History is within Sam Hafertepe Jr.’s grasp. A sixth American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour championship this year would give him the most in Series history, and he’s committed to the pursuit.
The 39-year-old from Sunnyvale, TX, has renewed his partnership with Hill’s Racing to contest the entire 41-race schedule, starting this Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 30–Feb. 1, at Volusia Speedway Park in the opening nights of the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals. Hafertepe will again pilot his familiar Townline Variety, Fischer Racing Engines-powered Triple X Chassis No. 15H in his eighth consecutive season as part of the Ontario-based Hill’s Racing team.
“This year, we are committed, and we’ve found what fits the race team and me personally,” said Hafertepe, the 2016–2020 National Tour champion. “I think with that, it gives us a little more clarity going into the year that we’re all on the same page and we’re all trying to achieve the same goals. At the end of the day, that’s a recipe for success.”
Hafertepe is currently tied with fellow five-time champion Jason Johnson for the most National Tour points titles all-time, and only one Feature win away from tying the late Louisianan in wins with 79. Two more Feature wins will give Hafertepe sole possession of second place on the all-time National Tour wins list, behind only Gary Wright with 127.
With his veteran status in both the 360 and 410 Sprint Car ranks, Hafertepe has proven his ability to compete with the best around the country. But he’s chosen to stay with ASCS in pursuit of history, even as the National Tour begins a new chapter in its own history books with its new direction under World Racing Group.
“If they’re all in, I’m all in, and I’m prepared to be behind them 100 percent,” Hafertepe said. “I think they’re doing the right things, and I think it could be an improvement from what we’ve seen before from ASCS. I’m all for it as long as we keep trending in the right direction, and we keep growing ASCS. I think it’ll be good going long-term.”
Despite winning a chart-topping 12 Feature races on the National Tour in 2024, Hafertepe fell 146 points short of a sixth championship to first-time titleist Seth Bergman. However, when the season began, Hafertepe and Hill’s Racing were planning on a mixed slate of 410 and 360 Sprint Car races and thus were not planning on racing for a specific championship.
After some consideration, the driver and team settled on returning to the full-time 360 circuit. But in hindsight, Hafertepe admitted it was not the most ideal way to make a run for a championship.
“We were kinda in between wanting to do 410 and 360s, and we really weren’t geared up to go full-time 360 but kinda still went after it,” Hafertepe said. “I think in June, we decided we’d just try and finish out the season.
“It just felt like we had the wrong approach to start the year. I’ve never really started the year half-assed, as I would say — that’s kinda how we started it last year.”
But 2025 will be different. Hafertepe and Hill’s have a more direct plan for the season, which will help their organization before hitting the road to Volusia.
“I think our preparation for this year will be so much better than we had last year,” Hafertepe said. “When you’re not fully committed to something initially, there’s a lot of things that are undone and a lot of things that aren’t the right direction. We’ve buttoned up all those things.”
While 12 Feature wins was enough to boost Hafertepe to second place in the championships standings last year, a bit of inconsistency at times hurt his points total to Bergman — posting nine results of 13th or worse. Consistency is key to winning season-long points titles, and Hafertepe is looking for more of that in 2025.
“Coming into this year and having the full commitment and knowing exactly what is on our plate will prepare our race team to get rid of the inconsistencies, get rid of the nights that we had problems and fix those nights,” Hafertepe said. “We hope that will propel us to being the champions at the end of the year.”
Hafertepe begins his quest for a history-making sixth ASCS National Tour championship in the 2025 season opener at Volusia Speedway Park during the opening nights of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals — Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 30–Feb. 1.
For tickets, CLICK HERE. If you can’t be there, stream every lap of ASCS National Tour action live all season on DIRTVision.
