July 2, 2025 | By Richie Murray, USAC Media

Justin Grant wins wild BC39 prelim at Indy

SPEEDWAY, Ind.—Justin Grant endured constant pressure from rivals, numerous caution flags and heavy traffic to win a wild USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship feature Tuesday night that opened the BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors at The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Ione, California’s Grant, who started second, used nearly every inch of the racetrack to earn $5,000 for his third career win at IMS in the CB Industries/NOS Energy Drink – PristineAuction.com – Mobil 1 – TRD/Spike/Speedway Toyota No. 87 owned by Chad Boat, the son of 1998 Indianapolis 500 pole sitter Billy Boat. Grant also won the BC39 main feature in 2023 on the 1/5th-mile dirt oval inside Turn 3 at IMS.

Gavin Miller finished second in the No. 97 Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports entry, and Kyle Cummins was third in the No. 3G Glenn Styres Racing car.

“It was a lot of fun,” Grant said. “I had no idea what to do. I felt like I could make better speed up top, but you could just get pocketed so easy by guys running the slider there.

“I almost felt like I slowed down. I felt like early I was able to run pretty good pace around the top, and it felt like as the pace of the race slowed down, I had to slow down and start doing things a little differently. I felt like I was almost running easier at the end than at the beginning but just trying to be fast in the spots where you can get past.”

The 30-lap feature looked anything but slow, especially over the frantic final 15 laps.

Grant drove under pole sitter Logan Seavey on Lap 3 and took the lead, which he held until a restart with 12 laps to go. Daison Pursley then drove his No. 86 CB Industries machine under Grant in Turns 3 and 4 for first place.

That pass started a ferocious duel between Pursley and Grant. The two drivers swapped the lead at least three times over the next five laps, using every available line on the clay oval.

With five laps to go, Pursley slid high in Turn 4 and banged wheels with Grant in the high groove while they dueled for the lead. That slight loss of momentum let Kale Drake squeeze past to take the lead in the No. 97K Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports car.

But Drake drifted high in Turn 1 on the very next lap and spun, collecting Pursley and Seavey while Grant drove low to avoid the snarl and take the lead as the caution flags flew.

Grant kept the lead on the restart and appeared to be headed to a smooth drive to victory when the No. 19M Bundy Built Motorsports entry driven by Ethan Mitchell stopped in Turn 4 with one lap to go, triggering a caution period and the first of two green-white-checkered restarts.

California native Grant hung on to the lead on both restarts and was never challenged to win by a 0.486 second margin.

The win was Grant’s 20th career feature triumph in USAC National Midget competition, tying for 35th place all-time alongside four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt.


USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: July 1, 2025 – The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, Indiana – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – 7th BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors

CAR IQ FIRST HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Justin Grant (#87 CBI), 2. Hayden Reinbold (#19AZ Reinbold-Underwood), 3. Mitchel Moles (#19 Reinbold-Underwood), 4. Brandon Carr (#98K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 5. Chris Andrews (#95 Miller), 6. Dusty Young (#60 Chappue), 7. Steven Snyder Jr. (#4 RMS), 8. Zach Daum (#16 Minear). NT

K1 RACEGEAR SECOND HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Zach Wigal (#8 Cornell), 2. Justin Peck (#3p Petty-Rossi), 3. Kale Drake (#97K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. P.J. Gargiulo (#5 Gargiulo), 5. Devon Dobie (#23 Dobie), 6. Chris Baue (#36 Baue), 7. Billy Wease (#2 Poe), 8. Austin Wood (#17H Wood). 1:46.465

USACGEAR.COM THIRD HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Kevin Thomas Jr. (#14 4 Kings), 2. Colton Robinson (#67K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Gavin Miller (#97 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 4. Chelby Hinton (#4B Klatt), 5. Mack Leopard (#86x CBI), 6. Mike Hess (#92 Fairfield), 7. Braxton Cummings (#71B Cummings), 8. Christopher Hartman (#35s Hodge). NT

COOK OUT FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Daison Pursley (#86 CBI), 2. Jakeb Boxell (#14JB 4 Kings Racing), 3. Kade Morton (#8m Morton), 4. Dillon Welch (#60x LeVecque), 5. Lance Bennett (#91 Mason), 6. Cody Weisensel (#20w Burrington), 7. Kyle Jones (#27x Joyner), 8. Connor Wolf (#41 OMR-Rase). NT

CAR IQ FIFTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Ethan Mitchell (#19m Bundy Built), 2. Cannon McIntosh (#71K Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 3. Gunnar Setser (#43 Arnold), 4. Chase Stockon (#7s Engler), 5. Kaylee Bryson (#11 Abacus), 6. Korbyn Hayslett (#17L Cummings), 7. Bradley Cox (#45 Cox), 8. Lane Goodman (#11A Morton). NT

K1 RACEGEAR SIXTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Drake Edwards (#83 CBI), 2. Briggs Danner (#40x McDermand), 3. Thomas Meseraull (#7x Engler), 4. Kyle Cummins (#3G Styres), 5. Chase McDermand (#40 McDermand), 6. Cooper Miller (#8J Miller), 7. Corbin Rueschenberg (#26 Rueschenberg), 8. Carter Jensrud (#c71 Jensrud), 9. Jeffrey Abbey (#8K Abbey). NT

USACGEAR.COM SEVENTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Jacob Denney (#67 Kunz/Curb-Agajanian), 2. Trevor Cline (#55 Cline), 3. Ricky Thornton Jr. (#19R Reinbold-Underwood), 4. Chris Sheil (#91s Mason), 5. Rylan Gray (#81G Gray), 6. Cole Parker (#17K Cummings), 7. Cord Kisthardt (#21 Kisthardt), 8. Cale Coons (#63 Dooling). 1:45.827

