6/30/2021
Matt Covington
Podium for Covington at Dirt Cup
CG Motorsports-Glenpool, OK (June 30th, 2021) Matt Covington came home with a podium finish on the final night of the Dirt Cup Championship this past weekend. After up and down efforts on the preliminary nights, resulting in 16th and 4th place finishes, Covington was able to work through the field and earn 3rd during Saturday night’s finale.
“We battled all weekend and never gave up,” stated Matt.
Thursday, Covington started off at Skagit Speedway with a 6th to 4th heat race effort. A 4th place finish in the qualifier followed, earning him the 15th start position in the feature. Matt ran a smart race, working inside the top-10 and moving forward. With laps winding down, Covington was forced into the fluffy cushion where both right-side tires were packed with mud. The excess mud caused severe vibration and forced Matt to come to a stop with only a few laps to go. Lacking the laps to make forward progress from the tail, he crossed the checkers in 16th.
“We were just decent on Thursday. We were off speed wise early, but were able to get rolling better late in the feature.,” Matt commented. “I was probably going to stall off around 5th, but we definitely had a better car than the 16th place finish on the stat sheet. I tried to drive it after the wheels were packed, but the vibration was so bad I really had no choice except to get them cleaned out. After that, we were just out of laps to do anything from the back.”
Friday saw Covington finish 3rd in his heat from 8th, followed by a 3rd in the qualifier after starting 6th. These combined finishing and passing points put him on the pole for the feature. Covington patiently took to working the bottom early, but was pushed to run the high side when Scelzi and the others got by on the top. With the rubber starting to come in late, Matt held on to 4th by the feature’s end.
“Friday night was disappointing to say the least,” Matt remarked. “We had a rocket ship for the heat and qualifier. Anytime you get the passing points and earn the pole, you want to capitalize. I tried to roll the bottom for a couple laps after the restart, which let Dominic and Colten get by. After that, I was just doing what I could to hold onto 3rd, but let Westbrook slip by near the end. I would like to have that one back to fix my mistakes.”
With the first two nights in the books, Matt was 8th overall in Dirt Cup points, locking himself in the 4th row starting position for Saturday’s $15,000 to win finale.
For the feature, Covington immediately went to work from the drop of the green. Settling in 5th a few laps in, Matt found his rhythm and was able to hang with the lead pack. Misfortunes for Hahn bunched up the field late, giving Matt a chance for the runner up spot. He ultimately came up a bumper short of Starks for 2nd at the finish, but still gave him a podium to close out the weekend.
“I have mixed emotions about last weekend,” reflected Covington. “3rd at the Dirt Cup finale is definitely nothing to complain about, especially after the ups and downs we had. Still, I wish we could have done better the first two nights as Skagit is one of our better tracks. But now we’ll be even more motivated to do good at the Grizzly Nationals coming up, which we won a few years ago.”
Next up for Matt and the team will be the Grizzly National at Gallatin Speedway in Montana with the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour.
Matt and his CG Motorsports team would like to thank all partners who will make this 2021 season possible. We look forward to the continued relationship throughout the year, along with future seasons to come: Triple X Chassis, A-Rock Materials, All-Star Performance, Loose Change, South Plains Towing, Outlaw Wings, Winters Performance, Smiley’s Racing Products, Hoosier Tire, Keizer Wheels, Lucas Oil Racing Products, Factor 1 Racing, Wilwood Brakes, Smith Titanium, Best Graphics, Simpson Race Products, Shark Racing Engines, Huggins Cams, Eaton Industrial, Hot Rod Powder Coating, Rod End Supply, Maxwell Oil, Schoenfeld Headers, CSI Shocks, KSE Steering, Edison Auto Body, Brodix Cylinder Heads, Swindell Bleeders, D&W Towing, Griffith Truck & Equipment, and T&L Foundry.
2021 STATS: Starts-19, Wins-1, Top 5’s-15, Top 10’s-16
ON TAP:
7/09/21 Gallatin Speedway - Belgrade, MT
7/10/21 Gallatin Speedway - Belgrade, MT
LIVE RACE COVERAGE: Visit http://www.flosports.tv and http://www.RacinBoys.com for paid, live audio and Live feature video to subscribers during the season to catch all the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour events.
MERCHANDISE: New 2021 shirts available now on the website at www.mattcovingtonracing.com or at the races in the trailer.
STAY CONNECTED: For all the latest news of Matt Covington during the 2021 season, visit his website, www.mattcovingtonracing.com, like him on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/mattcovingtonracing, or follow him on twitter, @mattcovington95 along with Instagram @mattcovingtonracing
Submitted By: Eric Covington