SAPULPA, OK (October 23, 2026) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. has come a long way from his early days as a hotshot 16-year-old, racing against the heroes who inspired him in the American Sprint Car Series.
On Saturday night at Creek County Speedway, the Sunnyvale, TX native gave the next group of rising stars a reason to aspire to be like him. Hafertepe scored his 95th career Feature victory en route to his seventh ASCS National Tour championship – becoming the all-time championship record holder with the Series.
While the night began with managing the points margin to title rival Matt Covington in the first half of the 40-lap Feature after an eighth-place start, his motivation to finish as champion changed when leaders Garrett Benson and Alex Sewell came into view.
“I was just riding around there for a while, then the 95 got by me,” Hafertepe said. “I thought, ‘Alright, we’re gonna have to do something different.’ I didn’t want to win this (championship) just riding. That ain’t me. We were probably a tick off all night, and not the type of track I should be winning on. But that was desire, will, and determination. When the 95 got me and saw the leaders, I was like, ‘Man, f*** this. I came here to win this race, and that’s what we were gonna do.’”
The points battle leading up to Saturday night had rising tensions from the start. Hafertepe, Covington, and 2024 champ Seth Bergman each visited Victory Lane in 2026, and their close-quarters battle produced a share of stressful moments for all three.
While a close fight to the finish is thrilling for fans in the grandstands, inside the cockpit, each of the three faced pressure to finish the year hoisting the coveted Emmett Hahn Championship Trophy.
“It is stressful because you just don’t know a lot of times,” Hafertepe said. “Sometimes, nothing bad happens, and you’re just straight up racing. Sometimes, you can blow a motor, you could cut a tire, you could wreck another car; I mean, there’s so many variables. All of those come into your mind because all year we’ve had blown motors, been taken out several times and wrecked on our own. But it’s racing, and anything can happen.
“Do we think we have the best car and best team? Yeah, we think that. But at the end of the day, you still have to race the race and finish up on what you’re supposed to do. I think that’s the stressful side of it; you just never know what’s going to happen.”
Hafertepe received the most tests of perseverance en route to the championship. At the first trip to Creek County in June, he suffered the first DNF of 2026 with an expired motor. He responded by finishing runner-up to Seth Bergman at 81 Speedway, then swept The Big One at Belleville High Banks.
His second trial came after colliding with Covington at Batesville Motor Speedway. While Covington took the win, Hafertepe came back the next night at Texarkana 67 Speedway with a second-place result, then secured his 91st Series win at Dodge City Raceway Park.
Hafertepe’s last DNF of the year proved to be the biggest as a jump over the Big Sky Speedway cushion sent the No. 15H Triple X Chassis tumbling to start Frontier Speedweek. Hafertepe came back swinging by winning the following night for a $10,000 payday in the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial finale.
The 40-year-old squandered the field’s hopes of taking the championship away as he drove to four Feature wins in the last seven races, further cementing the team’s legacy of showing resiliency under pressure.
“Our team has a lot of confidence,” Hafertepe said. “I think when you’ve won something like 95 races, you know what your ability is. You know what your ability is, what you can do, and what you can achieve. There’s not another guy out here that’s won as much as me, and while that’s an advantage, it can also be the hardest thing.
“We’re never down, and we’re never out. We’re always able to rebound and write our own story. In racing, that’s what you do. You work hard, persevere through the bad times, and take advantage of the opportunities you’re given. We want to win, and there’s some sacrifices that come with that.”
Despite owning the most championships in Series history, his thoughts still linger about the trophies that have slipped away from his grasp. In the painful moments came lessons of how he could better perform in high-pressure situations.
As he continues to soak in the record-making accolade before 2027 appears on the horizon, Hafertepe recalls the figures and foundational moments that shaped one of the greatest careers in ASCS National Tour history.
“I felt like in 2024, when we lost to Seth, we won almost twice as many races as he did,” Hafertepe said. “It didn’t light a fire under me, but I felt like we were in a spot where we should not have lost the championship. I put pressure on myself that we should never lose. This year, I felt the same way. You could ask any guy in the pit area; everybody thinks we’re the car to beat. But you still have to live up to that.
“When I first started racing, Gary Wright was the man. Everybody would watch him, and they would want to be like him, drive a race car like him, and be as professional as he is. Man, I know I’ve tried, but I’m never gonna be a Gary Wright, and his stats speak for themselves. The late great Rick Ferkel once told me, ‘Sam, when you race, you race against the best people there at the time, and that’s all you can go against.’ Seven championships for anybody is something to be proud of, and we proved that we were well deserving of this championship.”
The newest chapter of the American Sprint Car Series will be written in 2027 when the new points season commences at Volusia Speedway Park for the opening weekend of the 57th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 4-6.
Where can you find info about Volusia? Click Here
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.
