By Spence Smithback
WEST MEMPHIS, AR (September 24, 2024) – The American Sprint Car Series National Tour is back in Memphis for the first time in three years this weekend for a one-of-a-kind Sprint Car racing spectacle.
The Series will join forces with the ASCS Hurricane Area Super Sprints and the United Sprint Car Series for 360 Sprint Car racing’s newest premier event, the World Short Track Challenge at Riverside International Speedway.
The race will pay show-up points only for the National Tour, meaning teams will be gunning solely for Saturday night’s $10,000 top prize. All teams who start Saturday’s main event will make at least $1,000, which puts the World Short Track Challenge in a tie with the 360 Knoxville Nationals for the largest starting payout on the National Tour schedule. Friday’s preliminary action will conclude with a $2,000-to-win, $200-to-start Feature.
Tickets will be available at the track on race day. Can’t make it? Catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:
WHAT A FIELD: With the season winding down and a huge purse up for grabs, teams from across the nation are planning to make the trip to “The Ditch” to chase the checkered flag.
The field of National Tour regulars will be headlined by championship contenders Seth Bergman and Sam Hafertepe Jr., who enter the weekend as the only Series full-timers with Riverside victories to their name. Bergman won with the National Tour in Memphis in 2012 and 2015, while Hafertepe did the same in 2014.
More than 50 names are on the pre-entry list for the event, but there are none bigger than three-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion Sammy Swindell. The 68-year-old Sprint Car legend is making his first National Tour start since the 2023 360 Knoxville Nationals, but if his wins in local action at Riverside on Aug. 24 and with the USCS at Buckshot Speedway on Aug. 31 are anything to go by, “Slammin’ Sammy” could be a contender for his first Series win in six years.
Other invaders to keep an eye on include four-time National Tour champion and current USCS points leader Terry Gray, North Dakota standout Tim Estenson and eight-time National Tour winner Derek Hagar.
RUN OF SHOW: The tri-sanctioned event will feature a format unlike anything else on the schedule leading up to the main event on Saturday.
After Hot Laps on Friday, cars will be divided into two groups for Qualifying, which will set the lineups for the Heat Races and pay points that will determine lineups later in the night. The top four qualifiers in each Heat Race will be inverted, and passing points will be paid out. The top 14 drivers in combined Qualifying points and Heat Race passing points will be locked into the Feature, while everyone else will have to race their way through a B-Main, C-Main or D-Main.
The top six finishers in the D-Main will transfer to the C-Main, the top six from the C-Main will move on to the B-Main, and the top six from the B-Main will start at the tail of the 25-lap Feature to conclude Friday’s program.
No Qualifying will be held on Saturday; instead, combined points from Qualifying, Heat Races and preliminary Mains on Friday along with a dice roll invert will set the starting lineups for Heat Races on Saturday, which will again pay passing points. After Saturday’s Heat Races, the top 12 in points from both nights will be locked into the Feature, while the rest of the field will be placed into a D-Main, C-Main or B-Main. Those races will see the top six finishers transfer in the same fashion as on Friday night.
Before the main event, a Dash will be held with the top two drivers in Friday’s points along with the top four from Saturday to set the first three rows of the Feature lineup. Once all preliminary action is complete, the weekend will wrap up with a 40-lap, $10,000-to-win Feature.
FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME: The win column was dominated by two familiar names in the first half of the year, with Bergman and Hafertepe combining to win 14 of the first 18 races of the National Tour season. The tide has shifted in the opposite direction since then, as neither driver has found Victory Lane in the last six races on tour.
Instead, the Series has seen five different winners in those six races. It was the first National Tour win of the season for all five drivers, and in the case of Rookie of the Year contender Hank Davis, his pair of wins at Electric City Speedway were the first and second of his career.
One of the leading candidates to continue the streak of first-time winners in 2024 is the No. 95 of Matt Covington. The 19-time National Tour winner entered the year fresh off a three-win season a year ago, but it has now been more than a year since his most recent score on Aug. 25, 2023 at Lakeside Speedway. While he hasn’t broken through yet, he has been in contention to do so all year, as he sits third in the standings on the heels of seven podiums and an average finish of 6.2.
The list of potential winners also includes Zach Blurton, who has picked up two podiums and five top 10s in the last nine races, as well as Andrew Deal, who made an impressive 22nd-to-ninth charge last time out at Arrowhead Speedway to remain second in the Rookie of the Year chase.
WELCOME HOME: No one will have a shorter drive to the track this weekend than Memphis’s own Landon Britt.
The driver of the No. 10 is another name on the list of those searching for their first National Tour victory of 2024. Britt enters Riverside amid a challenging stretch over the past few weeks, as he has only finished in the top 10 twice in the last six races.
While he has never won in 360 Sprint Car competition at his home track, his recent history there suggests it could be the place for a turnaround. Britt has raced at Riverside twice so far in 2024, coming home 10th in weekly action on May 11 and seventh with the USCS on May 25.
WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27-28, at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, AR
AROUND THE TURN:
The American Sprint Car Series National Tour will make its only stops of the year in Missouri and Kentucky, with Benton Speedway set for Friday, Oct. 11, before Paducah International Raceway on Saturday, Oct. 12.
CURRENT POINT STANDINGS (TOP 10):
Seth Bergman (3045 points)
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (-111)
Matt Covington (-240)
Hank Davis (-372)
Andrew Deal (-506)
Jason Martin (-526)
Landon Britt (-577)
Zach Blurton (-617)
Kyler Johnson (-629)
Terry Easum (-732)