Sam Hafertepe Jr. has been no stranger to Victory Lane in 2024 with the American Sprint Car Series National Tour, and he made his seventh visit of the year after taking home the Friday portion of the Xtream powered by Mediacom 360 Knoxville Nationals presented by Great Southern Bank at Knoxville Raceway.
“Just a testament to our team, Miles Hill keeps putting the money behind us that it takes to compete at this level,” Hafertepe said. “Definitely not where we wanted to be, going out that late [in Qualifying]. Just couldn’t muster up any better of a time than we put down, but to win the Feature, that’s a good recovery.”
Hafertepe started the Feature on the pole position on the inside of reigning 360 Nationals champion Brian Brown. After diving to the inside berm in Turn 1, Hafertepe slid up to block Brown’s run on the top to take the lead off Turn 2 on the opening lap.
“Brown’s really smart, he runs this place all the time, he’s got a lot of laps around here,” Hafertepe said. “If I saw a nose, we’d move and maybe play a little defense. You watch these guys run all year here, the way they run this place, I just try to mimic some of the block moves.”
Hafertepe continued to work the low lane to build a one-second lead in the early stages, but his gap was erased when a spin by Joe Beaver brought out a yellow six laps in.
Once the race resumed, it looked like a replay of the first run of the race, with Hafertepe pulling away from Brown on the bottom until a caution reracked the field on Lap 11, this time for Parker Price-Miller’s blown engine.
Brown put up his biggest challenge of the race on the ensuing restart, getting within a car length of Hafertepe exiting Turn 2 on Lap 12. Brown powered around the high lane through Turns 3 and 4 before Hafertepe once again slid up to block Brown and hold onto the lead. The tussle allowed Cory Eliason to catch both of them and pass Brown with seven to go.
After clearing the No. 21, Eliason went to work on running down Hafertepe, and he quickly got within striking distance of the leader. But before he could make a move, Hank Davis got into the wall and upside down to bring out the red flag with six laps remaining.
Hafertepe used one more strong restart to power away while Eliason and Brown battled for the second spot. The pair raced side-by-side for more than a lap after the restart, with Eliason staying low and Brown ripping the cushion. Eliason prevailed, but by that point, Hafertepe was already out of range and on his way to the checkered flag.
The Sunnyvale, TX native has been known in recent seasons for bouncing back and forth between 360 and 410 Sprint Car competition but has placed a renewed focus on his 360 program in 2024. With seven National Tour wins along with a Germfree Southern Sprint Car Shootout victory at Volusia Speedway Park in January under his belt, that decision has clearly paid dividends.
“We run 360s all the time and these guys don’t, and they probably have some issues with their motors taking off,” Hafertepe said regarding his advantage on restarts throughout the race. “We run every night and work on that kind of stuff, and that helps us on our takeoff for sure.”
While Eliason ran out of laps to run down Hafertepe for the win, his runner-up effort was enough to lock him into the Feature and give him a chance at his maiden 360 Nationals triumph.
“I didn’t need that red,” Eliason said. “I felt the longer runs we had, it was good, and right before that red, I got by Brown and I was able to get my nose underneath Sam a few times. I got him uncomfortable and got him searching, which that’s what I needed, clean air is key here, especially with the 360 in.”
While Brown has been known as one of the faces of Knoxville thanks to his six track championships at the “Sprint Car Capital of the World,” he knew he would have his hands full in the Feature with Hafertepe starting on his inside.
“I knew it was going to be a battle between me and Sam initially, just because he’s not a slouch,” Brown said. “He’s obviously the best 360 driver in the country, and he’s a whale of a 410 driver as well, so I knew it was going to be a game of cat-and-mouse.”
Jake Bubak came home fourth for his career-best finish in 360 Nationals prelim competition, while 18-time NASCAR Cup Series winner Kasey Kahne completed the top five with his best finish of the season in a Sprint Car.
The Hard Charger Award went to Kerry Madsen, who won the B-Main to advance to the Feature before driving from 21st up to eighth at the finish.
UP NEXT: A 360 Knoxville Nationals champion will be crowned on Saturday night and presented with a $20,000 winner’s check, the largest top prize of the National Tour season. Tickets are available online, while those unable to make it to Knoxville can catch every lap live on DIRTVision with an annual FAST PASS.
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 8-Cory Eliason[4]; 3. 21-Brian Brown[2]; 4. 27B-Jake Bubak[3]; 5. 9-Kasey Kahne[9]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 7. 2M-Ryan Giles[11]; 8. 55-Kerry Madsen[21]; 9. 1TZ-Tasker Phillips[6]; 10. 77X-Alex Hill[12]; 11. 27-Carson McCarl[17]; 12. 35-Skylar Prochaska[5]; 13. 3P-Sawyer Phillips[10]; 14. 49X-Tim Shaffer[23]; 15. 26-Zeb Wise[24]; 16. 17-Tyler Groenendyk[8]; 17. 88T-Tanner Thorson[19]; 18. 69K-Daryn Pittman[13]; 19. 41-Colton Hardy[18]; 20. 53-Joe Beaver[20]; 21. 98P-Miles Paulus[15]; 22. 2C-Hank Davis[22]; 23. 9P-Parker Price Miller[14]; 24. 9M-Liam Martin[16]
Saturday Feature Starting Lineup (based on combined point totals from Thursday and Friday):
- Emerson Axsom
- Tyler Courtney
- Cory Eliason
- Austin McCarl
- Jamie Ball
- Tasker Phillips
- Tyler Groenendyk
- Kaleb Johnson
- Brian Brown
- Terry McCarl
- Kade Higday
- Cole Macedo
- Sam Hafertepe Jr.
- Jake Bubak
- Justin Peck
- Matt Covington
- Aaron Reutzel
- Zeb Wise
- Kerry Madsen
- Skylar Prochaska
- B-Main Transfer 1
- B-Main Transfer 2
- B-Main Transfer 3
- B-Main Transfer 4
