Matt Covington Lands First Win Of 2022 Season At Boone County Raceway

Bryan Hulbert – ALBION, Neb. (July 1, 2022) Winning a dogfight of a race at Boone County Raceway, the debut event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network at the high-banked Nebraska oval, went the way of Oklahoma's Matt Covington on Friday night.

Covington's first win of the 2022 season, the win is the 15th time the Missile Motorsports/A-Rock Material No. 95 has parked in Victory Lane with the National Tour and first in the state of Nebraska.

"This season has been up and down so far; I can't even describe how much we needed this win, especially for Matthew [Howard]. He works his butt off on this car. I feel like he's worked way harder than he even had to last year, only to not have the same kind of results, and that's tough," stated Covington. "We've had a couple podiums, but this is a major boost for us. Luckily, the injury to my ribs isn't hurting me in the car anymore. Not going to be doing pushups or bench press anytime soon, but I'm back to where I feel good in the car, and I feel like you could see that tonight."

Chasing the No. 36 of Jason Martin from the start, Covington began moving his line to encompass the cushion at either end of the three-eighths-mile oval. Working into traffic at the race's mid-point, Martin stuck the bottom with slower cars allowing Matt to close the gap. Down to car lengths on Lap 15, Martin went three wide with traffic, only to have the top clear for Covington through the third and fourth turns. With momentum off the fourth turn, the Covington took the point on Lap 16.

On the run to the lead, Matt said, "I sent it to the top, and it felt good, so I kind of maintained at first then started working on closing in on Jason [Martin], and once we got into traffic, I was able to get positioned and make the run, with a line that he wasn't working yet."

Vacating the hub, Jason began fighting back. Working all the way into the cushion as Covington cheated the top line, the fight for the lead was on with four laps to run. Pulling the trigger on the slide job, Martin shot back to the point, but the caution would come out before the lap could be completed.

Negating the pass, the point fell back to Matt Covington, who went unchallenged to a 0.501-second margin at the finish. Jason Martin in second was followed by Blake Hahn, who made the last second pass on Garet Williamson. The two were separated by 0.033-seconds at the line. Brandon Anderson completed the top five.

Wayne Johnson was sixth after a multi-lap showdown with Zach Blurton, who ended up seventh. Joey Danley eighth was followed by Seth Brahmer in ninth. Contact from Johnson on Lap 7 while battling for fifth, Tim Crawley was able to bounce back to complete the top ten.

The field of 28 broke down into four SCE Gaskets Heat Races, with wins earned by Brandon Anderson, Garet Williamson, Matt Covington, and Tim Crawley. The night's BMRS B-Feature went to Landon Crawley. The newly established track record belongs to Jason Martin at 14.556-seconds. No provisionals were needed.

The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network is the Western Kansas Showdown at WaKeeney Speedway in WaKeeney, Kan., on Saturday, July 2, and Sunday, July 3. Saturday at WaKeeney Speedway is $3,000 to win, $400 to start, and Sunday is $5,000 to win and $500 to start. Both nights open at 5:00 P.M., with racing at 8:00 P.M. (CDT). Hobby Stocks, Cruisers, and Compacts are also on the card.

Tickets per night are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors, $10 for youth (11-14), and free for kids 10 and under. Saturday will feature Fireworks. WaKeeney Speedway is located at 100 N 13th St. in WaKeeney, Kan. Information on the track can be found at https://www.wakeeneyspeedway.net or by calling Terry Mattox at (918) 417-0624.

The 2022 season will mark the 31st year of competition for the American Sprint Car Series. Spearheaded by the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, the ASCS Nation includes Regional Tours that encompass both wing and non-wing competition.

For fans not able to attend, the series can be seen live on two platforms, with RaceOnTexas.com on FloRacing.com featuring National Tour events in tandem. Both are subscription-based sites. FloRacing.com is $20 per month, billed annually at $150 per year. RaceOnTexas.com All Access is $39.99 per month.

