CONCORD, N.C. Zach Blurton learned a lot during his rookie season with the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) National Tour. 2025 will be all about improvements in his second year on the road.

Just be competitive, a lot more competitive than we were last year, Blurton said of his goals for 2025. Consistency and just building our team. Being a team that people respect and know that [we] can be a contender, night-in and night-out.

Blurton, 30, of Quinter, Kan., is back on the full-time ASCS National Tour roster, piloting his own Summit Automotive Group, Don Ott Racing Engines-powered Maxim Chassis No. 2J. A graduate of the regional 305 and 360 Sprint Car ranks, Blurton made the decision to start traveling last year and finished 2024 ranked eighth in the Tour points standings.

However, Blurton said eighth place was a bit humbling, despite his rookie status. His lone National Tour victory came in July 2022 at his home track  WaKeeney Speedway in WaKeeney, KS  which highlighted his potential against the traveling stars of the national 360 Sprint Car ranks.

Though he carried that confidence into his rookie season, Bluton said his results fell short of his expectations totaling three top-five finishes and 10 top-10s in 29 starts.

I was going into it thinking we knew quite a bit, with winning an ASCS National show a few years ago, I thought our program was a lot closer than what I was expecting, Blurton said. I knew it was gonna be tough, for sure, but I know we can do better than that.

But for their home-grown operation racing with traveling stars, Blurton has reasons to be proud. He posted his best finish of the season at Big Sky Speedway (Billings, MT) in August, running second to Jake Bubak, putting his upward-trending skills on display.

Were a family team, Blurton said. My dad and I have one crew guy from here in town that goes with us. I do this for a hobby. A lot of guys are out here doing it for a living. I have a day job, and that comes first.

We try to put as much into it as we can. Weve made a lot of improvements. My dad and I learned a bunch, and it showed, for sure.

More improvements are on his wish list for 2025, but he wants none more than to improve his results early in the race program.

Ive got to qualify better, Blurton said. I feel like our Qualifying kills us, and [Qualifying] makes your whole night a lot easier. Every night we qualified good, we had decent runs. The qualifying is so important, and going out there and knowing that your car is right and being able to run two perfect laps is big. It sets up your whole night, and thats where we have to be on it.