Chase Elliott Sweeps Weekend With 5 Flags SLM Win

Beads of sweat trickling off his chin, Chase Elliott was out of breath.

“That’s about as hard as I’ve worked to catch somebody,” the 16-year-old defending Snowball Derby champion said Sunday. “I’m glad it paid off.”

The 16 year old etched another unthinkable victory into the asphalt at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola FL, running down Jeff Choquette in the final 15 laps to win the Pepsi Next 100.

The season opener was postponed to Sunday because of rain Friday.

The change in schedule didn’t dampen another memorable performance from Elliott, who passed Choquette on lap 97 to take his Super Late Model to victory lane for the second time in as many races.

Choquette had a comfortable lead for the last third of the race until lapped traffic cost him.

Pensacola’s Jeremy Pate was force to check up on the back stretch with 10 laps remaining, allowing Elliott to close the gap.

“I thought I had burned my stuff up. I gave it all I had,” Elliott said. “I still didn’t think I had time to catch (Choquette). I got to him and it worked out.”

Choquette, for his part, gave credit to where it was due. He freely admitted Elliott had the better car Sunday and the kid perfectly utilized the same strategy that brought him victory Saturday in Mobile.

Choquette was a bit frustrated with cars preventing him from building on the lead.

“The lapped cars, it was a joke,” the West Palm Beach resident said. “I disagree with the lapped cars making it three-wide in turns. They gotta get out of the way.”

Elliott’s last Super Late Model win, of course, came in December when Elliott held off a charging D.J. VanderLey to win the 44th running of short-track’s summit.

The condition of the famed, half-mile asphalt oval was much different Sunday with cars slipping all over the track when tires began to wear thin around lap 60.

“We race all year long at night,” Elliott said, “and in December at the Snowball when it’s cold. So you relatively have nothing to go on. It’s completely different than anything we’ve raced before.”

Something that was far from different was a Grand American Race Car being in victory lane.

Elliott’s win marked the 13th consecutive Blizzard Series race a GARC-manufactured car took the checkered.

The last time a different manufacturer won was more than two years ago when hometown girl Johanna Long was on her way to a Blizzard season championship.

Augie Grill, the owner and builder of GARCs, led for much of the race Sunday before giving away to Choquette around lap 66. Grill finished third while fast-qualifier Bubba Pollard (16.732 seconds) was fourth.

Elliott battled Grill for second for a handful of laps as the field approached 75 laps. The hot track put a wrench in any ideas to pass, even on the inside.

Pensacola’s high banks in the March sun were certainly different than most racing drivers, teams and fans could have expected.

D.J. VanderLey, Snowball runner-up to Elliott, went up in smoke on the back stretch when a seal broke on the oil cooler just one lap in.

Josh Hamner, running fourth a little while later, got sideways between turn Nos. 3 and 4. He somehow managed to save it and avoid causing a massive crash with most of the field, including Elliott.

The field wasn’t as lucky on lap 11. Grant Enfinger checked up on the back stretch with fuel troubles, igniting a 10-car crash that ended the days for a handful of drivers.

“It was so hard to pass,” Elliott said. “I wouldn’t have gotten past Augie if I hadn’t touched him a little. Fortunately, I was able to squeeze by.”

The rest was Chase Elliott history.

Super Stocks

Bubba Winslow gift-wrapped the perfect birthday present for his grandfather Sunday.

James Winslow has contributed a lot of help to his grandson’s passion of driving stock cars. Bubba Winslow repaid him with a pair of victories Sunday.

The first came in the Super Stocks feature, as the defending track champion took to lead on lap 19 of from Okie Mason and never looked back.

“That’s a blast racing Okie like that,” said Winslow, who started fifth.

Scott Anderson finished second, with Mason in third, Darrin Matthews fourth, and John Shuffler fifth.

The caution came out twice in the 25-lap feature, none scarier than when Greg Young smashed into the outside wall of turn 1 after getting hooked up with Brandon Harris down the front stretch.

