By Richie Murray, USAC Media (Speedway, IN) -- Justin Grant had a special season on the USAC trail in 2022, and along with it comes the special awards.
For the second consecutive year, the Ione, Calif. native captured the Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship. For Grant, it’s his third such title, having earned the reward in 2017, 2021 and now 2022.
PHOTO CREDIT: Josh James Artwork
Grant becomes just the fourth driver to win the honor on three different occasions, joining J.J. Yeley (2001-2002-2003) and Bryan Clauson (2010-2011-2012). Tracy Hines has won the award more times than anybody else, on four occasions in 2000, 2008, 2013 and 2014.
No other driver started every USAC national event throughout the year and no other driver accumulated more total points throughout the three national divisions during the course of the 2022 campaign than Grant.
In 82 combined USAC national starts in 2022, the Ione, Calif. native totaled 4,991 points, more than a thousand markers over his nearest competition, earning a $10,000 bonus.
“It’s a neat reward,” Grant exclaimed. “It’s cool to be acknowledged for being at the front of all three series throughout the course of the year. Anything with Mike Curb’s name on it carries some weight. He’s been a staple in USAC racing for a long time and winning an award with his name on it is really neat and it’s even neater that it pays a few more bucks this year.”
Grant’s 2022 journey included a first USAC National Sprint Car driving championship and he was the lone driver to win feature in all three series during the year with one Silver Crown victory, six in the sprint cars and five more in midgets.
It’s something that Grant doesn’t take for granted, not the first time he corralled the overall USAC National Drivers Championship, nor the second or third time as well.
“Driving with USAC specifically is what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid,” Grant said. “To be in the position to run all these races and to do this is amazing and I want to do as much of it as I can. I’m really fortunate to have great car owners, great partners and great crews and the ability to go and run all these races is really on them with how much they provide for me and how hard they work to keep me going, beating up and down the road.”
As Grant alluded to, it’ takes more than a driver to make it all work. There are several facets that work to make it a success and three teams in which Grant competed for to achieve the feat: Hemelgarn Racing (Silver Crown), TOPP Motorsports (Sprint Car) and RMS Racing (Midget).
“I get to come in and be the hero at the end of the night,” Grant continued. “It’s really a lot about all about them and my wife at home taking care of the kids and holding the house down while I’m out on the road racing. I’ve just got a really good circle around me, great car owners, great partners, great crews, great wife and a great family. There’s a ton of people on the backend that you don’t see on FloRacing who make it possible for everybody to see me on FloRacing every night.”
Curb has offered the reward annually since the 1999 USAC season, and now in his 24th year of bestowing the honor upon USAC’s top overall points champion. The title was rechristened as the National Drivers Championship to more properly represent the accomplishment of achieving the feat, which so few have done.
The prize had previously been known as the USAC National Drivers Championship for a span of three years between 2010-2012 as well as the Super License in recent years.
The new Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Champion will be honored at USAC’s Night of Champions in December of 2022.
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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
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2022 MIKE CURB USAC NATIONAL DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:
4,991 Justin Grant
3,968 Logan Seavey
3,164 C.J. Leary
3,117 Mitchel Moles
2,910 Brady Bacon
2,819 Emerson Axsom
2,670 Thomas Meseraull
2,388 Buddy Kofoid
2,369 Robert Ballou
2,148 Jason McDougal
2,079 Matt Westfall
1,910 Jake Swanson
1,864 Chase Stockon
1,829 Kyle Cummins
1,736 Jadon Rogers
1,726 Kaylee Bryson
1,669 Bryant Wiedeman
1,666 Cannon McIntosh
1,439 Kevin Thomas Jr
1,306 Jacob Denney
1,290 Brenham Crouch
1,279 Zach Daum
1,244 Taylor Reimer
1,130 Shane Cottle
1,039 Brandon Mattox
1,021 Ethan Mitchell
977 Hayden Reinbold
956 Chance Crum
930 Jade Avedisian
783 Dominic Gorden
760 Chase McDermand
697 Max Adams
675 Tanner Thorson
668 Kody Swanson
632 Briggs Danner
596 Ryan Timms
585 Jace Park
575 Cade Lewis
569 Alex Banales
525 Mario Clouser
518 Brian Tyler
504 Maria Cofer
488 Daison Pursley
455 Shane Cockrum
454 Charles Davis Jr
431 Alex Bright
428 Mariah Ede
420 Trey Gropp
404 Travis Welpott
379 Dallas Hewitt
332 Cole Bodine & Bobby Santos
327 Xavier Doney
325 Kyle Robbins
322 Brent Beauchamp
319 Gregg Cory
314 Sterling Cling
264 Blake Brannon
255 Taylor Ferns
244 Dave Berkheimer
242 Carson Short
236 Travis Buckley
230 Nathan Byrd
229 Davey Hamilton Jr
223 Eric Gordon
220 Kyle Shipley
218 Wyatt Burks
216 Ricky Lewis
210 Gavin Miller
208 Brady Short
202 Carmen Perigo
199 Derek Bischak
197 Mike McVetta
194 Sam Johnson
189 Steven Drevicki
178 Bryan Gossel
174 Brian Ruhlman
172 Harley Burns
157 Tom Paterson
156 Jack Hoyer
154 Casey Buckman
153 Brian Hayden
147 Russ Gamester
143 Brayden Fox
142 Austin Nemire
141 Davey Ray
129 Nick Bilbee & Kyle O'Gara
127 Dustin Clark
119 Nick Hamilton
118 Mike Haggenbottom
113 Jerry Coons Jr
101 Tanner Swanson
100 Patrick Bruns
98 Steve Buckwalter
95 Braxton Cummings
93 Jake Day
91 Kyle Steffens
89 Brandon Morin
88 Patrick Lawson & Landon Simon
87 Kaidon Brown
82 Jimmy Light
74 Kendall Ruble
64 Chad Boespflug & Tyler Roahrig
63 Adam Taylor
59 J.R. Ewing
56 Rylan Gray
55 Saban Bibent & Bill Rose
51 Danny Long
46 Terry Babb
43 Jake Simmons
42 Dave Peperak
41 A.J. Fike & Chris Windom
39 Matt Goodnight
38 Korey Weyant
37 Tye Mihocko
36 Cary Oliver
34 Oliver Akard
33 Nathan Moore, Steven Russell & Kent Schmidt
31 Mark Smith & Chris Urish
27 Ryan Newman
25 Mark Bitner
24 Chris Fetter
18 Tommy Nichols
10 David Byrne, Chelby Hinton, Anthony Macri, Nate McMillin & Ronnie Wuerdeman