WHEATLAND, Mo. — Matt Covington led all 25 laps in a hard-earned ASCS Sooner Region/Warrior Region feature victory.
Covington, 33, never was able to establish a comfortable lead but was able to hold off all challenges from Morton as the race remained under green the final 15 laps. It was Covington’s second straight Warrior Region feature win.
It represented a breakthrough as it was Covington’s first victory at Lucas Oil Speedway after several near misses over the years.Â
“I love this place,” Covington said. “There’s been some driver error and some unlucky racing things happen. Probably more my fault than not. It feels good to get the win here. It’s one of the places that I’ve been wanting to knock off the bucket list.
“Two Warrior Region wins in a row for us. We kind of struggled out of the game on the national tour and thought we’d keep racing, trying to get some speed, and so far I think we have.”
Covington rolled from his pole-starting position to a 1.5-second lead over Chance Morton just three laps into the feature when action was slowed by the race’s first caution for a spinning car in turn three.
Two more cautions followed over the next two laps, the second when third-place Slater Helt drifted too high and hit the turn four wall to end his night.Â
Covington led by .686 seconds when another caution, on lap 10, bunched the field with Morton and Roger Crockett behind him. Finally getting a consistent green-flag run, Covington was unable to get breathing room and Morton closed within three car lengths by lap 18.
By lap 20, Morton with within .282 seconds but was unable to get any closer. Covington held on to beat Moore by .342 seconds at the finish.
Crockett captured third with Chase Porter fourth and Brandon Anderson finishing fifth.
The finish:
- 95-Matt Covington[1]; 2. 7M-Chance Morton[3]; 3. 11-Roger Crockett[8]; 4. 0-Chase Porter[2]; 5. 55B-Brandon Anderson[14]; 6. 14-Randy Martin[6]; 7. 87J-Jace Park[10]; 8. 21-Gunner Ramey[9]; 9. 1-Sean McClelland[17]; 10. 1JR-Steven Russell[16]; 11. 99-Bret Tripplett[20]; 12. 2W-Whit Gastineau[12]; 13. 36-Jason Martin[18]; 14. 26M-Fred Mattox[19]; 15. 1H-Hank Davis[11]; 16. 31-Casey Wills[13]; 17. 22S-Slater Helt[4]; 18. 18X-Nathan Ryun[15]; 19. 98P-Miles Paulus[5]; 20. 13-Elijah Gile[7]