Sam Hafertepe Jr. Sweeps The Big One in Second Consecutive Year at Belleville High Banks
Sam Hafertepe Jr. is unstoppable with the American Sprint Car Series at Belleville High Banks.
The six-time Series champion matched his showing from Friday with a masterclass performance in The Big One finale to secure his 90th National Tour victory and a $10,000 prize.
Hafertepe led the way as the fastest in Hot Laps and his Qualifying group. He then took a win in the Honest Abe Roofing Dash to start the Feature from the front row.
At the commencement of the 20-lap battle, Hafertepe used the middle lane as Whit Gastineau and Matt Covington ran side-by-side for second place.
Gastineau and Covington’s duel helped Hafertepe stretch the lead to over two seconds by the end of Lap 5. When Gastineau’s No. 2 was clear with the runner-up spot, Hafertepe’s gap stagnated until lap traffic became a factor at the halfway point.
When Hafertepe dealt with the flurry of cars in front, his No. 15H Triple X Chassis sliced through traffic while Gastineau struggled to keep up the pace that he established, extending the lead away throughout the second half.
Ahead of the field by 6.8 seconds at the finish of the Feature, the Sunnyvale, TX driver took his second Series win of 2026 and extended his command in the standings by 52 points over Covington, leaving The Big One.
“We’re about to start racing a bunch, and now is the time to get the momentum,” Hafertepe said. “I knew when I came here, my goal was to be Quick Time in my group both times. That way in the Heat race, we could try something. The starts mean so much, and honestly, we hadn’t been taking off great. Both Features, we had really good starts, and our car is just so good.”
Gastineau’s second-place finish moves him up to fourth in Series standings leaving the weekend. Covington earned back-to-back podiums at The Big One with a third-place result. Seth Bergman finished fourth, and Jake Bubak solidified the Saturday night’s top five.
Recap Notes:
Quick Time Award: Matt Covington (15.375 sec.)
Heat Race Winners: Whit Gastineau, Seth Bergman, Garrett Benson
Honest Abe Roofing Dash Winner: Sam Hafertepe Jr.
Hard Charger Award: Jack Thomas (+6)
Up Next: The American Sprint Car Series will make a two-day visit to Arkansas with Batesville Motor Speedway on Friday, July 10, and Texarkana 67 Speedway for the Ralph Henson Memorial on Saturday, July 11.
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS: Feature (20 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 2-Whit Gastineau[2]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 5. 9-Jake Bubak[7]; 6. 14-Joey Danley[10]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[8]; 8. 1X-Bryant Wiedeman[11]; 9. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 10. 27B-Garrett Benson[6]; 11. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[12]; 12. 63-Jack Thomas[18]; 13. 16G-Austyn Gossel[14]; 14. 88-Terry Easum[9]; 15. 68-Taylor Milton[16]; 16. 3-Cole Schroeder[20]; 17. 88R-Ryder Laplante[15]; 18. 88C-Brogan Carder[13]; 19. 22A-Billy Alley[19]; 20. 88J-Jeremy Huish[17]; 21. 70K-Henry Rogers[21]
