By Paul Kelly
Speedway, Indiana (July 24, 2025)………Justin Grant continued his knack for winning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway by capturing the opening race of the 38th annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing on Thursday night at The Dirt Track at IMS.
Grant added his seventh USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory of the season and the 61st of his career after also winning the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature on the opening night of the BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors on July 1 at The Dirt Track.
Grant, from Ione, California, now owns a total of four wins on the 1/5th mile dirt track inside turn three of the 2.5-mile IMS oval, also winning a BC39 prelim and the following evening’s championship night feature in 2023.
“It’s the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Grant said. “I probably raced a little rougher than most of the sprint car guys like to race, but I come in here off the BC39, and maybe old habits die hard. I want to win at this place.”
Grant, who started fifth in the 20-car field, took the lead for the first time and for good with 16 laps remaining in the 35-lap feature. He earned $10,000 for the victory in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – LA Poly/Maxim/Kistler Chevy.
Grant’s 61st career USAC National Sprint Car victory tied Brady Bacon for second place all-time on the series career win list. It also puts Grant just one win behind Dave Darland for the all-time lead at 62 victories.
Logan Seavey finished second in the No. 57 Abacus Racing car, followed by pole sitter Robert Ballou in the No. 12 Ballou Motorsports machine.
Ballou led the first 19 laps, but Grant used both the top and bottom grooves of the clay oval to climb from fifth to second. With 16 laps to go, Grant used the high line in turns three and four to power past Ballou, whose car started to emit white plumes of smoke from its left side.
Seavey passed Ballou for second on the next lap and set his sights on Grant. A three-car tangle in turn two triggered the final caution of the feature race with nine laps to go.
Grant got a strong jump on the restart, pulling away slightly. But Seavey found grip and slid under Grant in turns one and two to nose slightly ahead with eight laps remaining. However, Grant used the low line to quickly power ahead of Seavey on the back straightaway and eased away over the final seven laps for the prestigious victory by a 1.479 second margin.
“It was really, really tough,” Grant said. “The pace was really fast, and the top was so fast you had to kind of make some things happen there. I’m sure I didn’t make too many friends, but I wanted to get down here to victory lane.
“I love racing here. I think this little track is amazing. I’m the biggest hater of small racetracks in the world, and one of my favorite ones is this one. It’s kind of funny. We’ve really come a long way on our short track stuff. I’m kind of a half-mile kind of guy. Just super excited to be here.”
On top of everything else, Grant made his 324th consecutive USAC National Sprint Car feature start on this night, tying him with Chase Stockon for the longest streak all-time in series history. Furthermore, Grant’s victory was the 98th of his USAC career across all divisions and is now just two away from becoming the eight driver to reach 100 or more USAC wins.
Grant also kicked off the night in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying by establishing a new one-lap track record at The Dirt Track at IMS with a lap of 12.039 seconds. His 38th career fast time in USAC National Sprint Car competition surpassed Larry Dickson on the list and tied him with Levi Jones for seventh place all-time.
Trey Osborne was awesome on the way to his best career USAC National Sprint Car finish. Starting 18th, the 6’8” red head affectionately known as “Tall” advanced 10 positions to finish eighth. That performance made him the Rod End Supply Hard Charger.
Gunnar Setser rode the rim to the third and final transfer spot in his heat race. On the fourth and final turn of the 10th and final lap, the USAC Rookie went top side to grab the spot in sensational fashion. For that run, he was honored with the Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night.
Additionally, five drivers earned $100 gift cards courtesy of The Hayloft: C.J. Leary, Gunnar Setser, Kake Drake, Harley Burns and Carson Short. All five were the furthest starting back drivers who transferred through their heat race or semi-feature.
C.J. Leary overcame early mechanical woes to come away with a solid night by advancing from eighth to third in his heat race to transfer his way into the feature where he started 15th and finished ninth. Making it even more impressive, it all came after qualifying 35th out of 37 drivers, thus earning him The Hayloft Hard Work Award.
Only one driver got upside down during the night’s program. Justin Grant and Mitchel Moles made bumper-to-bumper contact as Grant slid up in front of Moles in turn two amid their battle for the second spot on lap eight. The blink of an eye later, fourth running Cummins ramped over Moles’ left side wheels and flipped over once.
Amid the melee, seventh place running Chase Stockon made what appeared to be slight contact with the tumbling Cummins. That said, the contact was enough to create some pretty substantial damage, resulting in a couple of broken bones in Stockon’s right hand.
The format for the event differed from the standard USAC National Sprint Car procedure. The driver lineup consisted of an invitational field as determined by several distinct categories. 1) Finished inside the top 30 of the 2024 USAC National Sprint Car standings. 2) Finished inside the top 30 of the 2024 USAC Indiana Sprint Week standings. 3) Ranked inside the top 30 of the 2025 USAC National Sprint Car standings. 4) Ranked inside the top 10 of the 2025 Avanti Windows & Doors USAC CRA Sprint Car standings. 5) Any currently active driver who has previously won an Indiana Sprint Week main event.
Furthermore, the IMS event paid 50 appearance points for all licensed drivers and entrants toward the season-long USAC National Sprint Car standings. However, no points were offered toward the 2025 Indiana Sprint Week standings.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, Indiana – 1/5-Mile Dirt Track – 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
FIRST HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.389; 2. Brady Bacon, 20, Dyson-12.523; 3. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-12.558; 4. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-12.599; 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.742; 6. Logan Calderwood, 6, Ford-12.746; 7. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell/Boyd-12.834.
