BELLEVILLE, Kan. — One night after scoring his first Belleville victory on the short track, Justin Grant took his show to the high banks to earn his first triumph on the famed half-mile Belleville High Banks oval.
On Saturday night, the Ione, California, native set a torrid pace to wire all 50 caution-free laps at the Belleville High Banks, completing the 25-mile distance in 15 minutes, 36.45 seconds, lowering the previous track record by nearly six minutes.
Grant had previously come close to victory at Belleville’s daunting banks, finishing third in 2015 and fourth in 2024, and in 2023, led 15 laps before flipping with four laps remaining in a classic duel with Brady Bacon.
But there was no duel on this day as Grant dominated the field by nearly a straightaway in convincing fashion.
“It feels great to win here, especially up on the high banks,” Grant exclaimed. “I could just really hammer one and two, but it felt not quite like Belleville while running the bottom of three and four. Our car was locked down on the bottom over there and I thought, ‘man, I’m running wide open, so there’s no sense in moving up.’”
Grant’s run of USAC Silver Crown success through three races on the 2025 schedule has seen him finish second on the dirt at the Terre Haute Action Track, followed by a pair of victories on the pavement of Toledo Speedway and on the soil of the Belleville High Banks, all of which have provided the 2020 USAC Silver Crown champ a 33-point lead.
After becoming the fastest driver ever to win across all three USAC national divisions in a single season back in late April of this year, following his Belleville scores this weekend, he is now the first driver to win in every division twice with two apiece in Silver Crown, sprint cars and midgets.
Grant lined up on the outside of the front row for Belleville in his Hemelgarn Racing/NOS Energy Drink – Super Fitness – Hemelgarn Enterprises/DRC/Speedway Chevy alongside pole sitter Mitchel Moles who continued his qualifying prowess with a time of 16.927 seconds in the Honest Abe Roofing session, the third of his Silver Crown career.
Grant flexed his muscle to get out in front of the pack while third-starting Jake Swanson slotted into second and Moles dropped to fifth. By lap seven, Grant was already slicing his way through traffic and pretty much maintained a 1.5 to 2.0 second advantage over Swanson for most of the first 40 circuits.
Briggs Danner ran lockstep with Swanson for much of the first half in third and was primed to try and make his move when suddenly his engine went up in smoke on lap 28. Danner exited to the pits from his phenomenal third place run up against the guardrail to that point, ending his night prematurely, and moving C.J. Leary up into third.
With 10 laps to go, Grant’s lead was cut in half as he sought to make a move to put Bryan Gossel a lap down. That allowed Swanson to chop the gap to seven tenths of a second. However, as soon as Grant cleared Gossel, he was gone from the viewfinder.
Swanson had a slightly breathtaking moment with three laps remaining as he attempted to slide past Gossel in between turns one and two. Swanson’s right rear tire nearly (or possibly did) grazed against Gossel’s left front Hoosier, sending Gossel squirrely up against the outer rail, which had most onlookers briefly gasping for air.
But nobody had anything for Grant down the stretch as he finished off his ninth series victory.
“We felt like we had a pretty strong package here from 2023,” Grant said. “Last year, we fought some things, so went back to what he had in 2023 and made a few tweaks yesterday in practice, which got me really comfortable and really happy. I feel like our dirt program has been really strong on the miles and we’re really strong here. I felt like we did make some progress on our flat half-mile stuff at Terre Haute. I’m just feeling really good rolling into any track anywhere we go right now.”
Jake Swanson finished a career-best second. C.J. Leary crossed the line in third with Chase Stockon taking fourth after starting 10th. Logan Seavey rounded out the top five.
USAC Silver Crown National Championship, Belleville High Banks, Belleville, Kan., May 17, 2025
HONEST ABE ROOFING QUALIFYING: 1. Mitchel Moles, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-16.927; 2. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-16.953; 3. Jake Swanson, 6, Klatt-16.993; 4. C.J. Leary, 21, Team AZ/Petty/Rossi-17.032; 5. Briggs Danner, 10, DMW-17.101; 6. Brady Bacon, 9, Dyson-17.107; 7. Bryan Gossel, 06, Gossel-17.185; 8. Logan Seavey, 22, Rice/Abacus-17.192; 9. Matt Westfall, 54, 4 Kings-17.238; 10. Chase Stockon, 69, Pink 69-17.305; 11. Kyle Steffens, 8, Steffens-17.408; 12. Kaylee Bryson, 26, Pierce-17.472; 13. Shane Cockrum, 97, Lein-17.633; 14. Gregg Cory, 32, Williams/Cory-18.536; 15. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-19.571.
FEATURE: (50 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Jake Swanson (3), 3. C.J. Leary (4), 4. Chase Stockon (10), 5. Logan Seavey (8), 6. Bryan Gossel (7), 7. Matt Westfall (9), 8. Gregg Cory (14), 9. Dave Berkheimer (15), 10. Brady Bacon (6), 11. Kaylee Bryson (12), 12. Mitchel Moles (1), 13. Kyle Steffens (11), 14. Briggs Danner (5), 15. Shane Cockrum (13). 15:36.45 (Track Record)
