The champ is here … in a Super Late Model.
Speedfest, the annual CRA Super Series winter exhibition at Crisp Motorsports Park in Cordele, Georgia, typically boasts one of the strongest Super Late Model fields of the season. That trend is set to continue in a big way this weekend as defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch has declared the race his first of the season, and first since his off-season foot and leg surgery.
Busch is no stranger to Speedfest, having won the event in 2009 and 2010 when it was held at Lanier International Speedway in Braselton, Georgia, across the street from Road Atlanta. This will be his first start at the Central Georgia 3/8th-mile and he expects the event to be a good challenge for his recently repaired leg.
“Well, it’s the off-season and it’s the perfect opportunity for me to get back into a race car and see how I feel and make sure everything is good before Daytona,” Busch said of his reasons to enter Speedfest. “I don’t presume any issues. When I first came back at Charlotte, I didn’t feel any issues.
“So this is a good way to make sure it’s good and I don’t see anything crazy happening.”

More than anything else, Speedfest is just a chance for Busch to participate in his favorite form of motorspors — short track racing. Prior t suffering his leg injury at Daytona last February, Busch was good for about four Super Late Model starts a season when his NASCAR sheduled allowed for it.

“I love Super Late Model racing,” Busch said. “It’s my favorite form of racing. If I get to do four or five a year, I’m going to do it. It’s just hard to do with our Cup schedule. I can do them if they are Tuesday or Wednesday shows, but Cordele being before our season starts let me do a full race weekend.”

Busch will be joined in the event by Kyle Busch Motorsports teammate William Byron. The defending NASCAR K&N Pro Series East champion will drive a second KBM entry and will return to the site he made his Pro Late Model debut back in 2014.

Other entrants include 2013 Southern Super Series champion Bubba Pollard, Truck Series winner John Hunter Nemechek and ARCA Midwest Tour champion Ty Makjeski.

The event 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.

The provisional entry list can be viewed below.

  • Mason Massey
  • Derek Scott Jr.
  • Bret Holmes
  • BradyBoswell
  • Donnie Wilson
  • Kyle Plott
  • Kyle McCallum
  • Brennan Poole
  • Quinnton Bear
  • Noah Gragson
  • Brandon Setzer
  • Wes Griffith Jr.
  • Casey Roderick
  • John Hunter Nemecheck
  • Derek Kraus
  • William Byron
  • Steve Dorer
  • Harrison Burton
  • Ron Young
  • Christian Eckes
  • Bubba Pollard
  • Matthew Wragg
  • Stuart Dutton
  • Bo LeMastus
  • Brandon Oakley
  • Kyle Busch
  • Stephen Nasse
  • Todd Brown
  • John Coffman
  • Scott Hantz
  • Zane Smith
  • Kyle Bryant
  • Scotty Ellis
  • Ty Majeski
  • Cole Anderson