Chase Elliott tangles with Johnny Sauter, wins dramatic CRA Speedfest Late Model race

CORDELE, Ga. -- In what has become a tradition for the first major Super Late Model event of the season, Speedfest at Watermelon Capital Speedway ended with theatrics and controversy on Sunday night in Cordele with Chase Elliott ultimately finding his way to Victory Lane.

Elliott battled with a dominant Johnny Sauter throughout the 200 lap event, with Sauter leading for much of the second half. Elliott spent the final quarter of the race working his way under Sauter but was continually denied the position by the dogged veteran.

Sauter pinched Elliott on several occasions and on lap 183, Elliott didn’t budge as the two made heavy contact off Turn 4, sending Sauter spinning from the outside and out of contention. The move proved to be the winning ‘pass’ as Elliott would hold off a hard-charging Daniel Hemric to win one last Super Late Model event before graduating to the NASCAR Nationwide Series in 2014.

“It was really special,” Elliott said. “Honestly it’s more special because of how hard we had to work to earn it. We had to race hard and raced hard with (Sauter) since the break all the way to the end and we came out on top.”

Sauter could not be reached for comments after the race but his actions immediately after the accident with Elliott served as a snapshot for how he felt. While under caution, Sauter drove his No. 5 around the track, slammed it (relatively) lightly into Elliott’s entry and promptly retired from the event.

In Victory Lane, Elliott insists that the contact was just the result of hard short track racing and that Sauter should reach the same conclusion once he gets over the heat of the moment.

“He tried to run me off the track about five times in a row and anyone who understands will tell you that,” Elliott continued. “And anyone behind us will tell you that too. We went into the turn, pretty well side-by-side, he was probably a fender ahead of me and he decided to take a lower line.

“He was already free getting in. We both ran in hard, we got loose, hit each other. Unfortunately he spun out and we kept going. But whether he tells you or not, he knows we didn’t wreck him on purpose.”

Still, it was a disappointing loss for Sauter because he dominated Speedfest for a second straight year and was dramatically denied the top trophy. The NASCAR veteran built his car from scratch, enjoyed success with it, but has yet to post a win behind the wheel.

Sauter had scored the pole, setting a new track record in the process on Saturday, adding to the source of his frustrations.

With Elliott left unchallenged in Sauter’s defeat, the battle for second became the marquee with Southern Super Series rivals Hemric and Bubba Pollard fighting for the spot. As he had in winning that championship in 2013, Hemric won when Pollard suffered bad luck, leaving Hemric to settle in behind Elliott.

Hemric and his Carswell Motorsports team hadn’t even planned to race this weekend until Thursday night, softening the blow of finishing second yet again to the 18-year-old from Dawsonville.

“Any time you make a last minute decision, it comes down to the heart and soul of this team,” Hemric said. “It was Tuesday when we first touched the car and everybody in the shop was thrashing and man -- I just wanted to give these guys a win. They deserve it so hopefully we can do that in the Rattler (250).”

Austin Theriault, David Ragan and Jeff Cannon rounded out the top-5.

The complete finishing order and post-race video interviews with Elliott and Hemric can be found below. Extensive short track coverage can be found on SB Nation’s Ranting and Raving blog.