Jason Martin Wins Arrowhead Finale for First ASCS National Tour Victory of 2024
Photo by Emily Schwanke
COLCORD, Okla. — Reigning American Sprint Car Series National Tour champion Jason Martin’s title defense has been nothing short of a nightmare – until Friday night at Arrowhead Speedway.
After a season that has included crashes, blown engines, mechanical gremlins and a missed race due to injury, Martin got back in Victory Lane for the first time in 2024 and pocketed $10,000 for his efforts in the Green Country Clash.
“You’ve just got to keep yourself motivated,” Martin said. “You’ve got people around you that support you and keep telling you that you can do it and giving you the confidence and faith that you can keep coming back. I’m probably the hardest on myself of anybody, but you just keep working at it.”
The Feature began with Seth Bergman and Brady Baker sharing the front row, with Baker grabbing the early lead after racing side-by-side with Bergman through the first two laps. Nearly the entire field migrated to the high side in the opening laps and ran single-file before Emilio Hoover and Danny Smith tangled in Turn 4 to bring out the first yellow flag of the race four laps in.
The top two went unchanged on the restart, but behind them Garrett Benson bounced up into the Turn 4 wall while running third, sending his car over and tumbling down the banking into the path of Roger Crockett and Matt Covington. Covington’s damage was light enough to continue without making repairs, but Benson and Crockett were done for the night.
Baker, Bergman and Covington made a beeline to the top once more to lock down the top three spots when the race resumed. Even after catching the rear of the field for the first time, Baker looked unaffected by the traffic as he continued to ride the cushion while maintaining a half-straightaway lead over Bergman.
Five-time Series champion Sam Hafertepe Jr. managed to wrestle the third spot away from Covington but only enjoyed it briefly, as on Lap 22 he jumped the cushion in Turn 4 and pounded the wall. The No. 15H team was able to fix the damage in the work area, but Hafertepe was only able to drive up to 13th by the checkers.
The ensuing restart was a mirror image of each prior one, as Baker instantly went to the cushion with Bergman in tow. But before he could build a gap, Brandon Anderson and Alex Sewell got together in Turns 3 and 4 to necessitate another red flag.
The final restart of the race was when Martin emerged as a contender for the victory. He had driven from 11th to fourth in the first 23 laps of the event and rode the bottom lane to clear Covington for third with six to go. The No. 36 remained on the low side in getting around Bergman two laps later, giving himself four laps to find a way around Baker.
After battling side-by-side for a lap with Baker on top and Martin hugging the tractor tires, Baker’s youth ended up being no match for Martin’s experience, as the Liberal, KS native drove away to the 14th National Tour win of his career.
Martin said he had already written off the 2024 season after all the misfortune he’s been through, but the five-figure payday makes him optimistic about his chances to close out the year in strong fashion and enter the 2025 season on a hot streak.
“Our season’s pretty much screwed,” Martin said. “We’ve had so much dumb stuff happen. I’m already preparing for next year, getting cars, parts and motors freshened and everything’s getting ready to go. We’re going to have an early start, so going to try and get healthy, stay mentally strong and just start 2025 on a different note.”
Although Baker didn’t have enough to hold off Martin in the final run to the finish, his ability to beat a driver of Bergman’s caliber time after time throughout the race solidified his status as a rising star in the Sprint Car universe.
“So many reds, the tires probably glazed over,” Baker said. “I’m proud of my guys, we showed a lot of speed here. My Mom, my Dad, Cash and Brandon, can’t thank them enough, they’ve been working their butts off.”
Bergman conceded that even if he found a way around Baker before the final restart, Martin’s late-race prowess would have likely still been too much to manage. Nevertheless, his third podium in as many nights this week further extended his advantage over Hafertepe to 111 markers with eight full-points events remaining in the season.
“I don’t know if anybody was really going to beat that,” Bergman said regarding Martin’s drive to victory in the closing laps. “I think maybe if I got around Baker, you never know, probably run second if Jason does that again. I tried the bottom early, it was still a little greasy and Baker drove around me, so I kind of abandoned the bottom thinking it was getting thin and slow.
“The run to the end there, Jason, he just found something, made it work, and he drove off and won the race.”
Hank Davis got around Covington late to finish fourth, while the No. 95 settled for fifth.
Andrew Deal started 22nd and passed 13 cars to end the night ninth and clinch the Hard Charger Award.
UP NEXT: The ASCS National Tour will join forces with the USCS for the two-night World Short Track Challenge at Riverside International Speedway in West Memphis, AR on Sept. 27-28. Can’t make it? Watch every lap live on DIRTVision.
