ASA STARS Father's Day 100 Doubled as Milwaukee August Tune-Up

Several of the drivers in Sunday's ASA STARS National Tour field Sunday in the Father's Day 100 will be making another trip to The Milwaukee Mile later this summer.

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series returns to Milwaukee on August 27, marking the first visit by one of NASCAR's national series to the historic venue on the grounds of Wisconsin State Fair Park since 2009. They will be joined that day by the ARCA Menards Series.

The driver who went to victory lane Sunday will be one of the drivers to watch in that Truck Series event in August, Ty Majeski. The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford dominated Sunday's Super Late Model event, adding to his points lead in the ASA STARS National Tour.

He's already looking ahead to August's Truck race, where he hopes to score another victory at The Milwaukee Mile.

UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: ASA STARS National Tour Father's Day 100 at Milwaukee

“We don’t get to race here much, so it’s cool to come here and have success,” said Majeski after the win. “We’re coming back here in August for the Truck race and excited to be back here with ThorSport. Hopefully everyone can make it back here.”

Both Majeski and Sunday's fourth-place finisher, Carson Hocevar, made the playoffs in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2022. Hocevar didn't have quite the speed he hoped for to compete with the front-runners, but managed a strong top-five finish and added to his notebook for when he is back in Wisconsin with the No. 42 for Niece Motorsports.

“Our car was just a good fourth-place car today," said Hocevar. "The top two, top three were really fast, so I was just hanging my tongue out to keep up with them. We’ve never been here, we were just trying to get ready for the day job when it comes to August time and get some laps.”

Hocevar spent plenty of time moving his No. 14 around the race track during the Father's Day 100, looking for ways to gain position against the stout field of Late Model competitors.

“I’m glad I moved to the top. That made it a lot more fun. It was probably faster than we should go, on paper. The fact that we were able to run the top and move around was fun and interesting. It would have been nice if I could get to them, but I was just clicking off the best laps I could.”

The blessing and curse for William Sawalich was that, while he won Saturday night at Berlin Raceway competing with the ARCA Menards Series, racing at Berlin meant he was not on property at Milwaukee during the ASA STARS National Tour practice day. That did not keep Sawalich away from a top-five finish on Sunday at The Milwaukee Mile, backing up his runner-up finish at the track one year ago in this event.

“I had some experience here from last year," said Sawalich. "We finished second here last year, so I was confident coming into this race. Yesterday was great, and I was hoping to make it two-for-two today, but that didn’t happen."

Sawalich utilized all of the tools at his disposal to adjust the car during the race, information he'll be able to use when the ARCA Menards Series comes to Milwaukee.

“I was too tight on the short run, and finally got the rear tires to slide a little bit to rotate. I did my best and the team did their best. We just got a little behind there at the end.

“I’m going to use all the stuff that I learned here to apply there in August.”

-Photo credit: Ryan Nuttleman