MONTPELIER, Ind. — In the second chapter of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models at Indiana’s Montpelier Motor Speedway, it was the Tri-Star Motorsports No. 2 that was parked in victory lane.
After going winless since March 1, Cody Overton had a major morale boost on Wednesday night after winning his first Hell Tour feature in hard-working fashion around the bottom lane.
Reigning champion Tyler Erb jumped out to the early command over Zack Mitchell as the two distanced themselves by over five seconds on third-place Rusty Schlenk and Overton in fourth.
Overton passed Schlenk for third place on Lap 9 and the first caution of the night was flown on Lap 12 to reset the pace.
On the restart, Overton used his momentum on the bottom to pass Mitchell for second, but the Coltman Farms Racing No. 57 retook the spot with a slide job while “Terbo” grew the distance from the two battling drivers to 4.6 seconds.
On Lap 23, the complexity of the feature changed when a lapped car spun to the top of the track in Turn 4. Erb, who was behind the car on the cushion, made contact and spun down the track, ending his chances to earn a pivotal win toward his championship chase.
The caution gave way to new contenders for the win as Mitchell led to the restart over Overton, Trey Mills, Mark Whitener, and Jason Feger.
The restart saw Mitchell lead into Turn 1, but Mills threw a slide job on Mitchell through the corner to take the lead.
While Feger and Whitener ran to the cushion, Overton glued his car to the bottom lane as the top five ran four-wide entering Turn 3 while Mills chose the top to block Feger and Whitener’s momentum.
Overton, who quietly kept his car to the bottom, snuck by Mills off of Turn 4 to take the lead on the restart while the driver kept his No. 14JR Longhorn Chassis to the top in his attempt to stay even with Overton.
Overton outmatched the 17-year-old and held onto the lead for the final six laps to score his first Hell Tour triumph. He becomes the second Peach State driver to win in 2025, and the 119th different winner in history.
“Oh man, God was looking out for me,” Overton said. “We definitely gambled on tires tonight, and I don’t think it was right the longer I ran. I was like ‘I’m SOL, I’m just gonna ride, but whatever.’
“I wasn’t too worried about the restarts, ‘cause I knew I could probably get back out front, but it was just a matter of time, and they could start circling and getting their hard tires back good. I mean, sometimes, you just gotta be lucky.”
While Erb made a hard-charging effort in the remaining laps to finish in sixth, he sits 80 points back from overall points leader Jason Feger, who finished third.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-Cody Overton[5]; 2. 14JR-Trey Mills[6]; 3. 25F-Jason Feger[9]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[14]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[11]; 6. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener[8]; 8. 51-Devin Shiels[18]; 9. 71R-Rod Conley[3]; 10. 91-Rusty Schlenk[4]; 11. 42-Chad Finley[16]; 12. 46-Colin Shipley[10]; 13. 29-Christian Hanger[7]; 14. 31M-Tyler Millwood[13]; 15. 75-Dillon McCowan[12]; 16. 38-Thomas Hunziker[22]; 17. 18-Jacob Stuhr[15]; 18. 17SR-Brody Smith[17]; 19. 57-Zack Mitchell[2]; 20. 07-Rylee Knoll[20]; 21. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[21]; 22. 114-Clayton Bryant[23]; 23. 17SS-Brenden Smith[19]
