Defending American Sprint Car Series champion takes on 410 talent this weekend in Texas

CONCORD, NC (March 12, 2026) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. has shown time and time again his ability to compete with the best Sprint Car drivers in the world. This weekend, he’ll suit up to compete against them again in front of a home-state crowd.

As the six-time American Sprint Car Series champion prepares to take on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Kennedale Speedway Park this Friday and Saturday night, he and the Hill’s Racing Team will bolt a 410 cubic-inch engine inside the Townline Variety, Fisher/Triple-X No. 15H for the challenge on the 1/4-mile Texas oval.

It serves as both a subtle reminder of the world from which he came and how differently he approaches national 410 competition. Much time has passed since Hafertepe’s days as a World of Outlaws full-timer (2007–2010), but he’s not forgotten how to handle the speed and the spotlight.

“Back then, we were trying to establish ourselves and learn and try to prove to the world that you can do it,” Hafertepe, of Sunnyvale, TX, said. “Nowadays, I’m 40 years old, and we’re not really proving anything anymore. Now, you want to be prepared enough to go out there and race with those guys and do well at playing their game.”

Hafertepe has no trouble recalling his time on the road as a 20-something, up-and-coming talent in the national open-wheel world. It wasn’t until the season after his final full-time effort that he broke through to Victory Lane at Skagit Speedway in 2011. Driving for renowned team and track co-owner Kevin Rudeen, Hafertepe topped the likes of Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz and Sammy Swindell at the Washington venue for the first and only World of Outlaws win of his career thus far.

One year ago, Hafertepe shined against the Outlaws in Texas, leading the first 10 laps of the finale at Kennedale before finishing second to Buddy Kofoid, and recording another podium finish the following weekend with a third-place effort behind only Kofoid and David Gravel at Cotton Bowl Speedway.

Now a seasoned veteran of the sport, Hafertepe has raced both generations of champions and seen many talents come and go. But from his perspective, today’s competition is just as, if not more intense than it was when he started.

“It’s so hard to compare,” Hafertepe said. “I think now, guys are more cutthroat in today’s time just because everything is so equal. You know if you don’t get in clean air, you’re probably not getting around that guy and will have a really hard time passing him all race.”

While his mindset coming into race day stays the same, regardless of the competition he meets, part of his purpose in racing 410s is different. Hafertepe commonly uses these opportunities as a gauge to examine how well his car stacks up against the best in the nation, often taking what he learns and incorporating the information into his 360 Sprint Car program.

“I think that’s probably the hardest thing for us, when you get going really good at what you’re doing; we’ve been so successful with the 360, you kinda just stay on the same page with what you’ve been doing with that and you kinda get left behind,” Hafertepe said. “I think the last couple years — I didn’t realize it as much as I did last year — that’s something that we’ve really worked on is to try to stay in the loop and try to stay up on our program because I felt like for two-three-four years, we were kinda behind what was going on.

“We really needed to figure out some of the changes we needed to make with our program. And I think we’ve been doing a really good job of that lately.”

Hafertepe is the current American Sprint Car Series points leader, still searching for his first Feature win of the season. But this weekend, it’s full-speed-ahead with the World of Outlaws, putting up another challenge to the national Sprint Car stars as one of the best talents from the “Lone Star State.”

“We like our chances to run well,” Hafertepe said. “To say we’re gonna run second or first or whatever that may be, it’s real farfetched to say that when you race with the World of Outlaws. We take the same mindset every time we go out and race with those guys. We unload, try to prepare the fastest car we can and try to make the best decisions throughout the night.

“If the Dash Draw goes your way, great. If you make the Dash, great. You can only control what you can control. So, basically, we’ll spend some time in the shop trying to prepare the best thing we think is going to be to lay out on the racetrack, and hopefully we hit it right.”

Tickets to see the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars at Kennedale Speedway Park are on sale now; click here to purchase.

