Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch enjoyed mixed results on Saturday at Watermelon Capital Speedway during his return to a Super Late Model.

On one hand, Busch reported no problems with his surgically repaired foot and leg in his first laps since going under the knife for an off-season tune-up in December. On the other, he was only 10th-fastest in qualifying and is still looking for the speed needed to win CRA Speedfest on Sunday at the third-mile Georgia short track.

This weekend is the first time Busch has turned laps in any kind of car since winning the Sprint Cup championship in November at Homestead Miami Speedway. Since then, Busch went in for surgery to remove two metal plates in his left foot and a metal rod and screws in his right leg.

After having Christopher Bell test his car on Friday, Busch practiced and qualified on Saturday and doesn’t expect any problems during the race.

“Everything is good for me in that respect,” Busch told Race22.com. “My left foot is a little sore because I haven’t sat down all day, y’know? Besides that, driving in the car feels pretty good. Hopefully tomorrow is a good day for us. I just want to have a good race.

“Our teammate, William Byron has a good car so I’m excited for him. He’s got a really good chance to win this thing and we should too.”

For Busch to win, he and new crew chief Steve Strasburg will have to pick up the pace. Even Busch himself was working on the car after qualifying and believes they found the culprit to their slight struggles throughout the day.

“It’s definitely not where we want it,” Busch said. “We’re trying to keep finding things that we can work on to make it better. I think we found this one thing that wasn’t the way it needed to be, so hopefully that will help us out for tomorrow.”

Busch won the first CRA Speedfest to be held at Watermelon Capital Speedway back in 2012 and says he couldn’t wait to get back. He also won the event in 2009 and 2010 when it was held at Lanier National Speedway.

“This place is unique and a challenge for sure,” Busch said. “It’s fun to watch people come here for the first time because they find out it’s not as easy as it looks on paper. Everyone kind of fights the same thing — solving the tight in the center and your drive off, so the winner will be the team that best figures that out.

Even though Busch only plans to compete part-time in the XFINITY Series this season, with no planned Truck Series starts, Speedfest might be the only time Busch gets to compete in a Super Late Model this season.

The discipline is his favorite form of racing but his NASCAR schedule will continue to keep him busy, especially given his newly-acquired role of Sprint Cup champion.

“I don’t think so and especially not on weekends,” Busch said of making more short track appearances in 2016. “I don’t know when Oktoberfest is and where we are on the Cup schedule but if I’m a Cup event its probably not worth going back and forth.

“It would be fun to go run the Winchester 400 but that’s during the Chase so we have to be focused on that.”

CRA Speedfest will be televised online via Speed51.com’s 51 TV Pay-Per-View service.  The entire Sunday event features a 100-lap JEGS Tour Pro Late Model race, followed by the 200-lap CRA Super Series main event. The broadcast can be purchased for $27.99.