SALEM, Ind. – NASCAR Cup Series competitor Erik Jones tops the talented list of early entries to date for the upcoming super late model event at SpeedFest 2022 that will take place at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Ga., Jan. 28-29.
As was announced Monday, the SpeedFest 2022 super late model event, which is a co-sanctioned special non-points event for the ARCA/CRA Super Series and the Southern Super Series, will now be 150 laps and will pay the winner $12,000. The entire super late model purse was raised after making it a 150 green flag lap event and an anonymous sponsor added a $5,000 bonus to the winner making the winners payoff $12,000 for the event.
Jones was the inaugural JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour champion in 2011. Shortly after that he started his climb in NASCAR, going from the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where he was the 2015 champion, to the NASCAR Xfinity Series and moved up to the NASCAR Cup Series where he started racing full-time in 2017. Jones has two NASCAR Cup Series wins to date, one at Daytona in 2018 and one at Darlington in 2019. He was a nine-time winner in the Xfinity Series and a seven time winner in the NASCAR Trucks.
Jones has always loved super late model racing, winning the Winchester 400 three times, including the JEGS Triple Crown in 2015 when he won the Battle at Berlin 251, the Redbud 400 and the Winchester 400 to collect the $100,000 Triple Crown bonus. Jones is also a Snowball Derby and Governor’s Cup winner. After seven years of not racing in a super late model, Jones returned to make selected starts at the end of the 2021 season and will make selected starts again in 2022, starting with SpeedFest 2022.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back to SpeedFest at Watermelon Capital Speedway,” remarked Jones. “We’ve had some good runs there and I really enjoy all the people down there as well. We’ve only got a few races in this new super late model and are just coming off a good run at the Derby, so I’m hoping to go to SpeedFest and knock out our first win at the beginning of the season. There is always a great group of drivers there, so it’s definitely another trophy that I want!”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor Carson Hocevar is entered for SpeedFest 2022. Hocevar was in the Chase for the Truck Series Championship in 2021 and is signed to compete full-time in that series again next year. Hocevar won the Redbud 400 and Winchester 400 during the 2020 season, two of five ARCA/CRA Super Series victories he had that season.
One of the top super late model drivers in the country, Stephen Nasse, is also entered for SpeedFest 2022. The former two-time Southern Super Series Champion, Bristol Short Track Nationals and Winchester 400 winner looks to start off the season with his first ever win in the super late model portion of SpeedFest. Nasse won the 2020 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Model event at SpeedFest.
Sixteen-year-old Georgia hot shoe Jake Garcia has already entered for SpeedFest 2022. Garcia was the 2021 Southern Super Series champion as well as the Blizzard Series champion at Five Flags Speedway. Garcia was the Allen Turner Pro Late Model Series champion at Five Flags Speedway in 2019. Garcia picked up his first super late model victory this past season in the Southern Super Series event on Aug. 14 at Watermelon Capital Speedway.
Cody Coughlin, the 2016 ARCA/CRA Super Series champion, has filed an entry for SpeedFest 2022. Coughlin, who was the 2021 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Champion, his series leading fourth championship, will do double duty entering both the 150 lap Super Late Model event and the 100-lap JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Pro Late Model event.
Former Redbud 400 winner Steve Dorer has also filed an entry for both the SpeedFest 2022 super late model and the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event. Dorer has two ARCA/CRA Super Series victories and two JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour victories on his resume along with several big wins in his native Florida.