Jake Garcia scores Georgia Summer Nats win

Just 24 hours prior, Jake Garcia lamented a third-place finish in Night One of the Georgia Summer Nationals because of the expectations relative to how challenging it is to race Super Late Models as a part-timer.

Then came an impressive drive in the Saturday main event that required out-dueling Colin Allman over the course of 125 laps at Cordele Motor Speedway.

Did he and Ricky Turner make wholesale changes to split the difference?

“I don’t know about wholesale changes but we definitely made some small changes that added up and made a difference tonight,” Garcia told Short Track Scene after the race. “I wanna thank Ricky and Will and Brian, all the guys for working really hard on this thing and, doing a good job, getting the car better. It certainly miles better than it did last night.

“It’s definitely cool to be able to win these races when I do show up. It’s the cherry on top but I feel very fortunate to run these cars that are really good and compete up front. We’ve got some good stuff at FR8 Racing right now and hopefully we can pick up a couple more wins this year.”

Garcia will soon turn the bulk of his attention towards the NASCAR Truck Series playoffs, where he is currently eighth in the standings and above the elimination cutline for ThorSport Racing.

But after the NASCAR season, he and Ricky Turner aim to run the All-American and Snowball Derby together too, this win setting the tone for a possible last minute entry into the World Crown 300 after their Martinsville Truck race too.

On Saturday, it took 93 laps for Garcia to get to the front in a race that had a lot of dramatic turns. Atwell led the first 13 laps but gave way to Jake Finch. Bubba Pollard, who had won four consecutive Super Late Model races at Cordele this year, raced inside the top-5 for most of the night but fell out with a mechanical issue while running third.

Allman took the lead from Finch and Michael Atwell on a three-wide restart on Lap 40 but couldn’t hold off Garcia over the course of that long run. His strategy was to match Pollard for the most part.

“I knew I had Bubba behind me,” Allman said. “I knew he was going to be saving because I know I know he likes to save, and this was a longer race than last night, so, tire wear was going to become more of a factor.

“So started saving there and then, picked a picked a couple more off, got (Hudson) Bulger and then got the third and just rode right there with Bubba. Then, Bubba started backing up big time, and I tried to back up to match him, and be on the same playing field as him, but that thing hooked up on that restart on the bottom and I just saw the opportunity to get clean air and took it.”

Ultimately, Garcia just had a better driving car than Allman.

“We don’t have the best body but in dirty air we struggle a little bit so I saw that as my opportunity to get clean air, get to the lead and stay out,” Allman said. “Stayed out front for a while, led a lot of it, and just got tight and couldn’t get it back.

“Jake had way better turn after that last caution than we did, and unfortunately we couldn’t close it out, but we were close.”

Johnny Sauter, the 2016 Truck Series champion, has become something of a regular at Cordele over the past three years as he’s found himself really enjoying a track that reminds him of a southern version of a Wisconsin bullring.

He drove from the back of the field after a poor qualifying effort to finish third.

“Yeah, I mean, we struggled last night and came in this morning making wholesale changes, qualified pitiful and really struggled all day in practice,” Sauter said. “I just said whatever, we’ll start in the back and see what happens, and the car just got better and better.

“Guys started to slip a bit and I was loose off, more than I wanted to be, but I could make some time up getting in and through the center of the corner. It started to come to us and the track conditions helped. I found myself wanting one more restart because we were that good at the end.”

This race was sanctioned by Southern Super Series but as a non-points exhibition. Southern Super Series took over as the technical arm of Super Fest following the split between the track and the UARA.

The next race at Cordele is what Super Fest has been building two all year, the second edition of the World Crown 300, held at its new location. The World Crown features a $127,500 purse that pays, not factoring bonuses, $35,000-to-win. Those bonuses include a $4000 start amount if a driver had run both Summer Nationals races this weekend and $5000 to start if that driver also started the inaugural Super Fest race in February.

The World Crown 300 is scheduled for October 24-25.

Georgia Summer Nationals Race Two
Cordele Motor Speedway
September 6 2025