Joey Saldana Unstoppable With Lucas Oil ASCS At Cocopah Speedway

11/11/2017

ASCS

Joey Saldana Unstoppable With Lucas Oil ASCS At Cocopah Speedway

(Image Credit: Ron Gilson)

SOMERTON, Ariz. (November 10, 2017) Getting the call to race 48-hours before the start of the Lucas Oil ASCS Cocopah Nationals, Indiana’s Joey Saldana answered the call with victory in the team’s second night of competition with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series National Tour presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network at the Cocopah Speedway.

“I was not supposed to be here driving this. Tayler [Malsam] was supposed to be here,” said Saldana when asked about the team’s formation and quick trip to Victory Lane.

“He’s had some concussion protocol stuff, and he felt that he wasn’t ready to drive. I was actually driving home from Charlotte when Kevin Rudeen called and said he was buying a plane ticket, Kevin wasn’t racing Yuma, if you want to come you can drive the car so really, it all happened 48-hours before this three-race deal started.”

Drawing ninth in his Heat Race to start off Friday night, Saldana ran to fourth, which set the Rudeen Racing No. 26 up sixth in the night’s second Qualifier. Advancing three more spots, the overall Passing Point total put Joey starting third in the A-Feature.

Racing past Seth Bergman on the opening lap for the race lead, Joey set a torrid pace as the leaders raced into traffic on Lap 7. Working top-shelf around the Cocopah Speedway, the entrance to the first turn brought Bergman back into play as the two swapped the lead for just a moment before Joey was able to race back to the top spot.

“It was crazy. On an open track, or if you could get the lapped car to peel off the top, you could see and make a nice corner, but if you tried going in behind another car, or someone hit it wrong it would blow a bunch of dust up and it blended in with the wall,” commented Saldana on the challenge the corner presented.

“As a driver, you don’t want to go to high but you don’t want to run to low and hit the hole, but if you missed your mark, and I mean, off a front tire. Just 8-10 inches, you were going to hit it, and guess what. I was off. I did not hit my marks, but luckily we saved it and got back to the front.”

Ripping two and three wide through traffic from there on, Joey Saldana was unchallenged in the non-stop, 25 lap A-Feature; building a 2.569 second buffer over the No. 23 of Seth Bergman at the drop of the checkered flag.

Swapping spots with Seth Bergman from Friday night, Aaron Reutzel used traffic to his advantage as the race drew to a close to grab third. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. crossed fourth with Wayne Johnson making up the top-five. Jason Solwold sixth was trailed by California’s Mitchell Faccinto with Johnny Herrera, Travis Rilat, and Lucas Wolfe making the top-ten.

With event points tallied, Seth Bergman (368) has earned the pole in Saturday’s $5,000 to win A-Feature with Aaron Reutzel (359) joining him on the front row. The remaining six drivers locked in include Travis Rilat (345), Joey Saldana (341), Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (340), Wayne Johnson (326), Jason Solwold (316), and Johnny Herrera (306).

With 35 drivers on hand, Heat Races went to Travis Rilat, Aaron Reutzel, Mitchell Faccinto, and Billy Chester. Qualifiers were topped by Sam Hafertepe, Jr., Johnny Herrera, and Seth Bergman. B-Main wins went to Sammy Swindell and Harli White.

Racing continues on Saturday, November 11, 2017 with racing getting underway at 7:30 P.M. (MST).

For continued updates on the American Sprint Car Series, from the National Tour to any of the seven regional tours that make up the over 150 races across the ASCS Nation in 2017, log onto http://www.ascsracing.com. Make sure to like the American Sprint Car Series on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/LucasOilASCS, follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/LucasOilASCS, and check out our Instagram @LucasOilASCS.

Race Results:

Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour
ASCS Southwest Region
Cocopah Speedway - Somerton, Ariz.
Friday, November 10, 2017

Car Count: 35
Event Count: 36

Heat Races (Top 30 in Passing Points advance to Qualifiers)

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Travis Rilat, [1]; 2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [4]; 3. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [2]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [7]; 5. 96-Greg Hamilton, [3]; 6. 224-Sammy Swindell, [5]; 7. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [8]; 8. 90-Lance Norick, [9]; 9. 29-Darrell Sickles, [6]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [2]; 2. 3-J.J. Hickle, [4]; 3. 77X-Alex Hill, [3]; 4. 17W-Harli White, [6]; 5. 21-Robbie Price, [1]; 6. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [7]; 7. 01-Josh Shipley, [9]; 8. 0-Ned Powers, [5]; 9. 95-Matt Covington, [8]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, [1]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman, [3]; 3. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [2]; 4. 26-Joey Saldana, [9]; 5. 18S-Justin Sanders, [4]; 6. 17G-Dustin Gates, [6]; 7. 2L-Logan Forler, [5]; 8. 9R-Reece Goetz, [7]; 9. 14-Cody Sickles, [8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 2B-Billy Chester III, [1]; 2. 18-Jason Solwold, [4]; 3. 74-Colton Hardy, [2]; 4. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [3]; 5. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith, [6]; 6. 91-Chase Goetz, [7]; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, [5]; (DNS) 52-Blake Hahn,

