USAC National Champion Justin Grant To Drive Cicconi Preece TQ Midget In Atlantic City’s NAPA Auto Parts Weekend On January 26-27

Atlantic, City, NJ – Justin Grant, a USAC three-division standout, will be heading east to race in the Indoor Auto Racing Series races inside Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N.J. over the January 26-27 Friday-Saturday NAPA Auto Parts race weekend. Grant will drive the highly regarded No. 59 Lou Cicconi/ Donny Preece owned TQ Midget.

For the third consecutive season, and fourth time overall, the California native captured the $10,000 USAC National Drivers Championship. To do so he gathered more total points across the three USAC national divisions throughout the duration of the 2023 campaign.

Grant was crowned the USAC National Sprint Car champion for a second straight year, finished second in the USAC National Midget Series standings and was third in the Silver Crown Series. Yet for all of his open wheel accomplishments, driving a TQ Midget indoors will be a first for him.

“Never raced a TQ Midget before but they look pretty wicked. To be able to do it with Lou, who knows so much about the cars and the track is a great opportunity,” Grant shared before competing at the Chili Bowl Indoor dirt Midget Car event in Tulsa, OK this past weekend.

Grant was blunt in his aspirations for the Atlantic City weekend.

“I don’t get in a race car with the intention of not winning,” he said.

To prepare Grant will fly in for the Boardwalk Hall closed to the public practice on Thursday. Grant has not yet seen the Cicconi car but aware it was a top ten finisher at the series opener in Allentown, PA with Jake Trainor driving.

“Thursday will be to get acquainted with the car and with the track. Friday afternoon, it’s about trying to find the speed. Will be figuring it out all night, what positions you can put yourself in, what you can’t get away with,” said Grant.

“But on Saturday, we should be ready to perform.”

Thanks to a new format this year, Grant will be able to compete in two separate and unique feature events.

On Saturday night January 27th, the TQ Midgets will compete in the 22nd running the Gambler’s Classic. A traditional format of time trials, heat races and B-mains, will lead up to the 40 Lap A-Main on Saturday.

On Friday night, the inaugural running of the BlackJack 21 for the TQ Midgets will be held. The night will be closed out with a 21 lap, 21 car race paying $2,100 to the winner.

To qualify for that event, racers will compete in a unique format, that maximizes track time for all competitors and treats fans to multiple main events among the stars of the TQ Midget division.

The top 28 fastest competitors from afternoon qualifying will lock into a pair of split field (Red & Black) 20 lap A-Qualifiers. The remaining competitors will head to a pair of 7 Come 11 heat races, with the top 7 finishers advancing to the back of the A-Qualifiers.

The top 10 finishers from the two 20 lap $500 to win qualifiers will then advance to the finale, the 21 Lap, 21 car, BlackJack 21 main event.

The final BlackJack 21 starter will come from a special race for the competitors who up until this point, have had the worst day. The “Craps” race, will be made up of all competitors that failed to advance to the A-Qualifiers. This race will be 10 laps, with the winner given the 21st and final starting spot in Friday night’s main event.

As in the past, the Slingshots and Champ Karts will continue to be a part of all the Concrete Series events. Also, returning to Atlantic City for a second year will be the wingless “Dirt” 600cc Micro Sprints.

Tickets for the event are on sale and available through Ticketmaster and at the Boardwalk Hall box office. For more information visit indoorautoracing.com

For race fans who cannot make the trip to get the best experience at the event, quality DTD-TV pay-per-view will be available for both nights on the web at dirttrackdigest.tv.