Chris Martin Wins Salina Highbanks for First American Sprint Car Series Triumph Since 2018
A last-minute decision trip to race in Oklahoma turned out well for Chris Martin Saturday night.
The 28-year-old Iowa native and younger brother Cameron Martin loaded up their haulers and hit the road just before noon on Saturday and made the 430-plus-mile trip south to Salina Highbanks Speedway to compete with the American Sprint Car Series and ASCS Sooner Region.
Both brothers hit the racetrack with fast cars, but it was Chris Martin who mastered the 3/8-mile oval in the end, earning the outside pole for the start of the main event and leading all but the first three laps enroute to his second career Series victory and first since July 2018.
In Victory Lane, Martin made it a point to thank a certain National Sprint Car Hall-of-Famer, who has been supplying his tutelage behind the scenes since joining the team as a crew chief in 2025.
“Man, this thing was a hot rod. Danny Lasoski and I have been working on it and tuning on it, and he’s been blowing up my phone,” Martin said. “Even though he’s not here with us tonight — this was kind of a last-minute decision for us — but he definitely got us tuned in the right direction.”
At the drop of the green flag, Martin fell in line behind polesitter Sean McClelland as the six-time Sooner Region champion paced the field in the opening laps. But it didn’t take long for Martin to execute a move for the lead.
With speed from a big run down the frontstretch, Martin rode the high side into Turn 1 and zoomed around the outside of McClelland to take the top spot down the backstretch.
From there, Martin was nearly untouchable. He battled through several restarts over the 25-lap affair, holding off McClelland, defending Series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. and the rest of the field each time. Lapped traffic tightened Martin’s gap to the other leaders at times, but never once did he relinquish the lead as he raced off to collect the $4,000 grand prize.
“I felt alright for the first couple laps and I said, ‘Maybe I can make some momentum around (Turns) 3 and 4 a little different,’” Martin said. “I saw Sam (Hafertepe) do it at the start of his Heat Race. I started closing the gap and I was able to just carry some momentum there for a little bit, but I was definitely paying attention to see a nose eventually.”
Hafertepe crossed the line in second, extending his points lead, while Seth Bergman completed the podium after starting 12th. Cameron Martin held on for fourth while Blake Hahn rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT
The American Sprint Car Series gets back into action May 8–9 at Benton Speedway and Paducah International Raceway.
Tickets for these events will be sold at the track on race day. If you can’t be there, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Martin[2]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[12]; 4. 4-Cameron Martin[4]; 5. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 6. 1-Sean McClelland[1]; 7. 88-Terry Easum[11]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 9. 2-Whit Gastineau[13]; 10. 45X-Kyler Johnson[5]; 11. 2B-Garrett Benson[6]; 12. 88C-Brogan Carder[10]; 13. 3-Cole Schroeder[20]; 14. 88R-Ryder Laplante[22]; 15. 938-Bradley Fezard[14]; 16. 16S-Steven Shebester[17]; 17. 29-Emilio Hoover[9]; 18. 16G-Austyn Gossel[19]; 19. 31-Casey Wills[18]; 20. 52H-Hayden Mabe[21]; 21. 36-Jason Martin[16]; 22. 50Z-Zach Chappell[15]; 23. 8R-Ryker Pace[23]
