Brandon Overton won his second Blue-Gray 100
The Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series opened its 2020-21 season and the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series ended its season all on the same day at the same track. The co-sanctioned 30th annual Blue-Gray 100 played out on Sunday at the Cherokee Speedway. At the end of the day, it was Brandon Overton who used a midrace tire change to his advantage and came away with the win. The Evans, GA driver collected the $10,000 first prize from the Gaffney, SC track for his efforts.
Brett Hamm was crowned as the Carolina Clash Super Late Model Series champion for 2020.
Ross Bailes was fastest in qualifying as he turned a lap in 14.938 seconds around the 4/10 mile clay over to beat out Cla Knight, Zack Mitchell, Dennis Franklin, Jonathan Davenport, and Chris Ferguson.
Ross Bailes topped Brandon Overton, Dennis Franklin, Trent Ivey, and Tyler Carpenter in the first heat race of the afternoon while Jonathan Davenport took the second preliminary ahead of Cla Knight, Kyle Strickler, Mike Marlar, and Chris Madden.
Zack Mitchell was the victor in the third heat over Jadon Frame, Anthony Sanders, Chris Ferguson, and Michael Brown.
The Xtreme DIRTcar Series redraw set the order for the first three rows as Bailes, Frame, Mitchell, Davenport, Knight, and Overton.
At the start of the 100-lap feature it was Bailes who would bolt to the early lead with Frame, Mitchell, Davenport and Knight trailing. Mitchell wasted little time moving forward as he passed by Frame on the second circuit to take the runner-up positions. Then it would be Davenport who would wrest third away from Frame just one lap later.
As Bailes began to slip away from the other to-4 runners, Knight, Overton, Strickler and Franklin ran in tight formation for positions 5-8. Slower traffic would come into play by lap 8 which allowed Mitchell and Davenport to close in on Bailes. Further back, Overton began to march forward as he moved around both Frame and Knight on the same lap to assume the fourth spot at lap 13.
The first of what would prove to be many cautions would be displayed to the field on lap 21. On the ensuing restart, Davenport jumped to second with Overton also passing by Mitchell for third soon thereafter. At that point, the top-3 of Bailes, Davenport and Overton ran in tight formation in traffic with Davenport making an attempt for the lead against Bailes then Overton trying for second against Davenport as well.
Madden began to rise from his 14th starting position as he moved by Strickler to claim sixth on lap 39. And three laps later, Overton took second away from Davenport as they continued to pursue Bailes.
Marlar brake a drive shaft on lap 50 to bring out a caution. That would set in motion a series of yellow flags over the second half of the race as driver after driver slowed with flat tires.
Overton would be the first of the top-5 runners to hit the pits for a fresh tire on lap 60 and that would prove to be a race-deciding move. On lap 70 it would be Davenport who would suffer from deflation but his blowout caused the brand new No. 49 machine to hit the outside retaining which ended his night. At the very same time, fourth running Strickler also had a flat but he would be able to return.
Bailes continued to lead until his right rear tire gave way on lap 76. That, in turn, elevated Madden to the race lead with Benji Hicks, Overton and Johnny Pursley trailing. On lap 83, Overton took second away from Hicks and pushed Madden, who had yet to pit for a new tire.
Finally, Madden’s right rear was exhausted just seven laps from the finish. Overton rose to the lead and sailed away from the pack over the final laps to score his second career Blue-Gray 100 win.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Benji Hicks, 3. Kyle Strickler, 4. Tyler Carpenter, 5. Brett Hamm, 6. Ross Bailes, 7. Johnny Pursley, 8. Daulton Wilson, 9. Anthony Sanders, 10. Cla Knight, 11. Trent Ivey, 12. Chris Madden, 13. Dennis Franklin, 14. Tim Vance, 15. David Yandle, 16. Jonathan Davenport, 17. Michael Brown, 18. Christian Hanger, 19. Zack Mitchell, 20. Jadon Frame, 21. Chris Ferguson, 22. Larry Grube, 23. Mike Marlar, 24. Justin Hudspeth, 25. Will Harris, 26. Adam Yarbrough
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