PERRIS, Calif. — After 13 Oval Nationals start and 16 years since his first start in the prestigious event, Brady Bacon finally tasted victory in the signature event at Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday night.
The 32-year-old sprint car driver won the 26th running of the Heimark Anheuser Busch Budweiser Oval Nationals.
Starting fourth, Bacon tore around the outside of Friday night prelim winner Robert Ballou to take third on lap four. When polesitter Justin Grant drifted off the bottom in turn four on lap eight, Bacon was there to capitalize.
On the 11th circuit, Bacon took his ride to the front of the field, launching down the back straight and blowing past Axsom for the race lead, then carrying onward to score one of his largest paydays with a $20,000 score aboard his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – Cressman Sanitation – DriveWFX – Tel-Star/Triple X/Rider Chevy.
For the four-time USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National champion, it was a long time to wait for a coveted triumph, and it was a long time coming.
“It feels good to finally get this one,” Bacon exhaled. “It seems like we always miss it a little bit for the Saturday night feature here.”
There was no such consternation this time around for Bacon, who had previously logged five top-five finishes on the final night of the “Ovals” throughout his career, bested with a third in 2017. Bacon led the final 30 laps to record his second feature victory in a three-night span.
Bacon’s latest triumph was the 46th of his USAC National Sprint Car career, moving him past three-time champion Larry Dickson and into a tie for fourth on the all-time list alongside USAC and National Sprint Car Hall of Famer Jack Hewitt.
The evening was a lucrative one for Bacon as he not only pocketed $20,000 for his Oval Nationals main event win, but also added a $10,000 bonus as the champion of the 10-race Bubby Jones Master of Going Faster series.
“This race is pretty important for our season financially,” Bacon explained. “If things faltered, or if I had a problem, it could’ve been a $20,000 loss. I was kind of nervous about that all day. Obviously, the goal was to win this race and now I’ve got a $40,000 swing the other way.”
Bacon didn’t exactly get away scot-free once he initially established himself as the race leader. Nearing the middle stages of the 40-lap feature, Axsom didn’t go away quietly as he kept pace with Bacon and, at times, was able to pull even in the fight for the lead.
On lap 17, calamity ensued in turn three when car of newly crowned 10-time AMSOIL USAC CRA Sprint Car champion Damion Gardner slowed suddenly. In an attempt to avert the scene of the wreckage, Max Adams, Tommy Malcolm and Daniel Whitley tangled and stopped.
Thereafter, the biggest mover and shaker instantly wasJake Swanson. The seventh-starting driver grazed the bottom, and when Ballou drifted up a full lane at the exit of turn four on lap 20, that left the door open for Swanson to scoot under Ballou for third at the halfway mark. Swanson then took on Axsom and shot underneath in turn three with three laps remaining to slot into second.
Still, Bacon had the field covered.
“We kind of had a little mixture,” Bacon noted. “We had turns three and four from Thursday night and one and two from Friday night, so we did a combination on the car. It was something that worked pretty well, and even though I was making mistakes on top, I didn’t think anyone else could do it a whole lot better than me.”
Bacon’s grandfather, Ted, passed away on Tuesday morning and the team has been competing with heavy hearts ever since. Brady soldiered on to win not once, but twice in three nights at the Oval Nationals.
“It was a sweet win we had, especially after the hard week we’ve had,” Bacon acknowledged. “We definitely had a smoother week than we normally have here so, hopefully, he was helping us out and we’ll take it. It sure is a good way to top off the season.”
Swanson and his late-race effort earned him his best career Oval Nationals result. He swept by Axsom with three laps to go on his way to scoring a second-place finish. Swanson finished the 2022 USAC National Sprint Car season on a high note with four podium finishes in his last five starts.
“I’m glad we started seventh even though I wish we would’ve been in the Super Six and be able to start up there with those guys,” Swanson stated. “But starting seventh was the best case scenario for us tonight and we were able to methodically work the bottom and work our way up through those guys. By the time I got to second, Brady was already checked out. I didn’t even know how hard he was running it or where he was running it. I felt like I was all by myself out there. At some point, I’m going to win one of these eagle (trophies). I love this place too much and I plan on doing it. Hopefully, it will be in the near future.”
Axsom led the first 10 laps of his first career Oval Nationals start en route to a third place result in his Clauson Marshall Newman Racing machine.
“I think a lot of it was experience and we also had a tire delaminate,” Axsom revealed. “It was a tough deal, but obviously, Brady and Jake are really good here. My guys gave me a really great car. That’s probably about the best I’ve felt all year, but it’s a little disappointing with the tire. This is the biggest race for us, and I wanted to win.”
C.J. Leary came home fourth while Robert Ballou took home fifth.
Grant finished sixth and secured his first USAC National Sprint Car driving championship after more than a decade-plus of close calls and heartbreaks. Grant earned a $50,000 reward as the series’ newest king. It’s his second overall USAC National title after capturing the Silver Crown championship in 2020. Meanwhile, he drove Rochester, Ind.-based TOPP Motorsports to its first series entrant crown.
