---

Race for Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard Series Wide Open in 2011

Editor’s Note: Super Late Models Season Preview

Chase Elliott didn’t rest on his famous father’s laurels in 2010.  The 15-year-old son of NASCAR legend Bill Elliott, Chase wasn’t just a teenage racing sensation last year. He was a downright phenomenon, winning 13 times across the country.  Elliott etched his name into the half-mile asphalt oval at Five Flags Speedway thanks to a pair of wins and four top fives in five races in his No. 9 Super Late Model en route to the Blizzard Series championship.

While his whirlwind and successful season has catapulted Elliott to NASCAR’s K&N Pro Series and a development deal with Hendrick Motorsports, he is currently expected to race at Five Flags twice this season, according to his personal web site.

With scheduling conflicts, though, this year’s Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard title seems up for grabs.  The gate seems to have flung wide open for some familiar faces when the green flag drops on the opening race Friday night for the Pepsi Max 100.

Augie Grill gets around Five Flags, arguably, better than anybody else. The Alabama native won back-to-back Blizzard events in the middle of the season and, as a two-time Snowball Derby winner, the 34 year old is always considered a threat.

Speaking of Derby winners. The reigning champ and native daughter Johanna Long will make her triumphant return Friday after earning her rookie stripes on NASCAR’s Camping World Truck Series for the past month.  It wasn’t four months ago that the Five Flags’ fan favorite let her emotions run wild after one of the wildest runs in 43 runnings of short-track racing’s premier event.

Bubba Pollard opened the Blizzard Series campaign last year with a victory and seemingly was in contention in all five races. Expect more of the same from the Senoia, Ga., native. Other veterans, such as Mike Garvey and Donnie Wilson, along with upstarts, such as D.J. VanderLey and Bobby Good Jr., figure to be in the mix. It’s always a deep division. Each 100-lap event is a prelude to the Derby, and Friday’s opener will be no different.

No doubt some new faces will leave. Could Chase Elliott’s heir apparent be waiting in the pits?  Only time and five Buddy's Home Furnishing Blizzards will tell.

 

2011 Schedule

Friday

May 27

June 24

August 12

September 23

 

Back to News