FT. WORTH, Texas (April 8, 2017) — Sam Hafertepe, Jr. continued his dominance of the 2017 season with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network with his fourth win in as many nights this past Saturday to complete the weekend sweep of Tony Stewart’s Texas Sprint Car Nationals presented by Machinery Auctioneers at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.
Asked about his run in Victory Lane, Sam replied, “It was predominantly top groove track, so it made it tough to get around lapped cars so we weren’t going to make any dumb moves and try to force anything. We’ve been in that situation several times, but I knew we had a good enough car and we didn’t have to flex our muscles early. At some point, we could take care of it.”
On the weekend and the crowd on hand, Sam thanked Tony Stewart and the Texas Motor Speedway crew hosting the event. Setting a new series record with four consecutive victories, Hafertepe added his fourth triumph at the Texas Motor Speedway to his resume’.
Gridding the lineup on the pole, Sam would play the role of hunter as Wayne Johnson jetted off with the lead. Chasing the Outlaw Wings No. 2c down, the pair began going slide for slide around the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track on the third round. Showing Hafertepe leading, the slide-jobs did not stop for several laps before the No. 15h earned some breathing room. Working back to Sam’s rear bumper as the pair worked slower traffic, the race was brought to a halt on Lap 10 for a crash in turn four involving Kyle Bellm and John Carney II, of which both drivers were unharmed.
Jettisoning to a sizable advantage on the restart, Hafertepe was untouchable. Through traffic, the No. 15h slid by with ease as the race from second through fifth was anyone guess.
Back and forth between Aaron Reutzel, Josh Baughman, and Christopher Bell, the battle came to a head as Bell tried to slow for a slower car while racing under Aaron Reutzel; sending his No. 88 machine up the track where both drivers would flip into the turn four catch fence. Both drivers were okay.
Moving Baughman to second and Johnson back into the top-three, there was no catching the No. 15h, who crossed the line 2.231 seconds ahead of the PPG No. 17.
Wayne Johnson brought his Oil Medics No. 2c home on the final podium step with Tony Stewart coming from 11th to fourth in the Rush Truck Centers No. 14. The top-five rounded out with the MVT No. 45x of Johnny Herrera.
From 14th, Seth Bergman raced to a sixth place finish with Blake Hahn charging from 17th to seventh. Matt Covington found the eighth position with Sammy Swindell from 18th to ninth. South Dakota’s Justin Henderson completed the top-ten.
Overall, the weekend saw 40 drivers in attendance, of which 38 took part in Saturday’s program. Four Heat Races went to Johnny Herrera, Tony Stewart, Chance Morton, and Christopher Bell. Qualifier wins went to Josh Baughman, Justin Henderson, and Kyle Bellm. The B-Mains were topped by Blake Hahn and Sammy Swindell. One provisional start was granted to Kade Morton through the ASCS Red River Region.
The Lucas Oil ASCS presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network returns to action on Saturday, April 15 at the Historic Half-Mile, Missouri State Fair Speedway in Sedalia, Mo.
For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series and the over 150 dates that make up the ASCS National and Regional schedules, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com.
