By Jordan Delucia
HUTCHINSON, KS (Oct. 10, 2025) — For the first time, in a career spanning over two decades, Whit Gastineau is an American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) Feature winner.
The 41-year-old from Moore, OK, has been a winner of many regional 305 and 360 Sprint Car events in the past, establishing himself as one of Oklahoma’s standout local names. But Friday at Salt City Speedway was his night to shine on the national stage, leading all 20 laps around the historic half-mile oval on the Kansas State Fairgrounds and capturing one of the biggest wins of his career.
Blake Hahn. Sam Hafertepe Jr. Matt Covington. The three drivers that finished behind Gastineau have been the top three drivers in the points championship chase for the majority of the season, combining for 15 Feature wins. But Gastineau left them behind.
“I always knew we could beat them,” Gastineau said. “For the longest time, I didn’t have the equipment to run with them. I can’t thank Jim Ellison enough. I’ve raced as long or longer than all of these guys, but for the longest time, I just didn’t have the equipment to do it.
“We all have jobs, so we come out and race when we can. We’ve got kids and sporting events and all that, so we just kinda race when we can. I always knew I could race with these guys.”
Gastineau’s winning move came on the opening lap of the main event, powering around the outside of Hahn, the polesitter, for the lead out of Turn 4.
“He got the jump on me again and I knew I had to press the issue to get around him as quick as I could,” Gastineau said. “He was on the bottom, so I wasn’t gonna pass him on the bottom, so I had to make it work. I just tried to stay even with him and then drive it harder than him going into the corner and was able to squeeze by him. Once I was by him, I knew our car was good, so I just checked out.”
The race’s lone caution flag appeared with 11 laps complete for debris on the frontstretch, which was a welcomed pause in the action in Gastineau’s mind as he caught the tail end of the field.
“I didn’t like the lapped traffic; I’m glad there was a caution,” Gastineau said. “Even after the caution, I wasn’t trying to catch the lapped cars. I was trying to pace myself and get to the checkered flag and not catch them.”
The green flag dropped on the restart and Gastineau took off once again, leaving the field behind him as he sped off to the $4,000 payday.
Hahn crossed the stripe second, bagging his 10th podium finish of the season.
“I felt like we had a better car in traffic, but the cautions just didn’t really fall out perfectly,” Hahn said. “Had a good car for tonight; hopefully, we can learn from it tonight and get a little bit better for tomorrow and get one step better.”
Hafertepe, the current points leader, crossed the finish line third to claim his 17th podium finish of the season and expanded his lead over Covington in the standings to 151 points.
“I want to thank everybody that’s been putting this deal together for us all year,” Hafertepe said. “Miles (Hill) doing what he does for our race team, and I want to thank Daryl (Turford) for coming on, and Cody (Fidler) has been sticking it out all year and learning quite a bit. We’ve got a good group of guys right now, just need a few things to fall our way and we can be knocking off some more wins.”
Covington finished fourth after starting fourth, while Austyn Gossel advanced from seventh on the starting grid to complete the top five.
UP NEXT
The American Sprint Car Series is back in action at Salt City Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 11, with a $6,000 grand prize on the line.
Tickets for the event are on sale in advance; click here to purchase. If you can’t be there, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau[2]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 5. 16G-Austyn Gossel[7]; 6. 36-Jason Martin[10]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[6]; 8. 71-Brady Baker[8]; 9. 10-Landon Britt[17]; 10. 88K-Jordan Knight[9]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[14]; 12. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[12]; 13. 88-Terry Easum[19]; 14. 0BS-Jesse Pate[11]; 15. 12W-Dale Wester[15]; 16. 88R-Ryder Laplante[16]; 17. 12H-Elijah Gile[13]; 18. (DNF) 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 19. (DNF) 3D-Jake Diehl[18]; 20. (DNS) 88C-Brogan Carder; 21. (DNS) 11K-Tyler Knight
Honest Abe Roofing Dash (5 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn[1]; 2. 2-Whit Gastineau[2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 2B-Garrett Benson[4]; 6. 2J-Zach Blurton[5]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 2J-Zach Blurton[2]; 2. 16G-Austyn Gossel[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[3]; 5. 12W-Dale Wester[5]; 6. (DNF) 3D-Jake Diehl[6]; 7. (DNS) 88C-Brogan Carder
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 2. 71-Brady Baker[2]; 3. 2-Whit Gastineau[4]; 4. 36-Jason Martin[5]; 5. 12H-Elijah Gile[3]; 6. 88R-Ryder Laplante[6]; 7. 88-Terry Easum[7]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2B-Garrett Benson[1]; 2. 88K-Jordan Knight[2]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[4]; 4. 0BS-Jesse Pate[3]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 6. 10-Landon Britt[6]; 7. (DNS) 11K-Tyler Knight
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:18.384[1]; 2. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:18.721[2]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:18.843[7]; 4. 10C-Jeremy Campbell, 00:19.111[4]; 5. 12W-Dale Wester, 00:19.320[6]; 6. 3D-Jake Diehl, 00:20.897[3]; 7. (DNS) 88C-Brogan Carder
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 2-Whit Gastineau, 00:18.349[7]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, 00:18.492[3]; 3. 71-Brady Baker, 00:18.879[5]; 4. 12H-Elijah Gile, 00:18.901[6]; 5. 36-Jason Martin, 00:18.942[1]; 6. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:19.095[4]; 7. 88-Terry Easum, 00:19.167[2]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:18.532[2]; 2. 2B-Garrett Benson, 00:18.551[3]; 3. 88K-Jordan Knight, 00:18.886[7]; 4. 0BS-Jesse Pate, 00:18.963[6]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:19.071[4]; 6. 10-Landon Britt, 00:19.130[5]; 7. (DNF) 11K-Tyler Knight[1]