For other news, notes, and information on any of the tours under the ASCS banner, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
Boone County Raceway (Albion, Neb.)
Friday, July 1, 2022

Car Count: 28

The Driver's Project Group Qualifying

The Drivers Project Qualifying 1 (3 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin, 14.556[4]; 2. 187-Landon Crawley, 14.652[2]; 3. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 14.767[7]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 14.835[3]; 5. 10P-Dylan Postier, 14.843[1]; 6. 2J-Zach Blurton, 14.964[6]; 7. 91X-Adam Gullion, 15.055[5]

The Drivers Project Qualifying 2 (3 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson, 14.999[2]; 2. 47-Brant O'Banion, 15.067[4]; 3. 10-Landon Britt, 15.430[5]; 4. 91-Brandon Stevenson, 15.603[1]; 5. 10J-Justin Jacobsma, 15.707[7]; 6. 36X-Rick Hansen, 16.163[3]; 7. 77B-Michael Bingham, 16.377[6]

The Drivers Project Qualifying 3 (3 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, 14.754[3]; 2. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 15.340[4]; 3. 14-Joey Danley, 15.591[6]; 4. 1B-Cade Richards, 15.766[2]; 5. 57B-Boyd Peterson, 15.898[5]; 6. 10X-Lincoln Drewis, 15.947[7]; 7. 48-Taylor Forbes, 16.025[1]

The Drivers Project Qualifying 4 (3 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 14.813[3]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn, 14.939[4]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 15.023[1]; 4. 1X-Tim Crawley, 15.255[5]; 5. 13V-Seth Brahmer, 15.414[6]; 6. 2-Dylan Opdahl, 15.693[2]; 7. 91K-Ryan Kitchen, 16.085[7]

SCE Gaskets Heat Races (Top 16 in combined points advance to the A-Feature)

SCE Gaskets Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[4]; 3. 2J-Zach Blurton[6]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[1]; 5. 187-Landon Crawley[3]; 6. 91X-Adam Gullion[7]; 7. 10P-Dylan Postier[5]

SCE Gaskets Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 24-Garet Williamson[4]; 2. 10-Landon Britt[2]; 3. 91-Brandon Stevenson[1]; 4. 36X-Rick Hansen[6]; 5. 47-Brant O'Banion [3]; 6. 10J-Justin Jacobsma[5]; 7. 77B-Michael Bingham[7]

SCE Gaskets Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 2. 14-Joey Danley[2]; 3. 17B-Ryan Bickett[3]; 4. 10X-Lincoln Drewis[6]; 5. 48-Taylor Forbes[7]; 6. 1B-Cade Richards[1]; 7. 57B-Boyd Peterson[5]

SCE Gaskets Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1X-Tim Crawley[1]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[2]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 5. 13V-Seth Brahmer[5]; 6. 2-Dylan Opdahl[6]; 7. 91K-Ryan Kitchen[7]

BMRS B-Feature (Top 6 advance to the A-Feature)

BMRS B-Main (12 Laps): 1. 187-Landon Crawley[1]; 2. 13V-Seth Brahmer[4]; 3. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]; 4. 10P-Dylan Postier[11]; 5. 2-Dylan Opdahl[6]; 6. 91K-Ryan Kitchen[9]; 7. 91X-Adam Gullion[5]; 8. 57B-Boyd Peterson[12]; 9. 77B-Michael Bingham[10]; 10. 47-Brant O'Banion [2]; 11. 1B-Cade Richards[8]; 12. 10J-Justin Jacobsma[7]

A-Feature

A-Main (25 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[2]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[10]; 4. 24-Garet Williamson[3]; 5. 55B-Brandon Anderson[1]; 6. 2C-Wayne Johnson[7]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton[6]; 8. 14-Joey Danley[9]; 9. 13V-Seth Brahmer[18]; 10. 1X-Tim Crawley[5]; 11. 10-Landon Britt[8]; 12. 45X-Kyler Johnson[19]; 13. 187-Landon Crawley[17]; 14. 17B-Ryan Bickett[11]; 15. 91-Brandon Stevenson[15]; 16. 10P-Dylan Postier[20]; 17. 48-Taylor Forbes[16]; 18. 2-Dylan Opdahl[21]; 19. 10X-Lincoln Drewis[13]; 20. 36X-Rick Hansen[14]; 21. 91K-Ryan Kitchen[22]; 22. 23-Seth Bergman[12]

Lap Leader(s): Jason Martin 1-15; Matt Covington 16-25
Hard Charger: Seth Brahmer +9
Quick Time: Jason Martin 14.556-seconds
High Point Driver: Matt Covington