By T.J. Buffenabrger
CASA GRANDE, AZ (February 22, 206) – Matt Covington picked up the feature victory during the second night of the Sonoran Clash Sunday night with the ASCS National Tour at Central Arizona Raceway.
Covington, from Glenpool, Oklahoma, took advantage of Friday night’s feature winner Justin Peck’s suffering a flat right front tire while leading, then passing Kyler Johnson for the lead on lap 25 and pulling away for his first feature victory of the 2026 season.
The first attempt to start the 30-lap feature was eventful when Hank Davis, who was one of the top contenders to win the feature, slowed on the backstretch and pulled into the infield. Further back in the field Garen Linder flipped down the backstretch to bring out the red flag. Linder exited the car under his own power while Davis was unable to continue with mechanical issues.
During the second attempt to start the main event, Peck took the lead as Johnson and Whit Gastineau raced for second, trading the spot during the first two laps before Johnson took over the position, allowing Peck to open a 1.293 second advantage.
Peck extended his lead to 1.752 seconds when he started to overtake slower cars on lap 10. Behind him Gastineau was under pressure from Matt Convington racing for the third position. As they raced for the position they closed on Johnson to create a three-car race for second on lap 13.
The caution flag appeared on lap 14 when Sterling Cling blew a right rear tire right in front of Peck. Cling ended up backwards in turn one while Peck was able to avoid Cling’s damaged race car and maintain the lead.
During the caution flag period Skylar Gee also went to the work area. As the field idled under caution, Justin Peck suffered a flat right front tire handing the lead to Johnson.
Johnson pulled away to a 1.478 second lead while Covington took over the second position while Gastineau dropped through the field.
As Johnson closed on slower traffic, Covington and Levi Hillier closed in on the leader. Covington was able to drive by Johnson for the lead on lap 25 in slower traffic.
Johnson and Hillier stayed on Covington’s back bumper while defending ASCS National Champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. moved into fourth position on lap 27 and closed on the lead trio.
Coming to the white flag Johnson was able to hang to Covington’s back bumper, but Covington built enough momentum off turn two to hold a 0.426 second advantage at the finish. Johnson, Hillier, Hafertepe, and Brock Zearfoss rounded out the top five.
ASCS National Tour
Sonoran Clash – Night #2
Central Arizona Raceway
Casa Grande, Arizona
Sunday, February 22, 2026
Qualifying Flight A
1. 26R-Levi Hillier, 14.081[1]
2. 15-Nick Parker, 14.187[6]
3. 31BW-Braxton Weger, 14.287[8]
4. 2J-Zach Blurton, 14.339[3]
5. 23N-Skylar Gee, 14.368[2]
6. 88C-Brogan Carder, 14.449[9]
7. 42-Caleb Saiz, 14.566[5]
8. 12J-John Clark, 14.575[7]
DNS: 34S-Joshua Shipley
Qualifying Flight B
1. 2-Whit Gastineau, 14.048[1]
2. 95-Matt Covington, 14.087[8]
3. 23-Seth Bergman, 14.104[6]
4. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 14.106[7]
5. 11J-Wyatt Miller, 14.212[4]
6. 34-Sterling Cling, 14.231[5]
7. 22-Garen Linder, 14.250[3]
8. 8-Jake Helsel, 14.380[9]
9. 3-Cole Schroeder, 14.446[2]
Qualifying Flight C
1. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 14.032[4]
2. 17GP-Hank Davis, 14.110[5]
3. 7-Brock Zearfoss, 14.200[3]
4. 17W-Elijah Gile, 14.255[2]
5. 7C-Colby Copeland, 14.326[7]
6. 2B-Garrett Benson, 14.376[1]
7. 31-Kyle Beilman, 14.493[8]
8. 29K-Levi Kuntz, 14.899[6]
Qualifying Flight D
1. 26-Justin Peck, 14.078[5]
2. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 14.184[6]
3. 77X-Alex Hill, 14.213[2]
4. 01-Carson McCarl, 14.234[8]
5. 88N-DJ Netto, 14.253[7]
6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 14.301[4]
7. 88-Terry Easum, 14.488[3]
8. 4-Tuesday Scearce, 14.770[1]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 15-Nick Parker[1]
2. 2J-Zach Blurton[3]
3. 31BW-Braxton Weger[2]
4. 26R-Levi Hillier[4]
5. 23N-Skylar Gee[5]
6. 88C-Brogan Carder[6]
7. 12J-John Clark[8]
8. 42-Caleb Saiz[7]
DNS: 34S-Joshua Shipley
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 95-Matt Covington[1]
2. 23-Seth Bergman[2]
3. 11J-Wyatt Miller[5]
4. 2-Whit Gastineau[4]
5. 34-Sterling Cling[6]
6. 22-Garen Linder[7]
7. 16G-Austyn Gossel[3]
8. 8-Jake Helsel[8]
9. 3-Cole Schroeder[9]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 17GP-Hank Davis[1]
2. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]
3. 7-Brock Zearfoss[2]
4. 7C-Colby Copeland[5]
5. 2B-Garrett Benson[6]
6. 17W-Elijah Gile[3]
7. 31-Kyle Beilman[7]
8. 29K-Levi Kuntz[8]
Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 88R-Ryder Laplante[1]
2. 26-Justin Peck[4]
3. 77X-Alex Hill[2]
4. 88N-DJ Netto[5]
5. 01-Carson McCarl[3]
6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]
7. 88-Terry Easum[7]
8. 4-Tuesday Scearce[8]
Dash (5 Laps)
1. 26-Justin Peck[2]
2. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]
3. 17GP-Hank Davis[1]
4. 26R-Levi Hillier[8]
5. 2-Whit Gastineau[6]
6. 95-Matt Covington[5]
7. 88R-Ryder Laplante[3]
8. 15-Nick Parker[7]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 34-Sterling Cling[2]
2. 23N-Skylar Gee[4]
3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[8]
4. 16G-Austyn Gossel[1]
5. 22-Garen Linder[6]
6. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]
7. 42-Caleb Saiz[14]
8. 01-Carson McCarl[3]
9. 4-Tuesday Scearce[15]
10. 12J-John Clark[12]
11. 29K-Levi Kuntz[16]
12. 8-Jake Helsel[13]
13. 88-Terry Easum[10]
14. 88C-Brogan Carder[9]
15. 31-Kyle Beilman[11]
16. 17W-Elijah Gile[7]
17. 3-Cole Schroeder[17]
DNS: 34S-Joshua Shipley
Feature (30 Laps)
1. 95-Matt Covington[6]
2. 45X-Kyler Johnson[2]
3. 26R-Levi Hillier[4]
4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[19]
5. 7-Brock Zearfoss[11]
6. 2-Whit Gastineau[5]
7. 88N-DJ Netto[15]
8. 15-Nick Parker[8]
9. 23-Seth Bergman[9]
10. 7C-Colby Copeland[16]
11. 11J-Wyatt Miller[12]
12. 2J-Zach Blurton[10]
13. 88R-Ryder Laplante[7]
14. 77X-Alex Hill[13]
15. 31BW-Braxton Weger[14]
16. 88C-Brogan Carder[24]
17. 2B-Garrett Benson[22]
18. 23N-Skylar Gee[18]
19. 88-Terry Easum[23]
20. 16G-Austyn Gossel[20]
21. 26-Justin Peck[1]
22. 34-Sterling Cling[17]
23. 17GP-Hank Davis[3]
24. 22-Garen Linder[21]