The winningest driver in the history of January Speedfest is coming home to race a Super Late Model in Southern Georgia.
Chase Elliott made six consecutive starts in the annual event from 2010 to 2015. The first two were at Lanier Speedway, where he claimed one victory and then took the last two appearances in 2014 and 2015.
He also went three for three in a Pro Late Model at Cordele, giving him six wins out of nine overall starts at Speedfest and now he’s back for more.
“I always enjoyed racing at SpeedFest and we’ve had lots of success through the years,” said Elliott in a press release. “It has been fun trying different types of racing the last couple years, including rallycross, sprint, and midget cars, but I look forward to getting back to my Late Model roots for a change.”
To his point, it’s been awhile since the 2020 Cup Series champion has been a fixture in a Super Late Model as he didn’t make a single start from 2015 until his 2020 Snowball Derby appearance. But there hasn’t been much to check off the bucket list either, having two Derby victories, three Snowflake 100s, a Winchester 400, World Crown 300 and an All-American 400.
But this race has always been important to Elliott, especially having run near home at both Lanier and Watermelon Capital Speedway.
Elliott revealed his entry an hour after Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron. Other drivers with NASCAR affiliations include David Ragan, expected Truck Series contenders Carson Hocevar, Corey Heim and Jake Garcia. He will race as a teammate to Garcia with crew chief Ricky Turner, the crew chief behind Elliott’s successful tenure in Super Late Model competition.
They are set to do battle with the upper-echelon of Super Late Model racing in Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, Casey Roderick, Matt Craig, Gio Ruggiero and Michael Hinde.
The event is scheduled for Thursday to Saturday with a test session on Thursday, practice on Friday and racing on Saturday. Super Late Models are the headline attraction alongside Pro Late Models, Outlaw Late Models, Bandoleros and Legends. For those unable to attend, Racing America will have flag to flag coverage of the entire race day for those who subscribe to the platform.
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Patsy Newsom
January 26, 2023 at 12:32 pm
How late does the racing usually last on Sat nite?