PUTNAMVILLE, Ind. — Seven years after capturing his one and only USAC Indiana Midget Week triumph to date, Justin Grant returned to victory lane with the series Thursday night at Lincoln Park Speedway.
Grant, aboard his CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink/Spike/Speedway Toyota, led early but relinquished the top spot by lap four to Logan Seavey. However, with 11 laps remaining, Grant fought his way back to the front to win his first Indiana Midget Week feature since the Gas City round of 2019.
“USAC Midget racing, it’s wild,” Grant exclaimed. “You’ve always got a chance, even when you can’t see it sometimes. So, you keep digging.”
The seven season span between victories is the longest by a driver in the 22-year history of Indiana Midget Week. The event at Lincoln Park also marked the 100th Indiana Midget Week race since the series debuted in 2005.
The latest score by Grant also vaulted him to the top of the USAC National Midget standings as he pursues his first title with the series, which would complete the career USAC Triple Crown.
Starting from the pole, Grant led the opening three circuits of the 30-lap feature as he gained the early upper hand. In 10 starts, Grant’s previous top Lincoln Park Indiana Midget Week finish was a second in 2018. Entering the night, his lone USAC victory of any kind at the five-sixteenths-mile dirt oval came with the AMSOIL National Sprint Cars in 2022.
That said, Seavey was moving. On the fourth lap, he charged around the outside of Grant on the back straightaway to lead lap four, and remained in total control throughout the middle stages of the race as he split the difference through lapped traffic. Grant fell to second, but soon, found his groove.
“I knew I was really, really good in three and four, and I felt like I just wasn’t running one and two right,” Grant explained. “I was just trying to make sure I got the moisture of two. I knew it was important because there was so much of it. Once Logan got by me, I went to work on trying to figure out how to do it. I know he kept getting tight on the curb up there and I thought, ‘well, if I keep hanging this, I might end up sneaking by him.’ Then, it was fading, so I got to where I was kind of touching it and turning across.
“It was tricky to figure out how to do it. If you didn’t touch it enough, you hung. If you touched it too much, you’d push. It was a lot of fun; just more bottom than I’m probably used to. (Car owner) Chad (Boat) gets her stuck and glued into the racetrack and it likes it when it’s like that.”
Grant never allowed Seavey to slip out of the frame. When Seavey stumbled atop the turn two cushion on lap 20, Grant was in position to pounce. Moments later, Grant raced under Seavey to reclaim the top spot.
“(Seavey) was kind of getting tight in the middle of one and two, and I saw that he could get in pretty smooth,” Grant recalled. “So, I just kind of started following his entry, and then turned across, and it felt like I was able to put together the best parts of his corner and the best parts of my corner and work them out there.”
Kevin Thomas Jr.’s car went up in smoke on the 23rd lap, bringing out the caution and setting up a restart with eight laps remaining.
Seavey got a run on Grant, and slid past him entering turn one on the restart. But Grant was ready for it, and promptly pointed his steering wheel back to the inside to get the position back from Seavey off the exit of turn two. Just behind the top-two, Cannon McIntosh performed the very same maneuver on Karter Sarff in the tussle for third.
Once more with five laps to go, Seavey briefly overtook Grant for the lead with a turn one slider. But once more, Grant flicked the wheel toward the bottom of turn two and reclaimed the lead.
“On those restarts there, I knew I was just kind of a sitting duck to get slid getting into one,” Grant noted. “But I could get such a run down the hill. It was kind of like, ‘OK, just let him through and then go.’ Logan’s a good race car driver. He was changing where he landed, and trying to get me to land behind him. It’s a lot of fun racing like that.”
Grant finished the job for his second USAC National Midget win of the 2026 season by a 1.684 margin over McIntosh, who slid Seavey for the runner-up spot in turn one on the final lap. Seavey took third with Sarff fourth and Jacob Denney rounding out the top five.
USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Lincoln Park Speedway, Putnamville, Ind., June 11, 2026
LEARNLAB QUALIFYING: 1. Karter Sarff, 71m, May-12.643; 2. Trevor Cline, 55, Cline-12.668; 3. Hayden Reinbold, 19AZ, Reinbold-Underwood-12.687; 4. Logan Seavey, 57, Abacus-12.814; 5. Brecken Reese, 20Q, Reese-12.816; 6. Justin Grant, 87, CBI-12.835; 7. Cannon McIntosh, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.865; 8. Mack Leopard, 40L, McDermand-12.919; 9. Jacob Denney, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.922; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 14, 4 Kings-12.960; 11. Kale Drake, 4, RMS-12.961; 12. Brandon Carr, 98K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.008; 13. Jakeb Boxell, 54, 4 Kings-13.020; 14. Matt Sherrell, 2D, Harris-13.024; 15. Gavin Miller, 97, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.028; 16. Kyle Jones, 7TX, Engler-13.079; 17. Zach Wigal, 1, O’Dell-13.085; 18. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-13.124; 19. Gunnar Setser, 43, Arnold-13.149; 20. Rylan Gray, 81G, Gray-13.232; 21. Colton Robinson, 67K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-13.310; 22. Adam Taylor, 7T, ATM-13.321; 23. Bradley Cox, 45, Mason-13.350; 24. Drew Sherman, 19, Reinbold/Underwood-13.478; 25. Levi Hinck, 21H, TKH-13.551; 26. Tony Helton, 22H, Gray-13.609; 27. Mike Unger, 67u, Frederiksen/Unger-13.863; 28. Jeff Schindler, 8x, Schindler-13.886; 29. Drake Edwards, 40D, McDermand-NT.
K1 RACEGEAR FIRST HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Zach Wigal (2), 2. Jakeb Boxell (3), 3. Jacob Denney (4), 4. Karter Sarff (6), 5. Brecken Reese (5), 6. Colton Robinson (1), 7. Levi Hinck (7). 2:13.399
TJ FORGED SECOND HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (5), 2. Ethan Mitchell (2), 3. Trevor Cline (6), 4. Matt Sherrell (3), 5. Kevin Thomas Jr. (4), 6. Adam Taylor (1), 7. Tony Helton (7). 2:13.401
K & N FILTERS THIRD HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Gunnar Setser (2), 2. Kale Drake (4), 3. Cannon McIntosh (5), 4. Hayden Reinbold (6), 5. Gavin Miller (3), 6. Bradley Cox (1), 7. Mike Unger (7). 2:13.847
INDY POWERSPORTS FOURTH HEAT: (10 laps, top-5 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Logan Seavey (6), 2. Kyle Jones (3), 3. Mack Leopard (5), 4. Brandon Carr (4), 5. Drew Sherman (1), 6. Jeff Schindler (7), 7. Rylan Gray (2). NT
FIVE STAR BODIES SEMI: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Adam Taylor (3), 2. Bradley Cox (4), 3. Colton Robinson (2), 4. Levi Hinck (6), 5. Tony Helton (7), 6. Mike Unger (8), 7. Jeff Schindler (5), 8. Rylan Gray (1). 2:20.305
FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (1), 2. Cannon McIntosh (9), 3. Logan Seavey (3), 4. Karter Sarff (6), 5. Jacob Denney (11), 6. Hayden Reinbold (4), 7. Zach Wigal (7), 8. Trevor Cline (5), 9. Gunnar Setser (8), 10. Jakeb Boxell (15), 11. Gavin Miller (17), 12. Brecken Reese (2), 13. Mack Leopard (10), 14. Brandon Carr (14), 15. Matt Sherrell (16), 16. Kyle Jones (18), 17. Kale Drake (13), 18. Adam Taylor (21), 19. Colton Robinson (20), 20. Ethan Mitchell (19), 21. Bradley Cox (22), 22. Drew Sherman (23), 23. Levi Hinck (24), 24. Kevin Thomas Jr.
