Sam Hafertepe Jr. Becomes First Three-Time Winner of Steve King Memorial at Dodge City
Sam Hafertepe Jr. remains the biggest threat to win with the American Sprint Car Series at Dodge City Raceway Park.
The Series points leader enjoyed a near-perfect night in the Steve King Memorial with a hard-working effort for his third victory of the 2026 season and his fourth consecutive triumph at the 3/8-mile track.
The Sunnyvale, TX driver went fastest in Hot Laps and Qualifying, then won his Heat race before finishing second to Austyn Gossel in the Honest Abe Roofing Dash to start on the front row for Saturday’s 30-lap Feature.
At the start, Gossel secured the lead from Hafertepe, then took his No. 16G to the cushion as Matt Covington began to battle Hafertepe for the runner-up spot. Covington took the position on Lap 2, but was unable to equal Gossel’s pace until traffic came into view on Lap 10.
Hafertepe used the opportunity to retake second with a slide job on Covington on Lap 11, then tracked down Gossel by using the cushion until the only caution of the Feature waved on Lap 12.
On the restart, Gossel went back to building a lead from Hafertepe, commanding the field by 1.4 seconds until lap traffic played a factor in the race once more.
When three lapped cars gridlocked Gossel on the cushion with 10 laps remaining, Hafertepe took the chance to pounce for the lead by driving to the bottom lane, took the lead from Gossel through Turns 1-2, then sliced through the traffic to build a buffer over the Fort Collins, CO native by 1.5 seconds.
As Covington returned to the picture by racing Gossel for second, Hafertepe drove to a three-second margin over the two drivers as he took the twin checkered flags for his 91st Series win and became the first three-time winner of the Steve King Memorial. The win also moves him up to a 20-point difference over Covington in the standings.
“Yeah, I wish our car was a little bit better,” Hafertepe said. “We were probably the worst we’d been all night, but Austyn did a hell of a job. I knew he was gonna get antsy dealing with (lapped traffic), and they were down, up, down, not knowing where to go. He got a little hung up, and I did too.
“He never really tried the bottom, and we tried it a couple laps just to see what it would be if we hit it. That’s what you have to do on those restarts: see what you can do and what you can’t do. It’s hard to know where to be, especially if you haven’t tried anything, and he had no reason to try anything because he’s out there running good. I thought he drove a better race; I just got through traffic better.”
Gossel finished with a second-place result, and Covington earned his seventh podium in the last eight races with third. Seth Bergman finished fourth, and Kyler Johnson solidified the top five finishers.
Recap Notes:
Quick Time Award: Sam Hafertepe Jr. (13.665 sec.)
Heat Race Winners: Kyler Johnson, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Austyn Gossel
Honest Abe Roofing Dash Winner: Austyn Gossel
Last Chance Showdown Winner: Bradley Fezard
Hard Charger Award: Casey Wills (+6)
UP NEXT: The American Sprint Car Series will travel north to Minnesota for two nights of the Rock On Trucks Gopher State 360 Sprint Car Challenge at Worthington Speedway on Thursday, July 30, then Viking Speedway on Saturday, Aug. 1.
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS: Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 16G-Austyn Gossel[1]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[7]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]; 6. 1X-Bryant Wiedeman[6]; 7. 2-Whit Gastineau[5]; 8. 88R-Ryder Laplante[8]; 9. 88C-Brogan Carder[12]; 10. 3-Cole Schroeder[13]; 11. 2J-Zach Blurton[9]; 12. 68-Taylor Milton[15]; 13. 88-Terry Easum[10]; 14. 938-Bradley Fezard[16]; 15. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[17]; 16. 31-Casey Wills[22]; 17. 88K-Jordan Knight[21]; 18. 91-Jeff Stasa[11]; 19. 911-Ty Williams[14]; 20. 52H-Hayden Mabe[24]; 21. 65-Kohl Ricke[23]; 22. K88-Kelby Fetters[19]; 23. 72-Ray Seemann[20]; 24. 88J-Jeremy Huish[18]
