AMSOIL Sprints
Thursday, 30 November 2023

LIKE A RECORD: GRANT GETS 3RD STRAIGHT MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2023

2023 Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Champion, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.). 2023 Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Champion, Justin Grant (Ione, Calif.). Jack Reitz Photo

LIKE A RECORD: GRANT GETS 3RD STRAIGHT MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2023

By: Richie Murray – USAC Media

Speedway, Indiana (November 29, 2023)………Justin Grant’s second straight USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship isn’t the only impressive accolade he repeated during the 2023 campaign.

For the third consecutive season, and fourth time overall, the Ione, Calif. racer captured the $10,000 Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship, amassing more total points across the three USAC national divisions throughout the duration of the 2023 campaign.

Grant (2021-2022-2023) now becomes just the third driver to win the honor in three consecutive seasons, joining J.J. Yeley (2001-2002-2003) and Bryan Clauson (2010-2011-2012).

Furthermore, with his first such Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship arriving in 2017, Grant also added his name to the very short list of drivers who’ve earned the reward four times overall, a list which includes only himself and Tracy Hines (2000-2008-2013-2014).

“To have my name alongside the legends and heroes of the sport, it’s why I love the lists and I love seeing where my career stacks up against other guys careers,” Grant explained.  “I jokingly say that I feel like my name is devaluing that list, but it’s starting to feel more and more like it belongs.  I know how big of a deal those guys were to me, watching them as I grew up and then getting to race against them.  They’re huge names and icons and I’m awfully, awfully proud to have my name along with them.”

In making 73 combined USAC national starts in 2023, the Ione, Calif. native totaled 4,394 points, just 184 markers more than second place finishing Logan Seavey.

Curb is accustomed to “records” as a hit making musician and the founder of Curb Records, but now racers like Grant are beginning to make records of their own in association with Curb, a record Grant is proud to have his name be a part of.

“It’s super special for me to not only win it once, but to win it four times now,” Grant exclaimed.  “Our on-track performance is one thing, but being able to keep car owners and partners and crew people happy and wanting to go up and down the road with me year after year is another point of pride.  It’s a little bit different when we go win a big race or a series championship, which is entirely performance based.  But to me, the Mike Curb award speaks more about your ability to manage your role as a driver and multiple race teams.  I struggled with that early in my career, so it’s a point of pride now that I’ve been able to be successful at that.”

Additionally, Grant once again finished inside the top-three of all three USAC national divisions’ point standings, also doing so in 2021.  In 2023, he tallied a first with the AMSOIL National Sprint Cars for TOPP Motorsports, second with the NOS Energy Drink National Midgets for RMS Racing and third with the Silver Crown series for Hemelgarn Racing.  He now stands behind only Rich Vogler in that category, the man who was the first to finish inside the top-three in all three in 1980 before repeating in 1981 and again in 1989.

“Being able to be in the points hunt in all three divisions for a few years now is really cool,” Grant reflected.  “We want to win all three, and when you don’t, it always feels like a bit of a disappointment, but it gives you a little perspective on the accomplishment and it’s nice to take a breath and look at the fact that there aren’t many guys who’ve had the opportunity to race for all three, and there’s even less guys who’ve had the opportunity to race for all three in a single year.”

Grant is beyond thankful for the opportunity, and while soaking in the accomplishments at season’s end, he doesn’t take any of it for granted.

“To be one of those guys, and to do my job after having that opportunity, makes me feel very grateful and fortunate for the opportunities I have, the car owners I have, the partners I have, the crews that work on them, my family at home and my wife and kids that support me while I’m out on the road.”

This year marked the 25th year of the Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship.  Curb has offered the reward annually since the 1999 USAC season to honor USAC’s top overall points champion.  Once known as the USAC Super License, the title was rechristened as the National Drivers Championship to more properly represent the accomplishment of achieving the feat, which so few have done.  Now Grant will once again accept the honor during USAC’s Night of Champions at the Indiana Roof Ballroom in Indianapolis on Friday night, December 8, 2023.

“The passion he has for motorsports, and especially our form of motorsports, is great, and the fact that he has an award to honor and pay a guy who beats up and down the road and lays it out on the line night-in and night-out is incredible,” Grant said of Curb.  “These are dangerous racecars at the end of the day, and when you’re in one as many nights of the year as we are, your odds of getting hurt go up substantially.  It feels good to be recognized for that, and it feels good to be appreciated and it means a lot knowing that Mike Curb is willing to do that.  He’s done this for a long time now, and I’m honored to win it.”

 

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MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONS:

1999: Dave Darland

2000: Tracy Hines

2001: J.J. Yeley

2002: J.J. Yeley

2003: J.J. Yeley

2004: Jay Drake

2005: Josh Wise

2006: Josh Wise

2007: Jerry Coons Jr.