Young was pinned against the wall and there was a long delay as emergency medical personnel attended to him, but he was able to walk away virtually unharmed.

Sportsmen

A hometown boy got 2012 off to a great start.

Bubba Winslow, who won the Super Stocks feature just 30 minutes earlier, made it a clean sweep in winning the West Florida Coatings Sportsmen feature.

Calvin Cook, Shanna Ard, Brannon Fowler, and Steve Buttrick rounded out the top five.

A scary collision occurred in the middle of the race between Marty White and Jim Pokrant, but both drivers were OK after the wreck down the front stretch.

Bombers

Apparently little has changed in the Butler U-Pull-It Bombers division.

When the 2011 regular season ended at Five Flags, the two cars battling it out were Gary Goodwin and Brandon Burks.

Goodwin held off Burks to win the track title last year, but Burks got the better of Goodwin on Sunday.

The Milton youngster took to the front when Goodwin had car troubles in the middle of the race and never looked back.

Kenneth Bullard finished second, with Kenny Williams in third, Leonard Craig, Jr. in fourth, and Goodwin fifth.
However, one should take this drug as per their body type and their disorder so always go for those foods which are well known in category of pharmaceuticals. is one tremendous helpful medication, proposed merely for whipping thwarting sexual trouble like erectile dysfunction. Due to bacteria and because of negligence the labyrinthitis faces chronic Otitis media and has subtle or mild symptoms. It is hardly the sort of thing that pfizer viagra samples http://secretworldchronicle.com/category/podcast/season-eight-collision/ completely destroys your ego and confidence. Read More Here ordine cialis on line In fact, CPPS can be difficult to treat.
5 Flags Speedway will back in action on Friday, March 30, with the 100-lap season opener for the Allen Turner Pro Late Models, Sportsmen, and Bombers.  Visit 5flagsspeedway.com for more info.

5 Flags Speedway – Pensacola FL
Pepsi Next 100 – March 25 2012

1. Chase Elliott
2. Jeff Choquette
3. Augie Grill
4. Bubba Pollard
5. Kyle Benjamin
6. Grant Enfinger
7. Donnie Wilson
8. Benjamin Kennedy
9. Clay Alexander
10. Casey Smith
11. Ryan Crane
12. Anthony Sergi
13. Dwayne Buggay
14. Jimmy Garmon
15. Chris Serio
16. Allen Karnes
17. Jerry Artuso
18. Jeremy Pate
19. Junior Niedecken
20. Kurt Jett
21. Mike Garvey
22. Cale Gale
23. Dennis Schoenfeld
24. Logan Boyett
25. David Rogers
26. Danny Bagwell
27. Tony Clark
28. Josh Hamner
29. Tyler Miles
30. D.J. VanderLey
31. Chris Davidson

Super Stocks
1. Bubba Winslow
2. Scott Anderson
3. Okie Mason
4. Darrin Matthews
5. John Shuffler
6. Randy Thompson
7. Charlie Skipper
8. Brandon Harris
9. Mike Moore
10. Jeremy Tassin
11. Randy Herrick
12. Greg Young
13. Joe Mahuron

Sportsmen
1. Bubba Winslow
2. Calvin Cook
3. Shanna Ard
4. Brannon Fowler
5. Steve Buttrick
6. Michael Couture
7. Billy Hoover
8. Charles English
9. Marty White
10. Paul Mathis
11. Ethan Hardin
12. Jim Pokrant
13. Thomas Faddis
14. Dayton Sidner
15. Chris Nielsen

Bombers Feature
1. Brandon Burks
2. Kenneth Bullard
3. Kenny Williams
4. Leonard Craig Jr.
5. Gary Goodwin
6. Robert Balkum
7. Michael Nelson
8. Tim Norman
9. Hunter Ward
10. James Beal III
11. Tommy Lowery
12. Courtney Rodrigues
13. William Davis
14. Brandon Nettles
15. Gary Burkett Sr.
16. Brandin Sidner
17. John Kevin Merritt