VENTURA, Calif. — Justin Grant charged through the field from the 13th starting position to win the 81st annual Turkey Night Grand Prix for the USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship Saturday night at Ventura Raceway.
The win is the sixth of the season for Grant and his 11th since joining the Toyota-powered RMS Racing team prior to the 2021 season.
It marks the 13th time that a Toyota-powered driver has won the prestigious event.
Series champion Buddy Kofoid led the first 44 laps of the event before giving way to fellow Toyota driver Cannon McIntosh as those two would continue to run one-two until lap 66 when Carson Macedo passed Kofoid for second with Tanner Thorson moving into third.
Kofoid was battling back for third, only to see his night end when Thorson got up and over the cushion, turning sideways on the back straight and collecting Kofoid.
After the restart, McIntosh set the pace until he, too, saw his hopes for victory slip away after getting up on the cushion coming back to the flag stand on lap 71. He saved the car, but came to stop, bringing out the caution flag and handing the lead to Macedo, with Grant having climbed up to second.
The woes at the front field would continue, though, as Macedo biked it off the cushion coming off of turn one on lap 78, bringing out the caution with Macedo sent to the back of the field, while Grant assumed the top spot.
Grant would pace lap 78, but Thorson was able to slide him for the lead on lap 79 as the two waged a fierce battle as the race entered the final 20 laps. Grant was able to move to the top of the track coming out of turn four and narrowly pass Thorson for the point position on lap 84 just before another caution waved.
Grant was able to hold off another run by Thorson after the restart and then began to pull away from the field on the way to a 1.367-second victory over Kyle Larson, with Bryant Wiedeman finishing third.
“My dad used to take me to Turkey Night every year and this is one of the races I fell in love with watching USAC cars,” Grant said. “I never thought I’d be in the show and certainly never thought I’d win one. I can’t thank everyone involved with this NOS Energy Drink car enough. I love racing with Tanner Thorson. We took the gloves off and went at it. We were pulling every trick in the book out there. It’s a dream come true to win the Turkey Night Grand Prix.”
Jake Andreotti and Kevin Thomas Jr. completed the top five. Andreotti was named the Don Basile Rookie of the Race.
The Boxscore
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Ventura Raceway, Ventura, Calif., Nov. 26, 2022
FATHEADZ EYEWEAR QUALIFYING: (Top-10 Locked into the Feature) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr., 5T, Alexander-12.207; 2. Buddy Kofoid, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.249; 3. Cannon McIntosh, 08, Dave Mac Dalby-12.252; 4. Bryant Wiedeman, 01, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.276; 5. Brody Fuson, 51, Carlile-12.284; 6. Chase Johnson, 73x, Ford-12.287; 7. Carson Macedo, 99AU, Dyson-12.289; 8. Logan Seavey, 58, Abacus-12.309; 9. Jake Andreotti, 00, Davis-12.320; 10. Daniel Whitley, 57, Abacus-12.344; 11. Cade Lewis, 71m, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.346; 12. Kaylee Bryson, 71, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.352; 13. Jake Swanson, 73, Ford-12.383; 14. Tanner Thorson, 88, Thorson-12.399; 15. Jason McDougal, 68, Six8-12.424; 16. Justin Grant, 2J, RMS-12.429; 17. Chance Crum, 26, Rudeen-12.438; 18. Thomas Meseraull, 7x, RMS-12.443; 19. Jonathan Beason, 89x, CBI-12.478; 20. Mitchel Moles, 89, CBI-12.495; 21. Emerson Axsom, 25x, Malloy-12.496; 22. Daison Pursley, 71p, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.513; 23. Brenham Crouch, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.514; 24. Tyler Courtney, 25, Malloy-12.550; 25. Jacob Denney, 25m, Malloy-12.557; 26. Ryan Timms, 97K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.570; 27. