USAC Racing Champion Justin Grant explained how who is at fault in a slide job has changed in recent years.

In an explanatory video for USAC Racing with play-by-play announcer Chet Christner, Grant shared that in most cases the person who is getting slid knows it’s coming.

He said, “If it’s slick to the wall and you get tight in the middle of one end, you about oughta know you’re getting slid at the other end. Even before you see this guy, you know you got a bad exit. … If anybody’s close, they’re going to be sliding you at the other end. Maybe not everybody, but a guy that’s raced a long time, he’s probably got an idea that one of them is coming.”

Grant went on to share that the person getting slid also typically sees the slider coming, “You can see out the left door, you know this guy’s there when he’s there. And we do this enough that you know. You’re looking out the left side you see that guy, you see how much speed he’s got. You know he’s landing [at the top of the exit of the corner].”

From there, Grant explained that the higher speeds cars are running into the corner has shifted the blame on who’s at fault with a slider from the person throwing the slider to the person being slid. 

He explained, “The way and now our entries and everything that we run whether it’s Midgets, whether it’s Sprint Cars, our entry speeds have gotten so high over the last 5,6 years, where you used to be that [the person getting slid] used to be so slow getting into the corner that you used to be slide him pretty conservatively. Now, our entry speeds are so high to clear him you’ve got to be wide open all the way across there and then slide him. To be able to clear this guy, you have to run the car so fast across there that there’s almost no way to stop it once it’s going.”

“So the old way of ‘You don’t have the guy clear, you got to leave him a lane,’ that worked because this guy was going slow enough on entry you were able to slide him slow enough that you still had some control coming across. Now, sliders primary concern is trying to keep it out of the fence when he gets there. There’s no room to stop and leave a lane. … You are a lot closer to being out of control and the rate that you have to outrun that guy is so high now that it doesn’t leave that room for error on the other end of it.”

“It’s really transitioned from-. When I first started racing, it was a lot on the guy throwing the slider to be responsible for us not crashing on the other end. With the way we race now or the speeds we carry now on entry, it’s really become on the guy getting slid because he’s the only one that has any option,” Grant stated.

As for what those options are, Grant explained, “If you think I can get to the other side of the box before he gets to his box, drive around it. If you think I can’t get through that box before he gets to that box, lift. You are out of the gas and trying to turn under, which is a great option. Lift, turn under, drive away. Almost always works.”

“What never works is seeing this guy sliding across, you know that’s his box, and you say, ‘Ah! I’m going to drive to that box and get plugged.’ And that’s the issue. It always looks like it’s [the slider’s] fault because [the one being slid] gets crashed when it’s not 100%. Sometimes there’s a slider that’s bad. But on a lot of well executed sliders you see guys get crashed when they should’ve known better. They should’ve known not to get crashed.”

Grant then concluded, “Right or wrong. Whether you think it was right, wrong whatever if your car leaves on the hook, you were wrong. When I show up to the race track, I’ve got two jobs: win the race and drive my car back to my trailer.”

“If you get crashed by somebody sliding you, you can be mad all you want, but you didn’t do your job,” he said. “You didn’t drive your car back to your trailer. And 9 times out of 10 if not more, you had an option not to crash. You just didn’t choose to exercise that option. It’s much more cutthroat than it used to be, but that’s kind of what it’s turned into. Honestly, I think it’s what produces a lot of the super exciting races that you see now. But a lot of times its on the experience of the guy getting slid.”

While Grant shared his explanation back in 2023, World of Outlaws Late Model Series points leader Bobby Pierce recently discussed the video after his slider on Nick Hoffman during the FloRacing Night in America race at Mason City Motor Speedway earlier this month. X user BkSam wrote, “Grant may be an open wheel guy, but this is a good watch. If this applies, then its Hoffmans fault for not backing off.”

Pierce replied, “I’ve never watched this one before. He says it perfectly.”

I’ve never watched this one before. He says it perfectly

— Bobby Pierce (@BobbyPierce32) August 20, 2026

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