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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

GRANT GOES WIRE-TO-WIRE IN USAC SPRINTS' RETURN TO KNOXVILLE

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Knoxville, Iowa.........In one of the most highly-anticipated events on the 2017 USAC calendar, Justin Grant made it a night to remember as he led wire-to-wire to win the AMSOIL National Sprint Cars' return to the famed Knoxville Raceway Saturday night after a six-year hiatus.

Grant, of Ione, California, finished 25th in his lone Knoxville start back in 2011, but there'd be no parallels drawn from that result to his performance on the half-mile Saturday night as he was in a class of his own throughout the 30-lap main event.

However, early on in the night, Grant couldn't have anticipated the end result would go as smoothly as it did following a rocky beginning. The team fine-tuned their way throughout the evening, swapping out parts and pieces on the Sam McGhee Motorsports/Mike McGhee & Associates - Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Maxim/Foxco until they hit the sweet spot in time for the main event.

"In hot laps, I wasn't very comfortable," Grant stated. "I was a little timid on the cushion and I didn't really feel all that confident that I wasn't going to crash up there. So, we just kept working on it all night. We kept making ground on it. We came in from the heat race and felt like we were pretty close and told Sam about a couple of the issues I had with it. He went to work on it and got it dialed-in. It couldn't have been any better for the feature."

Grant's race began from the pole position alongside Robert Ballou, a recent returnee to the scene following an eight-month layoff due to neck injuries. Yet, Grant would get the best of Ballou right from the start as he slid up to the cushion ahead of Ballou in turn one for the top spot.

Grant built a gap between he and Ballou on the opening lap as Ballou battled with Friday night's I-80 Speedway winner Tyler Courtney. At the exit of the fourth corner, Courtney and Ballou made slight contact, sending Ballou sideways and Courtney near the outside guardrail. Both continued after the brief skirmish as Ballou maintained control of second while Courtney fell back to fourth as he wrestled back control of his machine.

Shortly thereafter as the field hit the back straight, a melee ensued as the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th place cars were all involved in an accident that saw both Jon Stanbrough and Nick Bilbee flip multiple times while Brady Bacon and Hunter Schuerenberg were also caught up. All drivers would walk away unscathed and Bacon and Schuerenberg would restart.

On the lap two restart, Courtney nearly saw his race end as he biked his ride on the entry to turn one before landing on all fours, ricocheting his right rear tire off the guardrail before gathering it up and carrying on after dropping three spots to seventh.

Meanwhile, up front, Grant had constructed a half-straightaway interval on lap six between he and second-running Ballou, who owned a half-straightaway advantage of his own over third-running Courtney who had settled into a groove and worked his way back into the top-three with a first turn slide job of Chad Boespflug.

Just before midway, Grant had already begun his ascent into lap traffic, attempting to maintain his sturdy two-plus second lead as Courtney began to close on Ballou for second. Courtney had already averted disaster just laps before, but on lap 15, he couldn't channel his inner Houdini for a second time as he hooked the turn two cushion while closing in on the lapped car of Aaron Farney.

Courtney proceeded to snag the berm with his right rear, the proceeded with a violent sequence of barrel-rolls and nose-to-tail end-overs that saw him sail higher than the top portion of the expansive ARMCO barrier in front of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame suites. After roughly six-and-a-half bone-jarring flips, Courtney finally came to a rest as flame briefly appeared from the bottom of the battered machinery. A sigh of relief swept over the crowd as the Indianapolis, Indiana driver quickly emerged from the wreckage uninjured.

A strong suit for Grant each time was his prowess on restarts. Right from the drop of the green time-and-time again, the 26-year-old instantly distanced himself from Ballou, but that didn't inherently put Grant's mind at ease with the 2015 series champ hot on his trail.

"Restarts are always scary, especially at a big racetrack where you're running on the fence and you're prone to receiving sliders on a restart," Grant admits. "I just tried to get a really big bite off turn four and stay in the moisture as long as I could. I tried not to mess up and just wanted to get down into turn one as fast as I could. I was confident in the car, but you're still a little bit nervous especially when you have a hard charger like Ballou behind you. If he has a window, he's going to throw something in it."

The final yellow of the night arrived when Dave Darland, who was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame just hours before, hopped to a stop atop the turn two cushion without making contact on the 18th lap.

Grant's final restart on lap 19 was just as solid as the rest and, over the next handful of laps, Grant increased the interval each time at the stripe as he firmly established his position at the head of the pack. All that was left for Grant was to navigate through the tail end of the field in the closing laps.

The sailing was smooth for Grant the remainder of the way as he cruised to a 1.2 second victory over Ballou, Boespflug, Chase Stockon and C.J. Leary for his season-leading fourth series victory of the year while extending his point lead to 97 over Windom heading into Eastern Storm.

After 137 starts between 2010 and September of 2016, Grant's USAC National Sprint Car win total stood at three. In the last eight months with Sam McGhee Motorsports, Grant has already picked up five victories in a mere 17 starts. Additionally, in ten 2017 starts, Grant has yet to finish outside the top-four.

With success seeming to come so naturally, so quickly, to Grant and McGhee, it's easy to rest on your laurels, but Grant feels that there's always room to make improvements.
"You try to pick out the spots where you could've been better or where you think you could've made up a little more ground or where you could've made less mistakes," Grant explains. "It may have looked perfect, but there's a handful of mistakes I made throughout it. If somebody had as good of a car as we had, they could've capitalized on it. As a driver, you catalogue those and make sure not to do certain things the next time. Fortunately, tonight, we had a car that was good enough that nobody could even get near it. But in the future, somebody might. I try to work on minimizing mistakes and I go back and watch the video to see what I did right and what I did wrong. We always strive try to keep plugging away and get better every night. Yet, at the same time, you want to stay the course and not start chasing something that gets you off track."

By all accounts, USAC's return to Knoxville was a rousing success with the track's largest crowd of the year on hand. It's an atmosphere that Grant craves and eagerly anticipates experiencing regularly for years to come.

"It's so cool to race at this venue with all its history and the huge crowd of people in the stands," Grant praises. "Everybody comes down to the front stretch after the race. It's just a really neat atmosphere. I couldn't believe the number of people who came down and told me they'd never seen a non-wing race. They said they just loved it and how they're going to come back for more and how much they want us to come back next year. We want to come back! It's the sprint car capital of the world and we want to be racing here."

Ballou earned his third-straight top-four finish since his comeback in mid-May, picking up a solid runner-up finish in his Ballou Motorsports/Rossie's Feed & Grain - Deaton's Waterfront Services/Eagle/Ott. However, the Rocklin, California native is not exactly satisfied with his run as he expects to be at the forefront night-in, night-out.

"We got beat fair and square tonight," Ballou said. "Justin ran 30 perfect laps and we pretty much (struggled) all night compared to where I feel we should be. I'm rusty and I'm trying to get this team back going. We need some sort of a jump start or something. Justin and the McGhees are on top of their game and we're just trying to figure our car out. I'm picky, though. If it's not comfortable, we might as well sit at home and watch from the couch. It wasn't very good all tonight, but we kept trying and trying and we thought we stumbled on something for the feature. It was terrible from the drop of the green. I'm just glad that we're second because it felt like I had about a 10th place car. It's been a tough road, but just to race again is a blessing. I just have to go do my homework."

After a recent struggle that saw three-straight finishes of 11th or worse, Hanford, California's Chad Boespflug got back on track with a third-place run in his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - PAC Springs/Maxim/Claxton.

"We've been struggling the last few weeks," Boespflug recalls. "To get back on the podium tonight after the way we've run the last few nights is pretty amazing. We made some strides tonight and I think we found some things. Hopefully, we can carry this momentum into Eastern Storm. We have to get a lot better to catch up with Justin. It was my first time here at Knoxville. Maybe next year we can do a two-day show. I'd definitely be down for that."

