By Victoria Beaver

During the 2017 season, Harli White became the third female racer to compete in the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour full-time. And the 22-year-old sprint car driver took her first opportunity to fully dedicate her time to points racing in stride, recording seven top 10s and gaining experience at 19 new tracks.

"Overall I had a wonderful time and I'm blessed to run the full Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour," White said. "The last few years, I hadn't committed to points racing, so it was nice to commit to something and to know we have to be there every weekend. 

"Getting back into that groove of running for points was a little tough at first. We didn't have a good start to the season so we were behind all year. We just tried to focus on making our program a little better each week."

White bounced between two cars in the 2017 season. She transitioned to a new sprint in March about five races into the National Tour but then returned to her “Ol’ Faithful” shortly before competing in the Knoxville Nationals in Knoxville, Iowa, in mid-August. After only being back in the older sprint for a week, White advanced into the A-main during the first preliminary night at Knoxville.

"Making the A-main on our prelim night was huge," White said. "That's hard to do, especially when we only go to Knoxville once a year. To just get in a feature at those shows is hard to do. It's tough competition. That gave us a lot of confidence that we can race on big race tracks and at big shows."

White’s best finish with the ASCS series came in North Dakota when she crossed the line in six. White had five top five finishes this season outside of the series including two runner-up finishes in Texas and Tennessee.

While this year was successful for White, she knows that there’s a lot of work to be done for her to become a stronger driver over the course of her career. She needs to battle harder on the track and learn how to bury a bad finish instead of carrying it to the next race track.

"My job is to drive a race car for a living," she said. "I need to learn and grow as a driver being more aggressive and more consistent. It's one of those things where I can't let a weekend get me down. I need to forget about the bad but learn what I can from my mistakes."

In 2018, White will return to the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour full-time for her second season.

"I want to sincerely thank all of our sponsors for helping us as well as my family, crew, and the fans for their support," White said. "This was our first year on the road and we learned a ton. I can't wait to apply that next year and continue to progress in my career."