From Bryan Hulbert
WHEATLAND, Mo. (September 22, 2017) – In a wild turn of events, Sammy Swindell found his way to Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour victory lane yet again as the wily veteran led the final three-fourths of Friday’s A-Feature after race-long leader, Wayne Johnson, looped his Outlaw Wings No. 2c in the first and second turns of the Lucas Oil Speedway.
“I was just hoping there was going to be enough room (to get by). I saw him start to lose it, and it was really tight where he needed to be,” commented Swindell when asked about what he saw coming through turns one and two.
Making the win all the more impressive, was the fact that Sammy was able to avoid the spin despite his brakes having gone away in the closing laps of Friday’s non-stop A-Feature event.
“With about eight or nine laps to go we lost the brakes, so I was having to be really careful but I knew if we finished right up there in the top-three we’d be right up on the front row tomorrow so I didn’t want to give that up. I’d been using them pretty hard and might have got them too hot or something, but I couldn’t pump them up or get anything so I was just trying not to get into another car.”
Winning from seventh on Thursday to open the 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial at Lucas Oil Speedway, Friday’s triumph came from the eighth start spot in the A.G. Rains owned No. 3s. Having to pick his way to the front, Sam Hafertepe, Jr. and Blake Hahn raced slide for slide with Swindell for most of the race, with traffic finally playing into Sammy’s hands.
Starting to catch Johnson with three laps to go as the pair weaved their way through slower traffic, Sammy was within a few car lengths of Wayne Johnson at the wave the white flag. Working under a slower car in the first and second turns, the rear end of Johnson’s car suddenly swung around. Keeping on the throttle, Wayne righted his path, but not before losing several positions as Sammy grabbed his 14th career Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour victory.
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. would end up crossing runner-up with Blake Hahn rebounding from a spin on Thursday night to the final podium step in the Griffith Truck and Equipment No. 52. Tony Bruce, Jr. would cross fourth with Wayne Johnson holding on to complete the top-five.
Coming from 10th, Matt Covington crossed sixth with Johnny Herrera tearing through the field from 17th to seventh. Scott Bogucki eighth was followed by Jeff Swindell and Thomas Kennedy to round out the top-ten.
With event points totaled from Thursday and Friday, Sammy Swindell will start on the pole of Saturday’s $10,000 to win A-Feature with Sam Hafertepe, Jr. alongside. The remaining six drivers that are locked into the show include Wayne Johnson, Blake Hahn, Johnny Herrera, Matt Covington, Aaron Reutzel, and Jeff Swindell. The remainder of the field will drop into four Qualifier Races on Saturday night with the top-two moving on to the A-Main and the rest to B-Mains.
The 7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial concludes on Saturday, September 23, 2017 with Hot Laps at 5:30 P.M. (CDT).
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven regional tours that make up the over 150 races across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com. Make sure to like the American Sprint Car Series on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LucasOilASCS, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/LucasOilASCS, and check out our Instagram @LucasOilASCS.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Warrior Region
7th annual Hockett/McMillin Memorial – Night 2
Friday, September 22, 2017
Car Count: 54
Event Count: 55
Heat Races (Top 40 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 2. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [2]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [7]; 4. 26M-Fred Mattox, [3]; 5. 8M-Kade Morton, [6]; 6. 77X-Alex Hill, [4]; 7. 36-Jason Martin, [8]; 8. 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [5]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [1]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 3. 27-Danny Thoman, [2]; 4. 0-Ned Powers, [8]; 5. 12S-Carson McCarl, [6]; 6. 21-Miles Paulus, [5]; 7. 44-Jared Sewell, [3]; 8. 49B-Ben Brown, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 22-Dustin Barks, [2]; 2. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [1]; 3. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [5]; 4. 7M-Chance Morton, [3]; 5. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [4]; 6. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [6]; 7. 93-Dustin Morgan, [8]; 8. 57-TJ Artz, [7]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 2. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [3]; 3. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [7]; 4. 81-Jack Dover, [6]; 5. 21R-Andrew Deal, [1]; 6. 44M-Chris Martin, [8]; 7. 18-Ryan Roberts, [5]; 8. 92J-J.R. Topper, [4]
Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [2]; 2. 2-Kyle Sauder, [5]; 3. 81A-Chris Morgan, [1]; 4. 22S-Sean McClelland, [6]; 5. 84-Brandon Hanks, [4]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell, [3]; 7. 11X-John Carney II, [7]; (DNS) 24C-Lanny Carpenter,
Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [2]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell, [5]; 4. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 5. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [1]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman, [4]; 7. (DNF) 9M-Tyler Blank, [7]
Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [1]; 2. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [4]; 3. 4-Evan Martin, [2]; 4. 05-Brad Loyet, [6]; 5. 3Z-Zach Davis, [5]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman, [7]; 7. 11G-Mike Goodman, [3]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [6]; 2. 22S-Sean McClelland, [1]; 3. 94-Jeff Swindell, [2]; 4. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [3]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton, [8]; 7. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [9]; 8. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [10]; 9. 22-Dustin Barks, [5]; 10. (DNF) 81A-Chris Morgan, [7]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 05-Brad Loyet, [1]; 2. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [4]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [5]; 4. 0-Ned Powers, [3]; 5. 84-Brandon Hanks, [9]; 6. 2-Kyle Sauder, [6]; 7. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [10]; 8. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [2]; 9. 26M-Fred Mattox, [7]; 10. 12S-Carson McCarl, [8]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [2]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, [4]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [3]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [6]; 6. 21-Miles Paulus, [10]; 7. 44M-Chris Martin, [8]; 8. 17-Josh Baughman, [9]; 9. 7M-Chance Morton, [7]; 10. 27-Danny Thoman, [1]
Qualifier 4 (8 Laps): 1. 81-Jack Dover, [2]; 2. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [3]; 3. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [5]; 4. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [6]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [7]; 6. 4-Evan Martin, [1]; 7. 36-Jason Martin, [10]; 8. 21R-Andrew Deal, [9]; 9. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [4]; 10. 3Z-Zach Davis, [8]
BMRS B-Main (Top 2 advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [1]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks, [2]; 3. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [6]; 4. 21-Miles Paulus, [3]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell, [10]; 6. 14K-Kyle Bellm, [5]; 7. 12S-Carson McCarl, [8]; 8. 93-Dustin Morgan, [9]; 9. 18-Ryan Roberts, [11]; 10. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, [4]; 11. 26M-Fred Mattox, [7]; 12. 49B-Ben Brown, [12]; (DNS) 92J-J.R. Topper,
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [1]; 2. 22-Dustin Barks, [3]; 3. 36-Jason Martin, [5]; 4. 17W-Harli White, [2]; 5. 44M-Chris Martin, [4]; 6. 77X-Alex Hill, [9]; 7. 11X-John Carney II, [10]; 8. 27-Danny Thoman, [8]; 9. 24C-Lanny Carpenter, [13]; 10. 44-Jared Sewell, [11]; 11. 57-TJ Artz, [12]; 12. (DNF) 17-Josh Baughman, [6]; 13. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton, [7]
B Feature 3 (12 Laps): 1. 2-Kyle Sauder, [1]; 2. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [7]; 4. 8M-Kade Morton, [2]; 5. 11G-Mike Goodman, [9]; 6. 21R-Andrew Deal, [6]; 7. 4-Evan Martin, [3]; 8. 3Z-Zach Davis, [8]; 9. 3V-Nate VanHaaften, [11]; 10. 85-Forrest Sutherland, [5]; 11. (DNF) 9M-Tyler Blank, [10]; (DNS) 81A-Chris Morgan,
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 3S-Sammy Swindell, [8]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [4]; 4. 86-Tony Bruce Jr, [5]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [2]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, [10]; 7. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [17]; 8. 84B-Scott Bogucki, [3]; 9. 94-Jeff Swindell, [14]; 10. 21K-Thomas Kennedy, [6]; 11. 81-Jack Dover, [9]; 12. 28-Jonathan Cornell, [7]; 13. 1-Giovanni Scelzi, [15]; 14. 22S-Sean McClelland, [13]; 15. 84-Brandon Hanks, [20]; 16. 05-Brad Loyet, [11]; 17. 22-Dustin Barks, [21]; 18. 23-Seth Bergman, [23]; 19. 99-Skylar Gee, [18]; 20. 17W-Harli White, [24]; 21. 0-Ned Powers, [16]; 22. 9N-Wade Nygaard, [22]; 23. 2-Kyle Sauder, [19]; 24. (DNF) 87-Aaron Reutzel, [12]
Lap Leader(s): Wayne Johnson 1-24; Sammy Swindell 25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Johnny Herrera +10
FSR High Point Driver: Sam Hafertepe, Jr.
Provisional(s): Seth Bergman; Harli White