National series July events news 2010-06-29

Lucas Oil Sprint Cars Set to Go North & Northwest!

TULSA, Okla. (June 29, 2010) -- As the summer heat starts kicking in, the Lucas Oil ASCS National series presented by K&N Filters is set to go north to South Dakota and then northwest for the second annual swing through Washington and Oregon over the upcoming weekends.

And, after taking 17 full-time teams to the left coast in last year's inaugural journey, at least 18 full-time Lucas Oil ASCS teams have confirmed intentions to make the entire trek to South Dakota and then on to Washington and Oregon.

With the series $60,000 championship battle taking shape, a total of 19 teams have competed in all nine events completed thus far as they battle for their portion of the $250,000 Lucas Oil Sprint Car points fund that will be distributed at year's end.

The upcoming handful of events at I-90 Speedway, Grays Harbor Raceway and Cottage Grove Speedway will undoubtedly play a role in perhaps the most hard fought championship battle in series history.

The journey North kicks off Saturday night, July 10, with the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars making a fourth annual stop at Hartford, South Dakota's I-90 Speedway, where Jason Johnson, Tony Bruce, Jr., and Gary Wright have each enjoyed victory lane in the past three visits.

From there, at least 18 of the 19 top-ranked Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car teams will make the 1,500 mile journey to Elma, Washington's Grays Harbor Raceway on July 16-17 for the Fourth Annual Fred Brownfield Memorial, an event in which Texas shoe Travis Rilat pocketed $10,092 last year after Oregon's Roger Crockett topped the prelim. This year's Fred Brownfield Memorial once again boasts a $10,092 winner's take.

The following weekend, July 23-24, the Lucas Oil Sprint Cars travel south to Oregon's Cottage Grove Speedway where last year's title tilt between Shane Stewart and Jason Johnson reached the boiling point following a "Ragin' Cajun" triumph in the finale after Stewart topped the opening night.

Leading the way into this year's Lucas Oil ASCS trek North and Northwest is 20-year-old Broken Arrow, OK, shoe Brady Bacon, who will be visiting all three tracks for the first time.

After becoming just the sixth driver in ASCS National history to reel off three wins in a row, Bacon holds a slim 10-point lead over 2008 series champion Jason Johnson of Eunice, LA.

Reigning Lucas Oil ASCS champion Shane Stewart of Bixby, OK, is just 65 points out of the lead, with a tightly-grouped handful of drivers next on the point charts including Tony Bruce, Jr. (Liberal, KS), 20-year-old Jack Dover (Springfield, NE), three-time ASCS National champion Tim Crawley (Benton, AR), 2001 ASCS National champ Zach Chappell (Talala, OK) and Danny Wood (Norman, OK).

Twenty-two-year-old Kyle Hirst of Loomis, CA, leads a strong group of Brodix Rookie of the Year contenders with a ranking of ninth, just 36 points ahead of fellow rookie shoe Matt Covington, a 20-year-old out of Glenpool, OK.

Defending Brownfield Memorial winner Travis Rilat of Forney, TX, is just outside the top ten in eleventh, with last year's I-90 Speedway victor Gary Wright of Hooks, TX, in twelfth.

Little Rock native Ricky Logan and Elida, OH, shoe Darren Long are both set for a second trip north and northwest, with Rookie contenders Dustin Morgan (Tulsa, OK), Austen Wheatley (Lake Stevens, WA), Justyn Cox (Clarksburg, CA), Channin Tankersley (Highlands, TX) and Andrew Marshala (Shawnee, OK) rounding out the full-time roster of the nation's most competitive touring Sprint Car series.

The Lucas Oil ASCS traveling forces will take on all variety of top contenders along the way. Each track boasts its own local aces, such as Chad Meyer (who nearly knocked off the National forces at I-90 last year), Glenn Borden, Jr. (four-time and reigning Grays Harbor Raceway champion) and Dale Smith (multi-time Cottage Grove Speedway champ that ran fourth with the Lucas Oil ASCS National series last year).

Also adding to the mix will be top Midwest contenders at I-90 Speedway and the stout ASCS Northwest forces at both Grays Harbor and Cottage Grove.

Through the opening nine events of the 2010 season, the Lucas Oil ASCS National Series presented by K&N Filters has averaged 48.6 competitors per race night.

-source: ascs