Chase Elliott, David Ragan Tangle in Final Laps of SpeedFest 2013 at Watermelon Capital Speedway

CORDELE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Some of Georgia’s favorite drivers and a few of NASCAR’s rising stars were in Cordele this weekend for SpeedFest 2013.

Everything appeared to be fine and dandy for Dawsonville’s Chase Elliott.

The 17-year-old had already won the 100-lap Pro Late Model race and had the lead in the Super Late Model race with just two laps to go when he tangled with Unadilla’s David Ragan.  The contact sent Elliott spinning, Ragan veering off the track and Florida’s Jeff Choquette to victory lane.

“We were both too aggressive and we both wanted that trophy so bad,” says Ragan, a current NASCAR Sprint Cup driver.  “Each one of us wasn’t cutting any slack.  Chase was driving hard; he certainly wasn’t cutting any slack.  He had the car to beat, but something broke on his car, so it allowed us to keep up with him for a few laps.  That’s the way things happened; we learned a little bit.  We can massage on this car and we’ll come back and do it again.”

The day’s finale was supposed to run 200 laps, but seemingly endless crashes caused hundreds of laps under the yellow flag–laps that didn’t count this year for the first time.

“I’ve seen a lot of crazy races,” says NASCAR driver Joe Nemechek.  “To run 400 and something laps to complete 200? That’s a crazy night.”

Nemechek’s son, 15-year-old John Hunter, drove from the back of the pack to the lead before all the extra caution laps ran his car out of fuel late in the race.

“I think everybody knew he was here,” says Nemechek.  “I mean, he passed a lot of cars and drove up to the front and raced with the best of them and got more experience.  It’s just kind of gut-wrenching when you lose so many of these things.  You know, the opportunity’s right there and we had a shot at winning quite a few of them last year, and one of these days, we’re gonna get it.”

Here are the results from both races:

JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance – Premier Building Systems 100
1) Chase Elliott
2) Justin South
3) Bubba Pollard
4) Korey Ruble
5) Mike Garvey
6) Hunter Robbins
7) Brandon Johnson
8 Cody Coughlin
9) Kyle Bryant
10) Harrison Burton
11) Allen Gordon
12) Jerrod Foley
13) Joe Ross
14) Rodney Benefield
15) David Hodges
16) Matthew Wragg
17) Kyle McCallum
18) Kevin Herbert
19) Mason Massey
20) Tom Schuette
21) Jake Griffin
22) Joel Anderson
23) Justin Ashburn
24) Chris McKeehan
25) T. W. Fisher
26) Alex Roberts
27) Dalton Grindle
28) Eric Stokes
29) Shane Nalley
30) Ronnie Whitlock
31) Eric Gerchak
32) Marty Wood

ARCA/CRA Super Series Speedfest 200
1) Jeff Choquette
2) David Odell
3) Scott Heckert
4) Anderson Bowen
5) Bubba Pollard
6) Mike Garvey
7) David Ragan
8) Chase Elliott
9) Donnie Wilson
10) Randy Gentry
11) Brandon Oakley
12) Scotty Ellis
13) Austin Theriault
14) John Hunter Nemechek
15) Erik Jones
16) Kyle Benjamin
17) Hunter Robbins
18) T. J. Reaid
19) Stephen Nasse
20) Travis Sauter
21) Jake Griffin
22) Zak Hausler
23) Jay Niewiek
24) Spencer Davis
25) Brandon Hermiller
26) Travis Braden
27) Wes Burton
28) Johnny Sauter
29) Andrew Morrissey
30) Jimmy Garmon
31) Eddie Van Meter