Special from Lanier National Speedway

NASCAR Stars Busch & Ragan Racing for SpeedFest Glory

Defending SLM Winner Busch Going for Double; Ragan Hopes to Thrill Home State Fans

CONCORD, NC (January 27, 2010) –  Current NASCAR stars Kyle Busch and David Ragan could be just about anywhere else in the world on the final weekend of January, the weekend before Speedweeks down in Daytona Beach, Florida kicks off the 2010 Sprint Cup Series schedule.  Most drivers would choose to spend their final weekend before heading to Daytona at home or on a vacation before getting down to work, but neither Busch nor Ragan are just any driver.

Both will spend their final weekend before February Speedweeks kick off behind the wheel of Late Models at SpeedFest 2010 at Lanier National Speedway in Braselton, Georgia, January 30^th and 31^st.  Busch comes to SpeedFest 2010 as the defending winner of the CRA-sanctioned Super Late Model portion of the SpeedFest weekend, while the Unadilla, Georgia native David Ragan hopes to thrill his home state fans in the Pro Late Model 150-lap SpeedFest event at one of the tracks he cut his racing teeth at in Legends Cars and Late Models. 

For Busch, the goal for SpeedFest is not only to defend his Super Late Model victory from 2009 at Lanier, but this year the Las Vegas, Nevada native will hope to sweep SpeedFest victories as he adds the Pro Late Model race to his agenda, as well.

“I’m looking forward to it and getting back into the NOS Energy Drink Camry down there at SpeedFest,” said Busch.  It’s been a year since we’ve been there and we’ve got a new crew chief on board this year with Chris Gabehart.  Bond Suss (2009 Crew Chief) has moved to the (Kyle Busch Motorsports) General Manager role and he’s got some good stuff that we’re looking forward to.  Hopefully with both cars, the Pro car and the Super car, we’ll have some good stuff down there to try to contend for both wins this time.”

Ragan has the Pro Late Model 150 portion of SpeedFest on his radar at Lanier, a track that he considers one of his homes.

“Hopefully it will be fun, that’s why we’re going to run the Pro Late Model class again,” said Ragan.  “That’s what we ran a few weeks ago at the Shriner’s Bowl (a 100-lap early-season Pro Late Model race at Lanier).  We just built this car brand new and this is only our second race, so we still need to run a few more races to kind of get our feet wet.  We’re still learning about some of the short tracks and Late Model racing.  It’s been a few a years since I’ve run any Late Model cars throughout the Southeast, so we need to learn to walk before we run.  It will still be a fun race, a competitive race, and it will also give us a chance to learn a little bit more and hopefully later on throughout the season we’ll go and run some Super (Late Model) races with some of these guys.”

Busch’s win in the 250-lap SpeedFest CRA Super Late Model race last January set the stage for a huge year, not only in NASCAR’s top-three series, where he won 20 races total, but also in his short track Super Late Model endeavors, as well.  In 2009, Busch won prestigious Super Late Model races such as the Winchester 400 and the Snowball Derby, but his big year got kick-started at Lanier at SpeedFest.

“You’re always proud of any victory you get and to start off the year with a big victory at SpeedFest felt really, really good.  Then with the way our season went, we had some ups and downs, but we won a lot of the big races.  We would have liked to have won a couple more, but starting the year off with SpeedFest is the right thing to do.  Going down there in January just kind of gets some racing back into you and gets the team guys back to racing again, you know, being out on the road and staying in hotels and just being able to get back to the atmosphere.  The following week I’m down in Daytona, so being able to get back in a racecar and remember how to put on a helmet, ear plugs, and Hans device on is all good for me.”

Busch and Ragan will be joined by fellow NASCAR drivers David Stremme and Steven Wallace on the track during SpeedFest weekend, while former NASCAR Cup Series Champions Rusty Wallace and Bill Elliott will also be on hand for the festivities at Lanier.  The NASCAR talent on the track will have their hands full with some of the top short track talents in the country competing at SpeedFest 2010, including Bubba Pollard, Jason Hogan, Bobby Gill, Scott Hantz, Johnny VanDoorn and more in the 250-lap Super Late Model race, as well as Paul Kelley, Shane Sawyer and defending Pro Late Model SpeedFest winner Greg Simpson in that 150-lap tilt.

CRA and Lanier officials have, for the second-straight season, implemented a $10,000 bonus to a driver if he or she is able to win both the PLM and SLM events, with bonuses paid throughout the field in both events.  For more details on the bonuses, check out www.craracing.net and www.lanierspeedway.com.

The Super Late Model winner will receive an $8,000 winner’s check, with another $2,000 bonus to the driver leading at the lap-125 halfway break, meaning a possible $20,000 payday to one lucky driver.

Entry forms for the Super Late Model and Pro Late Model portions of SpeedFest weekend are currently available on craracing.net and lanierspeedway.com.