Justin Grant closed out the 2026 Winter Games for the USAC National Sprint Cars by winning the Feb. 14 race at Ocala Speedway in Florida.
Justin Grant rarely leaves Florida without scoring at least a single victory, and he wasn’t about to let himself and his team walk away from the Sunshine State empty handed this time around either.
Instead, he went ahead and saved the best for last.
The winningest USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship driver overall at Ocala Speedway and in Winter Dirt Games presented by Yokohama Tire history roared from the eighth starting spot to win the February 14th six-race miniseries finale, making his winning move on Brady Bacon just four laps from the finish line.
The $10,000 triumph was the ninth of Grant’s career with the series at Ocala’s 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track and the 66th overall of his career with the series. Furthermore, it’s his 95th career USAC national win across the board, five away from becoming the fifth driver to reach the century mark.
Late in the going, Grant found a new line to his liking, taking his TOPP Motorsports/NOS Energy Drink – TOPP Industries – LA Poly/Maxim/Stanton Chevy deep into turn one, then diamonding his way to the bottom of turn two to gain a massive run down the back straightaway to make his way from fourth to first in the final nine-lap stint.
“Everybody kept talking about how single file it is,” Grant stated. “We just kept saying, ‘Well, we’re just not good enough yet. We’ve got to keep working on it and make it better.’ We finally got the racecar cooperating with my feet and what I was wanting to do with the car.”
It all came to fruition after Grant finished eighth out of eight drivers in the six-lap dash to determine the starting lineup for the 40-lap feature. That put the Ione, California native on the outside of the fourth row for the main event. Up to that point, it had been a relatively frustrating week for Grant and his crew with results of 17th, 11th and sixth during the first three nights at Ocala.
Stockon gets first Ocala win in 8 years
For Chase Stockon and Moose Racing, it seemed as if it was just a matter of time when their breakthrough at Florida’s Ocala Speedway would come to fruition.
All they needed was a little bit of good fortune to come their direction, and they got exactly that on Friday the 13th, no less.
They were fast throughout the week the previous winter, and thus far, had been near the forefront of the field during each of the first two nights of USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship racing at the 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track.
A runner-up result for Stockon on January 11 in which he and eventual winner Trey Osborne banged wheels on the front straightaway was followed by another solid top-five run on January 12.
The event on January 13 was a new chapter, however, and despite a brief heart-in-the-throat moment and an emphatic stroke of Byzantine whimsy, Stockon led the entire 35-lap distance from start to finish in his Tom & Laurie Sertich/Lucas Oil Center – Dewig Meats – Brown Excavating/DRC/Kistler Chevy.
The Fort Branch, Indiana native’s 16th career USAC National Sprint Car victory tied him with Damion Gardner and Jud Larson for 39th place on the all-time list. It was also Stockon’s second career triumph at Ocala and his first there since 2018.
After providing the Sertich team its first USAC national win last summer at the Terre Haute Action Track, they were back again, this time in the Sunshine State during the penultimate round of Winter Dirt Games XVII Presented by Yokohama Tire.
“I can’t thank Tom and Laurie enough and Mister with Steve Williby on the wrenches. I wish I would’ve found him a long time ago in my career,” Stockon praised. “This whole bunch on the Moose 92 has been a godsend for me. It’s pretty special giving them another USAC national win.”
Seavey gets first win at Ocala
Logan Seavey possesses a knack for winning USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship races in the state of Florida. After all, he’s accomplished that very thing in each of the past three seasons, including just three days earlier.
However, all four of those previous victories occurred at Barberville, Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park, an hour east of where he added a long-awaited piece to his personal checklist on January 12 during round four of Winter Dirt Games XVII Presented by Yokohama Tire at Ocala Speedway.
At Ocala, Seavey had previously landed on the podium five different times, including a pair of runner-up finishes in 2024, plus a trio of third place results across 2020 and 2024. But never in his career had he won at the tricky 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track. That is, until Thursday night.
Seventh-starting Seavey raced around the outside of Kyle Cummins on lap 26 of the 30-lap main event, then paced the remaining five circuits to become the first two-time winner of the 2026 USAC season at the wheel of his Abacus Racing/Mountain Mechanical – Droplight – Indy Powersports/DRC/Stanton Chevy.
“I think it was two years ago – our first year with this team – we were so close. I think we were on the podium all four nights. I just couldn’t get the job done,” Seavey remembered.
The 35th win of Seavey’s USAC National Sprint Car career tied Rich Vogler and Jon Stanbrough for 14th place on the all-time series win list. Furthermore, Seavey ran his podium finishing streak to six with finishes of 1st-1st-1st-2nd-3rd-1st in his six most recent series starts dating back to last season.
James Essex writes a motorsports notebook for The Republic. Send comments to sports@therepublic.com