SECOND HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.309, 2. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.355, 3. Shane Cottle, 34, Olson-12.543, 4. Harley Burns, 16, Britt Aero-12.567, 5. Kale Drake, 2B, 2B Racing-12.646, 6. Max Adams, 24, Simon-12.712, 7. Kyle Shipley, 0G, Black Gold-12.970.
THIRD HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.368; 2. Trey Osborne, 6T, Ebert-12.645; 3. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo-12.938; 4. Rylan Gray, 96, Slinkard-12.979; 5. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.102; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-13.157; 7. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-13.323; 8. C.J. Leary, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-13.449.
FOURTH HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-12.039 (New Track Record); 2. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.400; 3. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.611; 4. Jadon Rogers, 66, Amati-12.733; 5. Wesley Smith, 44, Smith-12.853; 6. Carson Short, 21m, Edwards-13.097; 7. Joey Amantea, 88J, JPA-13.318.
FIFTH HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3R, Rock Steady-12.517; 2. Carson Garrett, 2E, Epperson-12.661; 3. Brady Short, 61m, Edwards-12.673; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.681; 5. Gunnar Setser, 5G, KO-12.710; 6. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-12.892; 7. Bill Rose, 6R, Rose-13.624; 8. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-15.264.
CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature) 1. Chase Stockon, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Charles Davis Jr., 5. Jerry Coons Jr., 6. Logan Calderwood, 7. Braydon Cromwell. 2:06.332
K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Mitchel Moles, 3. Kale Drake, 4. Shane Cottle, 5. Harley Burns, 6. Max Adams, 7. Kyle Shipley. NT
USAC GEAR THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins, 2. Rylan Gray, 3. C.J. Leary, 4. Trey Osborne, 5. Todd Hobson, 6. Kobe Simpson, 7. Brandon Mattox, 8. Hayden Reinbold. 2:08.356
COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature) 1. Jadon Rogers, 2. Justin Grant, 3. Ricky Lewis, 4. Carson Short, 5. Briggs Danner, 6. Joey Amantea, 7. Wesley Smith. 2:04.797 (New Track Record)
CAR IQ FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature) 1. Logan Seavey, 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Brady Short, 5. Carson Garrett, 6. Bill Rose, 7. Hunter Maddox, 8. Chance Crum. NT
HOOSIER TIRE C-MAIN: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi) 1. Max Adams, 2. Logan Calderwood, 3. Wesley Smith, 4. Chance Crum, 5. Hunter Maddox, 6. Brandon Mattox, 7. Joey Amantea, 8. Braydon Cromwell, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Bill Rose, 11. Kobe Simpson, 12. Kyle Shipley. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (15 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle, 2. Carson Short, 3. Trey Osborne, 4. Harley Burns, 5. Charles Davis Jr., 6. Brady Short, 7. Jerry Coons Jr., 8. Logan Calderwood, 9. Wesley Smith, 10. Max Adams, 11. Todd Hobson, 12. Chance Crum, 13. Carson Garrett. NT
FEATURE: (35 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (5), 2. Logan Seavey (8), 3. Robert Ballou (1), 4. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 5. Kale Drake (13), 6. Brady Bacon (11), 7. Mitchel Moles (3), 8. Trey Osborne (18), 9. C.J. Leary (15), 10. Jadon Rogers (9), 11. Harley Burns (19), 12. Jake Swanson (6), 13. Gunnar Setser (14), 14. Rylan Gray (10), 15. Kyle Cummins (4), 16. Shane Cottle (16), 17. Ricky Lewis (12), 18. Charles Davis Jr. (20), 19. Chase Stockon (7), 20. Carson Short (17). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Robert Ballou, Laps 20-35 Justin Grant.
**Kyle Cummins flipped on lap 8 of the feature.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1674, 2-Justin Grant-1587, 3-Mitchel Moles-1451, 4-Logan Seavey-1384, 5-Briggs Danner-1351, 6-Robert Ballou-1308, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1261, 8-Jake Swanson-1244, 9-C.J. Leary-1208, 10-Kale Drake-1201.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-166, 2-Briggs Danner-97, 3-Kyle Cummins-86, 4-Justin Grant-83, 5-Gunnar Setser-83, 6-C.J. Leary-81, 7-Kevin Thomas Jr.-70, 8-Logan Seavey-68, 9-Robert Ballou-66, 10-Chase Stockon-61.
USAC INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PARALLAX GROUP PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-C.J. Leary-11, 2-Harley Burns-11, 3-Kale Drake-10, 4-Trey Osborne-10, 5-Chance Crum-10, 6-Wesley Smith-8, 7-Justin Grant-6, 8-Logan Seavey-6, 9-Brady Bacon-5, 10-Carson Short-5.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 25, 2025 – Honest Abe Roofing Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 5/16-Mile Dirt Track – 38th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by Honest Abe Roofing
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (12.039)
Honest Abe Roofing Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant (12.039)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Chase Stockon
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Jake Swanson
USAC Gear Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
Car IQ Fifth Heat Winner: Logan Seavey
Hoosier Tire C-Main Winner: Max Adams
Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Shane Cottle
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Trey Osborne (18th to 8th)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Gunnar Setser
The Hayloft Hard Work: C.J. Leary
The Hayloft Haymaker Winners: C.J. Leary, Gunnar Setser, Kale Drake, Harley Burns & Carson Short