Bacon Victorious With Lucas Oil ASCS At Texas Motor Speedway

Brady Bacon Victorious With Lucas Oil ASCS At Texas Motor Speedway

Story By: Bryan Hulbert/ASCS

Photo By: Vince Vellella/ASCS

FT. WORTH, Texas (April 7, 2018) Making his first trip to Victory Lane at the Texas Motor Speedway, Oklahoma’s Brady Bacon notched his 14th career win with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com at Tony Stewart presents the Vankor Texas Sprint Car Nationals.
“This was great to race here this weekend. I’m from Oklahoma originally but I don’t get to race down here close to home very much so this was special having my parents and some of my life-long friends here. I just wish my wife could and kids could have been here but I’m sure they were watching,” stated Brady on his win in the Sawblade.com No. 28x.
Brady Bacon was the class of the field on Saturday night for this first career victory at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. (Vince Vellella/ASCS)
Having to thrash on the car after the Heat Race due to a failed Steering system, it left little time to focus on setup, but nevertheless, Brady tore through the field from seventh to pick up the win.
“We had to change the steering gear, pump, box, just everything but these guys busted their butts and got us back out there,” explained Brady. “I just have to thank James Cooper for the opportunity to run his car and thankfully we were able to put it all together and get the win. It’s always good to get one this early in the year.”
Three attempts at the green as a false start was followed by a red for Wayne Johnson, who was unharmed after flipping off the second turn, the chase was on at the front of the field as Sam Hafertepe, Jr. led the way over Tony Stewart and Seth Bergman. Quickly into slower traffic, things went awry in an instant for Hafertepe while working Lap 7 as evasive action to avoid a crash was not enough. Going over another driver’s right rear tire, the No. 15h flipped into the turn-four wall. Sam was unharmed but unable to continue.
Avoiding the crash, Tony Stewart positioned his Rush Truck Center No. 14 at the front of the lineup. Steadily pulling away after the restart, traffic came into the picture just after the 10th lap. Working past Seth Bergman for the runner-up spot, traffic would play to the advantage of Brady Bacon as the No. 28x blasted into the lead on Lap 13.
Caution on Lap 15 as a line came apart on the power-steering of Bergman’s No. 23, the restart put Sammy Swindell in the mix with Tony Stewart as Bacon turned up the heat. Steadily pulling away, the race for second went to Swindell as Stewart slowed with mechanical issues on Lap 21 that sent the No. 14 to the Pits.
Remaining under green the remainder of the race, Brady Bacon ran to the checkered flag 2.171 seconds ahead of Sammy Swindell with Johnny Herrera coming up to round out the podium in the Mesilla Valley Transportation No. 45x. Racing through the first B-Feature, Travis Rilat stormed ahead 13 positions to earn the CP-Carrillo Hard Charger of the Night with Brandon Hanks crossing fifth.
From 18th, Skylar Gee rolled to sixth with Jamie Ball also making moves on the field from 16th to seventh as Derek Hagar crossed eighth. From 21st, Robbie Price found good speed to finish ninth with Roger Crockett completing the top-ten.
Another field of 35 drivers made the call for the second night of Tony Stewart presents the Vankor Texas Sprint Car Nationals. Heat Race wins went to Brady Bacon, Christopher Bell, Brandon Hanks, and Johnny Herrera. B-Features were topped by Matt Covington and Skylar Gee. One Regional Provisional was used by Alex Sewell.
Up next of the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by Sawblade.com is three new tracks for the National Tour with Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, Ky. on April 27, followed by Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Penn. on May 4, and Selinsgrove Speedway in Selinsgrove, Penn. on May 5.
