100 60 Blake Brannon
101 60 Curtis Spicer
102 60 Devan Myers
103 57 Holly Jones
104 55 Ryan Thomas
105 53 Korey Weyant
106 50 Corey Joyner
107 49 Aaron Pierce
108 49 Caleb Armstrong
109 49 Tyler Courtney
110 44 Brian Hayden
111 44 Tim Simmons
112 37 Alex Bright
113 37 Nathan Moore
114 33 Brian Ruhlman
115 32 Mark Bitner
116 31 Steven Russell
117 30 Cody Jessop
118 30 Laike Imm
119 29 Mark Smith
120 27 A.J. Fike
121 27 Matt Mitchell
122 27 Parker Jones
123 25 John Tosti
124 23 Matt Goodnight
125 23 Tanner Berryhill
126 20 Scout Spraggins
127 20 Zach Hampton
128 17 Brent Yarnal
129 10 Adam Taylor
130 10 Cary Oliver
131 10 Critter Malone
132 10 Dave Peperak
133 10 Gary Dunkle
134 10 Jace Park
135 10 Joss Moffatt