PETERSEN MEDIA
Competing with the LUCAS Oil ASCS National Tour during the opening legs of their Speedweek, Matt Covington had two wild night’s that ultimately saw him go from last to fifth on Friday, before, scoring an eighth place finish on Saturday night, leading him to an asthma attack once the checkered flew.
“It was a wild weekend, for sure,” Covington said. “Both night’s we had really good racecars, and Friday it was awesome to charge from last to fifth.”
Friday night the scene was the Kennedale Speedway Park in Kennedale, TX, and true to form, pill draw put Covington and his T&L Foundry/Triple X/Winters backed machine last in the first heat.
Charging from the back to a fifth place finish, Covington did accumulate enough points to transfer to the feature event, so he made a quick stop in the ‘B’, where his third place finish put him scratch on the field.
When the race got underway, the Glenpool, OK driver was on kill as he began picking off cars at will, as he carved his way forward. Slicing and dicing with the best in the country, Covington found him inside the fifth spot, with just a handful of laps remaining.
When he got up to fifth, the lead pack was strung out, and Covington hoped for a caution to bunch the field back up, but to his dismay, one never flew, and he settled for fifth, and the hard charger award.
“We were awesome in the main,” he said. “I was hoping for a late caution to have a chance at the win or the podium, but it was not in the cards, but we are plenty happy.”
Saturday night, the scene shifted to the Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, TX. A rare pill draw put Covington on the front row of his heat, and the over zealous driver got too good of a start and it was waived off.
Being cautious during the second start, Covington slipped to the second spot, where he would finish, and made the transfer to the A.
Starting ninth in the feature on the very slick track, Covington was again strong from the get-go, as he worked the cushion up to the sixth spot, where he began battling Jeff Swindell for the fifth spot.
Attempting a slidejob, Covington slid up in front of Swindell, but hit the cushion a little too hard, and bicycled, as he slipped back to the eighth spot.
Back in eighth, Covington seemed to hold of for the rest of the night, as he would end up eight at the stripe.
“We had a great car all weekend, and I really cannot thank my team enough for busting their buts all weekend!”
Matt and his Covington Racing team would like to thank T&L Foundry, Triple X Chassis, Winters, Brodix, C.G. Martin Company, Factor 1 Racing, All-Star Performance, Outlaw Wings, Pro Shocks, DMI Components, Keizer Wheels, ButlerBuilt, Simpson Race Products, GME Steering, Wesmar Racing Engines, and Schoenfeld Headers for their support in 2013.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-18, Wins-1, Top 5’s-7, Top 10’s-11
ON TAP: Covington is now scheduled to be at the Lawton Speedway on Wednesday night, Creek County Speedway on Thursday night, and Lucas Oil Speedway on Saturday night.
STAY CONNECTED: For all the latest news of Matt Covington, visit his website, www.mattcovingtonracing.com, like him on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/