After finishing fourth in the inaugural Championship Auto Racing Series (CARS) Super Late Model race at Southern National Motorsports Park, Bubba Pollard has set his sights on Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville and Orange County Speedway.
Pollard, 28, is a veteran in Super Late Model racing and the reigning champion in the Deep South’s premier Super Late Model racing series, the Southern Super Series. The Senoia, Georgia driver has also run in other big races, including the Winchester 400 and the Snowball Derby – two races where victory has eluded him. This year, he has been running in the CARS Tour while also running other big races throughout the country, including the Winter Showdown at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California, a race he won.
Pollard’s fourth place finish at Southern National was impressive when taken into account that it was his first ever trip to the high banked track in North Carolina. While he would have loved to have won the race, he was pleased with the success he had.
“I was pleased with how the weekend went,” Pollard said. “Not getting any practice on Friday and having only an hour on Saturday and not being familiar with the tire, being new to us. I was real happy with the way the weekend went. If we had more time, I could’ve been better. [Cole TImm] had his stuff together. We looked over some things and have a new game plan for Orange County. We changed a few different things for the tire and see if we can’t make a run for it.”
Orange County Speedway, which is located in Rougemont, North Carolina, is not a brand new track to Pollard. He has made a start there with the Pro All Stars Series (PASS). As of now, Pollard says he does not plan to run the entire CARS Tour season because of conflicts with other races he would like to run, including the Oxford 250 in Maine and the Summer Shootout at Monroe, Washington’s Evergreen Speedway.
“We have some other dates that conflict with other races that we want to run,” Pollars stated. “Possibly the Oxford 250 and the Washington State race and possibly making an ARCA debut this weekend and hopefully we have plans of running some upcoming races as well. How this weekend goes determines if we run the whole season but as of right now still undetermined.”
This weekend, Pollard will make his fourth career start in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards in the series’ return to historic Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville in Tennessee. Pollard is teamed up with Tracy Goodson and Mike Garvey where he will race in both the 200-lap ARCA race and the 100-lap Southern Super Series race. If he has success in Saturday night’s ARCA race, he could run more races in the series.
“I definitely think it’s possible, definitely, to run more ARCA races,” Pollard explained. “I’m really excited about this weekend working with Goodson racing and Mike Garvey. Two short track teams teaming up is pretty cool. Hopefully we can hold our own and learn. I expect to win every time we go to the racetrack so we’re looking for a win. Ray, Tracy and Mike definitely have the same determination and feeling I have, we have a program that is capable of winning and we’re excited about going.”
Pollard says his main focus this weekend is making the field and being competitive in the ARCA race. Pollard’s next appearance in the CARS Tour will be in the Orange Blossom 300 at Orange County Speedway which will be held on April 18th.