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway include Kevin Thomas, Jr. (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Josh Hodges (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Brady Bacon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner), Chris Windom (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Stevie Sussex (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 3, 2017 - Knoxville, Iowa - Knoxville Raceway - "Iowa Corn District 5 and 9 Night"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-18.548 (NTR); 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.781; 3. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-18.799; 4. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-18.931; 5. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-18.941; 6. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-19.094; 7. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-19.096; 8. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-19.102; 9. Nick Bilbee, 17N, Bilbee-19.167; 10. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-19.190; 11. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-19.191; 12. Hunter Schuerenberg, 2, Motsinger-19.223; 13. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-19.229; 14. Carson Short, 21, RCM-19.239; 15. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-19.265; 16. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-19.268; 17. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-19.373; 18. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-19.523; 19. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-19.562; 20. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-19.613; 21. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-19.653; 22. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-19.674; 23. R.J. Johnson, 71a, Johnson-19.813; 24. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-19.943; 25. Bruce St. James, 7K, St. James-19.961; 26. Eric Schulz, 4x, Schulz-20.003; 27. Katlynn Leer, 77k, Leer-20.427; 28. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-20.528; 29. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-20.542; 30. Kelly Graham, 12G, Graham-20.688; 31. Ryan Kitchen, 21k, Kitchen-20.866; 32. Joe Bares, 19, TEST-20.916; 33. Gary Rooke, 42au, Rooke-21.020; 34. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-21.060; 35. Rob Sharits, 14s, Davis-21,962.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hodges, 2. Ballou, 3. Thomas, 4. Stanbrough, 5. Bilbee, 6. Farney, 7. St. James, 8. Rooke, 9. D.Smith. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Grant, 3. Stockon, 4. Short, 5. Sussex, 6. C.Smith, 7. Schulz, 8. Bell, 9. Graham. 2:41.61

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney. 2. Roa, 3. Darland, 4. Johnson, 5. Leary, 6. Robbins, 7. Sharits, 8. Kitchen, 9. D.Smith. 2:41.32

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Bacon, 2. Cottle, 3. Boespflug, 4. Schuerenberg, 5. Chapple, 6. Bares, 7. Caho, 8. Schriever. 2:41.79

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Bilbee, 3. Sussex, 4. Chapple, 5. Farney, 6. D.Smith, 7. Robbins, 8. St. James, 9. Leer, 10. Schulz, 11. Rooke, 12. Schriever, 13. C.Smith, 14. Sharits, 15. Caho, 16. Kitchen, 17. Graham, 18. Bares, 19. Bell. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Robert Ballou, 3. Chad Boespflug, 4. Chase Stockon, 5. C.J. Leary, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Kevin Thomas Jr., 8. Josh Hodges, 9. Shane Cottle, 10. Brady Bacon, 11. Isaac Chapple, 12. Dave Darland, 13. Stevie Sussex, 14. Carson Short, 15. Aaron Farney, 16. Hunter Schuerenberg, 17. Dustin Smith, 18. Tyler Courtney, 19. R.J. Johnson, 20. Brody Roa, 21. Nick Bilbee, 22. Jon Stanbrough. NT
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**Bares flipped at the start of the semi. Stanbrough and Bilbee flipped on lap 2 of the feature. Courtney flipped on lap 15 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Grant.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chris Windom (18th-6th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Stevie Sussex

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-745, 2-Windom-648, 3-Boespflug-647, 4-Stockon-600, 5-Courtney-516, 6-Leary-446, 7-Thomas-442, 8-Darland-418, 9-Cottle-392, 10-Hodges-387.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACES: June 13 - Bechtelsville, PA - Grandview Speedway - "Jesse Hockett Classic" - "Eastern Storm"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

COURTNEY CASHES IN AT MALVERN BANK I-80 DIRT CLASSIC

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Greenwood, Nebraska June 2, 2017 -.....Tyler Courtney withstood a relentless Chris Windom assault during the final two laps of Friday night's Malvern Bank "I-80 Dirt Classic" to earn his second career USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory in the series' inaugural appearance at I-80 Speedway.

Windom was on point for the first two-thirds of the 30-lapper, but Courtney used a lap 20 turn one slider to rip by the defending Silver Crown champ for the race lead, then took Windom's repetitious haymakers in stride down the stretch, answering each successive punch with a knockout blow of his own.

Running along the razor's edge requires a certain finesse to reach maximum success. On this night, Courtney had to juggle patience and urgency. The Indianapolis, Indiana native had to start seventh, but Courtney anticipated the track taking rubber and felt he had to get up on the wheel of his TOPP Motorsports/TOPP Performance Race Parts - Custom Pump & Controls/Maxim/Claxton and bring it to the front as soon as the green dropped. Yet, the dilemma in a 30-lap sprint is that running too hard can create significant tire wear, making a hard-charging effort all for naught.

"We knew the track had a pretty good chance of taking rubber," Courtney admits. "I knew once I got to about third or fourth, I had to really start going. But I didn't want to use up my tires just in case it was going to take rubber. We were searching for a happy medium, but we played our cards right and came out on top. I'll take it any way I can get it."

Windom, though, was the master of the 4/10-mile dirt oval when racing commenced, sliding in front of polesitter Chad Boespflug in the first turn to take the lead on the opening lap. Soon thereafter, ProSource Fast Qualifier Stevie Sussex made a charge to the front and a bid for the lead on lap six that came up short, but soon fell into line behind Windom in a four-car breakaway freight train that also included Grant and Courtney in third and fourth, respectively.

The surface was wide and slick, allowing slide jobs to be thrown at will from anywhere and everywhere. After fifth-running Chase Stockon slowed with a bent draglink on the tenth lap to bring out the caution, Courtney took the message to heart, immediately blasting by Grant for third into turn one on the restart. A lap later, Courtney went to the well one more time in the same spot, sliding past Sussex for the runner-up spot.

As the top became rubber down, it became a single-file procession up top, but it opened the door for sliders for days coming in from all corners as it became the most preferred way to advance.

On the 20th revolution around the oval, Courtney took Windom's spot away up front with another perfect turn one slider. On the following circuit, Courtney slid the lapped car of Nebraska's Terry Richards in one to separate himself from Windom and gain an unobstructed view of the track ahead with just a handful of laps remaining.

"I screwed up down there in (turns) one and two and I didn't expect it to work out, but I got over the cushion and turned down the hill," Courtney recalled. "I slid a couple guys and got to Windom right before the caution. We got all bunched up; I ran behind Grant and Sussex for a little bit and while they were sliding each other, I was able to get by them. We got to lapped traffic, then I used one of them as a pick and slid Chris. I could tell the track was starting to take rubber, so I had to get by him quickly. Luckily, I was at the right place at the right time."

In the moments leading up to Corey Smith's spin on lap 25 that brought about the night's final yellow, Windom began to find his way back toward Courtney. On the ensuing restart, everyone anticipated Windom to be the aggressor and reclaim his spot up front. Instead, Grant was able to slide by Windom on the restart to momentarily take over second, though Windom countered immediately to move back to second.

Windom pounced on his second opportunity and was right on Courtney's tail for the final two-lap shootout. On the 29th lap, Windom took the first swing at Courtney, pulling ahead between turns one and two. Courtney kept his foot on the throttle and escaped around the outside of Windom with mere inches to spare to retain the lead.

Windom came back twice more on the final lap with a turn one slider to no avail and one last final run at him going into turn three, but each time, Courtney successfully countered with a left hook of his own, turning down the hill off turn four to cut underneath Windom and hang on for the victory by 0.184 of a second. Windom took second ahead of Grant, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Robert Ballou and CRA/West Coast Sprint regular Brody Roa rounding out the top-five.

Patience and urgency reared its head again in the final laps for Courtney as he went face-to-face with the split-second decision on when to lay off the throttle, at what point to turn down in the corner and when to get back on the gas without being slow enough to lose the position or being too fast that he'd blister the tires.

