Pollard Scores Southern Super Series Opener At Nashville

Bubba Pollard picked up one of the most desired trophies in short track racing – a guitar from the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville – with a win in the inaugural Southern Super Series event Saturday night at Nashville. Photo by Brandon Reed

In last year’s All American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, it appeared that Bubba Pollard had the car to beat. But when the rains came, bringing the event to an end, Pollard found himself in second place.

Saturday night, he made up for that near miss.

Pollard led all but a handful of laps to score the victory in the inaugural Southern Super Series Super Late Model event, which opened the season for the legendary Nashville, TN track, earning him one of short track racing’s most coveted trophies – a Nashville Fairgrounds guitar.

After leading the entire first segment of the 125 lap event, the Senoia, GA speedster powered back from a top six invert to lead the final 30 laps to pick up the win.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better race car,” said Pollard in victory lane. “We struggled when we got here with the change of this tire from what we had back in the 400, and we struggled a bit but we kept working and never gave up.

“I can’t thank the guys enough for their hard work, and you know, we had a dominant race car tonight. I felt like it was one of the better race cars that I’ve had in a long time.”

Stephen Nasse set fast time in qualifying, and led the field to green. Pollard would make the first of several power moves on the outside on the night, as he swept into the lead on the opening lap, with Nasse in second and Daniel Hemric, who had paced early practice, in third.

The first caution of the night came out on lap 13 when Brian Campbell went around on the backstretch. The second flew two laps later, when Bobby Knox, Jr. went around in turns 3 and 4.

Under caution, officials sent Augie Grill to the pits after his No. 112 began trailing smoke. Grill’s crew went under the hood, and, as the field went back to green, Grill charged back on the track, remaining on the tail end of the lead lap, just in front of the leaders.

Meanwhile, Pollard jumped back to the lead, with Kyle Benjamin moving to second, and Nasse in third.

Caution flew again on lap 44, when Anderson Bowen went around in turn three, coming away with heavy rear end damage that would end his night. Jerry Artuso also went around while trying to avoid Bowen. He was able to continue.

The caution would allow Grill to rejoin the pack at the back of the field. He would spend much of the next 31 laps working to make up for lost time.

The caution flew again two laps later when Clay Alexander made hard contact with the turn three wall. He would walk away okay.

On the restart, Pollard would again move back to the lead, with Benjamin in second and Donnie Wilson in third. T.J. Reaid would begin to make his presence known as he moved to fourth, with Mike Garvey in fifth.

The top five would remain the same as the race reached the competition break at lap 75, while Grill had moved his way up to eight position. Pollard would net a 10 point series bonus for leading at the break.

Bubba Pollard lights ’em up on his way off pit road for his qualifying run on Saturday. Photo by Brandon Reed

A roll of the dice during the break would invert the top six, putting Daniel Hemric in the top spot for the start of the final 50 lap segment.

Spencer Davis would spin in turn four on the drop of the green, with the field resetting for a complete restart.

When the race finally got back underway, Hemric jumped out front, with Wilson moving to second, while Pollard powered his way to third on the outside, with Grill moving to fourth. Pollard would slide into second one lap later, and gave chase to Hemric.

Grill and Wilson would do battle for third over the next several laps, before Grill took the spot on lap 81.

D.J. Vanderlay suffered a broken left front control arm on lap 91, slowing to a stop and bringing out the caution.

Hemric would return to the lead on the restart, but Pollard was not to be denied. After racing side by side on lap 94, Pollard moved around Hemric to retake the top spot on lap 95.

Kyle Benjamin slowed on lap 101 with motor issues. Jerry Artuso spun in Benjamin’s oil in turn three, making hard contact with the wall. The contact dislodged the fuel cell from Artuso’s car, resulting in a brief fire as the cell slid down the track. Artuso was uninjured, but race officials put out the red flag to allow for clean up.

Two more cautions would fly over the final 25 laps. The first was when Tyler Miles spun on lap 119 in turn two. The second was for a three car pile up on the backstretch triggered when Hunter Robbins spun.

