MESQUITE, Texas — Sam Hafertepe Jr. picked up his 10th win of the season with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Friday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
His 47th career National Tour victory, the win was very emotional for Hafertepe. Fighting back tears in victory lane, he dedicated the win to his grandfather George Hafertepe, who passed away last week at the age of 90.
Taking off from the right of the front row, Hafertepe chased the lead the opening nine laps as Harli White took off with the top spot. Finding traffic on lap seven, that allowed the No. 15h to close. Battling with the Dustin’s Dream No. 17w through the eighth circuit, Hafertepe snagged the top spot the following lap. Held up by the slower cars, the No. 11 of Roger Crockett took advantage of the situation to take over second on lap 10.”All we wanted to do was come out and win tonight for him, and we did it,” Hafertepe said.
Trying to run down the No. 15h, the caution lights slowed the field on lap 11 as Scott Bogucki slowed to a stop in the second turn.
Caution again on the restart for Steven Shebester, the lights around the Devil’s Bowl dimmed. Giving a couple of safety laps, officials called off the restart; doing so just, before the lights went completely dark.
Getting the problem fixed and lights restored, the field re-fired with Sam Hafertepe Jr. absolutely dominating the last half of the feature. Pulling to as much as a seven-second advantage before a caution on lap 18 for Kevin Ramey, the final result was a lights out performance by Hafertepe with a 3.894-second advantage over Roger Crockett at the drop of the checkered flag.
Diving the bottom of the Devil’s Bowl through turns one and two on the lap-18 restart, Matt Covington went from sixth to third and held on for his 36th career podium finish with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
John Carney II ended up fourth with Harli White picking up her ninth career National Tour top-five finish.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., [2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [6]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, [9]; 4. J2-John Carney II, [1]; 5. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 6. 52-Blake Hahn, [8]; 7. 53-Jack Dover, [5]; 8. 44-Chris Martin, [10]; 9. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, [12]; 10. 74B-Jake Bubak, [20]; 11. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [18]; 12. 1J-Danny Jennings, [7]; 13. 14-Jordon Mallett, [11]; 14. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [3]; 15. 21P-Robbie Price, [19]; 16. 24D-Danny Sams III, [15]; 17. 12W-Dale Wester, [21]; 18. 79-Kevin Ramey, [17]; 19. 03-Joe Wood Jr, [14]; 20. 22X-Steven Shebester, [16]; 21. 28-Scott Bogucki, [13]; 22. 99X-Dalton Stevens, [22]; 23. 33C-Casey Carter, [24]; 24. 77X-Alex Hill, [23]