Story By: SPENCE SMITHBACK / ASCS – LA CROSSE, KS – The American Sprint Car Series National Tour will kickstart the summer with a visit to two Kansas bullrings.
The weekend begins with a Friday night contest at Rush County Speedway in La Crosse (May 31), and continues 80 miles to the south at Dodge City Raceway Park (June 1).
Both nights will feature a $4,000-to-win, $400-to-start purse. The Sprint Cars will be joined by IMCA Hobby Stocks and Cruisers at Rush County, while the Dodge City itinerary will include IMCA Sport Mods and IMCA Hobby Stocks.
The pair of races are the final warmup before the five-night ASCS Speedweek in Arkansas and Oklahoma, June 11-15.
Tickets will be available at the gate on both nights.
Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:
BERGMAN GOING SOLO: A win at Super Bee Speedway and a second-place run at Red Dirt Raceway has Seth Bergman sitting atop the National Tour standings entering the weekend. However, he’ll have a new, yet familiar, look beginning Friday at Rush County. Bergman has parted ways with TwoC Racing to return to his family-owned team.
After Johnson suffered a hand injury in a crash in April, he elected to retire from driving and tapped Bergman as his replacement behind the wheel of the No. 2C machine.
In addition to the pair of National Tour starts, Bergman drove Johnson’s car to a 14th-place run in local competition at Creek County Speedway on May 11 before his departure was announced days later.
Bergman shouldn’t take long to get reacclimated to his former team, as his most recent run in his No. 23 car resulted in a win on March 23 in a Warrior Region event at Creek County. The Washington native has also picked up 17 National Tour wins in his own equipment, most recently at Outlaw Motor Speedway in Oklahoma on June 2, 2023.
RUSH COUNTY DEBUT: Friday’s stop at Rush County will not only mark the first ASCS event at the facility, but the largest Sprint Car event in track history.
However, the track has hosted nearly two dozen United Rebel Sprint Series races for the 305 Sprint Car division, and multiple National Tour full-timers have found Victory Lane with the Series. Jason Martin won three out of his four URSS appearances in La Crosse, while Zach Blurton picked up the win on July 31, 2021.
Blurton also brought home a fifth-place finish with the Rocky Mountain Midget Racing Association in 2023. As one of the only drivers in the field with recent experience at Rush County, Friday night could be an opportunity for Blurton to collect his first National Tour top 10 of the season.
GETTING INTO DODGE: Last season, the series made its first stop at Dodge City Raceway Park in 11 years, but this time around, fans have only had to wait 11 months.
Martin and Matt Covington split the victories in 2023, and both will look to collect another Dodge City trophy in the Steve King Memorial. Martin finished second behind Covington on night two last year to give himself a 1.5 average finish on the weekend; that along with a slew of URSS and local victories at the 3/8-mile track should make him one of the favorites Saturday night.
The Sprint Cars were joined by the RMMRA a year ago in a Feature won by National Tour full-timer Kyler Johnson. The Midget win was Johnson’s third in as many years at Dodge City following victories with the URSS in 2021 and the RMMRA in 2022. A native of nearby Quinter, Kansas, Johnson will look to use his home-field advantage to score his first ASCS triumph.