Boxscore
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and AMSOIL USAC-CRA Sprint Car Series, Perris Auto Speedway, Perris, Calif. Nov. 4, 2022
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR / WOODLAND AUTO DISPLAY QUALIFYING: (Top-6 in Oval Nationals points did not qualify) 1. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-16.222; 2. Damion Gardner, 1, Alexander-16.483; 3. Cody Williams, 44, Williams-16.517; 4. Max Adams, 73, Ford-16.587; 5. Daniel Whitley, 3F, Finkenbinder-16.613; 6. Jake Swanson, 21AZ, Team AZ-16.634; 7. Matt Westfall, 33m, Marshall-16.641; 8. Austin Grabowski, 72, Grabowski-16.643; 9. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-16.722; 10. Jason McDougal, 22AZ, Team AZ-16.777; 11. Matt Mitchell, 37, Mitchell-16.814; 12. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-16.824; 13. R.J. Johnson, 51, Johnson-16.825; 14. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-16.834; 15. Sterling Cling, 34, Cling-16.857; 16. Tommy Malcolm, 5x, Napier-16.971; 17. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 51T, Tafoya-16.987; 18. Ricky Lewis, 41, Stensland/Halley-16.993; 19. Logan Williams, 5w, McCarthy-16.998; 20. Chase Johnson, 8m, May-17.042; 21. Jadon Rogers, 14, Engler-17.042; 22. Austin Williams, 2, Williams-17.066; 23. Logan Seavey, 42, Cheney-17.086; 24. Chris Gansen, 4G, Gansen-17.101; 25. A.J. Bender, 21, Bender-17.116; 26. Chris Bonneau, 15, Bonneau-17.118; 27. Matt McCarthy, 28m, McCarthy-17.126; 28. Jake Neal, 214, Kracht-17.237; 29. Troy DeGaton, 39T, DeGaton-17.537; 30. Gary Marshall Jr., 23, Bellegante-18.108.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS / FLOWDYNAMICS FIRST QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. R.J. Johnson, 2. Tommy Malcolm, 3. Matt Westfall, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Max Adams, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Austin Williams, 8. A.J. Bender, 9. Logan Williams, 10. Jake Neal. 2:52.22
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) / BILLSJERKY.NET SECOND QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Charles Davis Jr., 2. Austin Grabowski, 3. Eddie Tafoya Jr., 4. Damion Gardner, 5. Daniel Whitley, 6. Matt Mitchell, 7. Logan Seavey, 8. Chase Johnson, 9. Chris Bonneau, 10. Troy DeGaton. 2:51.40
PIT STOP USA / IN MEMORY OF JIM & CHET GARDNER THIRD QUALIFIER: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Jake Swanson, 2. Ricky Lewis, 3. Brody Roa, 4. Sterling Cling, 5. Cody Williams, 6. Jadon Rogers, 7. Logan Calderwood, 8. Chris Gansen, 9. Matt McCarthy, 10. Gary Marshall Jr. 2:49.19
SUPER SIX DASH: (6 laps, determines the first three rows of the feature starting lineup) 1. Justin Grant (#4 TOPP), 2. Emerson Axsom (#47BC Clauson Marshall Newman), 3. Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou), 4. Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#17GP Dutcher), 6. C.J. Leary (#77m Michael). 1:40.24
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS / FACTORY WRAPS SEMI: (12 laps, top-6 transfer to the feature) 1. Max Adams, 2. Logan Seavey, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Cody Williams, 5. Daniel Whitley, 6. Jason McDougal, 7. Austin Williams, 8. A.J. Bender, 9. Matt Mitchell, 10. Chris Gansen, 11. Matt McCarthy, 12. Logan Williams, 13. Chris Bonneau, 14. Chase Johnson, 15. Gary Marshall Jr., 16. Jake Neal, 17. Logan Calderwood, 18. Troy DeGaton. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Brady Bacon (4), 2. Jake Swanson (7), 3. Emerson Axsom (2), 4. C.J. Leary (6), 5. Robert Ballou (3), 6. Justin Grant (1), 7. Kevin Thomas Jr. (5), 8. Jadon Rogers (21), 9. Matt Westfall (8), 10. Mitchel Moles (16), 11. Brody Roa (10), 12. R.J. Johnson (13), 13. Charles Davis Jr. (12), 14. Cody Williams (22), 15. Logan Seavey (20), 16. Eddie Tafoya Jr. (15), 17. Tommy Malcolm (11), 18. Sterling Cling (18), 19. Jason McDougal (24), 20. Austin Williams (25-P), 21. Max Adams (19), 22. Damion Gardner (9), 23. Daniel Whitley (23), 24. Ricky Lewis (14), 25. Austin Grabowski (17).