Hoosier Tire Qualifiers (Top 16 in combined Passing Points advance to the A-Main)

Qualifier 1 (8 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [3]; 2. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [1]; 3. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [2]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [6]; 5. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, [4]; 6. 224-Sammy Swindell, [9]; 7. 3-J.J. Hickle, [5]; 8. 2L-Logan Forler, [10]; 9. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [7]; 10. 01-Josh Shipley, [8]

Qualifier 2 (8 Laps): 1. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [2]; 2. 18-Jason Solwold, [5]; 3. 26-Joey Saldana, [6]; 4. 91-Chase Goetz, [7]; 5. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith, [1]; 6. 21-Robbie Price, [8]; 7. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 8. 2B-Billy Chester III, [4]; 9. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [9]; 10. (DNF) 99-Skylar Gee, [10]

Qualifier 3 (8 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman, [4]; 2. 18S-Justin Sanders, [1]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [6]; 4. 1-Travis Rilat, [5]; 5. 74-Colton Hardy, [2]; 6. 9R-Reece Goetz, [10]; 7. (DNF) 96-Greg Hamilton, [7]; 8. (DNF) 17G-Dustin Gates, [8]; 9. (DNF) 90-Lance Norick, [9]; 10. (DNF) 77X-Alex Hill, [3]

BMRS B-Main (Top 3 advance to the A-Feature)

B Feature 1 (12 Laps): 1. 224-Sammy Swindell, [1]; 2. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [6]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [10]; 4. 21-Robbie Price, [2]; 5. 0-Ned Powers, [8]; 6. 90-Lance Norick, [7]; 7. 2L-Logan Forler, [4]; 8. 77X-Alex Hill, [5]; 9. 14-Cody Sickles, [9]; 10. (DNF) 9R-Reece Goetz, [3]

B Feature 2 (12 Laps): 1. 17W-Harli White, [2]; 2. 96-Greg Hamilton, [3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington, [7]; 4. 17G-Dustin Gates, [4]; 5. 01-Josh Shipley, [6]; 6. 17-Cameron (Cam) Smith, [1]; 7. 83T-Tanner Carrick, [5]; 8. 29-Darrell Sickles, [8]; (DNS) 99-Skylar Gee,

Protect the Harvest A-Feature:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 26-Joey Saldana, [3]; 2. 23-Seth Bergman, [1]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel, [6]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, [5]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson, [4]; 6. 18-Jason Solwold, [2]; 7. 37-Mitchell Faccinto, [9]; 8. 45X-Johnny Herrera, [7]; 9. 1-Travis Rilat, [8]; 10. 8-Lucas Wolfe, [11]; 11. 17W-Harli White, [18]; 12. 91-Chase Goetz, [12]; 13. 224-Sammy Swindell, [17]; 14. 95-Matt Covington, [22]; 15. 18S-Justin Sanders, [13]; 16. 3-J.J. Hickle, [14]; 17. 74-Colton Hardy, [15]; 18. 52-Blake Hahn, [21]; 19. 20Z-Rick Ziehl, [10]; 20. 12H-Tony Bruce Jr, [19]; 21. 96-Greg Hamilton, [20]; 22. 2B-Billy Chester III, [16]; 23. 90-Lance Norick, [23]

Lap Leader(s): Joey Saldana 1-25
CP-Carrillo Hard Charger: Matt Covington +8
FSR High Point Driver: Seth Bergman
Provisional(s): Lance Norick (Regional)

Year To Date:

