CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A driver rarely wants to see yellow flags when he’s leading a race. But it’s precisely what Mike Marlar hoped for on Friday at Atomic Speedway.
The Winfield, Tenn., driver aced four restarts in the final 20 laps, staying out of lapped traffic to earn his third World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models Feature win of the season.
Nick Hoffman jumped to the early lead, fending off challenges from the Marlar, the 2018 series champion. However, that only lasted eight laps as Marlar got a burst of speed in turn two, pulling even with Hoffman. Then, Marlar saw his opportunity, sliding in front of Hoffman to grab the lead.
As Marlar pulled away and reached lap traffic, Hoffman and Bobby Pierce were in a battle behind them for second. But as the two tried to get the upper hand in traffic, Jimmy Owens took advantage, sneaking them to take over second.
Owens quickly closed on the back of the No. 157, trying to take the position away on the inside. But just as Owens had his best shot, a yellow flag came out for Brandon Sheppard’s right-rear flat tire, giving Marlar a clean track.
On the restart, Marlar pulled away as Owens held off Hoffman before three cautions in the next five laps kept the top three in their positions.
From there, one more caution for debris on Lap 38 kept traffic out of Marlar’s way, allowing him to earn the $10,000 victory on night one of the Outlaw Invasion.
“I didn’t mind seeing those [yellow flags] whatsoever,” Marlar said. “They were two and three wide. A lot of the Ohio-type racetracks have a little dust that comes off the back of the cars, so they were dirtying it up, so I couldn’t do any better than they could. They were three-wide in front of me and two-wide. I didn’t mind seeing those cautions for sure.”
The win is Marlar’s third World of Outlaws CASE Late Models win of the season, and 16th of his career. It’s also his third win on a three-eighths-mile track in 2023—one where he needed to find a way past Hoffman to earn the victory.
But it’s a win that didn’t come easy, as he said passing Hoffman was a challenge.
“[Hoffman’s] hard to pass because he’s fast,” Marlar said. “He slid me down there in Turn 1 and got the lead, and he just had me where I needed to be for the lead. And then, a little while later, I caught him and was looking under him for a few laps until I really got a good run off of two and just had a ton of momentum down the backstretch. Then, I was just able to slide in there and get the lead. It was definitely a good race with him for sure.”
Fellow Tennessee driver Jimmy Owens finished second after starting eighth. “The O-Show,” who earned his first World of Outlaws top five of the season, said he was happy with how the car ran on the bottom.
“Everybody was a little all over the track,” Owens said. “The track was good tonight. When I jumped to the bottom, the car had a really good dig down there with that moisture. But then, as it dried out, I felt like we still had a pretty good car, too.
“We’ll make some fine tunes on it tomorrow, and maybe we’ll be a whole lot better.”
Hoffman settled for third—his third podium of the season coming at a track he says fits his style.
“The race track was in great condition,” Hoffman said. “I was able to move all over it. I mean, [Owens] started eighth and ran second, so that says a lot right there. Our race car was pretty good. I felt like watching Marlar go around there; his car was a lot tighter than mine was. And I felt like my only downfall was that I was probably a tick too loose.”
The finish:
Feature (40 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[8]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 5. B1-Brent Larson[9]; 6. 44-Chris Madden[21]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[19]; 9. 10-Garrett Smith[17]; 10. 96V-Tanner English[10]; 11. 25-Shane Clanton[15]; 12. 11-Gordy Gundaker[16]; 13. 71R-Rod Conley[25]; 14. B5-Brandon Sheppard[12]; 15. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 16. 97-Cade Dillard[5]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney[23]; 18. 68-Adam Stricker[13]; 19. 55-Jesse Wisecarver[18]; 20. 00-Justin Cooper[22]; 21. S21-Seth Daniels[20]; 22. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 23. 21-Kirk Phillips[14]; 24. C4-Freddie Carpenter[6]; 25. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]