By Matt Skipper
BENTON, MO (May 5, 2026) — The American Sprint Car Series is set to open the May slate with a return to the Midwest.
The country’s top 360 Sprint Car drivers begin the two-day trek with a stop at Missouri’s Benton Speedway on Friday, May 8. Then, the Series crosses the Kentucky state line to visit Paducah International Raceway for the Mother’s Day Salute on Saturday, May 9. Both Feature races will offer a $4,000 winner’s share.
While the two tracks share the same 3/8-mile length, each brings different characteristics: Benton is a low-banked, gumbo-dirt facility, while Paducah is a high-banked clay racetrack. Both key to the hunt for the Emmett Hahn Championship Trophy.
BENTON INFO
PADUCAH INFO
WATCH ON DIRTVISION
Here’s what to look for this weekend:
Sam Staying Up – Sam Hafertepe Jr. may be looking for his first win of the 2026 season, but he hasn’t lost his way of staying at the top of the Series points standings.
With eight races complete in the ASCS campaign, the Sunnyvale, TX native holds the points lead by 66 markers over Matt Covington as he continues to chase a seventh Series championship.
Hafertepe has a history of feats between the two tracks. He won the 2025 Series event at Benton on the way to clinching the year-end championship. Though he’s never won at Paducah, Hafertepe owns the track’s 360 Sprint Car track record and has two second-place finishes with ASCS.
Hot Pursuit – As the sole championship chaser that has visited Victory Lane in the year, Matt Covington will visit two tracks that have treated him well in recent outings.
In two career starts at Benton, Covington’s highest finish is an eighth-place result from 2024. Across four Paducah appearances, the Glenpool, OK racer holds two ASCS National victories at the track in 2018 and 2025. He sits at a 1.75 average start and has never started outside of the top three.
With a 66-point gap separating Covington from Hafertepe for the Series lead, he has an opportunity to shorten the distance between the two days of racing with his second win of the season.
Who’s Next? – Amongst the field of title chasers in ASCS, five drivers are hoping to cross their first Feature win off the list in 2026.
The highest driver in the standings without a victory is Kyler Johnson, who has finished top-10 in the last six Features, including a top-five and second-place result at Central Arizona Raceway.
Behind Johnson, the Series regulars that are seeking a first-career win at Benton or Paducah include Ryder Laplante, Brogan Carder, Austyn Gossel, and Cole Schroeder. Gossel owns the highest finishes among the group, with a fifth-place at Benton and a runner-up at Paducah – both of which came in 2025.
Steady Gains – Seth Bergman began the 2026 season without scoring a top-10 finish at Volusia Speedway Park. Since then, he’s managed to finish in the top-10 six consecutive times, along with his first podium of the year at Salina Highbanks Speedway.
The 2024 champion’s climb up the Series standings in the last six Features has him placed in fourth, three points away from third-place Kyler Johnson and 102 points behind Hafertepe.
Though the Snohomish, WA driver has never claimed victory at Benton and Paducah, they have each played a hand in his success with the Series. In his only start at Benton in 2024, he finished in seventh place. In three appearances at Paducah, Bergman earned two top fives and a career-high of third in 2024.
Mighty 3/8 Miles – Benton and Paducah have each provided a share of ASCS history, and the May swing will add another chapter for the Series in entering the first racing weekend of May.
Benton made its debut in 1995 with all-time Series winner Gary Wright taking victory. The next year, Terry Gray and Jerrod Hull were triumphant in two races in June and July, respectively. In the return to the “Show Me State” track in 2024, Missouri native Joe B. Miller claimed his second career Series win, then Sam Hafertepe Jr took the most recent Feature win in 2025 at the facility.
Paducah made its first appearance with the Series in 2018 as Matt Covington captured his sixth career Series win. When the “Blue Grass State” 3/8-mile returned to the schedule in 2024, Sand Springs, OK’s Hank Davis scored his most recent ASCS triumph. Two separate visits to Paducah in 2025 saw Covington return to Victory Lane in May, and Jason Martin bagging the September showcase.
THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE
WHEN AND WHERE
May 8 at Benton Speedway in Benton, MO
May 9 at Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY
AROUND THE CORNER
Saturday, May 30 at Salt City Speedway in Hutchinson, KS
CURRENT TOP-10 STANDINGS
Sam Hafertepe Jr. (664pts)
Matt Covington (-66)
Kyler Johnson (-99)
Seth Bergman (-102)
Whit Gastineau (-152)
Ryder Laplante(-186)
Brogan Carder (-229)
Terry Easum (-231)
Hank Davis (-239)
Austyn Gossel (-239)