"You lift a little bit, but you can't get too far out of it because you can unload your car and slip out of the rubber," Courtney explains. "It's back to the happy medium thing. You have to run it hard, but not too hard. Everything fell into place tonight. We had a rough start, but we've really got it clicking here the last few races."

"I knew he was going to be throwing (sliders)," Courtney adds. "It's tough when it's one lane like that, when you're sliding through the dirty stuff and it's kind of hard to get it stopped in the rubber. I'm sure Chris was having to throw them from pretty far back. It's just hard to get slowed down. If I was expecting it, I could whoa it down and make sure I didn't miss the rubber and make sure I got it coming off the corner. He tried those last two laps and, on the last lap, he tried it over in (turns) three and four. I would've done the same thing. Luckily, he blew through it every time and we were able to stay in it and get to the checker first."

Chris Windom of Canton, Illinois led the first 19 laps of Friday night's feature, ultimately taking his second-straight runner-up finish in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.

"When you're leading a race like that and the rubber keeps moving down, you're a sitting duck unless you happen to find it first," Windom explains. "Tyler just found it a little quicker than me and got by us. You replay the race a thousand times in your head and what you could've done differently. I felt like I was running a pretty consistent race, but he got to the rubber a little quicker than I did. I think we were better than him at the end, but I threw a few haymakers at him and he had enough to cross us back over."

"You're still under control until you're about to hit the rubber again, then you don't know if you're going to slide through it," Windom continued. "It's such a hard place to throw a slide job. If you're throwing it back to the rubber, you've got to slow way down to stick the rubber. I tried as hard as I could to slow down enough, but we slid through it just enough for Tyler squeeze back under us and cross us over. We threw all we could at him."

Ione, California's Justin Grant extended his run of top-four finishes to nine in USAC National Sprint Car competition in 2017, taking third in his Sam McGhee Motorsports/Mike McGhee & Associates - Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Maxim/Foxco.

"The patience involved is in waiting for a guy to hit the cushion and get tight against it coming off or missing it a little bit," Grant said. "You have to follow a guy until he bobbles, then when he bobbles, you take your shot then. You just kind of bide your time and wait for a guy to mess up. Everybody gets so fast later on the curb; you've got to wait for a mistake to capitalize."

"I got on the jersey barrier down the back stretch," Grant starts. "I don't know what my deal was. I got up on that jersey barrier and I couldn't get the thing turned off it until too late. When it did turn, the right rear was up on the wall and it slammed down into the cushion and then it bicycled and kind of rode on the right front before setting down and flat-wheeling the fence. I'm pretty fortunate. I thought I was going to turn over."

Contingency award winners Friday night at I-80 Speedway include Stevie Sussex (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Tyler Courtney (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chris Windom (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Robert Ballou (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Shane Cottle (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner) and Isaac Chapple (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: June 2, 2017 - Greenwood, Nebraska - I-80 Speedway - Malvern Bank "I-80 Dirt Classic"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-16.808; 2. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-16.838; 3. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-16.966; 4. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-17.003; 5. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-17.023; 6. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-17.085; 7. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-17.120; 8. Brody Roa, 91R, BR-17.190; 9. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 44, Pace-17.198; 10. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-17.215; 11. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-17.292; 12. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.335; 13. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.533; 14. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-17.695; 15. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-17.807; 16. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-17.926; 17. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-17.931; 18. Wyatt Burks, 11w, Rumsey-18.028; 19. Bruce St. James, 7K, St. James-18.203; 20. Ryan Kitchen, 21, Kitchen-18.520; 21. Rob Caho, Jr., 78, Caho-18.753; 22. Eric Schulz, 4x, Schulz-19.006; 23. Warren Johnson, 42, Johnson-19.046; 24. Rob Sharits, 14s, Davis-20.045; 25. Alex Schriever, 0, Davis-20.442; 26. Terry Richards, 18, Richards-NT; 27. Robert Bell, 71, Bell-NT (Time of 19.675 disallowed).

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Leary, 3. Chapple, 4. Stockon, 5. Sussex, 6. Robbins, 7. St. James, 8. Schulz, 9. Schriever. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Windom, 2. Darland, 3. Hodges, 4. Roa, 5. Grant, 6. Cottle, 7. Kitchen, 8. Richards, 9. Johnson. 2:24.07

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Ballou, 2. Bacon, 3. Boespflug, 4. Thomas, 5. Smith, 6. Burks, 7. Sharits, 8. Bell. 2:30.16

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Cottle, 2. Robbins, 3. St. James, 4. Richards, 5. Burks, 6. Kitchen, 7. Johnson, 8. Schulz, 9. Bell, 10. Schriever, 11. Sharits. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Tyler Courtney, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Justin Grant, 4. Robert Ballou, 5. Brody Roa, 6. Brady Bacon, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Dave Darland, 9. C.J. Leary, 10. Shane Cottle, 11. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 12. Chad Boespflug, 13. Isaac Chapple, 14. Josh Hodges, 15. Wyatt Burks, 16. Terry Richards, 17. Bruce St. James, 18. Kyle Robbins, 19. Corey Smith, 20. Warren Johnson, 21. Chase Stockon, 22. Ryan Kitchen. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-19 Windom, Laps 20-30 Courtney.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Robert Ballou (12th to 4th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FEATURE FINISHER: Isaac Chapple

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-667, 2-Windom-585, 3-Boespflug-574, 4-Stockon-528, 5-Courtney-477, 6-Leary-384, 7-Thomas-378, 8-Darland-373, 9-Cottle-339, 10-Jarett Andretti-338.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: June 3 - Knoxville, Iowa - Knoxville Raceway - "Iowa Corn District 5 & Iowa Corn District 9 Night"

MAY 14, 2017
CONTACT: BOB MILLER 443 513 4456
RELEASED PREPARED BY RICHIE MURRAY- - -USAC MEDIA
2017 AMSOIL USAC EASTERN STORM

EASTERN STORM ENTERS 2ND DECADE WITH A NEW TWIST AS USAC SPRINTS EYE PENNSYLVANIA TOUR JUNE 13-18

Throughout its first decade, the Eastern Storm has continually grown by leaps and bounds each year in terms of prestige.

It’s become a marquee event that drivers and fans alike circle on their calendar each year when the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship schedule is released.

In 2017, Eastern Storm enters its 11th year stronger than ever, but with a slightly new look to one of the most popular and hottest tickets in all of sprint car racing as the wingless heroes of United States Auto Club invade the state of Pennsylvania for a highly-anticipated week of open-wheel dirt-track racing across the Keystone State.

Grandview Speedway and the Thunder on the Hill Racing Series is the only track to have been a part of every Eastern Storm since its debut in 2007. The Bechtelsville, PA 1/3-mile track opens the five-race series on Tuesday, June 13 in a double header program with the NASCAR 358 Modifieds in a wildly popular event. PA Posse hot shoe Danny “Double D” Dietrich will attempt to chase down his first ever USAC non-wing sprint car victory. Race time is 7:30 PM

It’s off to Abbottstown, PA for a stop at the Lincoln Speedway, an Eastern Storm staple since 2010, brings the series into night two on Wednesday, June 14. The 358 Sprints will be part of this double header event that will carry a 7:30 PM starting time.

The most notable change on the schedule is the addition of Williams Grove Speedway on Thursday, June 15. The USAC Sprint Cars haven’t hit the Grove since Billy Pauch’s lone series victory in 1996! However, the Mechanicsburg, PA half-mile was slated to host a pair of Eastern Storm events in 2008 and 2009, but we’re both halted by Mother Nature.

In addition to the Sprint Cars, Williams Grove will host the USAC Eastern Regional Midgets presented by ARDC on Thursday. The following night, Friday, June 16, Eastern Storm takes a one-day break, but the action continues at the Grove with the USAC Silver Crown Champ Car series returning for the “Horn-Schindler Memorial” as well as the second of two-straight nights for the USAC/ARDC Midgets.

