KOKOMO, Ind. — Over the 13-year history of Elliott’s Custom Trailer & Carts Sprint Car Smackdown at Indiana’s Kokomo Speedway, no one has done it better than Justin Grant.
On Saturday night, Grant ascended to even greater heights after leading the final 10 laps of the 40-lapper to become the first four-time Smackdown winner.
Grant earned his record-extending 11th career USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature victory at the Kokomo quarter-mile dirt oval to earn a $35,000 payday — $30,000 for winning the race and an extra $500 for each of the 10 laps he led down the stretch.
Grant also moved up another notch in the record books. His 53rd overall USAC National Sprint Car victory moved him past Tom Bigelow and into sole possession of third on the series’ win list in his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – Bow Foundation – TOPP Industries/Maxim/Kistler Chevy.
Nine of Grant’s 11 career USAC National Sprint Car victories at Kokomo have come during Smackdown — seven prelim triumphs and four final nighters. Yet, perhaps none of them have come in as unorthodox fashion as it did in his latest winning performance.
“I just absolutely love this place,” Grant exclaimed. “I’ve never spent that much time on the bottom of this place, but it’s all right. It’s nice to know we can do that too!”
It has admittedly been a trying year for Grant, who’s been stuck in the lower half of the series point standings for much of the year, and currently stands eighth, 430 points out of the lead.
However, Grant has still managed to win eight series races, second most in the series. But once Smackdown came around, Grant was once again at the top of his game, winning his Thursday prelim, finishing third in the Friday prelim and capping off the weekend with the championship belt after starting fifth on the grid.
“We swapped motors from this car to our spare car, went through it, then changed a bunch and did everything,” Grant explained. “We just weren’t happy with where we were at and went to work today to try and be a little better, and it sure paid off. I’ve had some rough spells this year, but I wake up every day and I get to be a racecar driver for a living and that’s incredible to me. I love it.”
Initially, 2016 Smackdown champion Kevin Thomas Jr. appeared to have the dominant hand as he broke out to a two second lead by lap 10 after starting from the outside of the front row. However, while slicing his way through lapped traffic on lap 18, his car suddenly went up in smoke, forcing him into the infield with Thomas initially diagnosing it as a hole in the radiator.
“I had a great race car, and I felt like I could’ve won that race,” Thomas stated. “Obviously, you don’t want to speak for what hasn’t happened but it’s tough to have 50 grand slip through your fingers like that or at least not have an opportunity to race it out to your abilities, but that is racing. This (stuff) ain’t fair.”
Despite finishing 23rd, Thomas still walked away from the night with $10,000 in earnings for leading the initial 17 laps.
However, it was of little consolation as Mitchel Moles became the new race leader just prior to the halfway point on lap 18. Earlier in the evening, Moles made a Cinderella run as the lowest seed (#8) in the King of the Hill duels, beating his competition in dramatic fashion to score the title.
However, at that moment, Grant was already finding his groove as he slotted into the second spot and began his pursuit of Moles with just a little more than half the race remaining.
“If I tried to pedal at all, I’d lose all my grip,” Grant pointed out. “I kind of found that while bombing and trying to pass guys into three. I could run in twice as hard as I thought I could and then make twice as much grip when I got there. The first time I did that – I think it was when I was getting by the 21AZ – I was like, ‘Oh, we’re really, really good.’ We started marching back forward, and we got a break there with the 3R blowing up. But I think our car was really good. It would’ve been a great race between us; he’s awfully good at scrumming the middle like that, but I’ve been getting better and better at it.”
Moles continued to pace the field through the backend of the field, but by lap 25, Grant was right on the heels of the Moles. By lap 31, Grant found daylight in turn one with an open lane on the bottom to surge past Moles and assume his new, but familiar spot as the Smackdown Saturday night race leader.
In a race that had gone clean and green throughout the first 33 laps, the action was halted on the 34th lap when 14th-running Ricky Lewis snagged the turn two cushion, ramped up the wall and flipped upside down
Grant had held a 0.876-second lead before the red, but during the ensuing laps after the restart with seven to go and a clear track ahead, Grant was unflappable.
Turning his fastest lap of the race with three to go, Grant ultimately extended his advantage to 1.747 seconds at the finish line over Moles, Robert Ballou and Logan Seavey.
