A victory in the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at New Smyrna Speedway gives David Garbo, Jr. another reason to be optimistic entering the 2015 season.

Garbo, 18, from Stonington, Connecticut, is competing full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East but, when he is not racing in the K&N Series, he will be racing in the Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Super Late Model Tour for the same team he has been racing with.  Jamie Yelton and Fat Head Racing have put together a Super Late Model team and Garbo will be at the wheel.

Garbo is looking forward to the CARS Tour and feels he and his team, headed up by crew-chief Jason Stanley, can win races.

“After Speedweeks, we ran pretty well down there, won a race, got a couple poles and bunch of top-five finishes,” Garbo said.  “I didn’t have expectations set too high before it but I do now.  I know the equipment can win races and I can win races so I expect to go out there and run top-five.”

Garbo said he was surprised by the success he had at New Smyrna because the Fat Heat Racing Super Late Model program is a new program.  Despite being a new program, Yelton, a veteran racer himself and a veteran car owner, put the pieces in place and Garbo was successful right out of the gate.

“It’s a brand new car, crew-chief, we didn’t know what to expect,” Garbo explained.  “The car was really nice and he did a good job building it and Jamie got the right parts.  We had some things to work out.  We had some motor issues.  Once we worked out those issues, I’m surprised we didn’t have more being a brand new car.  Once we worked out those issues, we were pretty fast and everyone knew we were there for sure.”

Last season, Garbo ran one Super Late Model race in the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) finale at Southern National Motorsports Park racing for Steven Wallace.   Along with the K&N Series and the CARS Tour, Garbo will also run in some of the biggest Late Model races of the season – including the PASS race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, the Oxford 250, the Valley Star Credit Union 300 at Martinsville Speedway, the Winchester 400 and the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway.

Garbo says he has unfinished business at Martinsville after a wheel broke while he was in contention for the win in last year’s race.

“That was a heartbreaker,” Garbo stated.  “We took the lead and really, we weren’t getting run over.  We were really fast and had a broken wheel which ended our day.  I’m really excited to go back there because we ran really well and that track fits my style.  You have to drive the car hard to be fast.  I know we’ll be fast when we go back there.”

Garbo says he’s looking forward to learning new racetracks and how to get around those new tracks – such as the high-banked Winchester Speedway in Indiana which hosts the Winchester 400.

“I’ve heard it’s pretty cool but I haven’t been there.  That’s going to be another thing, learning another track.  I’m usually pretty decent at figuring out how to run at a new track when we look at it.”

Of course, the biggest prize for any Super Late Model racer is the Tom Dawson Trophy which is awarded to the winner of the Snowball Derby.  Garbo had plans to race in the 2014 Snowball Derby but he and Yelton did not want to rush in developing the Fat Heat Racing Super Late Model program.

“I’ll be there this year.  We were going to go this year but we didn’t want to rush it and rush this Super Late Model deal.  We wanted to get the car where it needed to be before we jumped into it, being a new car.  We made a good choice going to Speedweeks, had a whole week to test the car basically.”

Jamie Yelton said Payton Ryan would once again race for him on the Late Model Stock Car side of Fat Head Racing.  Ryan scored three wins in 2014, including a victory at Motor Mile Speedway.