From Matt Skipper
BILLINGS, MT (August 29 2026) — On Friday night, Sam Hafertepe Jr. left Big Sky Speedway with a last-place finish and a loss of the American Sprint Car Series points lead.
Returning to the Montana 3/8-mile for the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial finale, Hafertepe earned redemption with his 92nd ASCS National Tour triumph in a rain-shortened battle Saturday night.
Hafertepe began the Feature from 10th as 15-year-old Jett Barnes led the way ahead of ASCS Rookie of the Year contender Cole Schroeder. Hafertepe sliced through the field by moving up to eighth on the opening lap, then reached the top five by the end of Lap 2.
Barnes built a three-second advantage over Schroeder as Hafertepe continued to work up the ladder by moving around Kyler Johnson for fourth on Lap 4, then third the next lap against Matt Covington.
Hafertepe found an advantage through the bottom lane while Schroeder ran the cushion, powering around the Bozeman, MT rookie on Lap 7, then began work on cutting down the 2.8-second distance to Barnes.
As Barnes became mired in lapped traffic, Hafertepe cut down the gap to 1.9 seconds until the caution flew on Lap 12. Barnes took his Jason Meyers Racing No. 14 to the top on the restart while the Hill’s Racing No. 15H got to his inside off the exit of Turn 2. Through Turns 3-4, Barnes tripped over the cushion and lost a right rear tire, ending his chances at a first National Tour win.
Hafertepe took off from Schroeder by working to a 2.7-second advantage until rain and heavy gusts of wind began affecting the track with 10 laps remaining. The race was deemed official as Hafertepe celebrated his fourth Series win of 2026 in the pouring rain.
“That car was awesome,” Hafertepe said. “Hats off to my guys. We suck at this racetrack; we’ve been terrible, and for the Feature, we just threw something at it. The thing came alive, and it seemed like everything we did yesterday wasn’t good. It wouldn’t have mattered 10 more laps.
“I knew the rain was coming, so I was really pressing hard early to get to the front, and we did that. After what happened last night, I probably shouldn’t have pressed as hard as I was. But I’m a racer. I come out here to win. We tore one up last night; we’re in Victory Lane tonight. 10G’s baby.”
Schroeder earned his first podium with the Series with a second-place run in his home state. Zach Blurton completed a seven-place charge to cement the podium. Alberta, Canada’s Kelly Miller finished fourth, and Covington took home a top five.
Hafertepe’s victory gave him the points lead back in his possession, six points ahead of Covington. Friday winner Seth Bergman sits 29 points away from the lead after finishing eighth.
Harvey Ostermiller Memorial
ASCS National Tour
Big Sky Speedway
Billings, Montana
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Qualifying Flight A (2 Laps)
1. 23N-Rich Bailey, 12.886[4]
2. 4S-Adam Speckman, 13.004[11]
3. 88C-Brogan Carder, 13.067[5]
4. 81-Kelly Miller, 13.081[10]
5. 7F-Decklyn Fleming, 13.177[3]
6. 17F-Paxton Fleming, 13.308[1]
7. 17X-Josh Stoltenberg, 13.542[6]
8. 33-Jeremy McCune, 13.670[2]
9. 77-Cole MacEwen, 13.693[8]
10. 0J-Damon McCune, 13.774[9]
11. 6C-Cruz Riggin, 14.091[7]
Qualifying Flight B (2 Laps)
1. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 12.741[1]
2. 3-Cole Schroeder, 12.891[5]
3. 2J-Zach Blurton, 12.978[7]
4. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 12.985[2]
5. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 13.057[9]
6. 97-Sheldon Bender, 13.105[8]
7. 14B-Blayne Brink, 13.114[6]
8. 38B-Bryan Brown, 13.486[3]
9. 24M-Ian Myers, 13.669[10]
10. 511-Josh Broadbent, 13.882[4]
Qualifying Flight C (2 Laps)
1. 95-Matt Covington, 12.648[1]
2. 14-Jett Barnes, 12.775[7]
3. 88-Terry Easum, 12.780[10]
4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 12.848[5]
5. 8M-Kade Morton, 13.049[3]
6. 37-Trever Kirkland, 13.096[2]
7. 2B-Garrett Benson, 13.109[8]
8. 23-Seth Bergman, 13.152[6]
9. 12H-Bryan Gossel, 13.418[9]
10. 12-Josh Ostermiller, 13.776[4]
Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 88C-Brogan Carder[2]
2. 4S-Adam Speckman[1]
3. 81-Kelly Miller[3]
4. 23N-Rich Bailey[4]
5. 17F-Paxton Fleming[6]
6. 7F-Decklyn Fleming[5]
7. 0J-Damon McCune[10]
8. 33-Jeremy McCune[8]
9. 17X-Josh Stoltenberg[7]
10. 77-Cole MacEwen[9]
11. 6C-Cruz Riggin[11]
Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 3-Cole Schroeder[1]
2. 2J-Zach Blurton[2]
3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]
4. 88R-Ryder Laplante[3]
5. 16G-Austyn Gossel[5]
6. 14B-Blayne Brink[7]
7. 97-Sheldon Bender[6]
8. 24M-Ian Myers[9]
9. 38B-Bryan Brown[8]
10. 511-Josh Broadbent[10]
Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 14-Jett Barnes[1]
2. 88-Terry Easum[2]
3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]
4. 95-Matt Covington[4]
5. 37-Trever Kirkland[6]
6. 8M-Kade Morton[5]
7. 2B-Garrett Benson[7]
8. 23-Seth Bergman[8]
9. 12H-Bryan Gossel[9]
10. 12-Josh Ostermiller[10]
Dash (5 Laps)
1. 3-Cole Schroeder[1]
2. 14-Jett Barnes[4]
3. 88C-Brogan Carder[2]
4. 95-Matt Covington[6]
5. 23N-Rich Bailey[3]
6. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps)
1. 8M-Kade Morton[1]
2. 14B-Blayne Brink[3]
3. 97-Sheldon Bender[2]
4. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]
5. 23-Seth Bergman[7]
6. 7F-Decklyn Fleming[4]
7. 12H-Bryan Gossel[10]
8. 24M-Ian Myers[8]
9. 0J-Damon McCune[6]
10. 38B-Bryan Brown[11]
11. 33-Jeremy McCune[9]
12. 17X-Josh Stoltenberg[12]
13. 6C-Cruz Riggin[16]
14. 511-Josh Broadbent[15]
15. 77-Cole MacEwen[13]
16. 12-Josh Ostermiller[14]
Feature (30 Laps)
1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[10]
2. 3-Cole Schroeder[1]
3. 2J-Zach Blurton[8]
4. 81-Kelly Miller[11]
5. 95-Matt Covington[4]
6. 88R-Ryder Laplante[12]
7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]
8. 23-Seth Bergman[20]
9. 2B-Garrett Benson[19]
10. 23N-Rich Bailey[5]
11. 88-Terry Easum[7]
12. 37-Trever Kirkland[14]
13. 14B-Blayne Brink[17]
14. 8M-Kade Morton[16]
15. 14-Jett Barnes[2]
16. 16G-Austyn Gossel[13]
17. 12H-Bryan Gossel[22]
18. 7F-Decklyn Fleming[21]
19. 97-Sheldon Bender[18]
20. 17F-Paxton Fleming[15]
21. 4S-Adam Speckman[9]
22. 88C-Brogan Carder[3]