After a hiatus of more than two months, the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series will return to action this weekend with events set to take place at two tracks in the Palmetto State of South Carolina. The six race mini-series has reached its halfway point and will soon conclude with a champion being crowned and handed a check valued at $15,000.
Chris Madden leads the Xtreme DIRTcar Series standings
During last year’s rebranding for the Xtreme DIRTcar Series veteran driver Chris Madden rode a hot streak that had begun earlier in the 2019 season to a championship that doled out $20,000. The Gray Court, SC driver scored two wins in the five features that were completed to claim the title and the payout.
At the halfway point in the 2020-21 version of the tour, Madden again leads as he looks to stake claim to another championship. Now driving his own Rocket Chassis, the 45-year-old racer has earned a win at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, TN along with a 12th in the Blue-Gray 100 at Cherokee Speedway and a third-place finish at Lavonia(GA) Speedway so far.
The series has three remaining races with two of them set to go off this weekend. The Xtreme competitors will take on the Lake View(SC) Motor Speedway on Saturday night in a $7,000-to-win affair then pay a return visit to the Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC on Sunday for a $5,000-to-win show. The Xtreme DIRTcar Series will conclude on February 27th at Modoc(SC) Raceway with a winner’s purse of $7,000 on the line.
While little is known about the Lake View track, Madden has to feel encouraged returning to Cherokee. The No. 44 machine was leading in the Blue-Gray 100 until a flat tire with only seven laps remaining doomed his chances. This Sunday’s shorter race distance could very well play into Madden’s favor on what is essentially his home track.
But by no means has this championship been decided. Kyle Strickler comes into this weekend trailing Madden by just 17 points. After ending SpeedWeeks in Florida on a hot streak that has placed him on top of the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series standings, the Mooresville, NC driver has momentum on his side.
Kyle Strickler currently sits second in the standings
After early struggles at East Bay Raceway Park, the PCC Motorsports team traded their Rocket Chassis for one of Strickler’s more familiar Longhorn Chassis cars. At that point, the No. 8 team’s performance drastically improved in Florida leading to a WoO Late Models win at Volusia Speedway Park.
After finishes of 3rd in the opener at Cherokee and 3rd in the second race at Volunteer, Strickler held the Xtreme Series points lead. However, a disastrous result of 20th at Lavonia while Madden ended his day on the podium dropped the ‘Highside Tickler’ to second in the standings.
Also, third place Daulton Wilson showed tremendous speed by lowering the track record in qualifying at the Volunteer Speedway and has posted a top-5 finish along with three top-10 efforts. At the same time, fourth running Anthony Sanders has also scored top-10 finishes in all three series races held to this point.
Michael Brown took the $5,000 win in the feature at Lavonia back in December.
InsideDirtRacing.com will offer coverage of all three remaining races including live updates from Cherokee as well as post-race write-ups from Lake View and Modoc. Each of these races will be shown live by DirtVision.com.
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