Feature winner Justin Grant (left) is joined by Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles (right) in victory lane following Thursday night's USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters opener at IMS. (Ryan Sellers Photo) (Video Highlights from FloRacing.com)
By: Richie Murray – USAC Media
Speedway, Indiana (July 23, 2026)………A.J. Foyt, Rich Vogler, Mel Kenyon, Dave Darland, and Justin Grant.
Those five names occupy an elite group of drivers who’ve accumulated 100 or more USAC national feature victories in their career.
Grant became the fifth member of the club on Thursday night at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as he led early, lost the lead, then fought his way back to the front to win the opening night of the 39th annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters.
He’s a guy who came from humble beginnings in Ione, California, first hitting the racing map as a BCRA Midget champion before moving to the Midwest to chase his racing dreams. His first career USAC win of any kind came during an Indiana Sprint Week round at Lawrenceburg Speedway in 2012. Now, all these years later, he’s achieved something beyond even his wildest dreams.
“My dream when I moved to Indiana was to get somebody to let me sit in a sprint car and to go race,” Grant reflected. “Then, my dream was just to win a USAC race. I thought, gosh, if I could just ever win a USAC National Sprint Car race, everything my parents put into it would all be worth it. I cannot believe that was 100 wins ago.”
Across his career, Grant has now racked up 68 USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car wins, 23 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget victories, and nine USAC Silver Crown triumphs, while winning for the likes of Mark Hery, Sam McGhee Motorsports, TOPP Motorsports, Chris Carli, Ron Hemelgarn, Clauson Marshall Racing, RAMS Racing, RMS Racing, and CB Industries across the three disciplines.
“I've just been so fortunate to be blessed with so many great partners, so many great car owners along the way, and so many people who’ve helped me out,” Grant prided. “There are people who don't necessarily work for me or have anything to do with me but are just friends I've made along the way that that I can lean on when I need to who have helped me get into victory lane. If I had to write down every person who was responsible for me getting into 100 victory lanes, the list would be 500 people long, if not more.”
The majority of Grant’s 100 USAC national wins have come during his nine-year association with TOPP Motorsports. Together, they have achieved 60 USAC National Sprint Car victories, making them the winningest combination in series history.
“This TOPP Motorsports team with Jeff Walker, Nic Mansker, and Kevin Birchmeier, these guys have been there for the bulk of those 100 wins,” Grant noted. “You couldn't write a story any better to win the 100th here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with this team. I'm speechless.”
Grant’s latest milestone came after a quite lengthy sabbatical from victory lane with the series. It had been 111 days since the team last won a USAC National Sprint Car feature on April 3 of this year at Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Illinois. It was just the third series win of the season for Grant and his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – LA Poly/Maxim/Stanton Chevy.
“This year, it's been a bit of a struggle for us,” Grant admitted. “We've been really consistent running up front but we’re just not getting the wins like we've become accustomed to. We've been spoiled, mind you, but it was starting to get a little rough there the last couple months.”
For Grant, it was nearly an identical repeat of his 2025 Indiana Sprint Week performance at IMS. One year ago, he set fast time and a new track record in qualifying, then ran second in his heat race to Jadon Rogers before going on to win the feature. This year, he set fast time and a new track record in qualifying, then ran second in his heat race to Jadon Rogers before going on to win the feature.
In the end, Grant added on to his record of being the winningest driver in the history of The Dirt Track at IMS. His latest was the fifth overall of his USAC career at the track – three in midgets and twice in sprint cars.
It was also a triumphant comeback for Grant who was absent for the final four rounds of Indiana Sprint Week in 2025 after breaking his left foot in an accident at Lawrenceburg Speedway. Grant’s 12th career Indiana Sprint Week also tied him with Cory Kruseman for third place on the all-time list.
Grant drew the pole position for the main event and subsequently led the initial three laps. Third starting Jake Swanson was strong early and muscled his way along the bottom of the 1/5-mile dirt oval to take over the lead in turns one and two on the fourth lap.
On the ninth go around, Swanson over rotated in turn two. As he fought to wrestle control, Grant used the high line to power by and reassume the lead. Meanwhile, the astute Swanson managed to stay right in the thick of the battle for the next several laps, but ultimately, Grant was able to stretch out his lead across the halfway point of the 35-lapper.
Slightly further back were Gavin Miller and Shane Cottle who started alongside one another in the sixth row but had utilized the low line to slot into third and fourth, respectively. Miller briefly snagged second from Swanson by lap 21, but Swanson stood up in the seat and retook the position on the high side on lap 22.
