This decade has been very rewarding for the short track resume of Stephen Nasse.
With a victory on Saturday at Cordele Motor Speedway, Nasse became the only driver with wins in the World Crown 300 in addition to a Snowball Derby, All-American 400 and Winchester 400.
With the exception of some pesky cautions, Nasse and the Anthony Campi Racing No. 51 team won it in pretty compelling fashion too. Nasse inherited the lead on Lap 109 when a dominant Bubba Pollard slowed with an engine issue and prevailed over a series of late restarts to win another marquee event.
“Yeah, there was definitely some scares,” Nasse told Short Track Scene after the race. “I mean, there were a couple of good cars out there that I had some breaks with. If they would’ve stayed in the race, it wouldn’t have been too easy—and it already wasn’t easy with (Colin) Allman.
“He’s a really good racer, and I know he’s hungry for something like this. So I was worried going into that last restart. I didn’t know whether to take the top or the bottom. I wanted the top. The guys wanted me to take the bottom, but it ended up working out overall.
“These P1 chassis are just so good. Preston (Peltier) and his whole team, and then obviously Anthony Campi and all his guys—they’re just top tier. And I’m super excited to be able to work with them, be in this position, and develop this car to make it more my style. The more we do that, the more wins will come.”
To wit, Nasse is just getting acclimated with the new Campi chassis supplier after winning the Snowball in a Campi prepared HAMKE.
Nasse and Pollard traded the lead early and then Jake Garcia took a turn up front in the FR8 Racing car before also falling out with a mechanical issue with 25 laps to go. He was second at the time and three seconds back of Nasse.
Ultimately, a caution for a crash involving Keelan Harvick and Casey Roderick forced a restart with seven to go. Allman pressure Nasse clean but had to settle for a runner-up.
“When we lined up second there, I saw Jake was breaking on that long run,” Allman told STS. “I was torn between hoping for a caution and not. I mean, I was running second (and) clear by 10 (cars), you know what I mean? Restarts can always have their chaos.
“I think about it differently because me and Dad put our own money into this stuff, you know what I mean? So I was hoping it’d go green, but when we lined up second, I was like, ‘I got to go. We got to take it.’ And I tried. We almost had hin cleared and just didn’t have the turn with drive tonight.”
This was still a good day for a family team with Toby Nuttleman’s TobyCar support.
“But to come home second is huge for us, especially for the year we’ve had in the past couple years,” Allman said. “I mean, most of the big races we’ve been running really well, and it’s really cool as a family team to come out here and race against these guys, you know what I mean?
“Obviously it doesn’t come without help. The help of Toby and Ty (Majeski) — bouncing ideas off them guys and being able to work with them means the world to me, and it means the world to my dad.
“I know he’s really happy with how everything’s been working with this new TobyCar this year, and it’s bad fast.We just got to find that little bit more.”
With a third place, Spencer Davis claimed the Southern Super Series championship, a prize he can list alongside his World Series of Asphalt title earned from February.
“We fired off (and) I didn’t think we were the greatest out there but man, the cars just came to us on the long runs,” Davis said. “This GMS Race Car from Nexus Racing, Surf USA Mobile 96 — man, we always seem to have long-run speed, so I knew they were going to have that on us.
“We fell back at the start, came back up to seventh by the end of the first competition caution, and we just worked on it. Man, Tony (Eury) Jr. did an amazing job. Tony Sr. and James Edwards, they own the GMS race cars up in Texas. We worked hard. We were in position at the end. We almost got by Colin there with 10 to go. He just took our lane away.
“We had a great year. I just wish we could have come home with the World Crown.This is what I’ve always wanted to win, and maybe next year.”
Daniel Vining contributed to this report.
World Crown 300
- Stephen Nasse
- Colin Allman
- Spencer Davis
- Jake Finch
- Justin Crider
- Jett Noland
- Kasey Kleyn
- Matt Craig
- Brandon Lopez
- Tristan McKee
- Casey Roderick
- Keelan Harvick
- Jake Garcia
- Hudson Bulger
- George Gorham, Jr.
- Daniel Webster
- Michael Hinde
- Bubba Pollard
- Michael Atwell
- William Hale
