Brandon Lopez Heating Up Entering Blizzard Series Twin 100s

Coming off a runner-up finish with the Show Me the Money Series at Montgomery Motor Speedway, Brandon Lopez now heads to Five Flags Speedway for this weekend's Coca-Cola Twin Blizzard 100s.

Lopez's second-place effort in the Disturbing the Peace 100 last Saturday did not come without its challenges. Without power steering, Lopez fought the car as much as his fellow competitors on the track.

Still, the Georgia driver persevered to finish second to Jake Finch in the event, looking to build some momentum as the summer months loom on the horizon.

“We haven’t had such a great string of finishes this year," Lopez told Racing America. "We took our time, went back to the shop and just went back to the car, front to back. Went to the track, took our time, didn’t rush anything, didn’t just focus on only raw speed, and I think it showed in the race. We just went back to work and got back to what we know works good and showed it."

After the strong showing in the Pro Late Model, Lopez now climbs in the Bryson Lopez Racing Super Late Model this weekend for two nights at Five Flags Speedway. The Tibbetts Lumber 100 and Cook Out 100 make up rounds two and three of the Deep South Cranes Blizzard Series, paving the road to the Snowball Derby.

Lopez made his Super Late Model debut in last year's Snowball Derby and continues to build a notebook in the higher-powered cars as he continues his first proper season at this level.

“Last year at the [Snowball Derby] Preview we had pretty good speed in comparison to the cars that were there," Lopez explained. |We struggled a little bit during week, just because of all the weather and whatnot, and that was my first Super race and as well as the team’s. The car had good speed there. We had a mechanical issue with the trailing arm falling down on the right rear during the race, so the race didn't really go our way.

“We are kind of going back to the package that we first unloaded on there that we're hoping to have speed this year and just going to go build from there and kind of try and mirror what we did in Montgomery. Just go down, take our time methodically, pick our changes and try to approach it the same way we did Montgomery.”

Making the move from the Pro Late Model to the Super Late Model has been a learning experience for Lopez. However, he has enjoyed enough success, including a win last year in the zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model Series, to help with that adjustment.

“It's a little bit different. You’ve got to respect it a little bit more and you know, take what the car can give you. You can't really overdrive it super hard because it's just not going to take it. But other than that, you know, it's the same chassis car that I run in the Pro, so it's got the same base feeling to it for me.

“Luckily we've had some pretty good speed in the Super this year, so they haven't really been up very challenging to adjust to yet, although our finishes don't really show it, but we've had really good speed in our Supers this year.”

Learning on the fly has been the story of Lopez's relatively young racing career. While most of his competition has been racing on four wheels since competing in karting or smaller race cars such as Legends or Bandoleros, Lopez made the jump to stock car racing just three years ago in a Pro Truck at Cordele Motor Speedway.

“My stepbrother got back into racing pro trucks at what's now our local track, Cordele, in 2021 and I was still riding dirt bikes for fun some races," said Lopez. "My brother ended up getting hurt and Dad wanted me to get off the motorcycles. I tested a Pro Truck once in 2022 and then I raced it, I think my first race in a truck was May of 2023. I raced a couple Pro Truck races in 2023 and then Dustin had gotten a new late model, a Pro Late Model and started racing that class.

"In 2024, after about four or five races in the pro truck, we went to New Smyrna and then straight into the CARS Tour. So really, I don't have a base of racing. Everything I'm doing is for the first time and learning. I'm just trying to keep this open of a mind as I possibly can and listen to everyone who's been around me because obviously, they got a little bit more experience than me no matter how young they are."

Part of that learning experience has been working with talented and accomplished teammates at Bryson Lopez Racing.

"Just trying to understand that I'm learning and listen to the people who are around me, like my stepbrother, been around Kaden [Honeycutt] a lot. A lot of other drivers who have driven for us, they've been doing it since they were little kids.

"So just trying to learn and be a sponge and soak up all the knowledge and listen to what they're telling me and try to implement that in the car and try and use GoPros and send it to them and let them tell me what I need to and not do better. So really just trying to utilize all the resources that we've been fortunate enough to surround ourselves with and try and speed up the process."

Honeycutt has been arguably the most successful example of this teamwork. Now a full-time competitor in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and former Snowball Derby winner, Honeycutt won the 2024 zMAX CARS Tour Pro Late Model championship driving for Bryson Lopez Racing.

That partnership didn't just lead to a title. It also led to a friendship between Lopez and Honeycutt which has also improved Lopez as a competitor.

"Me and Kaden have become pretty good friends over the years. I went through a couple of stretches where I was hard-headed, and I didn't want to listen to some people. Kaden being my friend, I guess, sometimes, you listen to your friends more than you listen to some other people that you also should.

"Kaden's going to be honest with me about what I'm doing in the race car and what I'm not doing and what I need to be doing. And I feel like I can ask him pretty much whatever I need to do. He'll be as honest as he can with me."

During his debut Snowball Derby, Lopez was also teammates with Kyle Busch. That experience has taken on new sentimental value following the death of the two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion.

"He was very informative to me, the team. Anything that I asked him, he would answer me just like I was anybody else," said Lopez. "I think we did a good job at not treating him like he was the superstar he was, you know, just made him feel like a normal person. I think he appreciated that.

"So just an overall great experience. It means a lot more now, I think, than it did, you know, with the unfortunate circumstances. But it was a great experience for us."

Heading back to Five Flags Speedway, Lopez hopes to prove his Super Late Model can be just as fast as his Pro Late Model was last weekend.

"We don't we don't go to run top ten. We don't go to run top five, and we don't go to run just sit on the pole," Lopez said. "We want to go win. That's the goal. A top five would be good, but that's not that's not what we're looking to do. We want to go down there and win and show that our Super Late Models can be dominant as well, just like they can be in Pro Late models. So that's the ultimate goal is to go and win."

Fans can watch this weekend's Blizzard Twin 100s live on RacingAmerica.TV. Click here to subscribe and watch racing from Five Flags Speedway on both Friday and Saturday night from the Pensacola half-mile.

-Photo credit: Daniel Vining/Bryson Lopez Racing