SALINA, Okla. — Oklahoma. Home to the nation’s largest Micro Sprint hotspot, the Chili Bowl Nationals, and the American Sprint Car Series.
This weekend, the national 360 sprint car stars are coming home for a visit to one of the state’s fastest tracks and toughest regional competition.
Salina Highbanks Speedway hosts the Series for the 15th time in track history this Saturday, April 11, in a $4,000-to-win showdown with the ASCS Sooner Region. The three-eighths-mile, high-banked oval will be the battleground for the event, which serves as the Sooner Region season opener and the eighth points race of the year on the national championship circuit.
The local B-Mod, Factory Stock and Pure Stock classes will also be in action to support. Tickets and pit passes will be sold at the track on race day.
STILL SEARCHING
Six-time and defending Series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. comes into Salina as the current points leader by 40 over Matt Covington, still looking for his first win of 2026.
Hafertepe, 40, of Sunnyvale, Texas, leads all drivers with five top fives and six top-10 finishes through the first seven races of the season, but has yet to reach victory lane. He’s come close three times, landing on the podium in three of the four races contested in the inaugural Sonoran Clash at Central Arizona in February.
Fortunately, Hafertepe has been strong in the Hill’s Racing Team No. 15h at Salina, as he comes into the track as the defending race winner after topping Seth Bergman and Sean McClelland there one year ago, matching the other win he scored in 2014.
KING OF THE SOONERS
Racing alongside Hafertepe will be another six-time and defending champion of the ASCS Sooner Region in Sean McClelland.
The 51-year-old Tulsa native will open his 360 sprint car season at Salina after clinching his most recent Sooner Region championship in November, making him the championship-winningest driver in Region history.
So far in 2026, McClelland has made two sprint car starts, both at Creek County Speedway, with both the 410 and 305 cubic-inch engines under the hood.
One year ago, McClelland gave the national Series regulars a challenge at Salina, starting fourth on the grid and finishing third to Bergman and Hafertepe. History is on his side at the track as well, with five career top-five finishes recorded in OCRS 305 sprint car action and one win.
CONTENDER
Seven races into the season, Matt Covington sits only 40 points behind Hafertepe for the points lead and remains Hafertepe’s biggest competition for the national championship.
Covington, 36, of Glenpool, Okla., is the only series championship chaser who has been to ASCS victory lane so far this year, taking the checkered flag on the second night of action at Central Arizona. That night, he took control of the points lead but relinquished it to Hafertepe after the two races the following weekend.
Historically, Covington has yet to see to the success at Salina like some of his competitors with only two top-five finishes in eight career starts, but those two standout runs were his two most recent. He drove seventh-to-fourth with the national tour in 2023 before a 10th-to-fifth run there one year ago.
BOUNCING BACK
After starting the season in Florida without a single top-10 finish, Seth Bergman has climbed back into a groove of consistency as of late, coming into Salina riding a streak of four-straight top-10 finishes.
Bergman, the 2024 series champion from Snohomish, Wash., opened his 2026 campaign with finishes of 15th and 21st in the two of three features he started at Volusia Speedway Park in January.
But Central Arizona was a turnaround with four-straight top-10 results, including a best fourth place in the finale on March 1.
This trend upward looks good to continue this weekend, considering the runner-up finish he scored at the track one year ago.
OKLAHOMA’S FINEST
Whit Gastineau is currently riding one of the biggest waves of success in his career and is poised to continue it this Saturday.
The 41-year-old from Moore, Okla., is currently sitting sixth in the series points standings with four top-10 finishes over the first seven races. Though his plans to chase the ASCS national schedule remain fluid at this point, he’s shown his worthiness to compete against the full-time stars after bagging two feature wins in October 2025 and qualifying for all three main events at Volusia with two top-10 results.
He’s seen success at Salina as well, posting two OCRS 305 wins, 13 top fives and 16 top 10s in 23 career starts. One year ago, Gastineau earned a third-place spot on the starting grid before a late-race incident cut his race short.
