DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — When most of the racing world’s eyes are fixed on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway, there’s a half-mile oval a short drive south where the real rubber meets the asphalt each February.
The Clyde Hart Memorial 200 returns to New Smyrna Speedway — a half-mile asphalt oval with 23-degree banking and 600-foot straightaways — as part of the famed World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing during Speedweeks. The 200-lap race covers 100 miles around the high-banked Florida short track and stands as one of the premier Super Late Model events on the early-season calendar.
A tip of the cap to Matt Weaver, who spends countless time, energy and effort to cover these great grassroots events.
It’s go time and NASCAR Cup Series star Carson Hocevar is racing.
Named in honor of track founder Clyde Hart, whose family opened the facility (originally Daytona Raceway) in the late 1960s, the Memorial has become a benchmark for short-track stars and aspiring touring racers alike. New Smyrna — often called “Clyde’s Place” — has hosted countless late model greats under the lights and traditionally draws a stout field of regional and national competitors ready to rumble long before Cup Series engines fire at the big track.
As a warm-up to NASCAR’s On Track Wednesday and the Daytona 500 festivities, the Clyde Hart Memorial serves up a fast, intense dose of grassroots racing — 200 laps where patience is earned, tires fade, and the racing groove seems narrower than the main straightaway. It’s where seasoned short-track pros and rising stars alike battle in a showcase that’s not just training for the big show, it often steals a bit of its thunder.
For fans and drivers alike, this isn’t just another race — it’s one of the most exciting highlights of Speedweeks outside the superspeedway. Whether you’re there for the roar of the engines or the buzz of hot laps under the lights, the Clyde Hart Memorial 200 delivers quick-paced, hard-fought short-track action that puts the words “warm-up” in the rear-view mirror.
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