COOK OUT EIGHTH HEAT: (8 laps, passing points) 1. Brecken Reese (#00 Chandler), 2. Logan Seavey (#57 Abacus), 3. J.J. Yeley (#3J Petty), 4. Kevin Newton (#16TH 2nd Law), 5. Miles Doherty (#8D Doherty), 6. Josh Hodge (#5J Hodge), 7. Tyler Fitzpatrick (#57F Fitzpatrick), 8. Jonathan Beason (#14B Hollan), 9. Frankie Guerrini (#63G F & F). NT

C-MAIN: (10 laps, top-4 transfer to the semis) 1. Jonathan Beason, 2. Steven Snyder Jr., 3. Zach Daum, 4. Bradley Cox, 5. Corbin Rueschenberg, 6. Braxton Cummings, 7. Carter Jensrud, 8. Cord Kisthardt, 9. Jeffrey Abbey, 10. Connor Wolf, 11. Austin Wood, 12. Christopher Hartman, 13. Cale Coons, 14. Mike Hess, 15. Tyler Fitzpatrick. NT

FIRST ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Ricky Thornton Jr., 2. Kyle Cummins, 3. Gunnar Setser, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Trevor Cline, 6. Chelby Hinton, 7. Jonathan Beason, 8. Kaylee Bryson, 9. Kade Morton, 10. Zach Daum, 11. Cooper Miller, 12. Kevin Newton, 13. Miles Doherty, 14. Mack Leopard, 15. Korbyn Hayslett, 16. Chris Andrews, 17. Cole Parker, 18. Cody Weisensel. 2:45.076

SECOND ELLIOTT’S CUSTOM TRAILERS & CARTS SEMI: (12 laps, top-4 transfer to the feature) 1. Colton Robinson, 2. Briggs Danner, 3. J.J. Yeley, 4. Jakeb Boxell, 5. Chase McDermand, 6. Dillon Welch, 7. Chris Sheil, 8. Steven Snyder Jr., 9. Brandon Carr, 10. Bradley Cox, 11. Billy Wease, 12. Josh Hodge, 13. Lance Bennett, 14. P.J. Gargiulo, 15. Dusty Young, 16. Chris Baue, 17. Devon Dobie. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps, starting positions in parentheses) 1. Justin Grant (2), 2. Gavin Miller (9), 3. Kyle Cummins (19), 4. Zach Wigal (14), 5. Drake Edwards (6), 6. Briggs Danner (20), 7. Brecken Reese (16), 8. Kevin Thomas Jr. (10), 9. Justin Peck (11), 10. Thomas Meseraull (12), 11. Kyle Jones (26-P), 12. Hayden Reinbold (5), 13. Gunnar Setser (21), 14. Steven Snyder Jr. (25-P), 15. Colton Robinson (18), 16. Ricky Thornton Jr. (17), 17. Chase Stockon (23), 18. Daison Pursley (4), 19. Kale Drake (8), 20. Jakeb Boxell (24), 21. Cannon McIntosh (3), 22. Ethan Mitchell (13), 23. Logan Seavey (1), 24. J.J. Yeley (22), 25. Mitchel Moles (7), 26. Jacob Denney (15). NT

(P) represents a provisional starter

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-2 Logan Seavey, Laps 3-18 Justin Grant, Laps 19-20 Daison Pursley, Lap 21 Justin Grant, Laps 22-23 Daison Pursley, Laps 24-25 Justin Grant, Lap 26 Kale Drake, Laps 27-31 Justin Grant.

**Zach Daum flipped during the first heat. Steven Snyder Jr. flipped during the first heat. Cale Coons flipped during the seventh heat. Tyler Fitzpatrick flipped during the C-Main. Jacob Denney flipped on lap 1 of the feature. Mitchel Moles flipped on lap 18 of the feature.

USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Justin Grant-648, 2-Kale Drake-582, 3-Cannon McIntosh-542, 4-Jacob Denney-538, 5-Kevin Thomas Jr.-527, 6-Drake Edwards-498, 7-Logan Seavey-490, 8-Gavin Miller-480, 9-Steven Snyder Jr.-471, 10-Gunnar Setser-410.

USAC PARALLAX GROUP NATIONAL PASSING MASTER POINTS: 1-Kale Drake-135, 2-Briggs Danner-95, 3-Kyle Cummins-78, 4-C.J. Leary-73, 5-Gunnar Setser-72, 6-Robert Ballou-66, 7-Justin Grant-63, 8-Chase Stockon-56, 9-Kevin Thomas Jr.-48, 10-Jacob Denney-35.

NEXT USAC NOS ENERGY DRINK MIDGET NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: July 2, 2025 – The Dirt Track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Speedway, Indiana – 1/5-Mile Dirt Oval – 7th BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors


CONTINGENCY AWARD WINNERS:

Dirt Draft Hot Laps Fastest Driver: Daison Pursley (12.362)
Car IQ First Heat Winner: Justin Grant
K1 RaceGear Second Heat Winner: Zach Wigal
USACgear.com Third Heat Winner: Kevin Thomas Jr.
Cook Out Fourth Heat Winner: Daison Pursley
Car IQ Fifth Heat Winner: Ethan Mitchell
K1 RaceGear Sixth Heat Winner: Drake Edwards
USACgear.com Seventh Heat Winner: Jacob Denney
Cook Out Eighth Heat Winner: Brecken Reese
Hoosier Tire C-Main Winner: Jonathan Beason
First Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Ricky Thornton Jr.
Second Elliott’s Custom Trailers & Carts Semi Winner: Colton Robinson
Rod End Supply Hard Charger: Kyle Cummins (19th to 3rd)
Inferno Armor Fire Move of the Night: Jonathan Beason
Max Papis Innovations Rookie of the Race: Brecken Reese (7th)