CONNEAUT, Ohio — In a feature that included twists and turns across Raceway 7, Chris Madden showed the way for his first win of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models season.
Beginning the night with a win in heat three, Madden put himself in the redraw and drew the outside pole, starting on the front row next to Cade Dillard for the 40-lap feature.
From the drop of the Gorsuch Performance Green Flag, “Smokey” quickly took the lead from Dillard on the high side, using his No. 44 machine to his advantage to create a gap between him and the stout field.
Continuous packs of lapped cars hampered Madden’s chances of getting a large gap on the field, giving Kyle Bronson a chance to take away the lead.
When Bronson had his only formidable chance to get by Madden, the only caution flag of the Feature flew with 15 laps to go. The cause was Brandon Sheppard, who blew a right-rear tire, putting his points lead in jeopardy.
When the race resumed, Madden got a solid jump on Bronson and kept command of the race.
The closing stages of the feature saw Bronson using every inch of the track to make his car work. But Madden was too strong and was the first to cross under the twin checkered flags to win the $10,000 bounty.
“We’ve been running good, we just had to get it all together and it hasn’t shown,” Madden said. “We’ve had the speed; we’ve just haven’t been able to put a whole night together. So, we did that and got the lead off the start there. Obviously, that was a big key to it by being in the right place at the right time, then the caution and lap traffic and our tire going down.
“Everything went the way we needed it to tonight for a change instead of going wrong. So, maybe our luck has turned around for a change. We had a great race car throughout the night. Hats off to my guys so that we we’re able to get it done.”
Bronson came home second, happy with the progress of the team as he looks forward to continuing the hunt for his first win of 2024.
“I think we ran over something on the track from the caution about 15 (laps) to go,” Bronson said. “I had one chance to roll (Madden) on the outside there right before the caution came out, so I felt like we we’re gonna get by. But the tire was going down and I couldn’t really turn down the corner the way I wanted it to.
“Overall, I think our car is really good right now. We’re heading in the right direction, got a lot of good folks helping us out, and really looking forward to the next race. It’s been a long time since I’ve said that, but I really do look forward to winning some of these races and seeing what our car can do.”
Dillard rounded out the night’s podium.
“We definitely had the car to win,” Dillard said. “Madden was good there and got me on the start. We had a third-place car in the feature, and we brought it home third. We just keep on marching forward and eventually and hopefully the win will come.”
Nick Hoffman took the fourth-place finish and grabbed a two-point lead over Sheppard in the standings.
The finish:
Chris Madden, Kyle Bronson, Cade Dillard, Nick Hoffman, Dustin Sorensen, Tyler Bruening, Devin Moran, Dave Hess Jr., Cody Overton, Bobby Pierce, Drake Troutman, Dennis Erb Jr., Max McLaughlin, Brent Larson, Bump Hedman, Daniel Hilsabeck, Brandon Sheppard, Tristan Chamberlain, Breyton Santee, Jon Lee, Brian Shirley, Parker Martin, Dustin Walker, Ryan Gustin, Chub Frank, Andy Boozel.