INDIANAPOLIS — Justin Grant joined an elite club of United States Auto Club legends Thursday night at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, earning his 100th career national feature victory in the opening race of the 39th USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K&N Filters.
Grant, from Ione, California, became the fifth driver to reach the century mark in USAC national series competition, joining A.J. Foyt, Rich Vogler, Mel Kenyon and Dave Darland.
This was Grant’s second consecutive victory in this USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship race. It also was the fourth consecutive year Grant drove to a victory and his fifth win overall on the fifth-mile dirt oval inside Turn 3 of the famed IMS oval. He won an opening night feature in the BC39 USAC Midget National Championship event in 2023 and 2025 and won the BC39 main feature in 2024.
“It’s been an incredible career for me to live through and experience,” Grant said. “I’ve been so fortunate and so blessed. To win at IMS with this TOPP Motorsports team, I’m speechless. Couldn’t think of a better place to win No. 100.”
Grant led 29 of the 35 laps in the No. 4 TOPP Motorsports car, pulling away in the closing laps from runner-up Jake Swanson in the No. 5t Daming Swanson Motorsports machine. Grant earned $10,000.
Logan Seavey finished third in the No. 57 Abacus Racing entry, followed by 2026 BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors winner Briggs Danner in the No. 39 Hogue Racing Enterprises machine. Shane Cottle rounded out the top five in the No. 34 Jeff Olson car.
Grant and Swanson were the class of the field throughout the entire feature after starting from pole and third, respectively. Their differing tactics became apparent from the drop of the green flag, as Grant rode the tackier cushion of dirt around the high line of the oval while Swanson stayed glued to the bottom of the track.
Swanson’s strategy paid off on Lap 4 when he powered past Grant exiting Turn 2. But on Lap 10, Swanson lost momentum on the low line exiting Turn 2, and Grant pounced on the lead on the back straightaway while staying on the high line.
Grant never trailed thereafter despite three cautions, rocketing away on the high line on every restart. He also learned an important lesson when he sampled the low line earlier in the race.
“You had to run really hard and make a lot of your speed on entry here,” Grant said. “You’ve got to be really focused. I wasn’t really set up to run on the tires (low line) like that. I bailed out (of the low line) probably a little earlier than I needed to, but I just felt like I was a sitting duck down there.
“So, I just got up, got the top cleaned off, got my momentum and my rhythm up there. Once I got the lead, I felt really good.”
Swanson eventually moved to the high line after a restart with about five laps to go, but Grant was too strong to catch.
“I knew the days were numbered there on the bottom,” Swanson said. “I rode down there as long as I could because I went up there and tested it, and I really didn’t feel all that great up there. So, I knew once I got to pacing with Justin, I was going to have a hard time staying with him.”
USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship, The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, Ind. July 23, 2026
FIRST LEARNLAB QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Jake Swanson, 5T, Daming Swanson-12.152; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr., 15, BBI-12.174; 3. Cale Coons, 63, Dooling/Curb-Agajanian-12.206; 4. Charles Davis Jr., 47, Davis-12.315; 5. Carson Garrett, 61m, Edwards-12.469; 6. Brandon Mattox, 28, Mattox-12.574; 7. Hunter Schuerenberg, 3R, Rock Steady-12.604.
SECOND LEARNLAB QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Justin Grant, 4, TOPP-11.913 (New Track Record); 2. Jadon Rogers, 14, Rogers-12.221; 3. Thomas Meseraull, 24, Simon-12.269; 4. Trey Osborne, 6T, Osborne-12.441; 5. Hayden Reinbold, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-12.443; 6. Hunter Maddox, 24m, Maddox-12.685; 7. Zack Pretorius, 9z, Pretorius-12.704; 8. Kobe Simpson, 21K, Simpson-NT.
THIRD LEARNLAB QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Chase Stockon, 92, Sertich-12.270; 2. Kyle Cummins, 3p, Petty-12.417; 3. Ricky Lewis, 41, Lewis-12.464; 4. Shane Cottle, 34, Olson-12.503; 5. Chance Crum, 83c, Crum-12.656; 6. Troy Carey, 45N, Carey-12.805; 7. Logan Calderwood, 6, Calderwood-12.828; 8. Braydon Cromwell, 4x, Cromwell/Boyd-13.304.
