Speedfest 2013 Had A Little NASCAR Flavor To It

Kyle Benjamin poses with a fan.

This was the second year that Speedfest has been held at the Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia.  South Georgia welcomed fans and drivers alike with very agreeable weather, mostly sunny skies with the temperature in the upper 60s.  That is fairly warm for this time of year.  That may not be as surprising as how hot some of the drivers seemed to get as daytime turned to night.

Autograph session.

Joe Nemechek, John Hunter Nemechek, Bill Elliott, Chase Elliott, Harrison Burton, Jeff Burton, David Ragan, and Adam Ragan were all on hand to sign autographs before the racing got started. As you can tell, racing is a family thing. Lots of fathers and sons were there.  Even David Ragan's dad was in attendance.  Harrison Burton was by far the youngest at 12 years of age.

 Chase Elliott wins.

Chase Elliott saved his car early on and had a little bit too much for the rest of the pack to handle in the first race of the day as he came on at the end to win the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Premier Building Systems 100.  Being from Georgia and being the son of Bill Elliott, he was clearly a crowd favorite.  People from all over are beginning to take notice of Chase's own accomplishments and are looking forward to his progression to different levels of racing as he makes starts in the ARCA and Camping World Truck Series this year for Rick Hendrick.

Jeff Choquette wins.

Chase Elliott had to feel somewhat like a pinball Saturday night as he got bounced around several times in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Speedfest 200.  Late into the race as he and John Hunter Nemechek were battling for the lead, he was forced into the frontstretch wall.  Just a few laps later, Erik Jones and Chase got together and caused another caution with just a few laps remaining. That was in a fight for the lead also. If that wasn't enough, David Ragan surged to the front and, after some nip and tuck racing, according to one observer, he basically "booted" Chase into the backstretch wall.  Another driver, Stephen Nasse, tweeted "Ragan just took @chaseelliott out dirty!!! I thought chase's car was coming over the wall right at me #Speedfest".  That did sorta make the temperature rise a little bit more at the Melon. Some heated conversations were overheard between factions of the two parties involved after the race.  Chase Elliott impressed me with his ability to handle a difficult situation and he maintained his composure throughout.  The fruit didn't fall far from the tree as he has been blessed with some of his father's attributes.  David finished the race in seventh and Chase finished eighth.  Pretty much lost in the shuffle was the fact that Jeff Choquette outlasted everyone else and came through with a major victory to get this racing season started off right.  Well, at least for him.

Humpty Dumpty

This is what Chase's car looked like after the race. Crew members are attempting to get enough pieces assembled together in an effort to get it loaded back up for the trip home.

Harrison Burton

Harrison Burton had a decent race as he finished 10th out of a 32 car field in the 100 lap race.  John Hunter Nemechek very well could have won the 200 lap race if he hadn't run out of fuel at the end. He was up running up front when that happened but he unofficially finished two laps down in 14th. Johnny Sauter and his nephew, Travis, paced the pack for the first half of the ARCA/CRA Super Series 200 before finishing 28th and 20th, respectively.

Speed51.com did their usual excellent job in covering Speedfest 2013 and you can click here to go to it. 

Click here for coverage of the race by 41  WMGT.