Taking the season-opening victory was Matt Covington. Aboard the T&L Foundry/A-Rock Material No. 95, Covington‘s win marked his 10th career National Tour victory.
Covington‘s eighth full season on tour with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series, the five-time ASCS regional champion spent the off-season making small changes to better a program that got rolling in the latter half of the 2019 season, which saw the Glenpool, Okla., native end up fourth in tour standings.
On his team going into the new season, Covington said, “We were OK last year, just need to work on consistency this year. Starting off with a win like we did was something this team needed, especially with our trailer getting damaged on the way to Canyon.”
While Sam Hafertepe Jr. topped the following night, the four-time series champion is slated to chase points with the Ollie‘s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1, presenting a season without a defending champion.
While Hafertepe may not be full time with the ASCS, his car owners will still have a very noticeable presence with two cars on tour.
Making his rookie run is Dylan Westbrook in the Hills Racing No. 47x. Amassing four Ohsweken Speedway championships, including the last three 360c.i. titles, Westbrook has been a threat anytime he‘s dropped in to race with the ASCS National Tour.
In 15 A-Feature starts, the Scotland, Ontario driver has finished in the top-10 nine times, with three of those in the top-five.
Joining Westbrook is Alex Hill. Her third full season with the ASCS National Tour, Hill steadily picked up the pace of the course of the 2019 season. Having made the cut in 48 A-Features since she began, Hill has proven she‘s not afraid to mix it up.
While there are weekends on the 2020 lineup that Hill may have to miss, the No. 77x will be present at all events.
Another driver picking up the pace in 2019 was Blake Hahn. Challenging for the championship right up to the final weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Hahn‘s biggest hurdle during the previous season was consistency. Whether by mechanical failure or no fault of his own, the point lead was short-lived the times he had it.
Taking time during the off-season to further improve on the formula the team had last season, Blake‘s 2020 season marks the seventh season the OILFIRE Rye Whiskey/DriveWFX.com No. 52 will be on the tour.
“That was the frustrating parts about last year is about the time we‘d get in position to lead and build on it, we‘d have something stupid happen. So that‘s the biggest thing we‘re working on this year, is to minimize mistakes and avoid getting caught in someone else‘s issues,” said Hahn.
Coming out of the first four events of the 2020 season fourth in tour standings, Hahn had good speed aside from a misstep at Petaluma Speedway that forced the use of a provisional.
“It goes back to trying to minimize mistakes, and I did everything but on that one. I really feel like if I‘d not put myself in a position to junk our car, I‘d be leading right now, but we‘re rebuilt and ready when we do get to race again.”
Finishing just behind Hahn in tour standings in 2019 was Roger Crockett. After having to return home early in 2018, Crockett came back last season with a vengeance.
Adding a pair of wins to his resume, Crockett will again wheel his own Rocket Designs No. 11 in 2020.
“The first half of last year was not what we needed, but I think we had a lot to build on the second half of the season, where now we have a shock package and car that I‘m really happy with and, really, aside from one off night at the start of the year, we had a solid start,” noted Crockett. “Of course, right now we‘re just looking forward to finally getting back to racing and hopefully we can keep that momentum we had going.”
Adding three wins to his name in 2019, Australian Scott Bogucki turned a lot of heads during his sophomore season with the ASCS National Tour.
Back for round three, the driver of the Sawblade.com No. 28 hasn‘t slowed down, having already secured a victory this year in the opening night of the South West Conveyancing Grand Annual Sprint Car Classic at Premier Speedway in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia.
“Last year was good. To get the wins like we did was a relief, because it let me know that I could do this and that first one was just for show. Looking to this year, we just need to do it and get rid of the DNF‘s,” said Bogucki.
On the start of his 2020 campaign, Bogucki said, “I feel pretty good even struggling a little bit in in Arizona and California. I just had to work out a few issues and at the last race, once we got things figured out, we were right there with them and showed a lot of speed.”