Coming into Tuesday night’s Jesse Hockett Classic at Grandview Speedway, Brady Bacon had won each of the last four USAC Sprint Car races at the track in the Northeast.
On Tuesday, however, it was Justin Grant holding off Bacon and Tanner Thorson to capture his first career USAC Eastern Storm event.
“I’ve always kind of struggled in Pennsylvania,” Grant said on the FloRacing broadcast. “I don’t know if we had the best car or not, but tonight we had the car that paid the most and that’s all that counts.”
Bacon had a sporty race car on Tuesday, rolling through the competition before he got up to third and had to try to get around Thorson.
The black-and-teal car Thorson drives was everywhere on the track at once, and it helped him hold off Bacon’s charge to the front.
Bacon would ultimately get there, but couldn’t get close enough to throw a slider or make a move against Grant, giving the win to the No. 4 team.
“We just caught yellows at the wrong times,” Bacon said on FloRacing. “The track was better than it usually is. We just couldn’t quite get there.”
Grant will take the Eastern Storm points lead into Wednesday night, as the tour heads to Bridgeport for its second of five events in the mini-series.
USAC Non-Wing Sprint Car Results
Grandview Speedway
1. Justin Grant
2. Brady Bacon
3. Tanner Thorson
4. Kevin Thomas Jr.
5. Robert Ballou
6. Briggs Danner
7. Chris Windom
8. Alex Bright
9. Timmy Buckwalter
10. Matt Westfall
11. Chase Stockon
12. Jake Swanson
13. Logan Seavey
14. Charles Davis Jr.
15. C.J. Leary
16. Shane Cottle
17. Paul Nienhiser
18. Isaac Chapple
19. Brandon Mattox
20. Nash Ely
21. Steven Drevicki
22. Mark Smith
