PENSACOLA, FL :: The Miller Lite 125 at Five Flags Speedway on Friday night is the penultimate race of the Southern Super Series season but also the final Super Late Model race of the year at Pensacola prior to Snowball Derby festivities in December.
In short, this race is likely the last chance to tune-up and find speed at Pensacola before the most prestigious event in independent short track racing. Thus, it has attracted a vast entry list of drivers from all over the continent, including Ross Kenseth, Steven Wallace, Harrison Burton and Todd Gilliland.
One of the top national stars didn’t even have to travel far from her Pensacola home to make it to Five Flags Speedway on Friday night.
Johanna Long is also entered and is hoping to end a long drought since joining the storied Carlson Motorsports No. 21 entry during the off-season. The 2010 Snowball Derby champion feels like her team has come a long way and is hitting their stride when it matters the most — during the build-up to Derby season.
“I feel like we have started to pick up some speed and find consistency,” Long told Race22.com on Thursday. “I feel good about it. They’ve been working real hard on the car and it’s just an honor to drive this car again. It’s a good car and it means a lot for them to ask me to do it again.”
Scott Carlson is one of the more respected names in Southeast Super Late Model racing and is a veteran of the All-Pro Series and a former Snowflake 100 race winner. Having someone of that caliber trust Long behind the wheel is a matter of pride for the former Nationwide Series starlet.
“I remember watching him race when I was little and it means a lot that I can get behind the wheel of this car,” Long said. “They’ve won a lot of races and I want to add my name to that list with this team too and maybe even at the Derby.”
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Former NASCAR prospect Casey Roderick has won some of the biggest events in Super Late Model racing this season by capturing the prestigious Rattler 250 and World Crown 300 earlier in the season. Naturally, he and his Graham Motorsports team are saving a spot for the Snowball Derby as well.
He believes the Miller Lite 125 will go a long ways towards that effort on Friday night.
“I want to be good for (Friday) night because we always come out with the goal to win,” Roderick said. “And really, doing that will help us prepare for the Derby. The great thing about a track like Pensacola is that it doesn’t really change throughout the year.
“Maybe it’s the temperature or the condition of the pavement but I feel like we’ve got a good handle on it. We were able to turn some practice laps on it during the day and night so I feel like we’re going to leave here with a lot of useable information.”
Harrison Burton has only made a handful of starts on the Florida half-mile and his dad, Sprint Cup Series veteran Jeff Burton, called it easily their worst track. They feel like they still have to make up a tenth of a second on Bubba Pollard, Augie Grill and the track regulars but they feel like they should be able to contend in December for the Tom Dawson Memorial Trophy.
“The most valuable thing about a race like Friday night is the entry list,” the elder Burton said. “They are going to have about 30 cars and many of them are going to be favorites to win the Derby in December. I feel like if Harrison can learn something from racing those guys and if we can continue to work on our car, we’ll be decent when we come back.”
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The entry list for the Miller Lite 125 Southern Super Series race at Five Flags Speedway can be found below.
- Denver Foran
- Mike Garvey
- Tim Martin
- Donnie Wilson
- Dalton Sargeant
- Will Gallaher
- Baley Currey
- Casey Roderick
- David Rogers
- David Green
- Harrison Burton
- Brandon Odom
- Johanna Long
- Jeremy Pate
- Bubba Pollard
- Jeff Choquette
- Anderson Bowen
- Kyle Grissom
- TJ Reaid
- Allen Karnes
- Jake Perkins
- Steve Wallace
- David Odell
- Ross Kenseth
- Kyle Bryant
- Garrett Jones
- Daniel Hemric
- Todd Gilliland
- Casey Smith
- Augie Grill
- Spencer Davis
Chase Elliott Interested in Returning to Derby
And speaking of the Snowball Derby, 2011 race winner Chase Elliott has not entirely ruled out making a return visit to the Super Bowl of Short Track Racing.
After saying in April at Talladega Superspeedway that he wasn’t planning to compete in the Derby this year, the current NASCAR Nationwide Series championship leader now says he would like to enter but only if he and his No. 9 car can align itself with the right people to do it properly.
“I’m not sure if we’re going to yet,” Elliott told Race22.com last weekend at Chicagoland Speedway. “We’ll see as the race gets closer. I would like to but I want to make sure that we have the right people in place so that we can give it a really strong effort.”
Elliott won the race in dramatic fashion in 2010, out-dueling DJ VanderLey in one of the greatest finishes in event history. He would later cross the line first in 2013 but his win was disqualified, handing the Dawson Memorial Trophy to Erik Jones for the second year in a row.
The 18-year-old has worked with crew chief Ricky Turner over the past several years but that crew has since moved over to support Anderson Bowen this season since Elliott graduated to NASCAR.
