In what’s become an annual rite of passage, the closing laps of CRA Speedfest were marked by controversy, this time involving three of the top names in Super Late Model racing.

The most notable moment of the race occured on the last scheduled lap, when leaders John Hunter Nemechek, Bubba Pollard and Will Byron all came together in Turns 1 and 2. The end result was Pollard taking the lead for the first time, a crippling penalty against Byron and the overall elimination of John Hunter Nemechek.

The incident began one lap after the restart. Third-place Byron stuck his nose under Pollard, getting the 2014 Southern Super Series champion loose and into Nemechek, propelling Pollard to the lead and Byron under scrutiny.
CRA Super Series director Glenn Luckett reviewed the replay and ultimately concluded that Byron was the cause of the incident. Under CRA rules, he was them sent to the rear of the field.

While Byron didn’t entirely agree with the decision, he understood it. He was all smiles after after the race and was just thrilled to be part of such an exciting finish.

“I think Bubba and John Hunter have history,” citing an incident during Speedfest last season. “In all, it’s kind of unfortunate but it was bound to happen. We were all racing really hard and leaning on each other hard.”

Byron said he doesn’t expect to protest or even reach out to Luckett. It’s a done deal as far as he’s concerned.

“I’m just happy to have a good first race with this team. These guys at Kyle Busch Motorsports are amazing and I’m just happy to be a part of it. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun and success together.”

For his part, Nemechek declined comment twice at intervals of 10 minutes.

Caught in the middle, eventual winner Pollard said he was just along for the ride, sandwiched between Nemechek and Byron.

“Both me and John Hunter got a good restart on Byron, we wall went into the corner hard, and Byron just got me from behind,” Pollard said. “I was just in a four-wheel slide and I got into John Hunter.

“It wasn’t intentional. I was just jacked up from Byron and that was all I could do.”

All told, Pollard capitalized, holding off Harrison Burton on a frantic one-lap shootout to win the race, while Nemechek finished 16th, and Byron in 14th.