RESULTS
A Feature 1 (35 Laps): 1. 36-Jason Martin[11]; 2. 71-Brady Baker[3]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[1]; 4. 2C-Hank Davis[8]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[4]; 6. 1-Sean McClelland[9]; 7. 14-Jordon Mallett[14]; 8. 10-Landon Britt[13]; 9. 15D-Andrew Deal[22]; 10. 16G-Austyn Gossel[12]; 11. 45X-Kyler Johnson[17]; 12. 20-Noah Harris[16]; 13. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 14. 2J-Zach Blurton[21]; 15. 88-Terry Easum[23]; 16. 938-Bradley Fezard[20]; 17. 8-Alex Sewell[18]; 18. 5S-Danny Smith[15]; 19. 2B-Garrett Benson[2]; 20. 11-Roger Crockett[7]; 21. 29-Emilio Hoover[10]; 22. 2W-Whit Gastineau[5]; 23. (DQ) 55B-Brandon Anderson[19]
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 20-Noah Harris[2]; 2. 45X-Kyler Johnson[1]; 3. 8-Alex Sewell[3]; 4. 55B-Brandon Anderson[7]; 5. 938-Bradley Fezard[6]; 6. 2J-Zach Blurton[4]; 7. 15D-Andrew Deal[8]; 8. 88-Terry Easum[12]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante[10]; 10. 31-Casey Wills[5]; 11. 79-Tim Kent[15]; 12. 11D-Dominic White[11]; 13. 12W-Dale Wester[9]; 14. 30X-Larry Bratti[13]; 15. (DNS) 2-Brekton Crouch; 16. (DNS) 33-Alan Zoutte
Dash 1 (5 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[3]; 2. 2B-Garrett Benson[1]; 3. 71-Brady Baker[5]; 4. 95-Matt Covington[6]; 5. 2W-Whit Gastineau[2]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[2]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 36-Jason Martin[5]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[3]; 6. 8-Alex Sewell[8]; 7. 20-Noah Harris[7]; 8. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante[9]; 10. 79-Tim Kent[11]; 11. 33-Alan Zoutte[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 2W-Whit Gastineau[2]; 2. 2C-Hank Davis[1]; 3. 29-Emilio Hoover[3]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 5. 5S-Danny Smith[9]; 6. 31-Casey Wills[8]; 7. 938-Bradley Fezard[5]; 8. 15D-Andrew Deal[7]; 9. 11D-Dominic White[6]; 10. 2-Brekton Crouch[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 2B-Garrett Benson[1]; 2. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 3. 71-Brady Baker[4]; 4. 16G-Austyn Gossel[3]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett[5]; 6. 2J-Zach Blurton[7]; 7. 55B-Brandon Anderson[6]; 8. 12W-Dale Wester[10]; 9. 88-Terry Easum[8]; 10. 30X-Larry Bratti[9]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:11.360[5]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, 00:11.440[7]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, 00:11.520[6]; 4. 10-Landon Britt, 00:11.632[2]; 5. 36-Jason Martin, 00:11.665[3]; 6. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 00:11.666[10]; 7. 20-Noah Harris, 00:11.869[9]; 8. 8-Alex Sewell, 00:11.928[4]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 00:11.977[8]; 10. 33-Alan Zoutte, 00:12.535[11]; 11. 79-Tim Kent, 00:12.717[1]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, 00:11.547[1]; 2. 2C-Hank Davis, 00:11.753[5]; 3. 2W-Whit Gastineau, 00:11.876[7]; 4. 29-Emilio Hoover, 00:11.901[4]; 5. 938-Bradley Fezard, 00:12.097[6]; 6. 11D-Dominic White, 00:12.114[3]; 7. 15D-Andrew Deal, 00:12.121[10]; 8. 31-Casey Wills, 00:12.264[2]; 9. 5S-Danny Smith, 00:12.402[9]; 10. 2-Brekton Crouch, 00:12.464[8]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 71-Brady Baker, 00:11.737[3]; 2. 2B-Garrett Benson, 00:11.803[4]; 3. 1-Sean McClelland, 00:11.946[9]; 4. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 00:11.950[10]; 5. 14-Jordon Mallett, 00:12.069[7]; 6. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 00:12.125[1]; 7. 2J-Zach Blurton, 00:12.176[6]; 8. 88-Terry Easum, 00:12.301[8]; 9. 30X-Larry Bratti, 00:12.372[2]; 10. 12W-Dale Wester, 00:12.487[5]
CURRENT ASCS NATIONAL TOUR STANDINGS
Points Updated: September 14, 2024
Pos # Competitor Hometown Points Gap Wins Top 5 Top 10 Features
1 23 Seth Bergman Snohomish, WA 3045 - 5 18 20 22
2 15H Sam Hafertepe Jr Sunnyvale, TX 2934 -111 9 16 17 21
3 95 Matt Covington Glenpool, OK 2805 -240 0 12 20 22
4 2C Hank Davis Sand Springs, OK 2673 -372 2 15 16 20
5 15D Andrew Deal Caney, KS 2539 -506 0 5 12 20
6 36 Jason Martin Liberal, KS 2519 -526 1 8 15 21
7 10 Landon Britt Memphis, TN 2468 -577 0 3 12 21
8 2J Zach Blurton Quinter, KS 2428 -617 0 2 7 21
9 45X Kyler Johnson Quinter, KS 2416 -629 0 2 8 20
10 88 Terry Easum Broken Arrow, OK 2313 -732 1 1 3 20
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