GAFFNEY, S.C. – Trent Ivey scored the biggest victory of his career Sunday by claiming his first Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series presented by Sunoco Race Fuels triumph at Cherokee Speedway.
Ivey’s victory, worth $10,000, would make the second-generation driver the 38th different winner in tour history.
Ivey would take the lead at the start of the 53-lap contest with Brandon Overton, Michael Brown, Kyle Strickler, Donald McIntosh and Tanner English battling for position behind him.
Brown would take second from Overton on lap five before pressuring Ivey for the lead. Brown would grab the lead, only to see a caution negate the pass when fourth-place Strickler would slow on the track in turn two.
Another caution for debris on lap eight would also slow the action and once back underway, Ivey and Brown would settle into a battle for the lead. Brown looked to be set to make a move for the lead when the caution waved again on lap 20 for Christian Hanger, who had stopped in turn two.
During the caution, Brown would pull into the pits and be done for the night and McIntosh, who was be in third, would also pull into the work area, but would return to action.
Ivey would control the restart, with Overton now in pursuit from second. Lap 24 would see the next caution when Dennis Franklin would slow on the front stretch and be done for the event.
The restart would see English spin in turn two, with the trio of McIntosh, Doug Sanders and Adam Yarbrough also tangling. Ivey would again control the restart and would maintain a comfortable advantage over Overton and would begin to work slower traffic when Cla Knight would slow in turn two on lap 36 to slow the action.
This restart would see Overton stay close to Ivey, but a caution period for Derrick Ramey on lap 43 would slow the action again. One final caution would appear on lap 46 to set up a dash to the finish and Ivey would pull away from Overton and build almost a one second lead over the final laps to secure the victory, with Overton finishing second and Michael Page finishing third.
Ross Bailes and 13th place starter Jake Knowles would complete the top five finishers.
The finish:
Trent Ivey, Brandon Overton, Michael Page, Ross Bailes, Jake Knowles, Kyle Strickler, Benji Hicks, Matthew Nance, Donald McIntosh, Cla Knight, Tanner English, Aaron Ridley, Derrick Ramey, Anthony Sanders, Jeff Smith, Christian Hanger, Adam Yarbrough, Dennis Franklin, Doug Sanders, Michael Brown, Chris Ferguson, Larry Grube, Casey Roberts.