By LONNIE WHEATLEY

ASCSTULSA, Okla. (June 29, 2009) - After a wild night of wingless ASCS Canyon Region competition at USA Raceway, the winged forces of the ASCS Southwest Region are back in the spotlight at Tucson's 3/8-mile clay oval this Saturday night.

Saturday's card is also Round Three of the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Challenge Series, a slate of eight designated events crossing over from the wingless Canyon Region to the winged Southwest Region.

Charles Davis, Jr., who topped this past Saturday night's Canyon card at USA, also aced the opening round of the Discount Tire Co. ASCS Challenge at Hollywood Hills Speedway. The other round was rained out.

With the initial handful of ASCS Southwest events in the books, Peoria teammates Ben Gregg and John Gaston hold down the top two spots on the point charts with Gregg holding a 14-point advantage.

Gaston is actually tied for second with defending series champion Rick Ziehl of Las Cruces, NM, with Yuma's Mike Martin and Joshua Hodges of Tijeras, NM. The 14-year-old Hodges recently became the youngest feature winner in ASCS history by snaring a Rocky Mountain Region win at Wyoming's Sweetwater Speedway on June 13.

While he leads the Canyon Region championship chase, Charles Davis, Jr., stands sixth in Southwest points with the wing. Ronnie Clark, fifth in the wingless ranks, is seventh in Southwest standings in front of Cody Cambensy and Ron Kratz. John Van Horn and Jessica Van Dyke enter Saturday night's action tied for tenth in points.

Rickey Hood has topped the last two ASCS Southwest events at USA Raceway.

Saturday's ASCS Southwest Region event at USA Raceway goes green at 7:00 p.m.

The 3/8-mile USA Raceway clay oval is located east of Tucson off I-10 Exit 268, then 1.6 mile south on Craycroft Road, which turns into Los Reales. For more information, contact the track at 520-574-8515.

The ASCS Southwest Region is currently scheduled for eleven nights of competition, with ten of those events at USA Raceway.

The American Sprint Car Series, in its 18th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing events, brings the best of Sprint Car racing to nearly 100 different tracks throughout 25 states and Canada in 2009. Anchored by the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series presented by K&N Filters, ASCS also consists of a dozen different Regions throughout the nation.

Additional information regarding the American Sprint Car Series is available at www.ascsracing.com.