Port Royal Speedway is the second straight half-mile pegged for this year’s Eastern Storm, with the blazingly-fast track set for duty on Saturday night, June 17. The venerable Susquehanna Speedway has taken a new look over the past couple of years with upgrades continually being made to the facility, but for the fifth consecutive year, remains in its familiar spot as the host of the series-ender on Sunday night, June 18.

Thirty-four Eastern Storm events have been contested since the series’ inception in 2007. Levi Jones and Bryan Clauson are tied atop the leaderboard as winningest drivers in the series with six wins apiece. Clauson was the champion in 2016 after three stirring performances at Grandview, Lincoln and Port Royal in which he took the lead late in the going in each.

Chris Windom and Robert Ballou are the active drivers with the most Eastern Storm wins at three each. Windom, of Canton, Illinois won his first all the way back in 2010 at Big Diamond Speedway in Minersville, PA and his most recent in the last season’s finale at Susquehanna. Ballou, of Rocklin, California, earned all three of his Eastern Storm victories in one magical weekend back in 2015, when he ran away with the series title.

Of the top-12 in the current USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car standings, just over half have won at least a single Eastern Storm feature. Hanford, California’s Chad Boespflug (2nd in points) was a victor at New Egypt (NJ) Speedway last season. Windom (3rd) won last year’s final at Susquehanna. Fort Branch, Indiana’s Chase Stockon (4th) scored a triumph in the 2014 opener at Grandview. Kokomo, Indiana’s Shane Cottle (8th) notched a victory in Susquehanna’s USAC debut in 2013. Sikeston, Missouri’s Hunter Schuerenberg (9th) captured New Egypt in 2011. USAC Triple Crown champ Dave Darland (11th) of Lincoln, Indiana has found Eastern Storm victory lane just once, at Port Royal back in 2013. Landon Simon (10th) of Tipp City, Ohio bagged the second, non-points feature at Grandview in 2016.

Absent from that list of drivers who’ve had a past Eastern Storm winning experience include series point leader Justin Grant of Ione, California. Mooresville, North Carolina’s Jarett Andretti (5th in points) fought a memorable battle with Clauson in last year’s Grandview stop. Another player in that same battle was Cullman, Alabama’s Kevin Thomas, Jr. (12th) who led 12 laps and, coincidentally, owns 12 career USAC National Sprint Car wins. Tyler Courtney of Indianapolis, Indiana (6th) and Greenfield, Indiana’s C.J. Leary (7th) snagged their first career USAC National Sprint Car victories last season, but are hoping to break through for a taste of Eastern Storm glory this coming June.

These drivers are among a large crop who will compete against a contingent of Pennsylvania natives who will step foot into relatively unfamiliar territory – in the seat of sprint car without a wing. Danny Dietrich, winner of the 2016 National Open at Williams Grove, plans to make his initial foray into USAC for Eastern Storm. Defending ARDC Midget champion and 2016 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals preliminary feature winner Alex Bright, is a regular in USAC’s midget division, but will try his hand for the first time in a USAC Sprint Car.

Eastern Storm has been a harbinger of good fortune when it comes to its champions’ future success. In seven of its ten years of existence, the champion of Eastern Storm has gone on to win the USAC National Sprint Car title in the same season: Levi Jones (2007, 2010 & 2011), Bryan Clauson (2012 & 2013), Brady Bacon (2014) and Robert Ballou (2015).

Additional Eastern Storm champs include Cole Whitt (2008 & 2009) and Clauson (2016), who became the second three-time titlist alongside Jones just one year ago.

EASTERN STORM CHAMPIONS:

2007: Levi Jones

2008: Cole Whitt

2009: Cole Whitt

2010: Levi Jones

2011: Levi Jones

2012: Bryan Clauson

2013: Bryan Clauson

2014: Brady Bacon

2015: Robert Ballou

2016: Bryan Clauson

AMSOIL USAC EASTERN STORM 2017

Tuesday, June 13 USAC Non-Wing Sprints

11th Annual Jesse Hockett Classic Plus 358 Modifieds Grandview Speedway

Wednesday, June 14 USAC Non-Wing Sprints & 358 Sprints- - Lincoln Speedway

Thursday, June 15 USAC Non-Wing Sprints & USAC/ARDC Midgets- - Williams Grove Speedway

Saturday, June 17 USAC Non-Wing Sprints & 410 Sprints- - Port Royal Speedway

Sunday, June 18 USAC Non-Wing Sprints & Extreme Stocks & Stock 600 Micros - - Susquehanna Speedway

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

THE MADMAN IS BACK; BALLOU RETURNS TO VICTORY LANE AT ELDORA AFTER 8-MONTH RECOVERY

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio......... May 13, 2017 - Thursday, he was medically cleared. Friday, he was back in a racecar. Saturday, he was back in victory lane.

The timeline of events that led to Ballou's triumphant return to the top after an agonizing eight-month recovery from serious neck injuries sustained in a racing accident last September is as remarkable as it comes.

The storybook journey took the Rocklin, California native and 2015 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Champion to the front of the field on lap 18 of the 30-lap feature Saturday on night two of #LetsRaceTwo at Eldora Speedway after chasing down Chris Windom in lapped traffic to capture his first win in nearly a year.

Eldora was a fitting stage for Ballou's return, but it was just happenstance that the first leg of his road back to the racetrack took place at a venue that has served him so well over the past decade. It's the same place where he earned the first three of his 27 career series victories as well as the first #LetsRaceTwo feature in 2015. But, most importantly, it's a place - physically and mentally - that put him into a comfort zone as he put into perspective how fortunate he was to have another moment such as the one he had in front of large, raucous crowd Saturday night.

"Being able to come back and race a sprint car again is a victory in my mind," Ballou said. "I was faced with some circumstances where, in reality, I should've died. Obviously, someone wasn't done with me and I'm still here. It's sure been a long road. To come back at Eldora, I think everybody was excited fanwise, but I think they were all pretty leery. I've always loved this place, though. It comes pretty natural to me."

Just two days prior, Ballou's status was still uncertain as he awaited medical clearance from Dr. David Schwartz that would give him the go-ahead to get back behind the wheel of a racecar. Thursday night, he received official word and, from that point, it was a bit of a thrash to get everything ready to go for the next two nights.

"Our new Eagle chassis was sitting in the shop and hadn't been touched until about a week ago," Ballou admits. "I said, 'Hey, there might be a chance we could get going in June, so we need to get the ball rolling.' I had been going to work every day and spending every night in the shop. I didn't even get stickers or bumpers on the car until 2pm on Friday afternoon!"

Getting back in racing mode is not only difficult on the psyche after a serious incident such as Ballou's, the stakes are high when your racing career and your livelihood depends on your results on the track. Ballou admits that the situation is dire in some areas, but his level of success over the past three years has paid large dividends, and bills. Being out of commission for three-quarters of a year, however, put him in a difficult bind when he was sporting a brace instead of a firesuit.

"Fifteen days before I crashed, I bought a house," Ballou recalls. "I was out of work for 21 weeks and I couldn't afford my shop and my house at the same time without any income. I was pretty fortunate over the 2014 and 2015 seasons to bring in enough prize money to put a second and third car together and get a truck and trailer. I've got all the parts; I just don't have any money left. If we can keep winning before my parts supply runs out, hopefully we can get our bank account built back up and get back to where we were."

On the first night back on track, Ballou admits he and crew chief Derrick Bye were a bit behind the curve at the beginning of the night, but each time they hit the track, they got a little more comfortable and a little faster as the competitive juices began to flow again, helping get the two back into the same high-standard mode that drove them to 21 series victories from 2014 to 2016.