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.599; 28. T.J. Smith, 22s, GR-12.613; 29. Dominic Gorden, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.633; 30. Taylor Reimer, 25K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.639; 31. Caden Sarale, 32, Sarale-12.677; 32. Mariah Ede, 71E, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.683; 33. Spencer Bayston, 9AU, Dyson-12.711; 34. Michael Faccinto, 14T, Streeter-12.828; 35. Troy Rutherford, 8w, Woodland-12.874; 36. Steve Paden, 56, Paden-12.906; 37. Kyle Larson, 87, CBI-12.986; 38. Travis Buckley, A237NZ, BSL-12.987; 39. Alex Bright, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.009; 40. A.J. Bender, 1x, LKK-13.068; 41. C.J. Sarna, 20, Sarna-13.159; 42. Steve Hix, 57x, Hix-13.208; 43. Lance Bennett, 91, Mason-13.231; 44. Bryon Walters, 6, Rose-13.235; 45. Tuesday Calderwood, 73T, Ford-13.281; 46. Scott Orr, 88s, Orr-13.304; 47. Logan Calderwood, 73L, Ford-13.319; 48. Bryan Drollinger, 71D, Drollinger-13.407; 49. Terry Nichols, 1NP, NP-13.423; 50. Randi Pankratz, 8, Pankratz-13.464; 51. Blaze Bennett, 10, Bennett-13.755; 52. Jim Vanzant, 3v, Vanzant-13.988; 53. Nathan Byrd, 11K, Kruseman-14.452; 54. Joey Bishop, 45, Bishop-14.649; 55. Zach Telford, 22G, GR-NT; 56. Josh Hodge, 5J, Rose-NT.
SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Tanner Thorson, 2. Cade Lewis, 3. Brenham Crouch, 4. Mitchel Moles, 5. Dominic Gorden, 6. Ryan Timms, 7. Chance Crum, 8. Mariah Ede, 9. Troy Rutherford, 10. Travis Buckley, 11. C.J. Sarna, 12. Logan Calderwood, 13. Randi Pankratz, 14. Nathan Byrd, 15. Bryon Walters, 16. Josh Hodge. 2:31.004
COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Kaylee Bryson, 2. Thomas Meseraull, 3. Jason McDougal, 4. Tyler Courtney, 5. Emerson Axsom, 6. Spencer Bayston, 7. Alex Bright, 8. Taylor Reimer, 9. Hayden Reinbold, 10. Tuesday Calderwood, 11. Steve Paden, 12. Blaze Bennett, 13. Steve Hix, 14. Joey Bishop, 15. Bryan Drollinger. NT
PIT STOP USA THIRD QUALIFIER: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Jake Swanson, 3. Jonathan Beason, 4. Kyle Larson, 5. Jacob Denney, 6. T.J. Smith, 7. Michael Faccinto, 8. Caden Sarale, 9. Lance Bennett, 10. A.J. Bender, 11. Scott Orr, 12. Terry Nichols, 13. Jim Vanzant, 14. Zach Telford, 15. Daison Pursley. NT
ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (15 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ryan Timms, 2. Emerson Axsom, 3. Spencer Bayston, 4. Jacob Denney, 5. Dominic Gorden, 6. Chance Crum, 7. Alex Bright, 8. Michael Faccinto, 9. Taylor Reimer, 10. T.J. Smith, 11. Mariah Ede, 12. Hayden Reinbold, 13. Troy Rutherford, 14. Caden Sarale, 15. Lance Bennett, 16. C.J. Sarna, 17. Tuesday Calderwood, 18. A.J. Bender. NT
FEATURE: (98 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (13), 2. Kyle Larson (22), 3. Bryant Wiedeman (4), 4. Jake Andreotti (9), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (1), 6. Logan Seavey (8), 7. Alex Bright (27-P), 8. Emerson Axsom (24), 9. Carson Macedo (7), 10. Jason McDougal (18), 11. Jake Swanson (16), 12. Chase Johnson (6), 13. Jacob Denney (26), 14. Ryan Timms (23), 15. Chance Crum (28-P), 16. Brenham Crouch (17), 17. Jonathan Beason (19), 18. Cade Lewis (14), 19. Tanner Thorson (11), 20. Cannon McIntosh (3), 21. Thomas Meseraull (15), 22. Tyler Courtney (21), 23. Buddy Kofoid (2), 24. Brody Fuson (5), 25. Mitchel Moles (20), 26. Daniel Whitley (10), 27. Kaylee Bryson (12), 28. Spencer Bayston (25).