SAPULPA, Okla. — Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Hill’s Racing Team entered Saturday’s American Sprint Car Series National Tour season finale one point ahead of TwoC Racing in the battle for the Owners championship.
That meant the goal for the night was simple – beat Hank Davis.
Not only did he beat Davis, he beat everybody.
Hafertepe’s win in the Fuzzy’s Fall Fling finale at Creek County Speedway gave him the chance to do a wing dance for the 12th time in 2024, pocket the $10,000 winner’s prize and close out the season in ideal fashion.
“I’m just ecstatic, I wanted to win this race from ninth,” Hafertepe said. “To come out on top is pretty badass.”
Davis started on the pole thanks to his dash victory, and early on the owners’ title looked like his to lose. The No. 2c broke away to an early advantage and led until Blake Hahn spun in Turn 4 while running third to reset the field on Lap 3.
Another solid jump for Davis allowed him to maintain the lead while Ryan Bickett came under fire from Matt Covington for the second spot. Covington won that battle, but by the time he did so, Davis had already broken away to a two-second lead.
That margin was erased when Tasker Phillips went around in Turn 2, but Davis once again powered away to a healthy lead on the ensuing restart.
His time out front would soon come to an abrupt end though, as just past halfway, Davis hit the wall on the backstretch and was forced to retire from the race due to severe front-end damage, ending TwoC’s chances at the owners’ title.
That put Covington in control of the race with 15 laps to go, but he had Hafertepe breathing down his neck after he piloted the No. 15h up from ninth to second in the first 25 laps. Covington fended off Hafertepe and began to drive away, but a caution for the slowing car of Bickett put Hafertepe on his back bumper once more.
After the race went back green for the final time, Covington again held onto the lead early, but Hafertepe was never far behind. With six to go, Hafertepe ripped the top side around Turns 3 and 4, dove to the bottom down the fronstretch and completed the crossover entering Turn 1 to take the lead. He never looked back from there, taking the final checkered flag of the season by nearly two seconds.
“I could have rode around and won the Owners points, but I didn’t want to do that,” Hafertepe said. “I wanted to win the damn race. It pays $10,000 to win.”
Covington looked to be in position to score his first National Tour victory of 2024 on the final night of the season, but was forced to settle for the runner-up spot yet again with his ninth podium of the year.
“It’s been a few years since we went a full season without winning a National Tour race and it happened this year,” Covington said. “We weren’t bad, just didn’t get it done. Falls on my shoulders, and we’re going to come back and try harder and do better next year I hope.”
After his early-race spin, Hahn charged through the field from the back and made his way up to third by the time the checkers flew to cap off a double-podium weekend at his home track.
“It’s a bit disappointing seeing how fast of a car we had and to make a mistake early in the race,” Hahn said. “Nobody to blame except myself there. Just got in a little too hard, got myself in the middle there and just couldn’t save it enough. You guys can see, the car was really good tonight, we could move it around and make a lot of stuff happen. Anytime you can come from the back to a podium is good.”
Series champion Seth Bergman drove from 15th up to fourth to claim the Hard Charger Award, while Alex Sewell finished fifth for his first top five of the season with the National Tour.
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 2. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[15]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell[5]; 6. 36-Jason Martin[8]; 7. 17-Jeffrey Newell[7]; 8. 22-Riley Goodno[6]; 9. 83-Sam Henderson[11]; 10. 47-Dale Howard[13]; 11. 20-Noah Harris[10]; 12. 1TAZ-Tasker Phillips[19]; 13. 16G-Austyn Gossel[14]; 14. 10-Landon Britt[23]; 15. 45X-Kyler Johnson[12]; 16. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]; 17. 2C-Hank Davis[1]; 18. 22M-Rees Moran[21]; 19. 71-Brady Baker[17]; 20. 2J-Zach Blurton[18]; 21. 9-Emilio Hoover[20]; 22. 26M-Fred Mattox[22]; 23. 15D-Andrew Deal[16]