"I was pretty rusty Friday night and we have a new chassis that we're trying to figure out," Ballou explained. "We probably played it a little too conservative to start. We were trying to play catch up all night. You can't play catch up in this game. If you get caught behind the eight-ball, the night's over before you ever get back on the right side. That was ultimately the issue the first night. Tonight, we pretty much picked up where we were left off before the accident."

Saturday night, it looked like 2015 all over again as the white No. 12 was fast right from the get-go. He timed in fourth, ran second in his heat and began the main event from the outside of the second row.

By the end of lap one, Ballou had instantly climbed to second and was already challenging Windom for the top spot. Ballou dove to the bottom at the entrance of turn one, sliding up in front of Windom to take the lead. However, Windom came right back at Ballou, returning the favor by mimicking the same move that had just been put on him on the opposite end of the track to snatch the lead back in turn three.

"Once I slid Chris and got past him, he got me back in the next corner," Ballou details. "He was setting a pretty torrid pace that I thought would be difficult to keep up for 30 laps. When you go green for so long like we did tonight, it's really tough to keep the tires from blistering and, once they get hot and blister, it's pretty much over with. My car is generally better on long runs as it is. At times, he started getting tricky into one. I was running a lane above him and, at times, it was a little treacherous. There were a few times I thought I was going to knock the fence down."

Windom and Ballou ripped the high side as they put their right rear tires right up against the concrete to separate themselves as the cream of the crop of the 22-car field. The two were identically as fast as the other, turning similar times around the half-mile with the interval never wavering a tenth of a second in either direction from their five-car-length separation between one another throughout the first half.

The two entered lapped traffic by lap 10 with much of the back end of the field cooperating by running the bottom, providing them an unobstructed lane up top. The treacherous moment Ballou mentioned came on the 12th lap in traffic as Ballou negotiated the car of Corey Smith. Ballou had committed to the topside as Smith simultaneously headed for the groove up against the wall in turn one. Ballou was able to slip by with nary a foot to spare between his left side wheels and Smith's right side as "The Madman" continued his pursuit of Windom and the race lead.

With 13 laps remaining, the leaders encountered 15th-running Josh Hodges running the high groove. Windom left the trusty high line to slide Hodges in the third turn. As he slid through the middle of the racing surface, Ballou stayed the course up top and jetted around the outside of Windom exiting turn four to take the top position.

"Chris went to the bottom and left me a wide-open racetrack," Ballou said. "I had already caught him and I was better in (turns) three and four than he was. He was about the same speed in (turns) one and two unless I really pushed it. It was tough to push it as hard as he was so that I could even catch him in the first place, but I caught him in traffic and, as soon as he left the door open, I had a lot more left in the racecar and I just opened it up."

Ballou began to check out and seemed poised for victory until the first and only stoppage of the night's feature occurred with five laps to go when polesitter Landon Simon got upside down in turn three. He walked away unscathed.

One thing Ballou had yet to deal with thus far in his return was leading a late-race restart, but the champ was put to the test in a five-lap shootout. Yet, Windom, nor anybody for that matter, had anything left in the tank to make a bid in the end as Ballou vanished into the distance to take a 1.8 second victory over Windom, Brady Bacon, Justin Grant and Tyler Courtney.

"When there's five laps to go, lapped traffic has gone away and you're the leader, you end up being a sitting duck," Ballou explained. "Eldora's famous for the restart slider, so I tried to move down. I wasn't going to slide myself because I've seen that bite people as well, but I tried to move down to make sure I didn't hit the hole after the red flag when the tire pressure started getting lower. Tire pressure drops under a red flag and my tire really lost a lot of air. I ended up hitting a hole anyway. It really rolled up on and got tight on me, then it was tight in the next corner, which made me nervous. There's nothing to lean on in (turns) three and four and it was still tight. A lap of spinning the tires rose the pressure again and, from that point forward, we were pretty good."

Canton, Illinois driver Chris Windom led the initial 17 laps as he sought his first Eldora USAC Sprint win since 2013, but would have to settle for second in his Baldwin Brothers Racing/Fox Paving - AMSOIL/DRC/Claxton Mopar.

"I knew our tire was pretty blistered there at the end," Windom said. "(Crew Chief) Derek Claxton gave me a great racecar, as always. We were good the first half of the race, but I kind of caught traffic wrong and couldn't pick my way through those battles exactly like I wanted to in traffic. Robert got by me there and he was better than us at the end."

Two-time series champion Brady Bacon of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma recorded ProSource Fast Qualifying time on both nights at #LetsRaceTwo, and on Saturday, took his best series finish of the season, a third, in his Dooling-Hayward/B & H Contractors - Dooling Machine/Spike/Stanton Mopar.

"Last night, we were a little free in the feature and didn't tighten it up enough. Tonight, we got a little too aggressive and were a little too tight," Bacon explains. "We just missed a little bit both nights. We're creeping up there, though. We were fast at the beginning of both nights this weekend, which is what we struggled with in Ocala, Florida. We're getting there. We had a few small issues and weren't quite right, but we were still up there competing for the win. I'm pretty happy with that."

Troy, Ohio's Dallas Hewitt, who finished second in Friday night's feature, was involved in a violent flip in the first heat race on Saturday night in which he made contact with the wall and catch fence. Hewitt was transported to the hospital suffering from a concussion and was awaiting X-ray results on a hand injury at press time.

Contingency award winners Saturday night at Eldora include Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Scotty Weir (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Aaron Farney (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Josh Hodges (Chalk Stix/Indy Race Parts Third Heat Winner), Justin Grant (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 13, 2017 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - "#LetsRaceTwo"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-15.541; 2. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-15.626; 3. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-15.653; 4. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-15.663; 5. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-15.718; 6. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-15.784; 7. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-15.820; 8. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-15.828; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 44, Pace-15.926; 10. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-15.992; 11. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-16.026; 12. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-16.052; 13. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-16.069; 14. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-16.098; 15. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-16.104; 16. Dallas Hewitt, 16, Kaser/Seeling-16.137; 17. Kyle Simon, 23s, Simon-16.159; 18. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-16.201; 19. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-16.302; 20. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-16.369; 21. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-16.416; 22. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-16.543; 23. Toby Alfrey, 5A, Alfrey-16.867.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Weir, 2. Ballou, 3. Bacon, 4. Courtney, 5. L. Simon, 6. Goodnight, 7. T. Hewitt, 8. D. Hewitt. NT

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Farney, 2. Sussex, 3. Darland, 4. Boespflug, 5. Stockon, 6. Chapple, 7. K. Simon, 8. Alfrey. 2:12.89

CHALK STIX/INDY RACE PARTS THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Hodges, 2. Leary, 3. Windom, 4. Thomas, 5. Grant, 6. Clouser, 7. C. Smith. 2:14.83

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Robert Ballou, 2. Chris Windom, 3. Brady Bacon, 4. Justin Grant, 5. Tyler Courtney, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Stevie Sussex, 8. Dave Darland, 9. Scotty Weir, 10. Aaron Farney, 11. Chad Boespflug, 12. C.J. Leary, 13. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 14. Josh Hodges, 15. Isaac Chapple, 16. Corey Smith, 17. Tyler Hewitt, 18. Mario Clouser, 19. Matt Goodnight, 20. Landon Simon, 21. Kyle Simon, 22. Toby Alfrey. NT
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**D. Hewitt flipped during the first heat and was transported to the hospital for further evaluation. L. Simon flipped on lap 26 of the feature.

FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-17 Windom, Laps 18-30 Ballou.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Justin Grant (11th to 4th)

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FEATURE FINISHER: Kevin Thomas, Jr.