2017 Lucas Oil ASCS A-Main Winner(s): Sam Hafertepe, Jr. – 15 (3/17 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway; 3/18 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway; 4/7 – Texas Motor Speedway; 4/8 – Texas Motor Speedway; 4/15 – Missouri State Fair Speedway; 6/13 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway; 6/14 – Lawton Speedway; 6/23 – Skagit Speedway; 6/24 – Skagit Speedway; 7/14 – Black Hills Speedway; 8/20 – Missouri State Fair Speedway; 8/27 – Smoky Mountain Speedway; 9/2 – Jackson Motorplex; 9/23 – Lucas Oil Speedway; 9/30 – I-80 Speedway); Aaron Reutzel - 6 (5/11 – Lakeside Speedway; 6/15 – Creek County Speedway; 6/17 – Lucas Oil Speedway; 6/22 – Skagit Speedway; 7/15 – Black Hills Speedway; 10/21 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway); Wayne Johnson - 2 (7/7 – Gallatin Speedway; 7/8 – Gallatin Speedway); Sammy Swindell - 3 (9/21 – Lucas Oil Speedway; 9/22 – Lucas Oil Speedway; 10/7 – El Paso County Raceway); Jake Bubak - 1 (6/9 – West Texas Raceway); Kyle Bellm - 1(6/10 – Route 66 Motor Speedway); Brian Brown - 1 (6/16 – Randolph County Raceway); Matt Covington - 1 (6/30 – Grays Harbor Raceway); Roger Crockett - 1 (7/1 – Grays Harbor Raceway); Terry McCarl - 1 (7/29 – Knoxville Raceway); Gregg Bakker - 1 (7/30 – Mason City Motor Speedway); Tim Shaffer - 1 (8/3 – Knoxville Raceway); Greg Hodnett - 1 (8/4 - Knoxville Raceway); Clint Garner - 1 (8/5 – Knoxville Raceway); Tim Crawley - 1 (8/24 – Riverside International Speedway); John Carney II - 1 (10/20 – Devil’s Bowl Speedway); Travis Rilat - 1 (11/9 – Cocopah Speedway); Joey Saldana - 1 (11/10 – Cocopah Speedway);

2017 Lucas Oil ASCS Driver Standings (Top 10): 1. Sam Hafertepe, Jr. 5,225; 2. Aaron Reutzel 4,837; 3. Wayne Johnson 4,721; 4. Matt Covington 4,683; 5. Johnny Herrera 4,610; 6. Seth Bergman 4,593; 7. Blake Hahn 4,446; 8. Skylar Gee 4,055; 9. Harli White 3,667, 10. Josh Baughman 1,855;

ASCS Online:

American Sprint Car Series: http://www.ascsracing.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/lucasoilascs
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/lucasoilascs (@lucasoilascs)
Instagram: ASCSRACING
Audio Broadcast: http://www.racinboys.com
Live Scoring (Where Applicable): http://www.ascsracing.com/live and the Race Monitor App

ASCS National Tour Drivers Online:

Kyle Bellm (Nixa, Mo.): http://www.kylebellm.com
Seth Bergman (Snohomish, Wash.): http://www.sethbergmanracing.com
Matt Covington (Glenpool, Okla.): http://www.mattcovingtonracing.com
Skylar Gee (Leduc, Ont. Can.): https://twitter.com/SkylarGee99
Jake Greider (Haysville, Kan.): https://twitter.com/JakeGreider2013
Sam Hafertepe, Jr. (Sunnyvale, Texas): http://www.sam15.com
Justin Henderson (Sioux Falls, S.D.): http://www.bdsmotorsportsllc.com
Alex Hill (Six Nations, Ont. Can.): https://twitter.com/alexhill77x
Blake Hahn (Sapulpa, Okla.): http://www.blakehahnracing.com
Johnny Herrera (Albuquerque, N.M.): http://www.johnnyherreraracing.com
Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, Okla.): https://www.facebook.com/WayneJohnsonRacing?fref=ts
Dustin Morgan (Owasso, Okla.): https://www.facebook.com/dustin.p.morgan?hc_ref=SEARCH
Aaron Reutzel (Clute, Texas): http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com
Harli White (Lindsay, Okla.): http://www.harliwhiteracing.net

ASCS Sponsors:

Lucas Oil Products is the title sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. More information can be found on Lucas Oil Products at www.lucasoil.com. MAVTV Motorsports Network is the presenting sponsor of the American Sprint Car Series. Log onto www.mavtv.com for information regarding availability and listings in your area.

Associate sponsors for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network include Hoosier Racing Tire, CP Carrillo Pistons, EMI, and Brodix. All Heat Races are brought to you by ButlerBuilt Professional Seating Systems. All B-Features are presented by BMRS.

Team Lucas Sponsors for the American Sprint Car Series consist of Protect the Harvest, Geico, Zotto Mattress, Spray Nine, LucasOilRacing.tv, Carlyle Tools, and General Tire.

Communications for the American Sprint Car Series is provided by Racing Electronics. All events are broadcast online at http://www.racinboys.com.

Product and Contingency Sponsorship provided by: K&N Filters, KSE Racing Products, BMRS, SpeedMart, Engler Machine and Tool, FSR Radiator and Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, MyRacePass.com, Weld Wheels, Maxwell Industries, Simpson, Wesmar Racing Engines, Hinchman Indy Racewear, Rod End Supply, Smiley's Racing Products, Speedway Motors, and Hilborn Injection.

Event Points as of November 10, 2017:

Top 8 Locked into Saturday’s A-Main