Justin Grant became the first driver in USAC history to win the season’s opening three races with his victory in the NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series T-Town Midget Showdown at Port City Raceway Friday. Buddy Kofoid finished second with Kaylee Bryson placing third in a Toyota one-two three finish on the night.
The win is the fifth in the last seven USAC national midget feature events for the RMS Toyota driver after sweeping both races at Bubba Raceway Park to kick-off the 2022 campaign. He also won both his preliminary feature night and the Race of Champions at the Chili Bowl Nationals in January.
Grant ran in the top two throughout the 30-lap feature but didn’t take the lead until lap 23 after he and Chase McDermand got together just after a caution waved as Grant was attempting to pass. McDermand would get upside down, giving Grant a lead that he would never relinquish.
Kofoid climbed from fifth to second and would make a late charge, but it wasn’t enough to catch Grant. Bryson matched her career best USAC finish with the third place showing. Cannon McIntosh placed fourth, with Logan Seavey in fifth place as Toyotas earned the top-five finishing positions on the night.
Three more Toyota drivers placed in the top 10 as Bryant Wiedeman finished seventh, followed by Mitchel Moles in eighth and Thomas Meseraull in tenth.
Earlier in the evening, Taylor Reimer captured Fatheadz Fast Qualifier honors for the second time in the last seven races. She was running seventh in the feature before being spun out by another driver late in the race, dropping her to an eventual 14th-place finish.
USAC returns to Port City Saturday night for night two of the T-Town Midget Showdown.
Quotes:
Justin Grant, RMS Racing: “I feel terrible for Chase. I had slid him eight to ten times and never hit him. They called yellow as I was fading up my slider. I don’t know if he slowed up a little bit and didn’t get all the way up to the cushion where he had been or if I just plugged him. Either way, I feel terrible about that. I feel like I crashed a guy under yellow and that certainly wasn’t my intent. It’s good to get my guys a win. I can’t say enough about this RMS team. They give me a great car and I’m having a ton of fun racing this thing. The track was a ton of fun tonight.”
Buddy Kofoid, Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM): “I almost got to Justin one time, but he moved up when I tried to slide him. I thought we had one of the best cars for sure. I can’t thank Keith Kunz, Mobil One and Toyota enough for giving me this opportunity.”
Kaylee Bryson, KKM: “Podium is really cool, but I want to get a win before the end of the year. The car was really good tonight and it felt good to do this at my home track.”
Toyota-Powered Drivers USAC Port City Raceway Friday Results
Justin Grant – 1st
Buddy Kofoid – 2nd
Kaylee Bryson – 3rd
Cannon McIntosh – 4th
Logan Seavey – 5th
Bryant Wiedeman – 7th
Mitchel Moles – 8th
Thomas Meseraull – 10th
Ryan Timms – 12th
Taylor Reimer – 14th
Dominic Gordon – 15th
Mariah Ede – 16th
Noah Harris – 20th
Trey Gropp – 23rd
Brenham Crouch – 24th
Toyota Racing PR