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-594, 2-Boespflug-528, 3-Windom-508, 4-Stockon-497, 5-Courtney-399, 6-Jarett Andretti-338, 7-Thomas-332, 8-Leary-331, 9-Darland-317, 10-Shane Cottle-292.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 19 - Granite City, Illinois - Tri-City Speedway - "River Town Showdown"

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

GRANT GUIDES THE WAY TO VICTORY ON NIGHT ONE OF #LETSRACETWO AT ELDORA

By: Richie Murray - USAC Media

Rossburg, Ohio.........May 12, 2017 -- Eldora Speedway is the venue the Justin Grant/Sam McGhee Motorsports tandem truly kicked into gear last September as they raced to their first USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature win.

On Friday's night one of #LetsRaceTwo, the two showed that the magic touch from eight months ago at the Big E has no signs of wearing off as they raced to their second USAC victory in as many tries at the western Ohio dirt oval.

It was the third series victory for driver Justin Grant in 2017 after a season-opening triumph in Ocala, Florida and an April score in Plymouth, Indiana in the Sam McGhee/Mike McGhee & Associates - Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Maxim/Foxco. It was also the third career Eldora victory for Grant, a driver who is quick to pass the credit for his prowess at Eldora to the 17-year-old McGhee who turns the wrenches on the No. 11.

"I've got Sammy (McGhee). That's what I've figured out about this place," Grant exclaimed. "I can't say enough about this crew and this racecar. They all work their tails off and they do a heck of a job. It's an amazing car to drive."

Yet, in humble fashion, McGhee instantly identifies Grant's communication and detail-oriented style as the staple of their success, which has yet to see a finish outside the top-four in a USAC race this season for the series point leaders.

"It's all about being able to read the track and know exactly what your driver likes and dislikes," McGhee believes. "That's so important here at a place like Eldora where you carry so much speed. Justin is very detailed in communicating to me what he needs to get to the front. We've been clicking because we're both young, passionate about what we do and have a mutual respect. That's translated into the success we've had since we teamed up last season."

Grant began the 30-lap event from the fifth position as polesitter Kevin Thomas, Jr. sprinted to the lead at the drop of the green with Chris Windom and Chad Boespflug in tow.

An incident involving Corey Smith and Nick Bilbee in turn one on the third lap would prove to be the first, and only, stoppage of the night. When racing resumed, an intense, unwavering early-race battle at the front of the pack would ensue involving Thomas, Windom and Boespflug.

Windom began to apply pressure to Thomas for the top spot by lap seven, but soon, a train that included Grant and 11th starting Shane Cottle gassed their way to the front with race leader Thomas just within reach.

Grant closed to the tail of Thomas' tail tank by lap 10 and used a patented Eldora slider in turn three to rip the lead away as Thomas countered underneath. In a drag race to the line, Grant held the advantage by a single wheel. Thomas charged right back at Grant after getting a run on the bottom of turn three, but Grant denied the anticipated Thomas' slider after switching to the low line to momentarily ward off the challenge.

Meanwhile, Cottle was a man on a mission using the middle to low line to close on race leader Grant by the midway point while Thomas and Windom found their second wind and began to reel the leaders back in on the high side.

On the 18th lap, Cottle got a big run on Grant on the bottom of turn one, but Grant slammed the door to fend off the veteran driver who was seeking his very first Eldora USAC win. Grant acknowledges it was a move out of necessity because the bottom was the place to be at that point in the race, but not one that he normally would give a try.

"There's quite a bit of risk to it," Grant acknowledged. "Normally, I'm not one to do that. Not because I have any moral objections to it, but I'm usually just not very good at it. I could tell (Shane) Cottle was working me up off the bottom. The top was still really dirty off (turn) two and there wasn't a cushion to find yet. I fired off one lap onto the bottom and figured if it's not good, I'll just run a slider on myself and get back to the cushion off (turn) two. It stuck and drove off turn two, so I thought 'Well, okay. That was pretty good.'

Cottle refused to fade away and came back at Grant with 10 laps remaining, engaging in a side-by-side battle for the lead that now saw mid-field starters Thomas Meseraull and Dallas Hewitt enter the top-five. Lap-after-lap, the contentious scramble for position was uncertain with the top-five participating in a scramble for position that appeared as if it were a restrictor plate race at Talladega.

Grant moved back to the top in the final stages as Hewitt found a little magic of his own, slicing through the middle to third and, with four laps remaining, sliding across the front bumper of Thomas to grab second.

It was now a two-man trophy-dash between Grant and Hewitt for the win. On laps 28 and 29, Hewitt made up ground off of turn two to pull himself within the shadows of Grant. Yet, Grant played a little more defense as the sound of Hewitt's engine was within earshot and denied Hewitt any notion of claiming the position.

On the final lap, Hewitt made one final go of it, lifting the left rear entering turn one as he kept Grant within sight. But, Grant was out of reach, holding off a torrid charge by a bevy of competitors in the second-half of the 30-lapper to score his second-straight Eldora USAC National Sprint Car victory over Hewitt, Thomas, KSE Racing Products Hard Charger Chase Stockon (from 21st) and Meseraull.

In a topsy-turvy race that seemingly witnessed every position behind him change lap-by-lap, Grant avoided every bullet that was aimed at him, never relinquishing his lead as he maintained control for the final 21 laps. The Ione, California native used a mixture of his own experience as well as what he's learned over the years at Eldora watching how other savvy veterans got the job done.

"If a guy wouldn't get all the way to the cushion, we'd drive around him. If a guy would get to the cushion, we'd slide him," Grant explained. "I was able to pick and choose my lines and, when I caught a guy, I'd just go where he wasn't. We kept getting pressured near the end and, as thin as the cushion was against the fence, I was just trying not to beat myself. When someone would get under me and pressure me, I'd step it up. Then, it would get quiet and I'd settle back down. I was trying to run only as hard as I had to."

"I started doing the big slide off turn three and catching the cushion off turn four," Grant continued. "Tracy (Hines) used to be good at that here when it would get slick. After watching him do that for years, I figured I'd give that a try since there wasn't much getting into turn three. I started hearing guys and began to get pressure getting into turn three again and I could tell the bottom in turns one and two was slowing down. I was already thinking in my mind, 'Okay, I'm going to move back to the top as soon as I start getting some pressure.' I felt the pressure and got back to the top. After a few laps, I felt like I got away from them a bit. Then they came back and got to me again! I knew I had to step it up and I started blocking sliders in three. I just tried to run a smart race and be in the right lane and not beat myself."

Grant is a driver who likes to be spectacular, running the high-line that gets the highlights and sells t-shirts, but on this night, it didn't matter to him where he ran. All that mattered was getting the "W" and picking up the check for him and his team in victory lane.

"As I'm running around the bottom of turns one and two, I was thinking, 'Man, I want somebody to drive by me off the top of turn two so I could just be done down here," Grant said with a laugh. "As much as I rant and rave about running the bottom at Eldora, I would've never heard the end of it if I had won a race on the bottom. It pays the same, but it's just not nearly as cool."

The Hewitt name is synonymous with Eldora Speedway due to Jack's all-time record of 24 USAC victories at the joint. On Friday night, Troy, Ohio's Dallas Hewitt nearly pulled off the first Hewitt victory at the track since his uncle Jack's "4-Crown Nationals" sweep in 1998. After kissing the concrete early in the feature, Hewitt recovered mightily, coming oh-so-close to his first career USAC victory, taking home second in his Kaser-Seeling Motorsports/Larry's Electric - Lone Star Pawn Shop/Eagle/Kistler.

"I had a good run on Justin (Grant) there toward the end, but I think he might've heard me," Hewitt suspected. "He kind of came down on me a little bit more than he was running the laps before. I could've been a little meaner and maybe gave him a wheel coming off turn four, but it was a good clean race and I'll take a second at a USAC race at Eldora any day. We've been so close here so many times. We junked our other car at Lawrenceburg a few weeks ago, so we just threw this one together. It isn't the prettiest piece, but it gets the job done."

Cullman, Alabama's Kevin Thomas, Jr. led the first nine laps and earned his best result of the year with a third-place finish in his Pace Brothers Racing/Pace Performance Coating - DC Dyno/DRC/J & D.

