Hafertepe Jr. Sweeps Dodge City for Eighth National Tour Win of 2024
Several of Sam Hafertepe Jr.’s first seven wins of 2024 with the American Sprint Car Series National Tour came in dominant fashion, but never was his stranglehold on the field as tight as it was Friday night at Dodge City Raceway Park.
The Sunnyvale, TX driver’s gap to second place was more than six seconds when he took the checkers for the eighth time in 2024 and second at the Kansas 3/8-mile.
“You hit a place several times, and your notebook just gets bigger and bigger,” Hafertepe said. “Just track time, more and more times hitting the track, you have more of the right things to do.”
A runner-up finish in the Dash meant Hafertepe started on the outside of Dash winner Matt Covington, who was on the pole for the second time in as many Series races at Dodge City this season.
Covington did not get to enjoy much time out front, as by the time he reached Turn 1 on the opening lap, the No. 15H had already used an immaculate start to take the top spot.
Four laps into the 30-lap Feature, Hafertepe’s lead was up to a second and a half when Jason Martin and Whit Gastineau made contact battling for the fifth spot, puncturing the left-front tire on Gastineau’s car and bringing out the first caution of the race.
Gastineau went to the work area to replace the tire and returned to the track, but his night soon went from bad to worse when he went head-on into the Turn 1 wall two laps later, which ended his night and reset the field once more.
In what would turn out to be the final restart of the night, Hafertepe once again got a strong jump and rode the upper lane to a commanding lead. Upon catching the tail of the field, the five-time Series champion made his case as one of the best Sprint Car drivers in the country at navigating lap traffic, slicing and dicing his way to an advantage of nearly half a lap at the finish.
“That’s the best we’ve gotten through lap traffic all year,” Hafertepe said. “That’s just a testament to how good our race car was. I could cut across the middle, I would say better than any car out here. I think that’s what gave us all the speed all race long.”
Seth Bergman started fifth and made his way forward to wrestle the second spot away from Covington in the middle stages. Had Bergman started the race a bit closer to the front, he believes he would have had something for the man chasing him in the standings.
“I think we definitely had pace to match him,” Bergman said. “There were times where I was gauging where he was at on the track and where I was, and he was in clean track and I was in traffic, and he gapped me a little bit. But when we both had clean air, I could see myself bringing him in.”
While Covington was frustrated to start on the pole twice this year at Dodge City and come up short on both occasions, the podium run kept him firmly in control of the third spot in points as his quest for a National Tour win in 2024 continues.
“We’re right there, we’re just a tick off,” Covington said. “Still figuring that out. I think we’re making strides, getting a little bit better, but we’re not good enough.”
Hank Davis drove from ninth to fourth to collect the Hard Charger Award in his second start at Dodge City, while Jason Martin finished fifth for his first top five since Creek County Speedway over two months ago.
UP NEXT: The National Tour will make the five-hour drive north to North Platte, NE’s Lincoln County Raceway on Saturday, which is making its return to the schedule for the first time since 1998. Tickets will be available at the track, while those unable to make it can catch every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[2]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 4. 2C-Hank Davis[9]; 5. 36-Jason Martin[7]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson[11]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[3]; 8. 10-Landon Britt[8]; 9. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[12]; 10. 16G-Austyn Gossel[14]; 11. 938-Bradley Fezard[10]; 12. 15D-Andrew Deal[17]; 13. 23M-Lance Moss[16]; 14. 1X-Bryant Wiedeman[19]; 15. 42-Caleb Saiz[20]; 16. 88K-Jordan Knight[13]; 17. 88-Terry Easum[15]; 18. 91-Michael Day[18]; 19. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]; 20. 2W-Whit Gastineau[6]; 21. (DNS) 91X-Jeff Stasa
