CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — Brady Bacon led all 30 laps to earn his 40th career USAC National Sprint Car feature victory on Saturday night at Ohio’s Atomic Speedway.
Bacon thwarted several advances from both Justin Grant and Robert Ballou throughout the 30-lap slider fest to tie Gary Bettenhausen for eighth on USAC’s all-time winners list.
The four-time series champ repelled the challenge of traffic away with his left hand while figuratively casting aside repeated attacks to his throne at the forefront, most notably from Grant who drew closer and closer with repeated bids for the lead down the stretch to put himself in USAC National Sprint Car victory lane for the 12th consecutive season, and now trails only Sheldon Kinser’s run of 13-straight years with at least one series win between 1974-1986.
“We were coming up on lapped traffic and, if you broke your momentum, you lost a lot of time,” Bacon explained. “To be able to get into the corner hard and keep your momentum up without spinning your tires was huge. I caught a couple lapped cars wrong and I’m sure (Grant) did too, but it was tough.”
Bacon and his Dynamics, Inc./Fatheadz Eyewear – Gressman Sanitation – DriveWFX.com – Tel-Star/Triple X/Rider Chevy started on the pole for the 30-lap event, which marked the series’ first feature at Atomic Speedway since 1994, and the first visit to the three-eights-mile dirt oval since the rain-abbreviated racing program in 2010.
While Bacon got the edge on the initial start, it was fourth-starting Ballou who made waves with a big maneuver around the edge of the earth on the steep bank of turn two to travel to second by both Grant and point leader Emerson Axsom before diving low into turn three to go wheel-to-wheel with Bacon for the lead.
However, Ballou’s work was all for naught as 18th running Austin Graby stopped backwards at the top of turn two with a broken rear end, ending his USAC National Sprint Car debut before it really began.
On the restart, front row starters Bacon and Axsom held serve to run one-two as they completed the first circuit with Grant and Ballou giving chase in third and fourth.
By lap three, Grant dove to the bottom of turn one, and slid up in front of Axsom by the time the duo reached turn two. Immediately after, Axsom quickly fell back, from second to fifth, as a result of a rapidly deflating left rear tire as both Ballou and C.J. Leary slipped by to occupy third and fourth, respectively.
Axsom caught a small break when 15th running Brandon Mattox slowed to a stop on the front straightaway, bringing out the yellow flag, which allowed Axsom to stop in the work area for fresh rubber.
On the lap-five restart, Ballou went right for the jugular with an absolute monster of a slide job in turn three. He and Grant came within inches of contact, but Grant kept his foot on the throttle and kept on keepin’ on in the runner-up spot while Ballou lost ground but recalibrated and reloaded while remaining in third.
Meanwhile, Bacon worked heavy traffic at the halfway point, and promptly saw his lead dwindle from two seconds down to a car length within a two-lap span as Grant closed right to the bumper of Bacon.
A high-speed chess match commenced as Grant repeatedly attempted to slide Bacon for the lead lap-after-lap to no avail, even getting completely sideways after briefly passing Bacon in turn two with 10 laps to go, which allowed Bacon to cut back underneath and resume his stance at the front with Grant and Ballou now in complete lockstep just behind.
Grant’s pursuit of a second series victory in 2022 paused when his left rear tire gave away at the exit of turn four with eight laps remaining. Bacon now found Ballou right on his tail tank for the lap 23 restart, but it was of no hindrance to Bacon who mastered the restart and instantly shot away at the drop of the green and never relented, building up a 2.514 second gap by the time the checkered flag fell, with Ballou slotting into second, Leary third, Chase Stockon fourth and Kyle Cummins fifth.
“I’ve just got to get my racecar a little bit better,” Ballou said. “We’re trying to find a balancing act with (crew chief) Derrick (Bye) back and trying to find our groove. Once we get about 10 more races into it, hopefully we can get this car up front. I’m really pushing hard but I’ve had a lot of setbacks here lately. It’s nothing to hang our heads about but we definitely had nothing for the 69 tonight. We’ve got to sharpen our pencil a little bit and I’ve got to do a better job racing.”
Leary put himself back on the podium with a third-place result, emerging ahead in a ferocious late-race duel with Stockon for the position.
“Chase (Stockon) and I went back-and-forth, and he passed me on that original restart there,” Leary recalled. “I felt like they were just a little bit better than us at one point, then we were like the same speed. Overall, we were good all night. We’ve been fast all year and I think we’ve got a good package moving forward, so I’m pleased.”
Keyword: Bacon Gets 40th USAC Sprint Victory