Sam Hafertepe Jr. Reflects on Career-Defining Seventh ASCS National Tour Championship SAPULPA, OK (October 23, 2026) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. has come a long way from his early days as a hotshot 16-year-old, racing against the heroes who inspired him in the American Sprint Car Series.
On Saturday night at Creek County Speedway, the Sunnyvale, TX native gave the next group of rising stars a reason to aspire to be like him. Hafertepe scored his 95th career Feature victory en route to his seventh ASCS National Tour championship – becoming the all-time championship record holder with the Series.
While the night began with managing the points margin to title rival Matt Covington in the first half of the 40-lap Feature after an eighth-place start, his motivation to finish as champion changed when leaders Garrett Benson and Alex Sewell came into view.
“I was just riding around there for a while, then the 95 got by me,” Hafertepe said. “I thought, ‘Alright, we’re gonna have to do something different.’ I didn’t want to win this (championship) just riding. That ain’t me. We were probably a tick off all night, and not the type of track I should be winning on. But that was desire, will, and determination. When the 95 got me and saw the leaders, I was like, ‘Man, f*** this. I came here to win this race, and that’s what we were gonna do.’”
The points battle leading up to Saturday night had rising tensions from the start. Hafertepe, Covington, and 2024 champ Seth Bergman each visited Victory Lane in 2026, and their close-quarters battle produced a share of stressful moments for all three.
While a close fight to the finish is thrilling for fans in the grandstands, inside the cockpit, each of the three faced pressure to finish the year hoisting the coveted Emmett Hahn Championship Trophy.
“It is stressful because you just don’t know a lot of times,” Hafertepe said. “Sometimes, nothing bad happens, and you’re just straight up racing. Sometimes, you can blow a motor, you could cut a tire, you could wreck another car; I mean, there’s so many variables. All of those come into your mind because all year we’ve had blown motors, been taken out several times and wrecked on our own. But it’s racing, and anything can happen.
“Do we think we have the best car and best team? Yeah, we think that. But at the end of the day, you still have to race the race and finish up on what you’re supposed to do. I think that’s the stressful side of it; you just never know what’s going to happen.”
Hafertepe received the most tests of perseverance en route to the championship. At the first trip to Creek County in June, he suffered the first DNF of 2026 with an expired motor. He responded by finishing runner-up to Seth Bergman at 81 Speedway, then swept The Big One at Belleville High Banks.
His second trial came after colliding with Covington at Batesville Motor Speedway. While Covington took the win, Hafertepe came back the next night at Texarkana 67 Speedway with a second-place result, then secured his 91st Series win at Dodge City Raceway Park.
Hafertepe’s last DNF of the year proved to be the biggest as a jump over the Big Sky Speedway cushion sent the No. 15H Triple X Chassis tumbling to start Frontier Speedweek. Hafertepe came back swinging by winning the following night for a $10,000 payday in the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial finale.
The 40-year-old squandered the field’s hopes of taking the championship away as he drove to four Feature wins in the last seven races, further cementing the team’s legacy of showing resiliency under pressure.
“Our team has a lot of confidence,” Hafertepe said. “I think when you’ve won something like 95 races, you know what your ability is. You know what your ability is, what you can do, and what you can achieve. There’s not another guy out here that’s won as much as me, and while that’s an advantage, it can also be the hardest thing.
“We’re never down, and we’re never out. We’re always able to rebound and write our own story. In racing, that’s what you do. You work hard, persevere through the bad times, and take advantage of the opportunities you’re given. We want to win, and there’s some sacrifices that come with that.”
Despite owning the most championships in Series history, his thoughts still linger about the trophies that have slipped away from his grasp. In the painful moments came lessons of how he could better perform in high-pressure situations.
As he continues to soak in the record-making accolade before 2027 appears on the horizon, Hafertepe recalls the figures and foundational moments that shaped one of the greatest careers in ASCS National Tour history.
“I felt like in 2024, when we lost to Seth, we won almost twice as many races as he did,” Hafertepe said. “It didn’t light a fire under me, but I felt like we were in a spot where we should not have lost the championship. I put pressure on myself that we should never lose. This year, I felt the same way. You could ask any guy in the pit area; everybody thinks we’re the car to beat. But you still have to live up to that.
“When I first started racing, Gary Wright was the man. Everybody would watch him, and they would want to be like him, drive a race car like him, and be as professional as he is. Man, I know I’ve tried, but I’m never gonna be a Gary Wright, and his stats speak for themselves. The late great Rick Ferkel once told me, ‘Sam, when you race, you race against the best people there at the time, and that’s all you can go against.’ Seven championships for anybody is something to be proud of, and we proved that we were well deserving of this championship.”
The newest chapter of the American Sprint Car Series will be written in 2027 when the new points season commences at Volusia Speedway Park for the opening weekend of the 57th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals on Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 4-6.
Where can you find info about Volusia? Click Here
Where can you watch every lap of the American Sprint Car Series? Live on DIRTVision.