SEYMOUR, Tenn. — Brandon Overton grabbed his second consectutive World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series victory Saturday night at 411 Motor Speedway.
Just like his win at Cherokee Speedway on Friday night, Overton found a bit of good fortune on his trip to victory lane at 411.
Cory Hedgecock won in last year’s visit and looked to have the first few stages of the race covered until misfortune struck on lap 17. Steam began to spew out of Hedgecock’s hood in the exit of turn two, forcing him to shut it down on the backstretch and pull into the infield, dashing his chances to repeat as a World of Outlaws Feature winner at 411.
Overton inherited the lead into turn three before the caution came out and restacked the field, putting the likes of Darrell Lanigan and a hungry rookie-of-the-year candidate Cade Dillard right on his rear bumper.
Overton was simply not going to crack under the pressure. He sustained that lead the rest of the way, leading the final 34 laps en route to his fourth Morton Buildings feature win of the season and seventh of his career.
Back in May, Overton was passed late for the lead in regional competition at 411 and ran second again in another regional feature in July. Those two runners-up stuck with him the whole season, pushing him just a bit more to get that redemption win on a national stage. Now, the weight’s been lifted off his shoulders.
“I ran second to Dale [McDowell] and I ran second to [Jimmy] Owens,” Overton said. “I never led in the one Dale won, but the one Owens got me, he passed me with about 10-to-go. So, this definitely feels good.”
Once he grabbed the lead for good, Overton battled through multiple restarts in the circuits remaining, riding the top line around the three-eighths-mile. He and crew chief Harold Holly have been to 411 and several other Southeastern tracks throughout the years, so they’ve got the Midas touch when it comes to all the tips and tricks to getting around such places, and that was on full display on Saturday night.
“I think what helped us more than anything is coming here a lot,” Overton said. “We’ve ran a bunch of races here throughout the year. So, just to get a jump on these guys before they get here, it definitely helps.”
Darrell Lanigan had another solid night, running inside the top three all race long to claim the runner-up spot.
“At the beginning of the year, we were second. But then we had some DNFs, and you just can’t have DNFs on this tour. If we could take them back, we’d be right up there in second. But it is what it is, we’re fighting back,” Lanigan said.
Brandon Sheppard charged from 11th to finish third.
“Truthfully, I just needed to start out front,” Sheppard said. “Clean air was big, because once we got spread out, you kind of had to get in line. Off the restarts, you could pass a few cars, and that’s where I did it because I was really good on the restarts.”
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps) 1. 2-Brandon Overton [4][$10,000]; 2. 29-Darrell Lanigan [1][$5,000]; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard [11][$3,000]; 4. 97-Cade Dillard [5][$2,500]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton [8][$2,000]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb [7][$1,700]; 7. 18-Chase Junghans [3][$1,400]; 8. 17M-Dale McDowell [12][$1,300]; 9. 7-Ricky Weiss [6][$1,200]; 10. 1v-Vic Hill [14][$1,100]; 11. 99B-Boom Briggs [13][$1,050]; 12. B1-Brent Larson [17][$1,000]; 13. 18x-Michael Page [15][$950]; 14. 97c-Michael Chilton [18][$900]; 15. 6-Blake Spencer [21][$850]; 16. 17-Logan Roberson [10][$800]; 17. C5-David Crabtree [19][$770]; 18. 5-John Tweed [23][$750]; 19. 23-Cory Hedgecock [2][$730]; 20. 87-Ross Bailes [9][$700]; 21. 1G-Ryan King [16][$700]; 22. 53-Ray Cook [20][$700]; 23. 3x-Bo Eaton [24][$700]; 24. 22-Lynn Leach [22][$700]; 25. 7m-Donald Mcintosh [25][] Hard Charger: 1-Brandon Sheppard[+8]