CONCORD, N.C. — Now that teams have returned home from Montana, the focus shifts to the final run to the championship which begins this week with a trio of race nights.
Action gets underway on Tuesday at Clay County Fair Speedway in Spencer, Iowa with the Battle of the Blue Ribbon. Three days later, the series will travel nine hours south to Colcord, Okla. for the two-night Green Country Clash at the state-of-the-art Arrowhead Speedway on Friday and Saturday night.
Tuesday’s event at Clay County will feature a $4,000-to-win/$400-to-start purse, with the Tri-State Late Model Series, IMCA Sport Mods and IMCA Stock Cars joining the Sprint Cars on the program.
The Friday portion of the Arrowhead event will also pay $4,000 to win and $400 to start, with USRA Stock Cars and Tuners rounding out the itinerary. Saturday’s finale will wrap up with a $10,000-to-win/$500-to-start Feature, while the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series will join the National Tour to make for an entertaining Sprint Car-Late Model doubleheader.
Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:
THE RACE IS ON
When Seth Bergman made contact with a slower car while running fifth at Electric City, not only did his car flip upside down, but so did the championship battle.
That one mishap caused his lead over Sam Hafertepe Jr. in the standings to go from 96 points entering the night to 40 points when it was over. Bergman’s crash snapped a five-race podium streak, evidence of the consistency that he displayed throughout the summer that made it nearly impossible for Hafertepe to gain major ground, despite winning nine races in the year.
The next chapter of the wide-open title fight will be written at Clay County on Tuesday night, and both drivers will be making their ASCS debut at the track. Bergman has never been to Spencer with any series, while Hafertepe raced there on six occasions during his time with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars, picking up a best finish of seventh in 2008.
BACK TO COLCORD
When the Series moves to Arrowhead this weekend, Hafertepe will return to the site of a rare down night from earlier in the year. The five-time National Tour champion jumped the cushion and pounded the wall while battling for the win late in the race on June 14, leaving him in 18th in the rundown. Without that DNF, he could be leading the points entering this week’s events, but instead, the return trip provides an opportunity to avenge the defeat.
On the other hand, Bergman would be happy with a repeat of the June race, as he emerged from the chaos and took the win that night. The victory in his first National Tour start at Arrowhead means he is undefeated in Colcord with two different ASCS divisions – he raced there twice with the Sooner Region in 2014 and took the checkered flag on both nights.
As for others to keep an eye on, look no further than the No. 10 of Landon Britt. The Memphis, Tenn. driver picked up his first and only Series win one year ago at Arrowhead, and he backed it up with another top 10 in June. The last two race weekends have seen a driver claim their first win of the year, and Britt would love nothing more than to continue that streak, especially as he prepares for his home race on tour at Riverside International Speedway at the end of the month.
ALL HAIL HANK
One of the biggest questions throughout the first half of the season was, “When will Hank Davis finally win a race?” and the answer turned out to be Labor Day weekend at Electric City.
The first two triumphs of Davis’ National Tour career both came in impressive fashion, as he destroyed the field on night one to win by nearly six seconds before outdueling Hafertepe late in Saturday’s Feature to take top honors once again.
The victories vaulted the 21-year-old into the lead of the Rookie of the Year standings and the fourth spot in the overall points, a remarkable feat considering he didn’t join TwoC Racing until the third event of the year at Rush County Speedway.
Davis will go for three in a row in his debut at Clay County, but his Great Falls showing proved that he is more than capable of overcoming a lack of experience at a track and finding speed. Once he gets to Arrowhead, the Sand Springs, Okla. native will have notes from his runner-up finish in June to look at as he goes for his first Series win in his home state.
COVINGTIME
After four-straight finishes off the podium, Matt Covington got to take pictures on the frontstretch again after he finished third in the Montana Roundup finale at Electric City.
The drive cemented his hold on the third spot in the standings behind Bergman and Hafertepe which he has held for most of the season. While the championship is likely out of Covington’s reach, barring a miraculous run to end the season, he now has a red-hot Davis to worry about, who sits 177 points behind him in fourth.
One of Covington’s primary goals for the remainder of the year will be to join Davis in the win column and avoid his first winless season with the Series since 2016. Clay County could be the place to do that, as Covington stands as the only current full-timer with a victory at the track. After taking the checkers in the inaugural National Tour race at the Iowa three-eighths-mile in 2021, he backed it up with finishes of fourth in 2022 and second in 2023 to give himself a 2.3 average finish in Spencer, the best of any driver in the field.