FOURTH LEARNLAB QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-12.046; 2. Gavin Miller, 21AZ, Team AZ/Curb-Agajanian-12.381; 3. Mitchel Moles, 19AZ, Reinbold/Underwood-12.535; 4. J.J. Yeley, 51, Wood-12.600; 5. Harley Burns, 16, Burns-12.604; 6. Gunnar Setser, G5, Setser-12.605; 7. Todd Moule, 2E, Epperson-12.769.
FIFTH LEARNLAB QUALIFYING GROUP: 1. Briggs Danner, 39, Hogue-12.119; 2. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.153; 3. C.J. Leary, 53, Fox-12.449; 4. Todd Hobson, 77, Wingo/Bishop-12.488; 5. David Gasper, 77s, Sturgeon-12.785; 6. Rylan Gray, 1, Gray-12.963; 7. Aric Gentry, 10, Gentry-13.032.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Charles Davis Jr. (1), 2. Jake Swanson (4), 3. Kevin Thomas Jr. (3), 4. Brandon Mattox (6), 5. Hunter Schuerenberg (7), 6. Cale Coons (2), 7. Carson Garrett (5). NT
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Jadon Rogers (3), 2. Justin Grant (4), 3. Trey Osborne (1), 4. Thomas Meseraull (2), 5. Hayden Reinbold (5), 6. Hunter Maddox (6), 7. Zack Pretorius (7), 8. Kobe Simpson (8). 2:05.739
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Kyle Cummins (3), 2. Shane Cottle (1), 3. Chase Stockon (4), 4. Ricky Lewis (2), 5. Chance Crum (5), 6. Troy Carey (6), 7. Braydon Cromwell (8), 8. Logan Calderwood (7). 2:08.973
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Robert Ballou (4), 2. Gavin Miller (3), 3. Gunnar Setser (6), 4. Harley Burns (5), 5. Todd Moule (7), 6. Mitchel Moles (2), 7. J.J. Yeley (1). NT
K1 RACEGEAR FIFTH HEAT: (10 laps, top 3 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. C.J. Leary (2), 2. Logan Seavey (3), 3. Briggs Danner (4), 4. Todd Hobson (1), 5. Aric Gentry (7), 6. David Gasper (5), 7. Rylan Gray (7). NT
COOK OUT C MAIN: (12 laps, top 4 transfer to the semi, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Mitchel Moles (2), 2. Cale Coons (1), 3. Carson Garrett (5), 4. J.J. Yeley (6), 5. Hunter Maddox (3), 6. Zack Pretorius (7), 7. Troy Carey (4), 8. Logan Calderwood (9), 9. Braydon Cromwell (8), 10. Kobe Simpson (12). 2:36.666 (New Track Record)
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (15 laps, top 5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Thomas Meseraull (1), 2. Mitchel Moles (11), 3. Cale Coons (12), 4. Hunter Schuerenberg (7), 5. Ricky Lewis (2), 6. Hayden Reinbold (6), 7. Chance Crum (8), 8. J.J. Yeley (14), 9. Carson Garrett (13), 10. Brandon Mattox (4), 11. Todd Hobson (3), 12. Aric Gentry (10), 13. Todd Moule (9), 14. Harley Burns (5).
FEATURE: (35 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Jake Swanson (3), 3. Logan Seavey (10), 4. Briggs Danner (4), 5. Shane Cottle (12), 6. Gavin Miller (11), 7. Robert Ballou (2), 8. Cale Coons (18), 9. Kyle Cummins (8), 10. Kevin Thomas Jr. (13), 11. C.J. Leary (9), 12. Charles Davis Jr. (7), 13. Gunnar Setser (15), 14. Mitchel Moles (17), 15. Chase Stockon (5), 16. Hunter Schuerenberg (19), 17. Jadon Rogers (6), 18. Trey Osborne (14), 19. Ricky Lewis (20), 20. Thomas Meseraull (16).
