A year ago, we were amid an absence of 50 years between the first and second USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car appearances at Pennsylvania's Selinsgrove Speedway.

Come Thursday night, we will have only had to wait another 364 days before USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship racing returns to the half-mile for Eastern Storm Round 3.

It was 364 days ago that Justin Grant only had to wait a mere 48 hours between Eastern Storm win No. 1 and Eastern Storm win No. 2.

Two days after his initial Eastern Storm triumph, after a near decade of trying, the Ione, California, driver collected the second of his career, leading the final seven laps at the track, which last had hosted a USAC National Sprint Car event in 1971.

Grant took the lead from Windom seven laps from the finish, then withstood multiple Robert Ballou slide job attempts during the final restart to win. Funny enough, it was Grant who initiated the drive to bring USAC Sprint Car racing back to Selinsgrove, following a half-century absence. Later in the 2021 season, Grant collected a fifth-place finish in Silver Crown action at Selinsgrove.

The debut USAC Silver Crown National Championship race took place at Selinsgrove in 2020 and was won by Shane Cottle (Kansas, Illinois), who made an incredible charge from the 23rd starting position to the victory. Cottle finished 11th in the sprinter there during Eastern Storm 2021.

Logan Seavey (Sutter, California) captured the USAC Silver Crown 75-lapper at Selinsgrove in 2021 and took 20th place in his lone Eastern Storm Sprint Car run there in 2021.

Brady Bacon (Broken Arrow, Oklahoma) also can count himself as a winner at Selinsgrove, as the 2014 Eastern Storm king captured the 2020 USAC East Coast Sprint Car feature. At S-Grove, he has been seventh and eighth, and he was fifth during Eastern Storm a year ago.

C.J. Leary (Greenfield, Indiana) holds the track record at Selinsgrove in a USAC Silver Crown car. The 2019 Eastern Storm champ started from the pole in Silver Crown action at Selinsgrove in both 2020 and 2021 and finished second in the main event both years. He ran third in the 2021 Eastern Storm Sprint Car feature.

Ballou (Rocklin, California), the 2015 and 2021 Eastern Storm champion, was leading the 2020 USAC East Coast Sprint Car feature at Selinsgrove with seven laps remaining, when he flipped. He found much better fortune during Eastern Storm in 2021, finishing as the runner-up.

Alex Bright (Collegeville, Pennsylvania) won with the USAC East Coast Sprint Cars twice at Selinsgrove in 2021 en route to the championship and took sixth with the USAC national series during the same year.

Current USAC East Coast point leader Briggs Danner (Allentown, Pennsylvania) has won races with the series in both 2021 and 2022. His USAC National Sprint Car record at Selinsgrove includes the eight-lap track record for the series at 2:51.33.

Three-time USAC East Coast Sprint Car champion Steven Drevicki (Reading, Pennsylvania) took the runner-up spot in a 2020 race at Selinsgrove and finished 14th during Eastern Storm in 2021.

Sportsman superstar Carmen Perigo (Stoystown, Pennsylvania) finished inside the top 10 twice in USAC national competition at Selinsgrove in 2021 - eighth in the Sprint Car and ninth in the Silver Crown. 

Fellow Pennsylvanian Mark Smith (Sunbury), ninth during his 2021 Eastern Strom run, is a four-time sprint car track champion at Selinsgrove and turned in a fifth-place finish with USAC East Coast this year. Timmy Buckwalter (Douglassville, Pennsylvania) is set to make his Selinsgrove Eastern Storm debut on Thursday.

USAC East Coast stalwart Kenny Miller III (Morgantown, Pennsylvania) finished fifth with the East Coast series in 2021, while Joey Amantea (Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania) took third this past May.

Jake Swanson (Anaheim, California) made a couple fine appearances at Selinsgrove in 2021, with a third place in the Silver Crown main event and seventh in the sprint car. Matt Westfall (Pleasant Hill, Ohio) was rock solid at Selinsgrove in 2021, finishing seventh with the Crown car and 13th aboard the sprinter.

Also returning to the Selinsgrove lineup are 2020 USAC National Most Improved Driver Brandon Mattox (Terre Haute, Indiana), who finished 16th in 2021, as well as USAC National Sprint Cars' Ironman, Chase Stockon (Fort Branch, Indiana), 17th in 2021. 

Also on board is 2018 USAC Southwest Sprint Car champion Charles Davis Jr. (Buckeye, Arizona), who was 19th in 2021.

Shane Cockrum (Benton, Illinois) joins the Eastern Storm lineup in time for Selinsgrove, where he ran fourth with the USAC Silver Crown series in 2021. 

He joins a group of Selinsgrove first-timers, a group that is highlighted by two-time 2022 USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature winner Emerson Axsom (Franklin, Indiana), two-time Eastern Storm winner Thomas Meseraull (San Jose, California), 2020 USAC National Sprint Car Rookie of the Year Jadon Rogers (Worthington, Indiana), USAC National Sprint Car Rookie Alex Banales (Lafayette, Indiana), Korbyn Hayslett (Troy, Ohio), veteran Dallas Hewitt (Troy) and Eldora Speedway's four-time late model and two-time modified titlist, Brian Ruhlman (Clarklake, Michigan).

Thursday's Eastern Storm event at Selinsgrove features the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship and Winged 410 c.i. Sprint Cars.

Pits open at 4:30 p.m. Eastern, grandstands open at 5:30 p.m., the drivers meeting will be at 6 p.m. and hot laps will begin at 6:30 p.m.

Adult admission tickets are $25, students age 12-17 are $15 and children 11 and under will be admitted free. Add $2 for grandstand reserved seats. Pit passes are $40.

All Eastern Storm events will be streamed live on FloRacing, Watch here.