Brothers Malik and Keeran Sampson are both Super Nationals veterans, Malik as a driver,
Keeran as a spectator.
This year, both Worthington, Minn., hotshoes are running for starting spots in Saturday’s big Hobby Stock dance.
Malik has qualified for the main event in three of his four previous trips to Boone, with a career best finish of seventh last year.
“I like the atmosphere here. Super Nationals is fun and it’s challenging. I start to get nervous about three weeks beforehand,” he said. “This year I asked Keeran why he didn’t bring his car along. He was going to be buying a pit pass, anyway.”
“I ran hot laps yesterday,” said Keeran, acknowledging that Boone was a different track than what he was used to. “Any time you go up against this many cars you never know what’s going to happen but I’m looking forward to racing here.”
He also wouldn’t mind matching the accomplishment of neighbor to the south Elijah Zevenbergen and win a Super Nationals championship in his first competitive visit to Boone.