Justin Grant was more than five seconds out of the lead with 20 laps to go in the 100-lap Sumar Classic Sunday at the Terre Haute Action Track.
A shocking red flag with 14 laps to go and a yellow that came out with four remaining put Grant on the bumper of leader Jerry Coons Jr.
Grant, with his No. 91 Hemelgarn Racing car, took advantage of the ever-so-slight mistake that Coons Jr. made, sliding just under to take the lead coming to the start-finish line with three laps to go.
“I really thought I gave the race away,” Grant said over the microphone. “The pace we were setting through that dirtiness usually shreds some tires. I looked at my tire during that red flag and got on my radio and apologized to my guys. I thought I put us in a hole.”
It looked as though everyone had put themselves in a hole – except for the young Buddy Kofoid, who held the lead late in the race.
The pace of the action was fast. The track at Terre Haute came together late in the night and provided an action-packed A-Main.
“That wasn’t your normal Silver Crown race,” Grant said. “Normally, you kind of ride around and, woah, I don’t think I’ve run a sprint car around this track that hard.”
Kofoid was making his Silver Crown debut when a broken axle aided his car to flip, taking him out of contention after being out front for a majority of the latter half of the race.
It put Jerry Coons Jr. in the lead at the time, but Grant was able to take over the waning moments.
Grant becomes the first driver to win the event for the second time, and will go into the second race of the Silver Crown season – the Carb Night Classic – with a solid cushion in the standings.
Defending champion Kody Swanson was back in seventh and CJ Leary suffered a flat tire after leading the entirety of the first half Sunday.
Coons Jr. was disappointed with second – which says a lot about the run he had to the front. World of Outlaws veteran Bill Rose ripped from 17th-to-5th on the day, and perhaps the best drive of the night came from Emerson Axsom getting his car started in the final seconds before he would have been disqualified.
It was anything but normal at Terre Haute, but that doesn’t take the winner of the race into account. Grant got the job done again.
USAC Silver Crown Point Standings
After 1 of 12 points races
1. Justin Grant 70
2. Jerry Coons Jr. -3
3. Brady Bacon -6
4. Logan Seavey -9
5. Emerson Axsom -12
6. Bill Rose -15
7. Kody Swanson -18
8. Carmen Perigo -21
9. Terry Babb -24
10. CJ Leary -27
11. Dallas Hewitt -29
12. Brian Ruhlman -31
13. Austin Nemire -33
14. Travis Welpott -35
15. Kyle Robbins -37
16. Shane Cottle -39
17. Casey Buckman -41
18. Buddy Kofoid -43
19. Kyle Steffens -45
20. Jason McDougal -47
21. Shane Cockrum -48
22. Brian Tyler -49
23. Matt Westfall -50
24. Jake Swanson -51
25. Tommy Nichols -52
26. Davey Ray -53
27. Eric Gordon -54
