The 2020 Super Late Model season began as many races end — with Bubba Pollard atop the scoring pylon.
The de facto face of the discipline paced a field of 27 cars with a fast time of 15.875 in time trials. As a result, Pollard will lead the field to green in front of youngsters Corey Heim, Jake Garcia and Dawson Fletcher behind him.
Pollard is seeking his second Speedfest victory following his first in 2016.
“This helps,” Pollard said. “Track position here is critical. Putting yourself in position. The controlled pit stops and taking two tires at a time will be a different mix.
“You have to be smart. I think we have a good race car. We’ve had a good race car in the past here and didn’t make good decisions. That’s what we have to do today is make the rights ones. It’s tough sometimes. Hopefully we can control the race. Hopefully we can be on the same sequence as everyone else and be in position.”
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Pollard hasn’t won since taking the inaugural Speed 51 Super Select all-star race at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indiana in September.
He’s arguably had the best car here several times over the past couple of years, but has been involved in incidents, usually not of his making.
“The restarts, because of how the track is here, is usually tough,” Pollard said. “The way CRA runs the restart boxes are tough. It’s tricky. You have to stay on top of things, be smart, and learn throughout the day, where you need to be, top to bottom.
“The groove widens out, and eventually, you got to learn how to run top-to-bottom. It should be fun.”
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The rest of the top-10 qualifiers include defending winner Connor Okrzesik, Daniel Dye, Brian Campbell, Hudson Halder, Travis Braden and Willie Allen.
Stephen Nasse initially qualified 20th but pulled his car out of impound to make some changes since it qualified so poorly. This race marks the first time he had raced in a Rowdy Manufacturing chassis and his Jett Motorsports team is still establishing a notebook with the car.
The 200 lap main event follows a 125-lap Pro Late Model feature with both races receiving a $19.99 Speed51.com PPV stream.
The complete starting lineup can be found below.
- Bubba Pollard
- Corey Heim
- Jake Garcia
- Dawson Fletcher
- Connor Okrzesik
- Daniel Dye
- Brian Campbell
- Hudson Halder
- Travis Braden
- Willie Allen
- Gabe Sommers
- Jack Dossey III
- Jeremy Pate
- Kyle Plott
- Brandon Jones
- Tyler Roahrih
- Eric White
- Steve Dorer
- Kyle Sieg
- Nicholas Naugle
- Shelton Clay
- Jeff Fultz
- Greg Van Alst
- David Hodges
- John Coffman
- Jeff Firestine
- Stephen Nasse
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