CONCORD, NC (Jan. 24, 2025) — A champion of the ASCS National Tour in 2023, Jason Martin is looking to reclaim his former glory with a fourth consecutive full-time season in 2025.
Martin, 42, of Liberal, KS, will take his Bybee Electric, Don Ott-powered Schnee/Eagle Chassis No. 36 on the road with the National Tour again, starting with the season opener at Volusia Speedway Park, Thursday–Saturday, Jan. 30–Feb. 1.
The former World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series regular endured some struggles in 2024, starting with early season mechanical issues, and a hard crash in June at Oklahoma’s Tri-State Speedway in which he suffered a concussion. Martin said it took him a full month to get back to feeling normal again, which hindered his efforts behind the wheel in the busiest stretch of the season.
However, he soon made a full recovery and was able to break through to Victory Lane in September, winning the Green Country Clash at Arrowhead Speedway. At that point, despite the success, Martin admitted he had already begun preparations for 2025.
“I just got two motors completely freshened that I just picked up, and we’re loading in them in the trailer to go and get ready for the season,” he said. “Hopefully, we don’t have any traumas, and we can stay healthy physically and healthy with the motor program and everything will go back to normal.”
Even with the thousands of laps he’s turned and his veteran status, Martin still has a few areas he’d like to improve upon in the seat, and it starts with performing early in the program.
“Qualifying has always been my biggest hurdle,” he said. “I feel like two years ago when we won the championship, the format was, you got three laps for Qualifying, and [in 2024], they changed it to where you only get two laps of Qualifying. To be honest, with my driving style, it seems like I tend to make a mistake in Turns 1 and 2 or Turns 3 and 4, and it takes like three laps for me to just get it perfect.
“I’ve got to get better at making no mistakes by lap two. With ASCS, when we had three laps of Qualifying, I was Quick Time and won quite a few races that year. But the format has altered some of our performance a little, and I’ve got to adapt a little bit more to what that format is.”
Martin has been around the sport long enough to watch ASCS evolve into the nation’s premier 360 Sprint Car organization, which took a step further in 2024 with its sale to World Racing Group (WRG) — the owner of his former home for racing with the World of Outlaws. Martin expressed his appreciation and positive outlook for the future of the National Tour in its new home under WRG, and his passion to compete for the Emmett Hahn Trophy.
“It’s only a 40–50 race schedule, and we get the opportunity to go and race other places and do other things,” Martin said of the 2025 schedule. “We all do this for a living, so we have to race as much as we can and make as much money as we can for our careers. I can’t afford to have a full-time crew just sitting around to only run 40 races, so it just gives us the opportunity to race for a good, strong series and still have the flexibility to go run other places.”
Don’t miss Martin begin his quest for a second ASCS National Tour championship in the 2025 season opener at Volusia Speedway Park during the opening nights of the 54th Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals — Thursday–Friday, Jan. 30–Feb. 1.
For tickets, CLICK HERE. If you can’t be there, stream every lap of ASCS action all season long live on DIRTVision.
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