The 36th edition of the Indiana Sprint Week concluded on Saturday night down in Haubstadt. Unfortunately, mother nature interrupted what could have been a heavyweight battle between Sprint Car giants Justin Grant vs. Brady Bacon for the championship.
Grant, the incumbent and defending Sprint Week champion, was battling the 2016 ISW title holder in Bacon for the hardware on a steamy conclusion to the eight-track event.
Bacon held just an eight-point advantage coming into the final round over Grant in the standings. Robert Ballou (-56) and Kyle Cummins (-71) were the other two that were mathematically alive.
However, we know this was shaping up to be another edition of Bacon vs. Grant.
For the 14th time, Haubstadt was set to crown a champion for the ages but rain began to fall before anything could really begin. By 9 p.m. ET, the event was canceled with sprint week coming to a wet close.
As a result, Bacon takes home his second Sprint Week title and becomes just the 11th multi-time champion in the 36 year history of the prestigious event. Here are my top five takeaways from an outstanding event.
Bacon vs. Grant
I feel like when we look back on this era of Sprint Car racing, we’re going to regret not taking this battle between Brady Bacon and Justin Grant as seriously as we should have. This is Gordon vs. Earnhardt or Senna vs. Prost or Hamilton vs. Verstappen type of dominance out of these two.
While the fireworks aren’t like those of the other rivals, the stats are however.
The duo have combined to have won the last three Sprint Car national titles and four of the last seven in general. There’s no doubt, Grant and Bacon are generational Sprint Car drivers.
Bacon sits third on the all-time wins list with 51 trips to victory lane. He’s one shy of tying Tom Bigelow for 2nd ever and 11 shy of Dave Darland.
Grant has 40 wins which is in a tie with Gary Bettenhausen for ninth all-time.
While mother nature ruined what was going to be a thrilling final battle for Sprint Week, it doesn’t negate that these two put on a show over the last week.
Bacon Makes Unforced Errors, Battle Back In Terre Haute Won Him The Title
Brady Bacon went winless during Sprint Week and that nearly cost him the title. With Justin Grant winning three times, Bacon squandered several shots in doing so himself. It was those unforced errors that took some much-needed points away for which could have had this put further away instead of being so close.
Bacon got into the cushion while leading in Turn 2 with 6 laps remaining in Lawrenceburg. He’d finish third as a result. In the next race at Circle City Raceway, he clipped the tire inside Turns 3 and 4 with 7 laps remaining and dropped from third to finishing 16th.
With 5 laps left in Terre Haute, he got too high in Turn 1 and nearly went off track. He dropped from third to eighth in the process.
However, that fight back in the final 5 laps to come from eighth to finish fourth made up 12 points and with a final margin of only 8, that bounce back is why he’s a champion on Saturday night.
It’s not like he’s underserving anyhow. Bacon had six top four finishes in seven races. It’s just that those errors nearly cost him the title overall too.
Ballou Quietly Takes 3rd, But Has 2 Wild Final Lap Moments
Robert Ballou had two final lap memorable moments. Between the photo finish defeat in Gas City or the wild flip on the home stretch at Terre Haute, those loud moments overshadowed the fact that he remarkably finished third in Sprint Week points.
I think that fact and being quiet about it was memorable for him.
He had a pair of runner-up finishes (Gas City and Putnamville) to go along with a top 8 finish in all but one round.
Redemptions and Bounce Backs
I’ll remember the 2023 edition as one of bounce backs and redemptions. It all got started on the opening night in Gas City when Justin Grant won in his first start of his new streak. See, the race prior for the Silver Crown race at Winchester, Grant’s car had a problem and he didn’t get to race. It ended a streak of 239 straight feature appearances.
He’d win Race 1 of a new streak in thrilling fashion in a photo finish over Robert Ballou.
A night later, CJ Leary overcame a flip at Gas City to win in Kokomo. He did so with a car that had never seen a track before. See, Leary built this car in 2020 but it stayed on jack stands for three years. With a flip 24 hours prior, they had to rebuild that machine. So, they went with the backup and the backup prevailed.
Kyle Cummins won at Circle City Raceway after struggling (6th, 19th, 18th) in the three races prior. Grant finished 11th that night but in the next race at Terre Haute, he’d win.
In that Terre Haute race, Jake Swanson flipped in Turn 2. A night afterwards, he’d win just past midnight at Putnamville. Emerson Axsom finished 13th in that race but took his No. 47BC to victory lane a night later in Bloomington.
This past week was full of fun storylines and comebacks to which makes this 36th year of Sprint Week a memorable one.
Wild Finishes
Between the photo finish in Gas City, to CJ Leary flipping while leading with 4 to go in Lawrenceburg, these 30 lap features were thrilling shows from start to finish each night.
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