Like a Record: Grant Gets 3rd Straight Mike Curb USAC National Drivers Championship in 2023

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

Sources: Richie Murray – USAC Media

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

(Jack Reitz Photo)