Hafertepe Reflects on Former World of Outlaws Days Ahead of Kennedale Doubleheader

Defending American Sprint Car Series champion takes on 410 talent this weekend in Texas

CONCORD, NC (March 12, 2026) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. has shown time and time again his ability to compete with the best Sprint Car drivers in the world. This weekend, he’ll suit up to compete against them again in front of a home-state crowd.

As the six-time American Sprint Car Series champion prepares to take on the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Kennedale Speedway Park this Friday and Saturday night, he and the Hill’s Racing Team will bolt a 410 cubic-inch engine inside the Townline Variety, Fisher/Triple-X No. 15H for the challenge on the 1/4-mile Texas oval.

It serves as both a subtle reminder of the world from which he came and how differently he approaches national 410 competition. Much time has passed since Hafertepe’s days as a World of Outlaws full-timer (2007–2010), but he’s not forgotten how to handle the speed and the spotlight.

“Back then, we were trying to establish ourselves and learn and try to prove to the world that you can do it,” Hafertepe, of Sunnyvale, TX, said. “Nowadays, I’m 40 years old, and we’re not really proving anything anymore. Now, you want to be prepared enough to go out there and race with those guys and do well at playing their game.”

Hafertepe has no trouble recalling his time on the road as a 20-something, up-and-coming talent in the national open-wheel world. It wasn’t until the season after his final full-time effort that he broke through to Victory Lane at Skagit Speedway in 2011. Driving for renowned team and track co-owner Kevin Rudeen, Hafertepe topped the likes of Steve Kinser, Donny Schatz and Sammy Swindell at the Washington venue for the first and only World of Outlaws win of his career thus far.

One year ago, Hafertepe shined against the Outlaws in Texas, leading the first 10 laps of the finale at Kennedale before finishing second to Buddy Kofoid, and recording another podium finish the following weekend with a third-place effort behind only Kofoid and David Gravel at Cotton Bowl Speedway.

Now a seasoned veteran of the sport, Hafertepe has raced both generations of champions and seen many talents come and go. But from his perspective, today’s competition is just as, if not more intense than it was when he started.

“It’s so hard to compare,” Hafertepe said. “I think now, guys are more cutthroat in today’s time just because everything is so equal. You know if you don’t get in clean air, you’re probably not getting around that guy and will have a really hard time passing him all race.”

While his mindset coming into race day stays the same, regardless of the competition he meets, part of his purpose in racing 410s is different. Hafertepe commonly uses these opportunities as a gauge to examine how well his car stacks up against the best in the nation, often taking what he learns and incorporating the information into his 360 Sprint Car program.

“I think that’s probably the hardest thing for us, when you get going really good at what you’re doing; we’ve been so successful with the 360, you kinda just stay on the same page with what you’ve been doing with that and you kinda get left behind,” Hafertepe said. “I think the last couple years — I didn’t realize it as much as I did last year — that’s something that we’ve really worked on is to try to stay in the loop and try to stay up on our program because I felt like for two-three-four years, we were kinda behind what was going on.

“We really needed to figure out some of the changes we needed to make with our program. And I think we’ve been doing a really good job of that lately.”

Hafertepe is the current American Sprint Car Series points leader, still searching for his first Feature win of the season. But this weekend, it’s full-speed-ahead with the World of Outlaws, putting up another challenge to the national Sprint Car stars as one of the best talents from the “Lone Star State.”

“We like our chances to run well,” Hafertepe said. “To say we’re gonna run second or first or whatever that may be, it’s real farfetched to say that when you race with the World of Outlaws. We take the same mindset every time we go out and race with those guys. We unload, try to prepare the fastest car we can and try to make the best decisions throughout the night.

“If the Dash Draw goes your way, great. If you make the Dash, great. You can only control what you can control. So, basically, we’ll spend some time in the shop trying to prepare the best thing we think is going to be to lay out on the racetrack, and hopefully we hit it right.”

Tickets to see the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars at Kennedale Speedway Park are on sale now; click here to purchase.

If you can’t be at the track, how can you watch World of Outlaws and American Sprint Car Series action in 2026? Every lap is broadcast live on DIRTVision.