Sarah Cornett-Ching Ready for Super Late Model Debut

Sarah Cornett-Ching gained a lot of attention on the track in her rookie season in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards. Now, she’s got her sets sight on making a strong showing in her Super Late Model debut in Sunday’s Thanksgiving All-Star Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park.

The 24-year-old from Penticton, British Columbia (Canada) has logged laps at Southern National Motorsports Park in a Super Late Model, but has never competed in a Super Late Model race. The 125 lap race on Sunday afternoon will give her even more experience to add to her already diverse racing resume.

“It should be fun,” Cornett-Ching said. “This will be my first race in [a Super Late Model]. I did the one test in the summer, so I have a little bit of an idea what they’re like. We’re going to test again before we get on the track for the race. Other than that, I’m just excited. Excited to keep racing in the offseason, really.”

The Thanksgiving All-Star Classic will give Cornett-Ching some Super Late Model experience as she sets her sights on racing in the World Series of Asphalt down at New Smyrna Speedway in Florida.

“We’re definitely going to run during [New Smyrna] Speedweeks, and we’re thinking about doing the Red Eye [100], something like that,” Cornett-Ching commented. “The Snowball is probably a little lofty, considering that this is my first Super Late Model race. Maybe that would be too high of an expectation to try to head over to that one.”

Cornett-Ching finished seventh in the ARCA Racing Series championship standings in 2015 after scoring five top-10 finishes – her best, eighth, twice (Talladega Superspeedway and Chicagoland Speedway). The tough and versatile ARCA Racing Series gave her plenty of experience on a diverse range of tracks. In the ARCA Racing Series, Cornett-Ching raced on short tracks such as Winchester and Toledo, superspeedways like Daytona and Talladega, dirt tracks in Illinois, speedways like Chicagoland and Kansas and even a road course in New Jersey.

Despite not winning a race, Cornett-Ching felt good about the season she had in the ARCA Racing Series.

“The dirt tracks were tricky,” Cornett Ching recalled. “That was something totally new, and I feel like we actually didn’t struggle, considering I had no idea what I was getting myself in to. We had pretty good runs at both the dirt tracks. I’m kinda thankful to have that behind us, get back to the pavement. We went to the other big tracks like Kentucky. I was really happy with our qualifying run there and the car was really good, and we actually got taken out on the very first lap of the race, which sucked a lot. All the big tracks we went to, we had pretty good speed and pretty good success. We ended up seventh in points, which actually just missed the highest-finishing female in history, but it was the highest-finishing female rookie they’d ever had.”

Cornett-Ching, who races for Tony Blanchard, has focused on perfecting the long runs. She feels that’s where she has shown strength during the season.

“Any time we ran races this year with long runs, not being able to get tires, that’s when we’d excel the most with Tony’s setups and my driving style,” Cornett-Ching explained. “I’m really looking forward to the race. I think as long as we can avoid any wrecks and things like that, watching Super Late Model races here recently, there seems to be quite a bit of carnage. I think if we can avoid that kind of stuff, we should have a really good run.”

Cornett-Ching says the Super Late Model she will race on Sunday turns through the corner much better than the bigger, heavier stock cars she is used to racing with in ARCA.

“It turned way better. That’s the number one thing I noticed. On a shorter track like this, we didn’t have the motor restricted at all. So anytime we’d go more than ten laps, I could basically spin all the way down the front straightaway if I wanted to, just to stay in the throttle. Definitely something different than the ARCA, where you have to carry a lot of speed and you’re flat-footed to the floor in the middle of the corners trying to carry momentum. With these Super Late Models, it’s definitely a trick just to put power to the ground.”

While Cornett-Ching would love to win in her first race, she enters the race not knowing what to expect – between racing with drivers she’s never raced before and racing in a completely different style of car for 125 laps.

“It’s hard to say because I’ve never raced with any of these people. I don’t even know lap times around this place. The only thing I know is that we’ve run a few laps here, and we’re going to run a few more to get a baseline. Other than that, it’s a coin toss going in.”

Next year, Sarah Cornett-Ching has her sights set on running in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series some as well as more Super Late Model races.

“Yeah, we definitely have been talking about [running K&N],” Cornett Ching expressed. “The K&N Series doesn’t have its schedule up yet and ARCA’s is not really determined yet, either, we haven’t made a full decision. We are looking more towards NASCAR K&N stuff next year and a little less ARCA, with the problems we had with the motors and new bodies and everything like that. It’s going to be a big cost to update our equipment for all that. So we’re looking at the K&N stuff a bit more. And we’re gonna run a lot of Super Late Model races next year, stay in the seat as much as you can.”

While hoping to run more in a Super Late Model and in ARCA and K&N, Cornett-Ching may also make some appearances in a Late Model Stock Car. She also hopes to move up into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series or NASCAR XFINITY Series next season as well.

“We don’t have a Late Model Stock car,” Cornett-Ching explained. “Tony was talking about it, just because the rear end is more similar to the K&N cars and everything, for lack of experience. We’ve had that up in the air. We’re also up in the air about running some Truck or XFINITY races next year. Nothing yet set in stone, but everything’s a possibility.”

Sarah Cornett-Ching’s Super Late Model debut will come in the Super Late Model portion of the Thanksgiving All-Star Classic at Southern National Motorsports Park. The 125 lap race will commence following the Last Chance Qualifier for the 200 lap Late Model Stock Car race.