SHEPHERD, Mon. — Montana and Wyoming are set to welcome the American Sprint Car Series for the first time in 2026.
The ASCS National Tour returns to the northwestern land with Big Sky Speedway’s Harvey Ostermiller Memorial for two nights on Friday-Saturday, Aug. 28-29. Then, it’s a trek to the “Cowboy State” for the first ASCS National Tour appearance at Sheridan Speedway on Sunday, Aug. 30.
The two tracks are part of a two-week Frontier Speedweek, with the following week of racing including trips to Gallatin Speedway on Sept. 4, then the finale at Electric City Speedway on Sept. 5-6.
Opening Leg
The first weekend of Frontier Speedweek will begin with the traditional two-night Harvey Ostermiller Memorial opener at Big Sky, then close the weekend with a Sunday debut at Sheridan.
Big Sky has hosted the series nine times since 2013 and has been an annual stop for two days of racing since 2024. The track has seen former ASCS champions reign supreme, including Jason Johnson (2013), Sam Hafertepe Jr. (2019), Blake Hahn (2019), and Seth Bergman (2024). In last season’s visit, Ryan Timms became the first driver to sweep the weekend at Big Sky.
While Sheridan hasn’t hosted the National Tour yet, it has welcomed ASCS regional racing. When the Frontier Region visited in 2025 for a doubleheader weekend, Zach Blurton and Kelly Miller walked away with feature wins.
Mountainous Effort – Sam Hafertepe Jr. has continued to control the pacing of the ASCS National Tour standings as he prepares for two weeks of chasing trophies in Frontier Speedweek.
The pilot of the Hill’s Racing Team No. 15h owns three wins from the summer stretch at Belleville High Banks and Dodge City Raceway Park. In the last points-paying event, Hafertepe had to climb the field at Viking Speedway to earn a top-five finish and the night’s Hard Charger award.
Returning to Big Sky, Hafertepe is looking for redemption after finishing outside the top-10 in the two visits from 2025. The Sunnyvale, Texas, native will turn his first laps around Sheridan on Sunday as he attempts to expand a 23-point lead over Matt Covington.
Title Hike
Matt Covington and Seth Bergman trail behind Hafertepe in the standings entering the northwestern swing by 23 and 57 points, respectively. Heading into the Frontier Speedweek, they have an opportunity to shorten the distance with 12 races left in 2026.
Covington is seeking his first win at Big Sky while owning two top-five finishes from 2015 and 2019.
In last season’s visit, Covington’s highest finish at Big Sky was ninth place. The Glenpool, Okla., driver will make his first start at Sheridan on Sunday night.
Bergman has a string of success at Big Sky that includes three feature wins. Two of the scores came with the Frontier Region in 2020, and his latest triumph was a National Tour win in 2024 en route to the year’s championship. Like Covington, Bergman will visit the Wyoming three-eighths-mile for the first time in his career.
Big First
The stretch between Montana and Wyoming brings a batch of tracks that add an opportunity for both National Tour competitors and 360 sprint car invaders to make a splash with a first series win in the northwestern plains.
The National Tour racers chasing a first win include Ryder LaPlante, Austyn Gossel, Brogan Carder, and Cole Schroeder. Gossel is the only driver to have made laps at Sheridan, finishing third in two Frontier Region events from 2025.
Big Sky has seen IMCA Sprint Cars hit the three-eighths-mile three times in 2026, with Logan Hershey winning two times in May and July, and Damon McCune taking the second May feature.
Sheridan raced its first sprint car event of 2026 in July, with McCune driving to victory.
