INDIANAPOLIS — On paper, Tuesday night’s preliminary feature of the BC 39 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway dirt track looked like a dominant night for Justin Grant. But for the crowd at the fifth-mile oval it was anything but, especially in the second half of the 30-lap feature.
Grant took the lead from polesitter Logan Seavey on the third lap and led 26 of the next 27 laps, but the race came to a head after a late caution. Mitchel Moles‘ upside-down midget against the Turn 4 wall brought out the yellow flag and packed up the field, erasing a sizable lead for Grant.
Daison Pursley in the No. 86 CB Industries machine took advantage of the restart and grabbed the lead from Grant in the sister No. 87. The teammates threw slide jobs at each other over the next several laps before the race’s climax with four laps to go.
After Pursley slid up in front of Grant coming off of turn 4 and slowed both of them down, Kale Drake in the No. 97K Keith Kunz Motorsports machine took the lead at the flag stand.
As Drake entered the first turn up high, Grant went low while Pursley and Seavey followed Drake up top. It was here that things went wrong. Drake stalled his engine after hitting a seam in the track wrong. The resulting loss of momentum caused Pursley and Seavey to hit Drake’s car, causing all three cars to come to a halt near the high groove at the exit of Turn 1.
“I hadn’t come across [the seam] that way at all the whole race,” Drake said. “And when it shot me up in the air, I’d been riding the brakes the whole race and it just stalled the motor out from underneath me and they came piling in from behind.”
Drake finished 19th, with Pursley one spot in front of him.
“Me and Justin had a heck of a race, and then you add one more to it and I guess disaster happens,” Pursley said. “So yeah, fun race of course if you want to win and everything and I’ll do anything to win these races and Justin and I were going at it and banged wheels a couple of times and everything and still kept going.
“Unfortunately we were on the wrong end of it and just had nowhere to go, but that’s how it goes sometimes. That’s why they call it racing.”
After all three cars were cleared from the track, Grant held off Gavin Miller‘s advances to claim his third preliminary feature victory at the BC39. It was his 20th USAC National Midget feature win.
“It was hard to gauge whether you’re making speed or not, so I didn’t know if I had them stacked up behind me or if I was leading or what,” Grant said of the first half of the race. “Normally I feel like I have a pretty good feel for how my pace is, tonight I just really never did, but it felt like I could. I was going okay up top and then on the restart Daison was able to slide me there and get me slowed down and the slider line was slower but Daison was able to drag the pace of the race down.”
Miller, Kyle Cummins, Zach Wigal and Drake Edwards completed the top five, with Briggs Danner, Brecken Reese, Kevin Thomas Jr., Justin Peck and Thomas Meseraull wrapping up the top 10.
The USAC field will return to The Dirt Track at IMS on Wednesday night for the seventh running of the BC39 Presented by Avanti Windows & Doors. Coverage will go live on FloRacing at 5:45 p.m. ET.
BC39 Prelim Results
- Justin Grant
- Gavin Miller
- Kyle Cummins
- Zach Wigal
- Drake Edwards
- Briggs Danner
- Brecken Reese
- Kevin Thomas Jr.
- Justin Peck
- Thomas Meseraull
- Kyle Jones
- Hayden Reinbold
- Gunnar Setser
- Steven Snyder Jr.
- Colton Robinson
- Ricky Thornton jr.
- Chase Stockon
- Daison Pursley
- Kale Drake
- Jakeb Boxell
- Cannon McIntosh
- Ethan Mitchell
- Logan Seavey
- J.J. Yeley
- Mitchel Moles
- Jacob Denney
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.