From Bryan Hulbert
SALINA, Kan. (June 16, 2018) – The 2018 ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek wrapped up on Saturday night with Sammy Swindell grabbing his third win of the week and the Speedweek Championship in the A.G. Rains owned No. 3.
“To be a guy that’s almost 63 years old, I’m just blessed to be able to do this and that He gave me the passion, the drive, and the talent to get this done,” stated Sammy, who is the third member of the Swindell family to win at the Salina Speedway; joining son, Kevin, and brother, Jeff, on the list of winners at the three-eighths-mile Kansas oval since 2012.
Rolling seventh to first in his Heat Race to be the FSR Radiator High Point Driver for the A-Feature, Swindell capped that off with drawing the pole for the A-Feature.
Taking the lead over Jeff Stasa going into the first two turns, Swindell was trailed early by Skylar Gee. Steadily pulling away, even through cautions, the race for second picked up as Gee slipped to the top of the track through turns three and four on Lap 14. Letting Wayne Johnson race into the runner-up spot, the Outlaw Wings No. 2c fought through a gaggle of slower cars to finally get clean race track between himself and Swindell.
With the No. 3 held up by slower traffic, Johnson closed a straightaway advantage to mere car lengths only to see the caution lights blink on with 26 laps complete for Johnny Herrera who suffered a collapsed top-wing.
Pulling away on the restart, the checkered flag would be delayed as the caution flew just as Swindell rounded the fourth turn on the white flag lap for Sam Hafertepe, Jr. who has rolled to a stop in turn four.
Back to the last completed lap, the green, white, checkered restart saw Swindell run away. Second attempt at the final lap, Sammy slipped off the bottom groove exiting turn-two. With room to breathe, Sammy was able to get the car back underneath him to capture the win by 0.884 seconds.
“We kind of wore the tires down, and the caution let the pressures go down, so when I went in the back bottomed out and then it pushed so I missed that one little spot where the rubber was,” explained Sammy. “I knew from our start we pulled a gap. A lot of times if I ran it harder into one, it would stick a lot better, but that time with the pressures too low, it pushed.”
Wayne Johnson grabbed second with Skylar Gee posting his best finish of the season in third.
John Carney II held onto fourth with Seth Bergman coming from ninth to round out the top-five. Racing back and forth with Carney and Bergman, the No. 95 of Matt Covington ended up sixth with Blake Hahn seventh from 13th. Jack Dover was eighth with Jeff Stasa in tow. The top-ten rounded out with Harli White coming up from 17th.
Up next for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com, the tour will head for the 47th Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup presented by the Skagit Casino Resort on June 21, 22, and 23. The $15,000 to win, $1,000 to start event is among the highest paying events the tour sees all year and is a crown jewel in Sprint Car racing. Ticket information on and more can be found online at http://www.skagitspeedway.com.
For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the Regional Tours that make up the over 150 across the ASCS Nation in 2018, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Salina Speedway – Salina, Kan.
Speedweek Round 6
Saturday, June 16, 2018
Car Count: 21
Heat Races (Top 8 in Passing Points will Redraw)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 53-Jack Dover, [1]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, [2]; 3. J2-John Carney II, [6]; 4. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 5. 5J-Jamie Ball, [4]; 6. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 7. 26M-Fred Mattox, [7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [4]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee, [5]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 4. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 5. 1-Travis Rilat, [6]; 6. 44-Chris Martin, [1]; 7. 11-Roger Crockett, [7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Sammy Swindell, [7]; 2. 91-Jeff Stasa, [2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [4]; 4. 20G-Jake Greider, [1]; 5. 28-Scott Bogucki, [6]; 6. 37H-Matt Howard, [5]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, [3]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 3-Sammy Swindell, [1]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [5]; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, [3]; 4. J2-John Carney II, [4]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman, [9]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, [7]; 7. 52-Blake Hahn, [13]; 8. 53-Jack Dover, [6]; 9. 91-Jeff Stasa, [2]; 10. 17W-Harli White, [17]; 11. 28-Scott Bogucki, [12]; 12. 44-Chris Martin, [20]; 13. 5J-Jamie Ball, [15]; 14. 1-Travis Rilat, [11]; 15. 11-Roger Crockett, [19]; 16. 37H-Matt Howard, [16]; 17. 26M-Fred Mattox, [18]; 18. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [8]; 19. (DNF) 45X-Johnny Herrera, [10]; 20. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [21]; 21. (DNF) 20G-Jake Greider, [14]
Lap Leader(s): Sammy Swindell 1-30
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Chris Martin +8
FSR High Point Driver: Sammy Swindell
Provisional(s): N/A
2018 ASCS National Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr, 1,791; 2. Seth Bergman 1,781; Blake Hahn 1,781; 4. Wayne Johnson 1,765; 5. Johnny Herrera 1,668; 6. Matt Covington 1,605; 7. Scott Bogucki 1,584; 8. Roger Crockett 1,524; 9. Skylar Gee 1,520; 10. Jamie Ball 1,449; 11. Harli White 1,446; 12. Sammy Swindell 1,410; 13. Chris Martin 1,407; 14. Travis Rilat 1,295; 15. Alex Hill 1,238;
2018 ASCS Speedweek Points (Top 15, Final): 1. Sammy Swindell 869; 2. Blake Hahn 762; 3. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 727; 4. Scott Bogucki 726; 5. Wayne Johnson 723; 6. Seth Bergman 717; 7. John Carney II 699; 8. Matt Covington 680; 9. Travis Rilat 671; 10. Roger Crockett 661; 11. Chris Martin 661; 12. Harli White 650; 13. Johnny Herrera 639; 14. Skylar Gee 634; 15. Jamie Ball 604;