2008: Tracy Hines

2009: Cole Whitt

2010: Bryan Clauson

2011: Bryan Clauson

2012: Bryan Clauson

2013: Tracy Hines

2014: Tracy Hines

2015: Dave Darland

2016: Brady Bacon

2017: Justin Grant

2018: Tyler Courtney

2019: Tyler Courtney

2020: Chris Windom

2021: Justin Grant

2022: Justin Grant

2023: Justin Grant

 

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2023 MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

POS       PTS        DRIVER

1            4394      Justin Grant

2            4210      Logan Seavey

3            3362      Emerson Axsom

4            3073      Daison Pursley

5            2562      C.J. Leary

6            2547      Brady Bacon

7            2345      Mitchel Moles

8            2196      Jake Swanson

9            2107      Kyle Cummins

10          2012      Matt Westfall

11          2005      Kevin Thomas Jr.

12          1977      Robert Ballou

13          1975      Chase Stockon

14          1705      Thomas Meseraull

15          1457      Bryant Wiedeman

16          1429      Ryan Timms

17          1407      Jade Avedisian

18          1373      Carson Garrett

19          1363      Jacob Denney

20          1227      Gavin Miller

21          1190      Cannon McIntosh

22          1177      Taylor Reimer

23          1087      Shane Cottle

24          1075      Jake Andreotti

25          995        Hayden Reinbold

26          921        Jadon Rogers

27          832        Tanner Thorson

28          829        Chase McDermand

29          822        Kody Swanson

30          770        Briggs Danner

31          766        Max Adams

32          703        Mario Clouser

33          623        Brandon Mattox

34          567        Jesse Love

35          561        Daniel Whitley

36          539        Chance Crum

37          528        Charles Davis Jr.

38          475        Jerry Coons Jr.

39          465        Ethan Mitchell

40          447        Kaylee Bryson

41          436        Joey Amantea

42          400        Mariah Ede

43          399        Taylor Ferns

44          382        Bobby Santos

45          345        Sterling Cling

46          334        Trey Burke

47          322        Eddie Tafoya Jr.

48          319        Brent Beauchamp

49          301        Travis Welpott

50          299        Derek Bischak

51          245        Wayne Johnson

52          241        Kyle O'Gara

53          237        Russ Gamester

54          221        Brady Short

55          216        Davey Hamilton Jr.

56          211        Rylan Gray

57          205        Dalton Stevens

58          201        Dave Berkheimer

59          177        Chase Dietz

60          176        Kyle Steffens

61          173        Bryan Gossel

62          173        Gregg Cory

63          173        Mike McVetta

64          172        Dakoda Armstrong

65          164        Xavier Doney

66          155        Tyler Roahrig

67          148        Zack Pretorius

68          143        Tom Harris

69          139        Carmen Perigo

70          137        Billy Wease

71          137        Nathan Byrd

72          135        Tom Paterson

73          130        Steve Buckwalter

74          129        Shane Cockrum

75          125        Tanner Swanson

76          120        Kayla Roell

77          120        Kyle Robbins

78          117        Dallas Hewitt

79          110        Kevin Newton

80          109        Cole Bodine

81          97          Chris Fetter

82          95          Casey Buckman

83          95          Jason McDougal

84          95          Travis Millar

85          92          Ivan Glotzbach

86          90          Oliver Akard

87          90          Peter Hunnibell

88          89          Ava Gropp

89          88          J.J. Hughes

90          81          Davey Ray

91          79          Brenham Crouch

92          76          Saban Bibent

93          71          Patrick Lawson

94          71          Trey Osborne

95          70          Chris Urish

96          70          Ryan Barr

97          66          Patrick Bruns

98          65          Jacob Wilson

99          61          Danny Long

100        60          Blake Brannon

101        60          Curtis Spicer

102        60          Devan Myers

103        57          Holly Jones

104        55          Ryan Thomas

105        53          Korey Weyant

106        50          Corey Joyner

107        49          Aaron Pierce

108        49          Caleb Armstrong

109        49          Tyler Courtney

110        44          Brian Hayden

111        44          Tim Simmons

112        37          Alex Bright

113        37          Nathan Moore

114        33          Brian Ruhlman

115        32          Mark Bitner

116        31          Steven Russell

117        30          Cody Jessop

118        30          Laike Imm

119        29          Mark Smith

120        27          A.J. Fike

121        27          Matt Mitchell

122        27          Parker Jones

123        25          John Tosti

124        23          Matt Goodnight

125        23          Tanner Berryhill

126        20          Scout Spraggins

127        20          Zach Hampton

128        17          Brent Yarnal

129        10          Adam Taylor

130        10          Cary Oliver

131        10          Critter Malone

132        10          Dave Peperak

133        10          Gary Dunkle

134        10          Jace Park

135        10          Joss Moffatt