Cottle swiped third from Miller on lap 25 but relinquished the spot when he repeatedly nailed an infield tire with his own left front tire in turns two and four lap after lap, which ultimately dropped him to fifth in the running order as Logan Seavey and Briggs Danner surged into the top-five in the waning laps.
But all by his lonesome at the front of the field was Grant who put the race on ice with a 1.446 second margin of victory over Swanson, Seavey, Danner, and Cottle.
Grant led the most laps en route to victory (29). However, his leading role came in two stints. He led the first three, trailed for the next six, then raced his way back to the front. As the leader of the most laps, he was named the K & N Filters Clean Air award winner.
In addition to the win, Grant also turned the fastest single lap during the feature. On lap eight, he laid down a lap of 12.969 seconds to take the Eclipse Claims Consulting Fastest Lap award.
Cale Coons advanced 10 positions in the feature with an 18th to 8th run to earn Rod End Supply Hard Charger honors.
Gunnar Setser overcame a 26th place qualifying effort to make his way into the feature. As the slowest qualifier to transfer into the feature, he earned accolades as the Hard Work award winner.
Hayden Reinbold gave it a good run but came up just one spot shy of transferring his way into the feature. But he did pick up a bonus from Eclipse Claims Consulting as the first semi-feature non-transfer.
J.J. Yeley made a valiant charge through the C-Main and the Semi-Feature. In the semi, he advanced 14th to eighth, but missed out on a transfer spot. That said, he was the hardest charging non-transferring driver out of the semi. That earned him the Vogel Real Estate Heading Home 1st Award.
Setser and Hunter Schuerenberg each received a Haymaker Award courtesy of The Hayloft after rising up from outside of the inversion to qualify for the feature starting lineup.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 23, 2026 – The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, Indiana – 39th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters – 1/5-Mile Dirt Track
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). NT
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). NT
FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-3 Justin Grant, Laps 4-9 Jake Swanson, Laps 10-35 Justin Grant.
USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kyle Cummins-1864, 2-Mitchel Moles-1747, 3-Justin Grant-1747, 4-Briggs Danner-1649, 5-Jake Swanson-1523, 6-Chase Stockon-1516, 7-Logan Seavey-1497, 8-Kevin Thomas Jr.-1477, 9-Robert Ballou-1423, 10-C.J. Leary-1421.
USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kevin Thomas Jr.-104, 2-Hayden Reinbold-102, 3-Jacob Denney-84, 4-Robert Ballou-74, 5-Cale Coons-74, 6-Justin Grant-71, 7-Briggs Danner-65, 8-Chase Stockon-56, 9-Logan Seavey-50, 10-Kyle Cummins-46.
INDIANA SPRINT WEEK PARALLAX GROUP / PROSOURCE PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Cale Coons-19, 2-Mitchel Moles-13, 3-Logan Seavey-8, 4-Hunter Schuerenberg-8, 5-J.J. Yeley-8, 6-Shane Cottle-7, 7-Gavin Miller-6, 8-Carson Garrett-6, 9-Gunnar Setser-5, 10-Jake Swanson-3.
NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 24, 2026 – Lincoln Park Speedway – Putnamville, Indiana – 39th Annual USAC NOS Energy Drink Indiana Sprint Week Presented by K & N Filters – 5/16-Mile Dirt Track
CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:
Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Justin Grant (11.913)
LearnLab Fast Qualifier: Justin Grant (11.913)
K1 RaceGear First Heat Winner: Charles Davis Jr.
TJ Forged Second Heat Winner: Jadon Rogers
K & N Filters Third Heat Winner: Kyle Cummins
Indy Powersports Fourth Heat Winner: Robert Ballou
K1 RaceGear Fifth Heat Winner: C.J. Leary
Cook Out C-Main Winner: Mitchel Moles
Five Star Bodies Semi Winner: Thomas Meseraull
Eclipse Claims Consulting First Semi Non-Transfer: Hayden Reinbold
Vogel Real Estate Heading Home 1st Award: J.J. Yeley
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Cale Coons
K & N Filters Clean Air Award: Justin Grant
Eclipse Claims Consulting Fastest Feature Lap: Justin Grant (12.969)
Hard Work Award: Gunnar Setser
The Hayloft Haymaker Winners: Gunnar Setser & Hunter Schuerenberg