"For me to run the top 30 laps here is nothing short of a miracle," Thomas deadpanned. "I'm just pumped to be up here. I really wanted that win, though. I don't get to start up front very much, so I wanted to capitalize on it.

Contingency award winners Friday night at Eldora include Brady Bacon (ProSource Fast Qualifier), Dave Darland (Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Scotty Weir (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Tyler Courtney (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Chase Stockon (Indy Race Parts Fourth Heat Winner & KSE Racing Products Hard Charger) and C.J. Leary (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: May 12, 2017 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - "#LetsRaceTwo" - "Don Branson/Jud Larson Classic"

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Brady Bacon, 63, Dooling/Hayward-16.960; 2. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.182; 3. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-17.276; 4. Thomas Meseraull, 9x, SC-17.469; 5. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-17.487; 6. Chad Boespflug, 69. Dynamics-17.551; 7. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-17.594; 8. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-17.623; 9. Dallas Hewitt, 16, Kaser/Seeling-17.636; 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 44, Pace-17.688; 11. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-17.691; 12. Robert Ballou, 12, Ballou-17.739; 13. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-17.873; 14. Nick Bilbee, 17, Bilbee-17.890; 15. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-17.975; 16. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-18.001; 17. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-18.009; 18. Scotty Weir, 22s, Simon-18.037; 19. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-18.103; 20. Dustin Smith, 77, Gagliardi-18.122; 21. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-18.203; 22. Mario Clouser, 6, Clouser-18.265; 23. Josh Hodges, 74x, Hodges-18.271; 24. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-18.369; 25. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-18.479; 26. Tony DiMattia, 50, DiMattia-18.617; 27. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-18.743; 28. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-18.932; 29. Riley VanHise, 96, VanHise-18.962; 30. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-19.431; 31. Matt Westfall, 54, Westfall-NT.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Darland, 2. C.Smith, 3. Chapple, 4. Bacon, 5. D.Hewitt, 6. Sussex, 7. VanHise, 8. Farney. 2:15.49

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Weir, 2. Bilbee, 3. Boespflug, 4. Thomas, 5. Leary, 6. Clouser, 7. DiMattia, 8. T.Hewitt. 2:17.37

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Courtney, 2. Hodges, 3. Grant, 4. Windom, 5. Cottle, 6. Wilson, 7. Goodnight. 2:16.90

INDY RACE PARTS FOURTH HEAT: (8 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Ballou, 3. Andretti, 4. D.Smith, 5. Meseraull, 6. Simon, 7. Underwood. 2:15.89

SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Leary, 2. Cottle, 3. D.Hewitt, 4. Meseraull, 5. Farney, 6. Wilson, 7. Simon, 8. Sussex, 9. Clouser, 10. Underwood, 11. Goodnight, 12. T.Hewitt, 13. VanHise, 14. DiMattia. 3:38.42

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Dallas Hewitt, 3. Kevin Thomas Jr., 4. Chase Stockon, 5. Thomas Meseraull, 6. Shane Cottle, 7. Robert Ballou, 8. Brady Bacon, 9. Tyler Courtney, 10. Chris Windom, 11. Scotty Weir, 12. Aaron Farney, 13. C.J. Leary, 14. Jarett Andretti, 15. Chad Wilson, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Chad Boespflug, 18. Josh Hodges, 19. Landon Simon, 20. Dustin Smith, 21. Isaac Chapple, 22. Corey Smith, 23. Nick Bilbee. NT
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-9 Thomas, Laps 10-30 Grant.

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Chase Stockon (21st-4th)

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-525, 2-Boespflug-480, 3-Windom-434, 4-Stockon-433, 5-Andretti-338, 6-Courtney-336, 7-Cottle-292, 8-Thomas-290, 9-Leary-285, 10-Darland-262.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 13 - Rossburg, OH - Eldora Speedway - #LetsRaceTwo

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Contact: Richie Murray - USAC Media / richie@usacracing.com

GRANT BREATHES EASY WITH VICTORY IN USAC SPRINTS' FIRST PILGRIMAGE TO PLYMOUTH

Plymouth, Indiana April 21, 2017 ......... Early on in Justin Grant's sprint car racing career, a fellow competitor told him that he wouldn't last more than eight laps without consciously remembering to breathe while he was racing.

Justin heeded that advice, and a handful of years later, the Ione, California native is finding the greatest success of his driving career. He could breathe easy after all was said and done Friday night after holding off a late-race charge from Chad Boespflug while mired in lapped traffic to collect his second series victory of the season in the first ever visit by the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship to Indiana's Plymouth Speedway.

The win came as a sigh of relief to Grant after a breathtaking moment in ProSource Qualifying that almost ended his night before it even began.

"I tried to end our night pretty early on during qualifying," Grant said with a grin. "I was coming to the green (flag) and about spun out. I went ahead, turned around and went back and tried to gain a little composure. I took a breath, came back and restarted my qualifying attempt. I went down into (turn) three on the first lap and all but turned over. Getting into three, my speed and the calculations I was running in my head, I figured I was going to go ahead and make it over the fence. It went ahead and sat down and I was able to salvage a respectable time on the second lap. Fortunately for me, a couple guys missed the transfer through the heat races and that put us on the front row."

Grant took full advantage of his seat on the outside of the front row, racing to the lead up top as polesitter Thomas Meseraull slid up the track in turn two, allowing Grant to breakaway to a substantial advantage.

By lap three, Grant was ahead by a half-straight. The lead had grown to the length of a straightaway with just five laps down as Meseraull, Chris Windom, Boespflug and Shane Cottle scrambled for positions two through five. Ten laps into the 30-lap event, Grant held a staggering half-lap lead as he began to negotiate lapped traffic.

"I felt like our car was pretty good," Grant said. "It was launching down the straightaways pretty fast. I was going as fast as I was comfortable going through the holes. I didn't know we had a straightaway lead or anything like that, but I thought we had a buffer. I couldn't hear anything. Normally, you can hear a guy behind you, but I couldn't hear anybody."

Though he possessed a suffocating stranglehold on all those who followed, Grant's lead would begin to shrink mightily by the halfway point as the drivers near the tail end of the field were running high, low, top and bottom as they engaged in their own battles for position ahead of Grant's black and red No. 11.

"Getting into lapped traffic, they were all two-wide for three or four rows in front of me," Grant recalls. "I was really just trying to keep myself calm, stay patient and wait for holes to open up so I could pick my way around those guys and not get caught up in something I didn't need to get caught up in."

Each lap, Boespflug chomped a significant chunk out of the interval between he and race leader Grant. On lap 23, Grant found himself entering turn three as he sought to overtake Aaron Pierce. Boespflug attempted to capitalize on the bottom to no avail as Grant clung to the lead by the cuticles of his fingernails. Grant then found his second wind, disposing of Pierce and Jarett Andretti to set himself free of the mounting pressure from Boespflug.

"I knew we had slowed down a ton in that group of lapped cars. I knew somebody was going to be coming pretty quickly. I was just kind of hoping things would open up. I saw Boespflug poke a nose under me in the middle of (turns) one and two. When I saw him, I decided I had to start taking some chances and be a little more aggressive. I kind of moved our way by a few of those guys and was able to open up a few lanes where I could start sliding guys and move around. As soon as I started clicking a couple lapped cars off, I felt comfortable and confident that we'd be alright."

Meanwhile, 18th starting Tyler Courtney seemingly came out of nowhere, shooting to the top around Boespflug in turn two with just a pair of laps remaining to grab second. By then, though, Grant was long gone once again where he would pull away for a commanding 3.5 second victory over Courtney, Boespflug, Meseraull and Stevie Sussex.

