Justin Grant took the lead on lap 19 of 30 and led the final 12 laps, holding off a charging Cannon McIntosh to win night three of the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series Mid-America Midget Week at Jefferson County Speedway Friday.
The victory is the first of the season for Grant, who becomes the fifth different Toyota-powered driver to win in the first 11 USAC events this season. The triumph snapped Daison Pursley’s win streak at three.
The first half of the race was dominated by CB Industries Toyota driver Zach Wigal who took the lead on the opening lap ahead of Grant and proceeded to lead the first 18 laps before jumping the cushion in turns one and two, handing the lead over to Grant, followed by Logan Seavey, Jacob Denney, McIntosh and Pursley.
The top five would stay intact until a Pursley spin would bring out a caution on lap 25. On the restart, McIntosh would overtake Denney for third on lap 25 and then pass Seavey for second on lap 27.
By lap 28, McIntosh had closed the gap to just 0.8 seconds and pulled up side-by-side briefly with Grant coming out of turn two on the final lap, but Grant had enough to hold him off, winning by 0.427 seconds. The victory continues a strong Mid-America Midget Week run by Grant who placed third to open the week at Red Dirt Raceway and was leading at Mitchell County Fairgrounds on Wednesday before a late race misstep resulted in a spin, sending him to the tail of the field.
McIntosh’s Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammates Ryan Timms and Jade Avedisian would place fourth and fifth to give Toyota four of the top five finishers.
Also running in the top 10 were KKM drivers Gavin Miller (sixth) and Kale Drake in seventh. Mitchell Davis would come home in ninth. Despite placing 17th after his late spin, Pursley continues to hold down the championship lead.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series returns to Jefferson County Speedway to close out Mid-America Midget Week Saturday night.
Toyota Quotes:
Justin Grant, RMS Toyota Toyota: “I felt like we’ve had a really good car all week after struggling to start the season. I just didn’t get it tight enough for the feature. Going forward to Beloit, I stepped on it and killed the motor while I was leading. It feels good to be back in victory lane. I have to thank Dave and Matt Estep and everyone who makes it possible for me to be in this RMS Racing car.”
Toyota-Powered Drivers USAC Jefferson County Speedway Friday Feature Results
Cannon McIntosh – 2nd
Ryan Timms – 4th
Jade Avedisian – 5th
Gavin Miller – 6th
Kale Drake – 7th
Mitchell Davis – 9th
Jacob Denney – 11th
Zach Wigal – 12th
Kyle Jones – 15th
Daison Pursley – 17th
Trey Zorn – 21st
Toyota USAC PR