Despite all the problems on track, Pollard had no issues up front, as he drove to his first Nashville victory. Hemric came home second.

With Wilson and Grill fighting for third coming to the line, Grill went spinning as the field came to the checkered flag, coming to rest in the inside wall. Wilson would get third, with Grill finishing fourth. Stephen Nasse came across the line in fifth.

Dennis Schoenfeld, Jeff Choquette, Jeff Fultz, Austin Theriault, and John Hunter Nemechek rounded out the top ten.

The Southern Super Series now gets ready to travel to Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, GA for its second event of the season. Visit southernsuperseries.com for more info.

Sterling Marlin celebrates with his crew in victory lane after winning Saturday’s Pro Late Model feature at Nashville. Photo by Brandon Reed

In other action, Sterling Marlin survived a tangle while racing for the lead to score the Pro Late Model feature victory.

“It was a great win,” Marlin said in victory lane. “(It was a) Pretty competitive race. (We) Had a great race car.”

Andy Johnson jumped out to the early lead, with pole sitter Cody Coughlin in second and Marlin in third.

Marlin and Coughlin battled for several laps for second, going three wide with the lap car of Austin Brawley on lap 24. Brawley would get sideways as the trio went into turn one, but he was able to gather it up as Marlin moved into second.

The two time Daytona 500 champion would work to close on Johnson over the next 10 laps, and would go to work looking for away around the leader on lap 37.

As the duo fought side by side coming to lap 40, they made slight contact, sending Johnson around. Marlin would take a hard hit in the right hand door, suffering sheet metal damage.

“I got into Andy,” Marlin said after the race. “I didn’t mean to. Tore my stuff up, his stuff up a little bit, I guess it got his a little more. I apologize, it was all my fault.”

Caution would come out again on lap 66 when Chase Chaffin spun off turn four.

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The Limited Late Model feature saw the scariest moment of the night, when Greg Gresham spun on the front stretch and was slammed into hard by Chaz Chaffin. Chaffin’s car continued down into turn one, making hard contact again into the outside wall. Both drivers were okay.

On the restart, Bobby Terry got the jump on leader Alan Carter, and went on to score the victory. Carter, Eddie Taylor, Jamie Hoskins, and Ryan Lynch rounded out the top five.

Other winners on the night included Jay Coen in Legends, Aaron Ashcroft in Front Wheel Drives, Ronald Jackson in Pure Stocks, Bobby Jo Rippey in Super Streets, Cody Buford in Sportsman, and Jeff Letson in Modifieds.

Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville returns to action on May 4. For more info, visit fairgroundsspeedwaynashville.com.

Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville – Nashville, TN
Race Results – April 6, 2013

Southern Super Series
1. Bubba Pollard
2. Daniel Hemric
3. Donnie Wilson
4. Augie Grill
5. Stephen Nasse
6. Dennis Schoenfeld
7. Jeff Choquette
8. Jeff Fultz
9. Austin Theriault
10. John Hunter Nemechek
11. T.J. Reaid
12. Mike Garvey
13. Spencer Davis
14. Tyler Miles
15. Daniel Bolden
16. Allen Karnes
17. Bobby Wingo
18. Hunter Robbins
19. Mason Mingus
20. Willie Allen
21. Lonnie Sommerville
22. Kyle Benjamin
23. Jerry Artuso
24. D.J. Vanderley
25. Damon Ecoff
26. Michael House
27. Clay Alexander
28. Bobby Knox Jr.
29. Anderson Bowen
30. Keith Cahela
31. Brian Campbell

Pro Late Models
1. Sterling Martin
2. Mark Day
3. Cody Coughlin
4. Tucker Wingo
5. Tyler Miles
6. Tommy Joe Martin
7. Jeff Letson
8. Justin Ashmore
9. Austin Brawley
10. Hunter Spivey
11. Michael Bolden
12. T.W. Fisher
13. Andy Johnson
14. Chase Chaffin
15. J.R. Bolden
16. Davey Coble
17. Dennis Reno
18. Daniel Bolden
19. Stacey Crain
20. Spencer Davis