For other news, notes, and information on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the Regional Tours that make up the over 150 across the ASCS Nation in 2018, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com, follow on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Twitter (@LucasOilASCS).
Race Results:
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Red River Region
Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track – Ft. Worth, Texas
Tony Stewart presents the Vankor Texas Sprint Car Nationals
Saturday, April 7, 2018
Car Count: 35
Event Count: 36
Heat Races (Top 12 in Passing Points advance to the A-Feature)
Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 28X-Brady Bacon, [1]; 2. 17-Derek Hagar, [3]; 3. 17W-Harli White, [4]; 4. 05-Zane Hendricks, [2]; 5. 76-Zane Lawrence, [6]; 6. (DNF) 7M-Chance Morton, [5]; 7. (DNF) 8M-Kade Morton, [8]; 8. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [7]
Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 31B-Christopher Bell, [1]; 2. 11-Roger Crockett, [2]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [4]; 4. 95-Matt Covington, [5]; 5. 28-Scott Bogucki, [3]; 6. 5X-Tyson Hall, [6]; 7. 9-Bobby Breen, [7]; 8. 56X-Mark Chisholm, [8]
Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 84-Brandon Hanks, [1]; 2. 91T-Tyler Thomas, [3]; 3. 1J-Danny Jennings, [2]; 4. 99-Skylar Gee, [4]; 5. 21-Robbie Price, [5]; 6. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [7]; 7. 44-Chris Martin, [8]; 8. 26M-Fred Mattox, [6]
Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [1]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [3]; 3. 5J-Jamie Ball, [2]; 4. 1-Travis Rilat, [4]; 5. 8-Alex Sewell, [5]; 6. 12W-Dale Wester, [6]; (DNS) 6-Dustin Gates,
BMRS B-Main (Top 3 in each advance to the A-Feature)
B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 95-Matt Covington, [1]; 2. 1-Travis Rilat, [2]; 3. 28-Scott Bogucki, [5]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell, [4]; 5. 12W-Dale Wester, [6]; 6. 05-Zane Hendricks, [3]; 7. (DNF) 9-Bobby Breen, [7]; 8. (DNF) 26M-Fred Mattox, [8]; (DNS) 7M-Chance Morton, ; (DNS) 77X-Alex Hill,
B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 99-Skylar Gee, [1]; 2. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [4]; 3. 21-Robbie Price, [3]; 4. 76-Zane Lawrence, [2]; 5. 5X-Tyson Hall, [5]; 6. 44-Chris Martin, [6]; 7. 6-Dustin Gates, [8]; 8. 56X-Mark Chisholm, [7]; 9. 8M-Kade Morton, [9]
Protect the Harvest A-Feature:
A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 28X-Brady Bacon, [7]; 2. 3-Sammy Swindell, [4]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [5]; 4. 1-Travis Rilat, [17]; 5. 84-Brandon Hanks, [6]; 6. 99-Skylar Gee, [18]; 7. 5J-Jamie Ball, [16]; 8. 17-Derek Hagar, [8]; 9. 21-Robbie Price, [21]; 10. 11-Roger Crockett, [12]; 11. 17W-Harli White, [13]; 12. 1J-Danny Jennings, [15]; 13. 52-Blake Hahn, [14]; 14. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [20]; 15. (DNF) 14-Tony Stewart, [2]; 16. (DNF) 91T-Tyler Thomas, [10]; 17. (DNF) 8-Alex Sewell, [22]; 18. (DNF) 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 19. (DNF) 31B-Christopher Bell, [9]; 20. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [1]; 21. (DNF) 28-Scott Bogucki, [19]; 22. (DNF) 2C-Wayne Johnson, [11]; (DNS) 95-Matt Covington,
Lap Leader(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr, 1-6; Tony Stewart 7-12; Brady Bacon 13-30
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Travis Rilat +13
FSR High Point Driver: Brady Bacon
Provisional(s): Alex Sewell (Regional)
2018 ASCS National Driver Points (Top 15): 1. Sammy Swindell 399; 2. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 376; 3. Johnny Herrera 364; 4. Seth Bergman 354; 5. Blake Hahn 345; 6. Danny Jennings 330; 7. Wayne Johnson 326; 8. Roger Crockett 325; 9. Jamie Ball 319; 10. Scott Bogucki 319; 11. Skylar Gee 37; 12. Robbie Price 314; 13. Harli White 309; 14. Matt Covington 305; 15. Tony Bruce, Jr. 295;