Roger Crockett made only his second start of the year on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour Friday night at Arrowhead Speedway, but it certainly didn’t look like it.
The Broken Arrow, OK driver took his No. 11 machine to Victory Lane for his second ASCS win in as many weeks following a Sooner Region score at Enid Speedway on Sept. 7, as well as his first National Tour victory since winning the 2020 season finale at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.
“I’m sure people see us win a regional race and think ‘whatever,’ but to back it up and come here and beat the best guys in 360 racing right now feels great,” Crockett said. “I haven’t gotten to do a lot of racing, especially 360 racing the last couple years, but I feel like if I was out on the road with these guys, we would be one of the best. It’s nice to kind of give people a taste of that tonight.”
“The best guys in 360 racing” Crockett referred to were Seth Bergman and Sam Hafertepe Jr., who combine for 14 Series wins on the year and sit 1-2 in points, but finished second and third behind Crockett respectively.
Crockett began to look like a win contender after taking the checkers in the Dash to start on the pole of the main event. A strong start gave him room to jump in front of second-place starter Jordon Mallett on the start and take the top lane through Turns 1 and 2 on the opening lap. Bergman took second away from Mallett while running the bottom before falling behind Crockett on the high side.
Bergman remained on Crockett’s tail through the first eight laps of the race, but the slowed car of Brady Baker on the backstretch brought out the caution before he could make a move.
Hafertepe made the most of the restart by getting around Mallett for third and eyed a move on Bergman before a pileup involving Brekton Crouch, Andrew Deal and Garrett Benson brought out a red flag to put the race on pause.
Another yellow for Alex Sewell’s spin in Turn 3 reset the field once again with 10 laps in the books. On the restart, Hafertepe threw a slider in Turn 1 on Bergman to take over second before Bergman returned the favor in Turn 3, but Hafertepe crossed him over exiting Turn 4 to keep the spot. The shuffling let Hank Davis in on the battle, resulting in a three-way tussle for the runner-up spot.
When things calmed down, Crockett had driven away to a lead of more than three seconds. By the halfway point, Bergman sat comfortably in second and began running down Crockett while Hafertepe and Davis continued trading sliders for third.
The gap between first and second had been cut to one second with eight laps to go when Austyn Gossel slowed to bring out the yellow flag. When the race went back green, Crockett moved down to the middle which gave Bergman an opening to make a move on the cushion.
The two briefly ran side-by-side for the lead down the backstretch, but Crockett quickly shut the door and drove away to his 11th victory on the National Tour.
Any part-time racer can speak to the difficulty of being competitive against those who are in the seat every weekend, but it’s a hill Crockett is willing and able to climb. “The Rocket” finished third in his first start in 2024 with the Series at 81 Speedway and backed that up with his triumph at Arrowhead.
“It’s really hard,” Crockett said. “This is only our third 360 race of the year, only the fourth race in my car this year. And the fourth night we blew the motor up halfway through the main event, so basically no laps.
“We didn’t run the [Knoxville] Nationals for a few reasons, but mainly we were able to work on our car, get it ready to go. Spent all the time in the shop, scales and stuff, so when you do come to the racetrack you know you’re competitive and not out to lunch. That definitely pays off.”
Bergman appeared to match Crockett’s pace at certain points of the race, but ultimately didn’t have enough late in the going. Nevertheless, his runner-up result gives him an 80-point lead in the standings over Hafertepe entering Saturday’s program.
“Late there, it had rubbered down and the top still had some moisture up there,” Bergman said. “So late on that restart, I was like ‘man, I’ll just try to be a hero here.’ Not very often can you run out of the rubber and pass somebody, but we dang near got it done. It was close, but he’s smart and he lane changed and took my line. Had he not done that I think we win the race.”
After two starts at Arrowhead this season, Hafertepe admitted that the Colcord, OK facility isn’t his best track on tour, but the five-time Series champion contended for the win and came home third regardless.
“I like the track a lot,” Hafertepe said. “I think it’s got a lot of potential. I think our operation doesn’t go around here as good as I would like it to. We just need some more track time to figure out a few more things, get a little bit better and we’ll be knocking on the door.”
Davis finished fourth for his fourth-straight top five, while Mallett came home fifth in his first National Tour start in his own No. 14 car since his stint in the No. 55B filling in for Brandon Anderson.
The Hard Charger Award went to Bradley Fezard, who battled engine issues early in the night before starting the Feature with a provisional and driving from 24th to 10th in the 30-lap affair.
UP NEXT: The ASCS National Tour will be back for another night at Arrowhead Speedway on Saturday, with drivers going for a $10,000 top prize in the Green Country Clash finale. Tickets will be available at the gate, while DIRTVision will stream every lap live for those unable to make it to the track.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 11-Roger Crockett[1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 4. 2C-Hank Davis[5]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[2]; 6. 1-Sean McClelland[4]; 7. 95-Matt Covington[13]; 8. 29-Emilio Hoover[10]; 9. 36-Jason Martin[12]; 10. 938-Bradley Fezard[24]; 11. 55B-Brandon Anderson[17]; 12. 2W-Whit Gastineau[11]; 13. 20-Noah Harris[15]; 14. 15D-Andrew Deal[9]; 15. 2B-Garrett Benson[7]; 16. 10-Landon Britt[23]; 17. 45X-Kyler Johnson[8]; 18. 88-Terry Easum[18]; 19. 5S-Danny Smith[22]; 20. 16G-Austyn Gossel[21]; 21. 8-Alex Sewell[14]; 22. 2-Brekton Crouch[16]; 23. 2J-Zach Blurton[20]; 24. 31-Casey Wills[25]; 25. 71-Brady Baker[19]
