Much earlier than usual, the Southern Super Series will begin its points paying season on Tuesday night with the Clyde Hart Memorial as part of the Super Late Model World Series of Asphalt, with a stellar cast of short track and NASCAR aces.
The race is more or less a byproduct of the Rattler 250, which has been the season opener since the tour debuted in 2013, becoming a SRL National event this year and Southern Super Series needing to round out its schedule at a location where many of its teams would already be anyway.
Thus, New Smyrna during Florida Speedweeks.
As part of Speedweeks, the race has no shortage of NASCAR national touring star-power in William Byron, Stewart Friesen and Johnny Sauter on the entry list. For the short track diehards, the entry list contains Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse, Matthew Craig, Derek Griffith, Casey Roderick and defending Southern Super Series champion Hunter Robbins.
It’s a really good field to kick off the ASA era for the Southern Super Series while also continuing the World Series of Asphalt.
Here’s how it works: The race will pay points to both the Southern Super Series and World Series of Asphalt using their respecting championship structures. The race will be contested under ASA and Track Enterprises sanctioning but is not an ASA STARS national event.
The national schedule begins on March 11 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola.
William Byron won in his first race of the week on Monday night, and it came in dominating fashion, taking the lead from a front row starting position and repeatedly driving away from the field. For the second night in a row, Roderick posted the fastest time in qualifications but drew a ‘6’ for the invert and could only drive his way back to second.
Roderick is tied with Sawalich for the points lead through two races but says he really needs to find some more speed to not get gapped on the straights by both Williams in the Donnie Wilson Motorsports cars on Tuesday.
“We’re getting beat down the straightaway a good bit,” Roderick said on Monday night. “William, on that restart, hell, he pulled me a car length and a half or two down the straights.
“We got some work to do there. I feel like our handling is good. It’s just working to match the speed.”
Predictably, Byron is really pleased with what he expects to have for the 100 lapper on Tuesday. He’s also the defending winner of the race, having won at New Smyrna for the first time on Tuesday of Speedweek last year.
“That was kind of just a tune-up night for us,” Byron said. “We have to work on it tomorrow for the 100 lapper to give it longevity, but I think we have a really good set-up.”
Meanwhile, some of the expected heavy hitters do not have a good set-up right now. Bubba Pollard was a non-factor in his debut on Monday night as has been Matthew Craig the first two races, in which he has failed to finish.
The Craigs decided to enter Speedweeks because they feel like they needed the seat time to find their missing pace last year and it’s been a challenge.
“We are just really, really, really tight,” Craig said. “I don’t know what it is. Maybe we got something messed up at the shop with our scales or our shock dyno. I don’t know. We have just been thrown for a loop. We have thrown a lot of things at it, made it a little better, but not where we want to be for sure.”
Could it just be a case of needing a 100 lapper to really see where his car is?
“I sure hope so,” Craig said. “These 35 lappers aren’t my style either. As I’ve gotten older, I don’t get up on the wheel and root and gouge like these younger kids race. So maybe a long race will be better for us.”
Griffith, who won the World Series championship in 2020 and 2021, has just been outside of the top-five the first two nights with a car that’s now only raced three times starting with the Snowball Derby Last Chance Race.
They’re still trying to build a notebook, and while they’re close, Griffith knows that this is going to be a challenge in both race length and quality of competition.
“Practice went really good (yesterday,) even if the stagger closed up a little bit but not really a big deal that should have made us that tight in the race,” Griffith said. “I don’t know man. That’s the second time this car has finished a race, new car, a little different than what we usually run but not enough to be running the way we are.
“Just building the notebook, I guess.”
And a 100 lap race is a big chance to build a notebook.
“I think we’re a little better for a long run, but I’m still too tight center. I’m giving too much up because of how tight I am in the center and we did a lot to it, shocks, rubber, moving the trailing arm. We did a lot of stuff and I thought we’re still missing.
“It’s only this much.”
He pinched his fingers together.
“It’s not a lot, and we’ll get to work, man. It’s a long week and we’re surviving and building the notebook.”
The Southern Super Series creates the biggest chance to build that notebook yet.
The race will air around 8:30 after the 602 Modified and Tour Type Modified features. The 100 lap race will air on FloRacing.
The entry list can be found below.
- William Sawalich
- Johnny Sauter
- Justin Crider
- Tony Elrod
- Nicholas Naugle
- Brad May
- Derek Griffith
- Gabe Sommers
- Hunter Robbins
- Brandon Short
- Gio Ruggiero
- Billy VanMeter
- William Byron
- Bubba Pollard
- Connor Mosack
- Timothy Watson
- Conner Jones
- Jett Noland
- Jake Finch
- Stephen Nasse
- Tommy Catalano
- Matt Craig
- Michael Hinde
- James Lynch
- Kyle Bryant
- Casey Roderick
- Steve Weaver
- Kris Wright
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