For the second year in a row, William Byron claimed the Clyde Hart Memorial 100 at New Smyrna Speedway, but it was very much a battle of attrition up front.
Both Bubba Pollard and Stephen Nasse took turns leading the early portion of the race but failed to factor into the finish. Nasse broke an oil line while leading the race on Lap 41. Five laps later, World Series of Asphalt points leader William Sawalich fell off the pace from inside the top-five with some kind of issue, before Pollard also broke from the lead on Lap 46.
From there, Byron drove away from Jake Finch and won by 3.2 seconds while saving tires the entire run, a testament to how good the Donnie Wilson Motorsports No. 24 continues to be at New Smyrna Speedway.
“The Wilson guys always do a great job, and have great guys working on the car, with good equipment,” Byron said. “I feel like I did a kind of poor job throughout the day and in qualifying. I was out there making race trim laps in qualifying, needed to get up on the wheel.
“Starting 10th was sketchy and found myself in some three-wide situations and got to fourth and was just riding. I thought the three in front of us were every bit as good as us.
“It would have been a heck of a battle between the four of us, and unfortunately, they all had their issues.”
Pollard wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment. If only it wasn’t for a broken fender brace. He returned to the track after his caution and finished 11th.
“Tough, really tough, because I thought we were really fast,” Pollard said. “We showed speed in Cordele. We brought it here. Messed up yesterday but that was a self-inflicted would in qualifying, left something loose.
“We’re fast and just can’t make mistakes like that.”
He says he thought it was going to come down to a dramatic battle between himself and Byron.
“I missed a shift on that one restart to let Nasse by me, my mistake, and can’t make those either,” he said. “I thought we were going to put on a good show for the fans. I could run the bottom (in 3 and 4) pretty good and I don’t think anyone else could. We had a good race car and it would have been fun.”
With Sawalich falling out of the race, combined with a third-place finish for the Anthony Campi Racing No. 81, Casey Roderick now leads the World Series of Asphalt championship. It’s something he cares about accomplishing but not without a win.
“We’re here for the whole thing so we absolutely want the championship, but we don’t want to do it without a win,” Roderick said. “Being the most consistent car isn’t what we’re here for. We’re here to win.”
And right now, getting beat on straightaway speed to the Donnie Wilson cars is what is preventing the Campi bunch from getting to Victory Lane.
Meanwhile, that’s as good as Finch has ever looked in a Super Late Model, and maybe it’s a good sign of things to come for the 17-year-old.
“It was good but I’m already thinking of what I could do better,” Finch said. “With William and all those Cup guys, and what makes them so good, is that they minimize their mistakes. I don’t think he made any and I made a couple, so I just need to be better as a driver.”
Finch, the son of the legendary James Finch, spends his free weekends in the Cup garage learning from the best and this was just another lesson to apply in future races. From that standpoint, Finch is proud.
“He’s a good driver,” Finch said when asked about Byron’s straightline speed. “And so is Casey. I know I’ve said before that I think he’s the best guy out here in these cars. That might just be my opinion. But it was good. It was a good night and they brought, as they always do, a really good car.”
The Super Late Model World Series of Asphalt continues on Wednesday with a 35 lapper prior to the Tour Type Modified John Blewett III Memorial 76. The Southern Super Series next races on March 11 at Five Flags Speedway, an event that also marks the start of the ASA STARS National Super Late Model Series.
Clyde Hart Memorial 100
New Smyrna Speedway
February 14 2023
- William Byron
- Jake Finch
- Casey Roderick
- Connor Mosack
- Gio Ruggiero
- Matt Craig
- Derek Griffith
- Gabe Sommers
- Jett Noland
- James Lynch
- Bubba Pollard
- Michael Hinde
- Kris Wright
- Austin Teras
- Tony Elrod
- Steve Weaver, Jr.
- Chris Durbin
- Nicholas Naugle
- Johnny Sauter
- Bobby Good
- Justin Crider
- Timothy Watson
- William Sawalich
- Tommy Catalano
- Brad May
- Conner Jones
- Hunter Robbins
- Billy VanMeter
- Stephen Nasse
- Stewart Friesen
- Brandon Short
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