Story By: SPENCE SMITHBACK / ASCS – TULSA, OK – The American Sprint Car Series will wrap up a busy June schedule this Friday and Saturday, June 28-29 at Tulsa Speedway with the two-night Dirt Down in T-Town.
The event culminates with a $6,000-to-win Feature on Saturday night, with a total purse increase of more than $3,000. Friday’s race will feature a standard $4,000-to-win, $400-to-start payout.
The Sprint Cars will be joined on the card by B-Mods and Tuners on Friday and Factory Stocks, Dwarf Cars and Tuners on Saturday.
Fans will be admitted for $25 per carload on both nights, with no limit on the number of people per vehicle. DIRTVision will have live coverage for those unable to make it to the track.
Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:
TULSA TIME: The air might be 50 degrees warmer than it usually is when the dirt racing world converges on Tulsa, but the on-track action will be just as hot.
This weekend will mark the third and fourth National Tour races at Tulsa Speedway, which was built adjacent to the Tulsa Raceway Park dragstrip and opened in 2021. Blake Hahn took the win in the track’s inaugural season, while Tim Crawley visited Victory Lane in the most recent visit in 2022.
Tulsa Speedway promoter and drag racing superstar Keith Haney has pulled out all the stops to make the Dirt Down in T-Town a premiere event on the Sprint Car calendar. In addition to the increased purse for the race teams, fans will be treated to an autograph session at 5 p.m. on Saturday, live music, and shaded seating areas to take a break from the summer heat.
WELCOME BACK JASON: Reigning champion Jason Martin will return to the track this weekend at Tulsa. The Kansas native elected to sit out last weekend’s event at Batesville Motor Speedway as a precaution following a hard impact with the catchfence in the Speedweek finale at Tri-State Speedway. Following a visit with his doctor, Martin received the all-clear to get back in the seat of his No. 36 machine.
His absence at Batesville, as well as a pair of crashes to end Speedweek cost him dearly in the points chase, as he now sits 11th in the standings. Martin’s climb back into the top 10 will commence at a track where he has struggled in the past, as he finished outside the top 15 in both of his previous Tulsa appearances with the National Tour.
SUB DRIVER DELIVERS: Ever since Jordon Mallett jumped in the No. 55B to fill in for the injured Brandon Anderson, he has been consistently fast early in the night before fading by the end of the Feature. The opposite was true on Saturday night at Batesville, where Mallett lurked behind leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. for 24 laps until making the winning move on the final circuit.
The victory was Mallett’s second-consecutive podium finish and seventh-straight top 10, dating back to his debut in the car at Rush County Speedway on May 31. He’ll aim to keep those streaks alive at Tulsa, where much like most of his competitors, his experience at the new facility is limited.
Mallett’s lone Sprint Car start at the track came with the National Tour in 2022, and he came home fourth against a strong field that included the likes of Wayne Johnson, Dale Howard, Cannon McIntosh and Landon Crawley.
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Nine races into the 2024 National Tour season, Matt Covington has done everything except win a Feature. The No. 95 car has been fast each night, as his three Heat Race wins and six Dash appearances this season put him top-three in both categories. Covington’s eight top 10 finishes are more than anyone not named Seth Bergman, and his lone throwaway night came when he collided with a slower car while leading at Dodge City Raceway Park.
While scoring his maiden win of 2024 will be the primary goal in Tulsa, Covington will also be looking to close in on points leader Seth Bergman and pull away from Sam Hafertepe Jr., who trails Covington by a single point in their battle for the second spot. To do that, he will need to improve on his past performances at Tulsa, as his two National Tour starts there ended with finishes of 15th and 16th.
WHEN AND WHERE:
Friday and Saturday, June 28-29 at Tulsa Speedway in Tulsa, OK.
AROUND THE TURN:
The American Sprint Car Series National Tour will return from a three-week hiatus with a Sunflower State doubleheader at Lakeside Speedway on Friday, July 19 and 81 Speedway on Saturday, July 20.