PERRIS, Calif. — Brady Bacon is in the midst of trying to track down Justin Grant in the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship standings.
During Wednesday night’s open practice, he was the fastest on track at southern California’s Perris Auto Speedway with a time of 16.204 seconds around the half-mile dirt oval in his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – Cressman Sanitation – DriveWFX – Tel-Star/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
It was the final tune-up before the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and the AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Cars do the real thing for three-straight full nights of racing on Thursday-Friday-Saturday, November 3-4-5, at The PAS.
Bacon, a three-time Oval Nationals prelim winner, bested a field of 23 drivers and cars that took to the track and turned a lap during practice on Wednesday night. Forty-three drivers are entered for the Oval Nationals.
Yorba Linda, California’s Matt Mitchell was second overall in practice behind Bacon at 16.448 with three-time and defending Oval Nationals victor Kevin Thomas Jr. third at 16.486. Jadon Rogers timed in fourth at 16.545 while Oval Nationals Rookie Mitchel Moles clocked in fifth at 16.686.
Outside of the top-five, USAC National Sprint Car point leader Justin Grant was sixth overall at 16.696. C.J. Leary, the 2019 Oval Nationals winner, was ninth at 16.774. Robert Ballou, the 2014 Ovals champion, was 12th at 16.803.
While no on-track incidents took place, Jason McDougal’s Team AZ entry experienced engine trouble which sidelined him for the remainder of the night after timing in eighth quickest. The team will swap engines and be ready to go for Thursday night’s Ovals opener.