With a victory at Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, on April 7, Sam Hafertepe Jr. put his name in the record books as the first driver in American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) history to open the season with three consecutive wins.

Now, more than a month later, the series still has not had another driver grace Victory Lane. His current win streak stands at five. 

On Thursday, May 11, Hafertepe will try and see if he can extend that incredible string of wins in the McCarthy Auto Group KC Klassic at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, KS.

Hafertepe's five victories have mostly come after starting on the first two rows, which is an indication of how well he has dominated the competition in race preliminaries. On the night he first set the record of three wins to start the season, he rolled off mid-pack in 13th. 

While the American Sprint Car Series has not raced since April 15 at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, MO, Hafertepe has not sat idle. The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series visited Sedalia on May 5, and in the less familiar 410 sprints, he advanced to the A-Main. He could manage only a 21st-place finish in that race. The next night, Hafertepe finished 15th at 81 Speedway in Park City, KS. 

Those two modest showings will hurt him in this week's FloRacing Power Rankings, but the added track type will undoubtedly make him even stronger in the ASCS. 

Johnny Herrera has managed to stay close in the points with four top fives in the first five races this season. Like Hafertepe, he struggled in prelims during the opening night at Devil's Bowl, but while his rival won the race, Herrera advanced only to 13th. That stumble is a big part of the reason that he trails Hafertepe by 109 points in the points standings.

Herrera's best finish this season was a second at Missouri in the last outing for the ASCS.

Wayne Johnson is third in the standings on the strength of three top fives and another top 10. He finished in the runner-up position to Hafertepe in night one of the Texas Sprint Car Nationals at Devil's Bowl. He was third the next night but lost his momentum at Missouri.

Johnson has also made select appearances with the Outlaws with a best result of 13th when they invaded Devil's Bowl.

Justin Henderson swept the top 10 in his features this year. Unfortunately, he's made only four of the five A-Mains. He failed to advance into one of the two ASCS races at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track in Justin, Texas. That puts him a distant 175 points behind the leader.

Seth Bergman rounds out the top five in the points. He got off to a strong start with a pair of top fives at Devil's Bowl in March. He split the Texas Sprint Car Nationals with a 15th on night one and a sixth on night two. His biggest stumble came at Missouri with a 17th-place finish that now has him 177 points out of first but only two points behind Henderson.

The ASCS's KC Klassic will garner a lot of attention. Lakeside is only a few minutes from Kansas Speedway, where the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will race this Saturday night. The added cachet will heighten the competition as each of the racers in the field hope to impress the car owners of NASCAR's top series. 

The stock car fans will fill the grandstands, and drivers always seem to race a little harder in front of a packed house.