PARK CITY, Kan. — Making it two wins with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network this season, Matt Covington took off from the pole and never looked back at 81-Speedway on Thursday night.
Taking the fifth round of ASCS Sizzlin’ Summer Speedweek, the win is Covington’s 16th with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series since 2010 and marks the 14th different state that Covington has won a National Tour event in.
“It’s been an up and down year, but it’s not all bad. We’re still out here racing sprint cars, so I can’t complain too much. It’s just part of it, so you better love it,” said Covington. “Big thanks to my crew guy, Matthew Howard, and his Mom, Linda Howard. It’s her engine in the car tonight. I had some engine problems, and she was nice enough to let me borrow it, and we’ve been running it the past two nights with some good runs, so I’m really glad to get the win for them tonight.”
Pulling away from Wayne Johnson through the first part of the feature, a brief slide through traffic allowed the No. 2c to close slightly, but for only a moment before caution lights displayed on lap 14 for Brandon Anderson, who ran into the back of a slowing Blake Hahn, who suffered front-suspension damage after slapping the wall.
Back to green flag with lapped cars in the mix, Covington fended off a restart charge on lap 17 as Dylan Westbrook went for a tumble in turn four after getting into the wall.
Rolling down to the closing laps, the difference between Covington and Johnson began to decrease. From more than 1.5 seconds, the gap dropped quickly as the leaders raced to the white flag.
Barring down through the final two turns, time ran out as Covington found the checkered flag with .549 seconds to spare.
Holding on to second despite a souring engine, Johnson went from 19 points trailing to 19 points ahead. A fourth podium finish during his Speedweek run, Tim Crawley crossed third with Jason Martin holding off Landon Britt to complete the top five.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]; 3. 1X-Tim Crawley[4]; 4. 36-Jason Martin[3]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[8]; 6. 2W-Whit Gastineau[11]; 7. 47-Dale Howard[10]; 8. 55B-Brandon Anderson[15]; 9. 2J-Zach Blurton[13]; 10. 45X-Kyler Johnson[7]; 11. 10C-Jeremy Campbell[16]; 12. 14-Jordon Mallett[14]; 13. 52-Blake Hahn[6]; 14. 10P-Dylan Postier[17]; 15. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[9]; 16. 187-Landon Crawley[20]; 17. 17B-Ryan Bickett[12]; 18. 2-Dylan Opdahl[18]; 19. 31M-Eric Matthews[19]; 20. 55-Danny Wood[5]