Justin Peck Dominates ASCS at Central Arizona
Photo by Ron Pelton Jr
CASA GRANDE, Ariz.—Justin Peck and the Rudeen Racing team are on fire in the desert.
Peck, 27, of Monrovia, IN, drove the Rudeen Racing No. 26 to his second American Sprint Car Series Feature win in his last three starts at Central Arizona Raceway Saturday night, leading all 25 laps of the main event to bank his fifth career Series victory on night #3 of the inaugural Sonoran Clash.
The win comes one race after suffering a DNF while leading on night #2 of the two-weekend event last Sunday, when a flat right-front tire dashed Peck’s chances for a repeat after going to Victory Lane the night before. Across all three races, Peck has now led a combined 52 of the 80 total Feature laps contested.
In short, Peck has been the man to beat at the track, and showed exactly why Saturday night, jumping out to the early lead from the pole of the starting grid. For 25 laps, Peck held the top spot, relinquishing it only once on Lap 2 to Sam Hafertepe Jr. before the caution flag was thrown, negating Hafertepe’s pass.
After a second caution period with 8 laps complete, Peck took off with Hafertepe following not far behind until lapped traffic came into the picture on Lap 16. Peck made his moves without much hesitation while Hafertepe took more time getting around the slower cars, widening the gap between the two.
“I was really kinda nervous about it because I kinda figured everyone was rolling around the middle-bottom area, and it seemed like that was the only spot you could make grip,” Peck said. “For the most part, I was wrong because those first couple guys that I got to were higher on the racetrack and I was shocked to see that. I was able to get by a couple of them pretty quick.”
Good decisions in traffic gave Peck the advantage needed to open up a gap of over two seconds by the checkered flag while Hafertepe settled for a runner-up finish.
“Hats off to my guys — for me to stand here and say that I didn’t feel like we were perfect tonight and still be standing up here with a W is pretty awesome,” Peck said. “It’s just a testament to our race program. We’ve got Kevin and Monika Rudeen here today, car owners on this thing. They give us a first-class operation and it’s our job to go out here and win races, and I’m glad we could do that for them here tonight.”
JJ Hickle held his spot on the podium throughout the event to finish third while 2024 Series Rookie of the Year Hank Davis climbed three spots to finish fourth and 15-year-old Levi Hillier completed the top five.
UP NEXT - The American Sprint Car Series is back in action at Central Arizona Raceway for the finale of the Sonoran Clash on Sunday, March 1. Tickets will be sold at the track.
If you can’t be there in person, how can you watch the race? Every American Sprint Car Series event is broadcast live on DIRTVision.
ASCS NATIONA TOUR SRPINT CARS (29 entries)
Saturday, February 28, 2026
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 3. 17W-JJ Hickle[2]; 4. 17GP-Hank Davis[7]; 5. 26R-Levi Hillier[3]; 6. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 7. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]; 8. 29K-Levi Kuntz[10]; 9. 23-Seth Bergman[11]; 10. 2B-Garrett Benson[15]; 11. 15-Nick Parker[17]; 12. 88C-Brogan Carder[23]; 13. 34-Sterling Cling[12]; 14. 11J-Wyatt Miller[13]; 15. 88-Terry Easum[9]; 16. 16G-Austyn Gossel[24]; 17. 3-Cole Schroeder[25]; 18. 42-Caleb Saiz[21]; 19. 88R-Ryder Laplante[22]; 20. 13-Elijah Gile[14]; 21. 8-Jake Helsel[18]; 22. 23N-Skylar Gee[19]; 23. 2-Whit Gastineau[8]; 24. 31BW-Braxton Weger[16]; 25. 77X-Alex Hill[20]
Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 31BW-Braxton Weger[2]; 2. 15-Nick Parker[4]; 3. 8-Jake Helsel[1]; 4. 23N-Skylar Gee[3]; 5. 77X-Alex Hill[7]; 6. 42-Caleb Saiz[5]; 7. 88R-Ryder Laplante[11]; 8. 7OH-Bryan Ledbetter Jr[6]; 9. 01-Carson McCarl[8]; 10. 88C-Brogan Carder[14]; 11. 16G-Austyn Gossel[10]; 12. 3-Cole Schroeder[13]; 13. 4D-David Dykes[9]; 14. 4-Tuesday Scearce[12]
Dash (5 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[2]; 2. 17W-JJ Hickle[1]; 3. 26R-Levi Hillier[4]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[5]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[3]; 6. 45X-Kyler Johnson[6]
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 2-Whit Gastineau[2]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 5. 11J-Wyatt Miller[3]; 6. 31BW-Braxton Weger[6]; 7. 42-Caleb Saiz[9]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill[7]; 9. 16G-Austyn Gossel[8]; 10. 3-Cole Schroeder[10]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 17W-JJ Hickle[2]; 2. 17GP-Hank Davis[1]; 3. 26R-Levi Hillier[4]; 4. 34-Sterling Cling[3]; 5. 13-Elijah Gile[5]; 6. 8-Jake Helsel[6]; 7. 15-Nick Parker[7]; 8. 01-Carson McCarl[8]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante[9]; 10. 88C-Brogan Carder[10]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington[1]; 2. 88-Terry Easum[2]; 3. 29K-Levi Kuntz[3]; 4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[4]; 5. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 6. 23N-Skylar Gee[6]; 7. 7OH-Bryan Ledbetter Jr[8]; 8. 4D-David Dykes[9]; 9. 4-Tuesday Scearce[7]
Qualifying 1 (2 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 13.931[1]; 2. 26-Justin Peck, 13.972[2]; 3. 2-Whit Gastineau, 14.095[7]; 4. 11J-Wyatt Miller, 14.110[8]; 5. 23-Seth Bergman, 14.133[4]; 6. 31BW-Braxton Weger, 14.242[10]; 7. 77X-Alex Hill, 14.295[5]; 8. 16G-Austyn Gossel, 14.311[6]; 9. 42-Caleb Saiz, 14.506[9]; 10. 3-Cole Schroeder, 14.540[3]
Qualifying 2 (2 Laps): 1. 26R-Levi Hillier, 14.052[1]; 2. 17GP-Hank Davis, 14.090[8]; 3. 17W-JJ Hickle, 14.182[3]; 4. 34-Sterling Cling, 14.185[10]; 5. 13-Elijah Gile, 14.199[4]; 6. 8-Jake Helsel, 14.241[6]; 7. 15-Nick Parker, 14.300[2]; 8. 01-Carson McCarl, 14.341[9]; 9. 88R-Ryder Laplante, 14.344[5]; 10. 88C-Brogan Carder, 14.544[7]
Qualifying 3 (2 Laps): 1. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 14.001[8]; 2. 95-Matt Covington, 14.098[3]; 3. 88-Terry Easum, 14.265[2]; 4. 29K-Levi Kuntz, 14.308[1]; 5. 2B-Garrett Benson, 14.341[6]; 6. 23N-Skylar Gee, 14.343[4]; 7. 4-Tuesday Scearce, 14.469[7]; 8. 7OH-Bryan Ledbetter Jr, 14.759[5]; 9. 4D-David Dykes, 15.870[9]
CURRENT ASCS NATIONAL TOUR STANDINGS
Points Updated: February 28, 2026
Pos. No. Driver Hometown Points Gap Starts Wins Top 5s Top 10s
1 15H Sam Hafertepe Sunnyvale, TX 529 6 0 4 5
2 95 Matt Covington Glenpool, OK 514 -15 6 1 2 3
3 45X Kyler Johnson Quinter, KS 472 -57 5 0 1 3
4 17GP Hank Davis Sand Springs, OK 445 -84 6 0 2 2
5 23 Seth Bergman Snohomish, WA 439 -90 5 0 0 3
6 2 Whit Gastineau Moore, OK 425 -104 6 0 0 3
7 88R Ryder Laplante Calera, OK 416 -113 5 0 0 2
8 26 Justin Peck Monrovia, IN 389 -140 3 2 2 2
9 26R Levi Hillier Burlington, WA 385 -144 3 0 3 3
10 88C Brogan Carder Sioux Falls, SD 379 -150 5 0 0 0
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