Grant's victory in the Sam McGhee Motorsports/Mike McGhee & Associates - Brown & Miller Racing Solutions/Maxim/Foxco was his first since the season-opening "Winter Dirt Games" in Ocala, Florida. His sixth career score ties him with the likes of Jac Haudenschild, Jan Opperman, Tom Sneva, George Snider and Dick Tobias on the all-time USAC National Sprint Car win list.

Additionally, team owner Sam McGhee revisited Plymouth Speedway victory lane for the first time in six seasons, but this time, it was in a different role. The now 17-year-old McGhee drove to victory lane after winning a USAC Ford Focus Young Guns Midget feature at Plymouth in 2011 when the track was pavement.

Back to Grant, though, who established the 30-lap mark at Plymouth Friday night during a caution-free, green-to-checker feature finish in a time of 7:36.34 that saw all 22 starters finish. By Grant's estimation, 30 laps non-stop in a sprint car doesn't take long, but it can, without a doubt, be taxing on the mind.

"A sprint car race is 30 laps, but they're 30 intense laps," Grant explains. "Things are happening so fast and everybody's so quick, if the race gets away from you, you're not getting it back. It's mentally challenging and you just really have to try and make sure to breathe and that's the biggest thing, especially when the track's rough. You actually have to tell yourself to breathe. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out to just keep some oxygen going and to stay focused."

After four-straight sub-top-ten performances to begin the season, Indianapolis, Indiana's Tyler Courtney bounced back in just about the most spectacular way imaginable, driving from the outside of the ninth row to finish second without the aid of a single yellow flag in his TOPP Motorsports/TOPP Performance Race Parts - Custom Pump & Controls/Maxim/Claxton.

"This is what we all needed, not only for me as a driver, but as a team," a proud Courtney beamed. "We struggled at the beginning of the year. We changed a few things this week and it worked out. Our car was the best it's been in a while. We screwed up in qualifying on a tough racetrack and that put us deep in the field. It makes it pretty hard to win races from that far back, especially with the caliber of guys we have running in the series. You can't slouch off at any point in the night. Getting behind the eight-ball is tough, but we rebounded to get a podium here in front of a hometown crowd for my car owner who grew up here in Plymouth."

"I knew we were good from the start," Courtney continued. "I was hoping we weren't too good too early, but I was able to find a different line than everybody out there through (turns) one and two, which is where I passed a bunch of guys. I knew once I started seeing Chad (Boespflug), Thomas (Meseraull), Chris (Windom) and those guys, I had to be getting close to the front, but I still couldn't see Justin. I knew I hadn't passed him yet, so I knew it was still a long row to hoe. We needed a yellow, but we didn't quite get one. To get second, I'll take it. This is the best second has ever felt!"

Third-place finisher Chad Boespflug briefly clamped down on Grant for the race lead late in the going Friday night at Plymouth, yet he also closed to within one-point of Grant for the series point-lead in his Dynamics, Inc./Mean Green - PAC Springs/Maxim/Claxton heading into Eldora Speedway's "LetsRaceTwo" on May 12-13.

"I just started to really hone in on my line when I got to Justin (Grant) in lapped traffic there," Boespflug replays. "I tried to roll the bottom a few times and realized I was a little freer than I had been all night. Come to find out, we had a bleeder stick in the right rear, or actually shut off. We just grew too much pressure in the right rear. We got to Justin's rear bumper there, kind of, and it was just time to try and make some moves. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out for us tonight. We slipped back to third there at the end, but overall, great night again.

Contingency award winners Friday night at Plymouth Speedway include Chase Stockon (ProSource Fast Qualifier & Simpson Race Products First Heat Winner), Chad Boespflug (Competition Suspension, Inc. Second Heat Winner), Kevin Thomas, Jr. (Chalk Stix Third Heat Winner), Stevie Sussex (Indy Race Parts Semi Winner), Tyler Courtney (KSE Racing Products Hard Charger), Landon Simon (Wilwood Brakes 13th Place Feature Finisher).

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USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE RESULTS: April 21, 2017 - Plymouth, Indiana - Plymouth Speedway

PROSOURCE QUALIFYING: 1. Chase Stockon, 32, 32 TBI-13.016; 2. Chad Boespflug, 69, Dynamics-13.195; 3. Stevie Sussex, 17GP, Dutcher-13.254; 4. Chris Windom, 5, Baldwin-13.284; 5. Tyler Hewitt, 97x, One More Time-13.364; 6. Shane Cottle, 57, Hazen-13.369; 7. Justin Grant, 11, McGhee-13.417; 8. Thomas Meseraull, 00, SC-13.448; 9. Kevin Thomas Jr., 44, Pace-13.462; 10. Colten Cottle, 1RL, Lambertson-13.511; 11. Kyle Robbins, 17R, Robbins-13.531; 12. Landon Simon, 24, LSR-13.613; 13. Jarett Andretti, 18, Andretti-13.625; 14. Dave Darland, 71p, Phillips/Curb-Agajanian-13.630; 15. Isaac Chapple, 52, LNR/Chapple-13.691; 16. Brady Short, 11p, Pottorff-13.712; 17. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-13.715; 18. Tyler Courtney, 23c, TOPP-13.741; 19. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-13.746; 20. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-13.879; 21. Corey Smith, 66s, CS-13.933; 22. Aaron Farney, 15F, DCT-13.961; 23. Josh Spencer, 66J, Spencer-14.000; 24. Jon Stanbrough, 81, Stanbrough-14.017; 25. Chad Wilson, 14, Wilson-14.724; 26. Lee Underwood, 24L, Underwood-14.254; 27. Ethan Barrow, 15, Barrow-14.320.

SIMPSON RACE PRODUCTS FIRST HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Stockon, 2. Short, 3. Grant, 4. Andretti, 5. Windom, 6. C.Cottle, 7. Goodnight, 8. Wilson, 9. Farney. 2:16.91

COMPETITION SUSPENSION (CSI) SECOND HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Boespflug, 2. Darland, 3. Leary, 4. Meseraull, 5. Spencer, 6. Robbins, 7. Underwood, 8. Pierce, 9. Hewitt. NT

CHALK STIX THIRD HEAT: (10 laps) 1. Thomas, 2. Courtney, 3. S.Cottle, 4. Chapple, 5. Simon, 6. Sussex, 7. Stanbrough, 8. Smith. 9. Barrow. 2:22.50

INDY RACE PARTS SEMI: (12 laps) 1. Sussex, 2. Hewitt, 3. Stanbrough., 4. Robbins, 5. C.Cottle, 6. Pierce, 7. Farney, 8. Wilson, 9. Underwood, 10. Barrow, 11. Goodnight, 12. Smith. NT

FEATURE: (30 laps) 1. Justin Grant, 2. Tyler Courtney, 3. Chad Boespflug, 4. Thomas Meseraull, 5. Stevie Sussex, 6. Chase Stockon, 7. Shane Cottle, 8. Chris Windom, 9. Jon Stanbrough, 10. Kevin Thomas Jr., 11. Brady Short, 12. Colten Cottle, 13. Landon Simon, 14. Kyle Robbins, 15. Jarett Andretti, 16. Dave Darland, 17. Aaron Pierce, 18. C.J. Leary, 19. Tyler Hewitt, 20. Aaron Farney, 21. Isaac Chapple, 22. Josh Spencer. 7:36.34
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FEATURE LAP LEADERS: Laps 1-30 Grant

KSE RACING PRODUCTS HARD CHARGER: Tyler Courtney (18th-2nd).

WILWOOD BRAKES 13TH PLACE FINISHER: Landon Simon

NEW USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Grant-445, 2-Boespflug-444, 3-Windom-386, 4-Stockon-364, 5-Andretti-297, 6-Courtney-282, 7-Leary-239, 8-S.Cottle-234, 9-Hunter Schuerenberg-230, 10-Simon-228.

NEXT USAC AMSOIL SPRINT CAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP RACE: May 12-13 - Rossburg, Ohio - Eldora Speedway - "#LetsRaceTwo"