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Red River Region
Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track – Ft. Worth, Texas
Tony Stewart’s Texas Sprint Car Nationals
Saturday, April 8, 2017
Car Count: 38
Event Count: 40
Heat Races: (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to a Qualifier)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera[1]; 2. 93-Dustin Morgan[3]; 3. 17-Josh Baughman[2]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 5. 84B-Scott Bogucki[5]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee[8]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill[6]; 8. 20G-Jake Greider[7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 14-Tony Stewart[2]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 3. 51-Caleb Martin[1]; 4. 11X-John Carney II[9]; 5. 44-Jared Sewell[3]; 6. 55-Brad Queen[6]; 7. 1S-Joey Schmidt[7]; 8. 13M-Chance McCrary[8]; 9. 05M-Charles McManus[5]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 7M-Chance Morton[2]; 2. 8M-Kade Morton[1]; 3. 33-Danny Lasoski[3]; 4. 6-Dustin Gates[4]; 5. 14K-Kyle Bellm[6]; 6. 02-Brandon Long[5]; 7. 29-Travis Rilat[7]; 8. 84-Brandon Hanks[8]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 88-Christopher Bell[2]; 2. 28-Tommy Bryant[1]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[6]; 4. 1-Justin Henderson[4]; 5. 12-James Mosher[8]; 6. 3-Sammy Swindell[5]; 7. 2X-Tucker Doughty[3]; 8. 17W-Harli White[7]
Hoosier Tire Qualifiers: (Top 12 in Combined Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 17-Josh Baughman[2]; 2. 6-Dustin Gates[1]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera[4]; 4. 28-Tommy Bryant[3]; 5. 14-Tony Stewart[6]; 6. 3-Sammy Swindell[9]; 7. 1SX-Sean McClelland[8]; 8. 11X-John Carney II[5]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee[7]; 10. 2X-Tucker Doughty[10]
Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Justin Henderson[1]; 2. 12-James Mosher[3]; 3. 93-Dustin Morgan[4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 5. 84B-Scott Bogucki[7]; 6. 51-Caleb Martin[2]; 7. 13M-Chance McCrary[10]; 8. 55-Brad Queen[8]; 9. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton[6]; 10. (DNF) 1S-Joey Schmidt[9]
Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 14K-Kyle Bellm[1]; 2. 88-Christopher Bell[6]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[2]; 4. 33-Danny Lasoski[3]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 6. 29-Travis Rilat[9]; 7. 84-Brandon Hanks[10]; 8. 02-Brandon Long[8]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton[4]; 10. 44-Jared Sewell[7]
BMRS B-Feature: (Top 3 advance to the tail of the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 84B-Scott Bogucki[2]; 3. 7M-Chance Morton[3]; 4. 1SX-Sean McClelland[5]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee[7]; 6. 51-Caleb Martin[4]; 7. 17W-Harli White[10]; 8. 13M-Chance McCrary[6]; 9. 20G-Jake Greider[11]; 10. 02-Brandon Long[8]; 11. (DNF) 1S-Joey Schmidt[9]
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 3-Sammy Swindell[3]; 2. 84-Brandon Hanks[6]; 3. 11X-John Carney II[2]; 4. 29-Travis Rilat[4]; 5. 77X-Alex Hill[10]; 6. 8M-Kade Morton[5]; 7. 44-Jared Sewell[8]; 8. 05M-Charles McManus[11]; 9. 55-Brad Queen[7]; 10. 33-Danny Lasoski[1]; 11. (DNF) 2X-Tucker Doughty[9]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 17-Josh Baughman[7]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson[2]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart[11]; 5. 45X-Johnny Herrera[6]; 6. 23-Seth Bergman[14]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn[17]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[9]; 9. 3-Sammy Swindell[18]; 10. 1-Justin Henderson[12]; 11. 84-Brandon Hanks[20]; 12. 1J-Danny Jennings[4]; 13. 6-Dustin Gates[15]; 14. 28-Tommy Bryant[16]; 15. 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 16. 88-Christopher Bell[5]; 17. 14K-Kyle Bellm[13]; 18. 84B-Scott Bogucki[19]; 19. 93-Dustin Morgan[8]; 20. 12-James Mosher[10]; 21. 11X-John Carney II[22]; 22. 8M-Kade Morton[23]; 23. 7M-Chance Morton[21]
Lap Leader(s): Wayne Johnson 1-3; Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 4-30
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Blake Hahn +10
FSR High Point Driver: Christopher Bell
Provisional(s): Kade Morton (Regional)
2017 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 600; 2. Johnny Herrera 499; 3. Wayne Johnson 491; 4. Seth Bergman 477; 5. Matt Covington 461; 6. Justin Henderson 459; 7. Josh Baughman 436; 8. John Carney II 423; 9. Aaron Reutzel 422; 10. Blake Hahn 416;