Justin Grant (Photo by Jack Reitz)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Four years after winning his first Mike Curb Super License Championship of his career, Justin Grant did it again this year, earning the most points throughout the USAC racing season for the $ 5,000 bonus and a Licensed for all competitions. Three series in the next year.
Grant finished the campaign with 5,527 combined points in the USAC Silver Crown, AMSOIL National Sprint Car and NOS Energy Drink National Midget seasons, 315 more than runner-up Chris Windom. He was also the only driver to compete in all 93 USAC National Features during the year, breaking the previous record of 77 for the most USAC starts in a year.
The Californian’s first Super License award came in 2017, and now Grant is only the sixth driver to have won multiple awards, alongside four-time Tracy Hines, three-time winners Bryan Clauson and JJ Yeley, and two-time winners, Dave Darland, Josh Wise and Tyler Courtney.
Grant’s second super license is also special to him, but he feels he was stronger this year than his 2017 performance.
“It is definitely exhausting to go up and down all the national races and it’s great that Mike Curb and Curb Records made an award to recognize this and to support the guys who do it,” said Grant. “Mike is a great gentleman; I’ve met him a couple of times and he’s an incredible supporter of racing. To win an award from him is great and both are really special. I also feel like I did better in all three series than in 2017. Both are decent and it’s an honor to win both. “
Jumping between the Hemelgarn Racing Silver Crown car, the TOPP Motorsports sprint car, and the RMS Racing dwarf from February to November can be tiring, but Grant credits him with his support system that helped him 12 times between the three series to win.
He was also one of two drivers to win all three series this year.
“I’m really happy to have great teams and great crews to support me as I jump around and jam from circuit to circuit,” said Grant. “I drive great racing cars and I couldn’t do that without my teams, the crews who work on them and the partners who support us. I am simply in the fortunate position of being wherever I want to be and of taking part in all national races. “
After his USAC Silver Crown title in 2020, he failed at another championship that year. However, he managed to make history by becoming the first driver to finish third in the USAC Silver Crown, National Sprint, and National Dwarfs in a single season.
Grant is also the sixth driver to finish in the top three in all three series in a single year. He joins Rich Vogler (1980, ’81 and ’89), Ken Schrader (1983), Tony Stewart (1995), Yeley (2002 and ’03) and Windom (2020).
“We wanted to win a few championships in the end, but all of them were pretty good at coming home third,” said Grant. “It was my first year on the Midget team and my first year running the sprint car team from my Indianapolis store. We’ve had a pretty rocky year in the Silver Crown car, but for the other two I found it a really good effort for new situations and new environments.
“It is great to win the super license and to have something to show, not only for my hard work, but also for my teams, crews and partners.”
