OWENSBORO, Ky. — The American Sprint Car Series National Tour starts the month of May with a trip to the Bluegrass State of Kentucky for back-to-back races May 9–10.
Windy Hollow Speedway will host its first touring winged sprint car series event with the arrival of ASCS on Friday.
The semi-banked, three-eighths-mile oval recently saw renovations that reshaped the backstretch and turns three and four, installed infield drainage and a new retaining wall and catchfence outside the third and fourth turns.
Paducah International Raceway hosts the national 360 sprint car stars for a second consecutive season on Saturday. The high-banked, three-eighths-mile oval has host the National Tour twice before — Matt Covington won the debut in 2018, and 2024 Rookie of the Year Hank Davis won last October.
MAKING HISTORY
On the heels of a milestone victory, Sam Hafertepe Jr. begins his quest for win No. 80 with the ASCS National Tour this weekend.
The five-time Tour champion from Sunnyvale, Texas, scored his 79th career Tour victory in April at Salina Highbanks Speedway, tying the late Jason Johnson for second-most all-time.
An 80th win would put him in sole control of No. 2 on the all-time list, trailing only four-time Tour champion Gary Wright, who amassed 128 feature wins with the National Tour.
Historically, Hafertepe has posted only one top-five finish in his six career starts at Paducah. That lone top-five came last October, when he finished second to Hank Davis.
SOLID START
Three races, three podium finishes for Seth Bergman thus far.
The 37-year-old defending champion of the National Tour started his season in late March, posting back-to-back runner-up finishes in ASCS Sooner Region events at Creek County Speedway and Enid Speedway.
He followed that with a third-straight second-place finish at the National Tour event at Salina Highbanks Speedway in April behind only Hafertepe — his closest competition on the Tour throughout 2024 and another threat for the season points championship again this year.
Bergman has made only two starts at Paducah in his career, both with ASCS. He contested the National Tour’s first appearance in 2018 — driving from 13th on the starting grid to finish fourth — and finished third in the Tour’s return last October.
PADUCAH PRO
Only four drivers have won an ASCS National Tour race in Kentucky. Matt Covington is one of them, and he nearly became the only repeat winner last fall.
Covington, 34, of Glenpool, Okla., won the inaugural Tour appearance in 2018, starting third on the grid and leading all but six laps en route to the win over NASCAR Hall-of-Famer Tony Stewart, Pennsylvania 360 sprint car standout Mark Smith, eventual champion Bergman and 2000 Tour champion Wayne Johnson.
In the Tour’s most recent visit in October 2024, Covington started on the front row and led the opening 11 laps of the main event before blowing a tire and making contact with Sterling Cling.
Despite the damage from the incident, Covington’s crew was able to make repairs in the work area and returned to the track to salvage a ninth-place finish.
TOTAL RECALL
Blake Hahn is another of the few drivers in the National Tour field with experience at Paducah, making his return this Saturday.
The two-time Tour champion from Sapulpa, Okla., contested the Tour debut at the oval in 2018, driving from 16th on the starting grid to a sixth-place finish.
This weekend, the 30-year-old returns to the seat of his signature yellow No. 52 for the first time since finishing runner-up in POWRi 410 sprint car action at his home track — Creek County Speedway — on April 25.
