Justin Grant kept the RMS Racing team undefeated in USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget competition in 2022, in winning the Shamrock Classic special indoor event at the Southern Illinois Center, Saturday night. In the process, Grant collected the $10,000 first prize.
The win is the fourth in a row for an RMS Racing Toyota after teammate Thomas Meseraull won the night one of the Shamrock Classic on Friday following Grant’s sweep of the season-opening double-header at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala in February.
The two RMS drivers started the feature event side-by-side on the front row with Grant on the pole and moving to the lead through turn one before Meseraull would go beneath him coming out of turn two to lead the opening lap.
Meseraull, who led all 40 laps on Friday, looked like he might repeat through the early going, opening up a 1.276-second lead by lap six. He quickly caught the tail end of the field in the first 10 laps, but his night would come to an end on lap 14 when Kyle Cummins would get sideways coming out of turn one, collecting Meseraull and ending his hopes for a second straight win.
Grant would take the lead on the lap 14 restart with Cannon McIntosh falling in behind him before another caution on lap 20 bunched the field together once more. McIntosh would stay right with Grant on the re-start and then slide him through turn four to take the lead on lap 20. It would be short-lived, though, as Grant reclaimed the top spot one lap later.
As they hit the midway point of the 50-lap event, Grant had opened up more than a second lead only to see the yellow flag wave once more as McIntosh and Brady Bacon got together in turn one. That would push another Toyota driver up into the second position as Rudeen Racing’s Chance Crum assumed the position.
The final caution came out on lap 44, giving Crum one more shot at Grant with six laps remaining. He was able to pull up next to Grant, but unable to get by before Grant would eventually drive off to the win by 0.875 seconds over Crum for his second Shamrock Classic victory, he also took the top spot in 2017.
Joe B. Miller made it three Toyota-powered cars in the top-five with a fourth place showing, while CB Industries rookie Jace Park placed ninth.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series returns at Kokomo Speedway, April 8-9 with Grant looking for his third straight victory in the championship. He currently holds a nine-point lead over defending national champion Buddy Kofoid.
Quotes:
Justin Grant, RMS Racing Toyota: “My poor teammate Thomas (Meseraull). He’s fast every night and he’s on one of those rolls where he gets caught up in something every night. He’s all about this RMS team and as long as one of us wins, he’s happy. I know he wanted to be up here and tonight he should probably be up here. He caught a bad break and I feel really bad for him. But at least we kept this NOS Energy Drink 2J into victory lane and keep RMS on top of everything this year. I want to thank everyone that makes it possible for me to be here. Everyone at RMS, CSI, Spike chassis, Toyota engines and NOS Energy Drink. This midget has just been so fast this last year now. It’s just incredible and I’m getting to live my dream. Thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting us and thank you to Lauren Stewart for continuing to host this event.“
Toyota-Powered Drivers Shamrock Classic Saturday Results
Justin Grant – 1st
Chance Crum – 2nd
Joe B. Miller – 4th
Jace Park – 9th
Dominic Gordon – 11th
Cannon McIntosh – 15th
Mitchell Moles – 17th
Thomas Meseraull – 19th
Toyota racing PR
