Kyler Johnson Bags Awaited First ASCS National Tour Victory at Viking Speedway
After 124 starts, Kyler Johnson has completed the dream of becoming an American Sprint Car Series winner.
The Quinter, KS native achieved a four-year-long quest with a standout 25 laps in the National Tour’s first trip to Viking Speedway for the Rock On Trucks Gopher State 360 Sprint Car Challenge.
Before Saturday night, Johnson finished on the Series podium six times, including three second-place runs. The seventh podium of his career is the sweetest one to arrive.
“We knew we had a car to win several races,” Johnson said. “We should have won in Arizona, then you go back to Pevely last year. We just had a couple (wins) get away from us there late in the race, and just like that in the Feature, some of the lapped cars were battling in front of me. Dad, we did it. Finally.”
Johnson began the night by setting the track record in Qualifying with a 16.7-second lap time, then started fourth for the Feature at the “High Flyin’ Half Mile.”
Matt Covington and Austyn Gossel set the front row for the start, with Johnson and Seth Bergman making up the row behind them. While Covington held the lead through the first two turns, Gossel slid under him through Turns 3-4 to claim the top spot as Johnson took over second from Covington.
Johnson tracked Gossel down through the cushion through three laps, then threw a slide job through Turns 1-2 on Lap 4 to get to the inside of the No. 16G across the backstretch, then completed the pass off the exit of Turn 4 to become the new leader.
Behind Johnson, Bergman overtook Covington with a slide job on Lap 8 for third as Series points leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. joined the mix after starting the Feature in ninth place. As he attempted to pass Covington for fourth on Lap 9, Hafertepe hit the infield tractor tire and lost control of the No. 15H to create the sole caution of the program.
On the restart, Johnson scurried away from Gossel as Bergman overtook the No. 16G BG Automotive Triple X Chassis for the runner-up position as Johnson grew the lead to a two-second advantage over the Snohomish, WA driver through the halfway point until lapped traffic began to hamper his ability to use the outside line effectively.
Within the final seven laps, Bergman turned the tide in his direction by chopping the gap from 2.1 seconds to 0.7 seconds as five laps remained on the Alexandria, MN 1/2-mile. Johnson responded by putting lapped cars behind him to form a buffer over the 2024 Series champion.
As the white flag waved, Johnson had to navigate a three-car group of lapped cars as Bergman prepared to make a final charge for the win. The pilot of the No. 45X Maxim Chassis squeezed through the traffic to emerge ahead of the field and score his maiden ASCS National Tour triumph.
“I was really able to be smooth up top,” Johnson said. “This thing was the easiest to drive tonight. This place is awesome; it’s kind of right up my style of racetrack – a big, slick 1/2-mile. Shoutout to my brother and wife, this thing was on rails. We’ve been out here for four years, and we were flat out getting our butts kicked. So we knew if we could stick it out long enough that’d be capable of winning. I won’t forget this one.”
Bergman finished the night in second place, and Gossel wound up in third for his second consecutive Series podium appearance. Ryder LaPlante drove to fourth, and Hafertepe came back from the early caution to finish the night at Viking in fifth.
Recap Notes:
Quick Time Award: Kyler Johnson (16.70 sec.)
Heat Race Winners: Seth Bergman, Austyn Gossel
Rock On Trucks Hard Charger Award: Sam Hafertepe Jr. (+4)
Rock On Trucks Highest-Finishing Non-ASCS Driver: Scott Winters
Rock On Trucks Lucky Dog Award: Cole Schroeder
UP NEXT: The “Sprint Car Capital of the World” is next for the American Sprint Car Series as Knoxville Raceway hosts three nights of the Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals, Aug. 6-8.
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS: Feature (25 Laps): 1. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 3. 16G-Austyn Gossel[2]; 4. 88R-Ryder Laplante[5]; 5. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 7. 88-Terry Easum[6]; 8. 23W-Scott Winters[8]; 9. 88C-Brogan Carder[11]; 10. 17B-Ryan Bickett[10]; 11. 3-Cole Schroeder[7]; 12. 33-Trevor Smith[12]; 13. 20G-Owen Graf[14]; 14. 86-Jori Hughes[13]; 15. 91-Reed Allex[15]
