TULSA, Okla. — Matt Covington has won at least once per season on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour for the last seven years. And with one weekend remaining this season, that streak might be in jeopardy.
The Glenpool, Okla., driver enters the championship weekend in Oklahoma (Nov. 14-16) with a goose egg in the National Tour win column.
However, that’s not an indication of how his season has gone. He’s stood on the podium seven times, and his 14 top fives exceed his career average of 11.7 top fives per season since he joined the series full time in 2014.
“I think we were mediocre; we were fast but not where we need to be,” Covington said about his 2024 season. “I mean, I’ve raced with Sam [Hafertepe Jr.] and Seth [Bergman] a lot and they’re better this year. We’ve got a little bit of work to do. Gives us something to work for in the offseason.”
With ASCS being acquired by World Racing Group earlier this year, a wave of the best 360 Sprint Car drivers in the country, like Bergman and Hafertepe, joined the tour with Covington. But Covington said the stout field isn’t to blame for his absence from victory lane.
“It’s tougher than it was last year or the year before because we got Seth and Sam back,” Covington said. “Hank Davis is a new guy that’s fast. But, you know, I ran the National Tour when we had Jason Johnson, Paul McMahan, Shane Stewart and all those guys on it.
“We still didn’t have that good of a year this year comparatively. We were just off a little bit this year; a guy has some years like that.”
Once the haulers leave the track for the final time and the series goes into offseason mode, Covington will begin checking off his winter to-do list like any other driver. But this year, it won’t consist of tropical vacations and indoor racing.
“We’re getting my arm surgery over the wintertime,” Covington said. “They’ve got to take a piece of bone out of my elbow. I’ll be down for a little bit. I’m going to be getting it done right after our last race and then plan to be back ready to go for our first race in January. You’ll probably see me one-armed at the banquet, and Steven will have a busy offseason with his crippled help.”
But before he goes onto the operating table, Covington will have four more chances at a National Tour victory this season at two of his home tracks – Tulsa Speedway and Creek County Speedway.
Winning is always Covington’s primary goal entering a race night, but he has more than just a trophy to think about next weekend. Sitting 54 points behind Covington in the standings is a red-hot Davis, which means one slip up could put his third-place points position at risk.
“I just treat them all the same way,” Covington said. “We try to win the race, but that doesn’t mean you do anything stupid and tear your stuff up, it still costs me money. We need to go there, and if we can’t win the race, we need to have a good showing, go on to the next one and try to win that one.”
All signs point to a strong end to the season for Covington – not only are the final two tracks on the schedule close to his Glenpool, Okla., home, but they are also two tracks he picked up top fives at earlier this year.
“Tulsa Speedway is kind of a new place, the last couple times we went there I thought it has definitely improved,” Covington said. “Creek County is a tough one. It’s only about 10 minutes from the house. We’ve won some races out there before. It’s a track we’ve run good at. Seems like we run good at Tulsa Speedway, we podiumed there earlier this year. I think we’ve got as good of a chance to win them as anybody.”
Championship weekend for the National Tour begins at Tulsa Speedway on Thursday, Nov. 14, with the postponed Dirt Down in T-Town Feature and the originally scheduled Thursday program. Action will then move to Creek County Speedway on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 15-16, for the Fuzzy’s Fall Fling.