PETERSEN MEDIA- In a race where over 100 cars gather, a driver must be on his A game, and over the weekend, Matt Covington gave it his all, as he just came up short of making the Short Track Nationals feature event.
“Overall I think we ran well all weekend,” Covington said. “Unfortunately on Saturday night the track was locked down after the rain, and really made passing tough, and we missed the A.”
Taking part in the Inaugural Short Track Nationals Open on Wednesday night, the Glenpool, OK driver lined up seventh in his heat, and battled his way up to fourth, just narrowly missing out on earning enough points for the feature, and found himself on the front row of a B alongside Sammy Swindell.
Battling with the Sprint Car legend early in the B, Covington ended up settling in the second spot, where he would finish, and earned a berth to the feature event.
Starting 23rd, Covington and his team took advantage of the Wednesday night race, and changed some things on the car, to see if they could learn anything, but the car was a touch free, and Covington was only able to get up to 17th at the finish.
Back in action on Thursday night for his prelim, Covington drew very high again, and lined up in the eighth spot of his heat race.
When the green dropped in his heat, Covington had a very strong T&L Foundry/Winters/Triple X machine and was working up to the fourth spot when a car ahead of him spun, and Covington got a piece of it, but was able to keep it under fire.
With a bent drag link, Covington did all he could to salvage a finish and tallied sixth at the line, putting him in a nice position for his qualifier.
Running second in his qualifier from the front row, Covington found himself on the front row of a B, again hoping to lock himself into the feature event.
Battling with Derek Hager in the B, Covington ended up second at the stripe, and earned the right to tag the back of the preliminary night feature event.
Starting in the back of the pack, Covington had his elbows up in a star studded field, as he worked all around the I 30 Speedway, as he carved his way up to a 12th place finish, earning valuable points for Saturday night’s lineups.
After Friday’s racing, Covington’s point totals put him on the pole of a C main on Saturday night, making it a long road to the feature event.
After rain showered the area, the track became a little difficult to maneuver around on.
Dropping in line behind the leader in his C, Covington held onto the second spot, and transferred to the back of a B main event.
With the track locked down, and right around the bottom, Covington methodically worked his way up into the top-10, with the top-seven transferring.
The yellow flew with just five to go, and Covington decided to try and make some magic happen. With everyone diving to the bottom of the speedway on the restart, Covington went to the high side, and looked to have the run he needed, but he got into the gnarly cushion and his car bicycled hard.
Able to save it from getting upside down, Covington gave up his positions, and ultimately finished in the 12th spot.
“I can’t complain about the weekend we had too much,” Covington said. “Our car had a ton of speed all weekend long, and the rain on Saturday night, really put everyone back behind the eight ball. I tried to make something happen at the end of our B, but just got into the cushion a little too hard.”
Matt and his Covington Racing team would like to thank T&L Foundry, Triple X Chassis, Winters, Brodix, C.G. Martin Company, Factor 1 Racing, All-Star Performance, Outlaw Wings, Pro Shocks, DMI Components, Keizer Wheels, ButlerBuilt, Simpson Race Products, GME Steering, Wesmar Racing Engines, Bob Hurley RV, Eaton Industrial, Maxwell Industries, and Schoenfeld Headers for their support in 2013.
2013 BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-42, Wins-3, Top 5’s-16, Top 10’s-21
ON TAP: Covington will now follow the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour out west as they will be in action in El Paso, TX on Friday, and in Las Cruces, NM on Saturday night.
STAY CONNECTED: For all the latest news of Matt Covington, visit his website, www.mattcovingtonracing.com, like him on facebook, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Matt-Covington-Racing-wwwmattcovingtonracingcom/154701427982961, or follow him on twitter, @mattcovington11.
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- Petersen Media on Oct 29, 2013
- Article Date: 10/29/2013