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Indiana, Aug. 24, 2024
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Briggs Danner (#39 Hogue), 2. Stevie Sussex (#77s Sturgeon), 3. Brandon Mattox (#28 Mattox), 4. Todd Hobson (#77 Wingo), 5. Brayden Clark (#4c Clark), 6. Frankie Guerrini (#G3 F & F), 7. Cody Williams (IN) (#26 Williams), 8. Michael Daugherty (#3.14 Daugherty), 9. Saban Bibent (#98 Wedgewood). 2:14.954
ROD END SUPPLY SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Shane Cottle (#2E Epperson), 2. Ricky Lewis (#41 Stensland), 3. Max Adams (#63 F & F), 4. Hayden Reinbold (#19 Reinbold-Underwood), 5. Matt Westfall (#33m Marshall), 6. Rylan Gray (#06 Gray), 7. Austin Hawkins (#5A Hawkins), 8. David Gasper (#04 Burton). NT
T.J. FORGED THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Kale Drake (#2B 2B Racing), 2. Jake Swanson (#47 Eades), 3. Trey Osborne (#11T Osborne), 4. Kyle Shipley (#4u AJR), 5. Kobe Simpson (#21K Simpson), 6. Weston Gorham (#71w Gorham), 7. Matt Goodnight (#39G Goodnight), 8. Jack James (#99 James). 2:16.785
CAR IQ FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-3 transfer to the feature) 1. Kyle Cummins (#3p Petty), 2. Carson Garrett (#15 BGE Dougherty), 3. Jack Hoyer (#57H Hazen), 4. Jadon Rogers (#66 Amati), 5. Chase Stockon (#5s KO), 6. Cody Williams (CA) (#92 Sertich), 7. Hunter Maddox (#24m Maddox), 8. Max Frank (#25 Middle Class). NT
FIRST BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #8 Mitchel Moles (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood) defeats #1 Justin Grant (#4 TOPP). 41.080
SECOND BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #5 C.J. Leary (#15x BGE Dougherty) defeats #4 Brady Bacon (#69 Dynamics). 41.005
THIRD BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #6 Robert Ballou (#12 Ballou) defeats Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus). 41.767
FOURTH BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL QUARTERFINAL: (3 laps) #2 Kevin Thomas Jr. (#3R Rock Steady) defeats #7 Daison Pursley (#21AZ Team AZ). 41.212
FIRST BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL SEMIFINAL: (3 laps) #8 Mitchel Moles defeats #5 C.J. Leary. 40.920
SECOND BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL SEMIFINAL: (3 laps) #2 Kevin Thomas Jr. defeats #6 Robert Ballou. 40.553
BILL & SANDY WEVER & THE GRANDKIDS KING OF THE HILL FINAL: (3 laps) #8 Mitchel Moles defeats #2 Kevin Thomas Jr. 40.612
TRAILER ALARMS C MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semi) 1. Hunter Maddox, 2. David Gasper, 3. Cody Williams (IN), 4. Max Frank, 5. Saban Bibent, 6. Matt Goodnight, 7. Jack James, 8. Michael Daugherty, 9. Austin Hawkins. 2:26.478
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Brayden Clark, 2. Chase Stockon, 3. Jadon Rogers, 4. Matt Westfall, 5. Hayden Reinbold, 6. Todd Hobson, 7. Kyle Shipley, 8. David Gasper, 9. Cody Williams (CA), 10. Hunter Maddox, 11. Weston Gorham, 12. Max Frank, 13. Cody Williams (IN), 14. Kobe Simpson, 15. Frankie Guerrini, 16. Rylan Gray. NT
FEATURE: (40 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (5), 2. Mitchel Moles (1), 3. Robert Ballou (4), 4. C.J. Leary (3), 5. Logan Seavey (6), 6. Brady Bacon (7), 7. Kyle Cummins (12), 8. Daison Pursley (8), 9. Shane Cottle (10), 10. Kale Drake (11), 11. Max Adams (18), 12. Jake Swanson (15), 13. Briggs Danner (9), 14. Stevie Sussex (13), 15. Matt Westfall (24), 16. Carson Garrett (16), 17. Brandon Mattox (17), 18. Chase Stockon (22), 19. Trey Osborne (19), 20. Ricky Lewis (14), 21. Brayden Clark (21), 22. Jack Hoyer (20), 23. Kevin Thomas Jr. (2), 24. Jadon Rogers (23).