CONCORD, N.C. — The two months since World of Outlaws World Finals have been anything but quiet for Cody Overton.
Toward the end of 2025, team owner Dave Steine elected to scale back from owning a touring dirt late model team. But Overton wasn’t ready for his stint as a full-timer on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision to be over, which meant taking matters into his own hands.
The Georgia driver’s third full-time season will look considerably different than the first two as he assumes a new job title as both the owner and driver at Cody Overton Racing.
“Dave, he’s still going to help a little bit, just kind of back scaled,” Overton said. “I had to kind of take it all over and start doing it myself running as my own team, so that’s going to be a big change for this year. He’ll still direct me and help me, look out after me, I guess. It’s just going to be a lot different, I suppose. I’ve got to start nickel and diming more, but for the last two years I’ve been with him, I’ve kind of ran it like it was my own. I watched what I spent, I didn’t just go spend reckless money because it wasn’t mine.
“There are a lot of new people coming on board, and then another one that’s been with me a long time, Bruce Kane, he’s coming back on board. We’re going to kind of team together, so it’ll be like my racing and then Bruce Kane’s racing. That’ll be a big deal, he’s going to be a really, really big part of my racing. And then also Allen Murray, he’s supposed to come on and help. So I think there will be a lot of new names on it, honestly.”
Ask anyone who is responsible for owning the race car they drive, and you’ll hear about how much it changes the view of the entire operation. It’s a lesson Overton has learned through a trial by fire in recent weeks as he starts the process of making COR a mainstay at the pinnacle of late model racing.
“Them bills, they rack up faster than I thought,” Overton said. “I never really saw them as much. I knew what I was getting, but I never really thought it was just one after another after another, they just keep racking up. That was the biggest thing that surprised me. The engine refreshes and all that, everything just racks up. It looks bad right now because we’re not racing and nothing’s coming back in, but once we get going, I think it’ll kind of smooth its way out.”
Once the season-opening DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals (Jan. 22-24) rolls around and Overton gets to focus on his driving duties once again, he’ll be looking to replicate the weekend he had one year ago. After a third-place run on the first night of 2025 and an 11th on night two, Overton left Volusia Speedway Park as the World of Outlaws points leader for the first time.
With six nights of racing at the “World’s Fastest Half Mile,” followed by several more southeastern facilities Overton has historically ran well at, the ingredients could be in place for a solid start to the year and a potential first series win.
“I think it’s going to be a lot better this year,” Overton said. “I feel like I’ve got way more experience now and really know what’s going on. That was the big deal, I just didn’t want to give up another year. I just wanted one more year because I really want to win one bad. I really feel like this maybe will be the year, so hopefully it all works out.”
There’s one other aspect of team ownership Overton hasn’t forgotten about over the winter – designing the race car. Fans can expect a familiar look on the side of Overton’s machine when he rolls onto the track at Volusia, as he plans on bringing back the number he has sported for most of his time behind the wheel.
“I think we’re going to go back to the 97, see how it goes,” Overton said. “But I told [Steine], if I go to Speedweeks and I suck, I’m going to change it back to the 2 as fast as I can.”
