Lonnie Wheatley, TULSA, Okla.  (September 4, 2007) – The season-long Engine Pro ASCS Sprint on Dirt presented by Victor Reinz championship points battle comes to a full boil on Saturday night as the championship is up for grabs at Hartford Speedway Park in Hartford, MI.

Through 16 nights of racing action over the past four months, a mere 22 points separate the top three drivers as Tim Norman, Brett Mann and Ben Rutan will slug it out for the title on Saturday night.

Gunning for his third career ASCS Sprints on Dirt crown, Warsaw, Indiana's Norman holds the advantage entering the championship final with 18 points worth of breathing room over Goshen, Indiana's Mann.  Rutan, from Jerome, MI, is just four more points back in third.

Norman, who has finished among the top ten in 14 of 16 feature events, can bag the title with a finish of seventh or better.  One of Norman's forays out of the top ten came in the series most recent event this past Saturday night when he finished eleventh.

Norman, Mann and Rutan have each visited victory lane on one occasion this season.  Norman's triumph came on June 1 at I-96 Speedway near Lake Odessa, MI, with Mann's victory on July 27 at Fife Lake, MI.  Rutan snared his first win this past Friday night with a wild flip across the finish line at Winston Speedway in Rothbury, MI.

While the top three battle it out for the title, Bill Johnson of Linden, MI, will try to hold off Kalkaska, MI, shoe Gary Fast for the fourth position in points.  Johnson enters Saturday's event 29 points ahead of Fast.

The battle for positions six through eight is a close one as well, with just 13 points separating Joe Bares (Traverse City, MI), rookie contender Ryan Ruhl (Angola, IN) and Ryan Grubaugh (St. Johns, MI).

Seventeen-year-old rookie Jake Stebner of Elmira, MI, enters the season finale ranked ninth, with Kirk Cheney of Hastings, MI, holding down the tenth spot. 

Dustin Daggett, who has competed in twelve of sixteen ASCS Sprints on Dirt events this season, has reached victory lane two-thirds of the time with eight triumphs.  Daggett will be shooting for a sweep of the year's ASCS Sprints on Dirt action at Hartford with previous victories on May 11, June 29 and July 20.

Saturday's ASCS Sprints on Dirt season championship finale at Hartford Speedway Park gets under way at 8:00 p.m.

Hartford Speedway Park is located in Hartford, MI, off I-94 Exit 46, then 1.3 miles north on Center Street, then four blocks west on Prospect Street.  For more information, contact the track at 269-621-4482.

The 28^th year of action for the ASCS Sprints on Dirt consists of 20 championship events at ten different tracks throughout Michigan as well as Ontario.  Three events along the way were lost to rainouts.

The series will also take part in Ohsweken Speedway's Canadian Sprint Car Nationals on September 14-15.  No ASCS Sprints on Dirt points will be awarded at Ohsweken.

The 2007 season marks the 16th year of sanctioning Sprint Car racing for the American Sprint Car Series.  With a dozen different Regions in addition to the O'Reilly American Sprint Cars on Tour National series, ASCS will sanction approximately 240 nights of racing at more than 100 different race tracks throughout at least 30 different states and Canada.

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