TEXARKANA, Ark. — The USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car National Championship heads to Arkansas this weekend, September 6-7, for the Wingless Short Track Nationals at Texarkana 67 Speedway.
Both nights will feature full programs concluding in 30-lap features with Friday’s event paying $6,000-to-win and Saturday’s finale offering $10,000-to-win.
It’s the series’ lone trip of the season to Arkansas and one of the few in the nearly seven-decade history of the United States Auto Club.
Now, let’s dig in and check out some of the storylines & tidbits to watch at Texarkana this weekend.
WESTFALL STANDS TALL
Seventeen years, two months and 23 days. That was the wait Matt Westfall endured between his first and second USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victories. The dash in the years spanned from his 2006 triumph at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway to his latest score in 2023 at Arkansas’ Texarkana 67.
Now, one year later, Westfall hopes the wait between win number two and three isn’t nearly as long. A victory would go a long way toward stemming the tide of eight-straight USAC appearances without a top-10 finish. It is worth noting that entering last year’s Texarkana race, Westfall hadn’t finished inside the top 10 in 10-straight appearances. After his victory a year ago, he finished the year strong with a pair of top-fives and four top-10s in his final five starts.
THE FINAL QUARTER
Logan Seavey has held his USAC National Sprint Car point lead since February, and so far, has shown no signs of relenting as he carries an 82-point lead over Brady Bacon into the Texarkana round. The maximum points any one driver can earn in a night this weekend is 84.
Nine races also remain for Seavey to equal Tom Bigelow’s USAC record mark of 14 single season victories in 1977. You can’t call it a drought for the 13-time 2024 winner because that would be a silly assertion, but he’s now gone six-straight starts without a victory, his longest streak without a win thus far.
GRANT HEATING UP
Justin Grant has now won a USAC national feature event on each of the past three weekends, including four of the last five weekends.
This past month alone, Grant won five total races in the month of August, including three of his past five USAC National Sprint Car starts. Last year, he hit his stride late as well. In his final 10 USAC National Sprint Car starts between August and September of 2023, Grant won five, finished inside the top-five in eight and inside the top 10 in all 10.
This year, he’s far and away out of the championship race, residing eighth in the standings entering Texarkana and 430 points behind the leader. Now, it’s all about pride and collecting sweet paydays along the.
ON THE RISE
One of the interesting midseason developments over the course of the summer was the installment of Kale Drake into the seat of the 2B Racing ride, which had been driven to a pair of victories in 2023 by Logan Seavey and through the first part of 2024 by Jake Swanson and Wesley Smith.
Drake’s first USAC National Sprint Car experience came in a tough spot during the Indiana Sprint Week opener at Lincoln Park, which promptly landed him in a tougher spot – out in the parking lot! Since then, the Collinsville, Okla., native has settled in, gaining laps and experience throughout his first 10 starts, which led him to his first top-10 finish on the final night of Sprint Car Smackdown at Kokomo (Ind.) Speedway.
Now that his first top-10 is in the book, the goal is to continue his steady progression to top-fives, and ultimately, contending for wins. Two shots at Texarkana will be the next to add onto his expanding bag of first-time experiences.
CO-SANCTION
Both nights at Texarkana this weekend will be co-sanctioned by the ASCS Elite Non-Wing Series. At least the top-six in series points, and more, will be on hand to face off against the USAC national series’ best.
The top six are R.J. Miller, Paul White, Mason Smith, Jason Howell, Josh Hanna and Josh Hawkins.
Yes, the Paul White mentioned above is the very same driver who captured the 2001 USAC Silver Crown driving championship. In 2023, in what was his first USAC National Sprint Car start in 19 years, White finished a solid 11th at Texarkana.
STATE HISTORY
Arkansas’ history with USAC National Sprint Car racing is brief. In fact, five previous USAC National Sprint Car events have been held in The Natural State since 1985, which have been won by five different drivers.
Mike Ward scored his first USAC win in 1985 at West Memphis’ Riverside Int’l Speedway. At Riverside in 2012, Brady Bacon earned the first of his 49 wins as a member of the Dynamics, Inc. / Hoffman Auto Racing team.Â
In 2013, Bryan Clauson topped the field at I-30 Speedway in Little Rock. Dave Darland took top honors the following night at Riverside. Most recently, Matt Westfall dominated the field in the series debut at Texarkana with a 30-lap, wire-to-wire romp in 2023.
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