Brandon Overton scored the Spring Nationals win at Wythe
Brandon Overton used a last lap pass on Jonathan Davenport to claim the win in the Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals feature at Wythe Raceway in the first of two events for that series during this Easter weekend.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Evans, Georgia earned $10,053 for his efforts on the half-mile clay oval located in Rural Retreat, Virginia track in a race shown live by FloRacing.com. The Spring Nationals and the Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model Series will race in the co-sanctioned Lil Bill Corum Memorial at Tazewell Speedway on Saturday night.
A total of 23 cars were signed in for competition.
Qualifying Results: 1. Chris Madden(16.760), 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Ross Bailes, 4. Brandon Overton, 5. Chris Ferguson, 6. Kyle Strickler, 7. Jimmy Owens, 8. Brandon Williams, 9. Matthew Nance, 10. Cla Knight
Heat 1 Results: 1. Chris Madden, 2. Brandon Overton, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Cla Knight, 5. Carson Ferguson, 6. Jeff Smith, 7. Kenny Collins, 8. Travis Greer
Heat 2 Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Chris Ferguson, 3. Ricky Weiss, 4. Brandon Williams, 5. Michael Brown, 6. Jensen Ford, 7. Payton Freeman, 8. Freddy Mooney
Heat 3 Results: 1. Kyle Strickler, 2. Ross Bailes, 3. Dale McDowell, 4. Matthew Nance, 5. Tyler Arrington, 6. Brenden Smith, 7. John Llewellyn
Feature Re-cap: Davenport went to the early lead when the green flag waved over the 53-lap feature with Madden, Overton, Strickler and Chris Ferguson trailing. On the second and third circuits it was Ferguson, Owens and Bailes who would mix it up for positions 5-7.
Davenport caught the tail of the field and began to start lapping cars on lap 7 while Overton closed in and looked to challenge Madden for the runner-up position.
A lap 16 caution flag waved when Freeman tagged the outside wall at the exit of turn two. On the restart, Overton got by Madden to claim second while further back Ferguson and Bailes moved around Strickler for fourth and fifth.
Ferguson passed Madden for third on lap 18 just before Madden slowed to bring out a yellow flag. One lap after the restart, Overton dropped below Davenport to challenge for the race lead but the No. 49 held the spot. Further back, McDowell and Owens fought over the sixth position with McDowell gaining the spot.
As the race approached the halfway mark, Overton closed in on Davenport and even looked inside on lap 21. Those two machines built a relatively comfortable advantage over Ferguson, Bailes and Strickler.
As they worked through slower traffic, Davenport briefly increased his lead but Overton quickly closed back in on lap 36. Overton would continue to harass Davenport with less than 10 laps remaining.
McDowell moved into the top-5 on lap 46 when he moved by Strickler. Meanwhile, Overton continued to look low on Davenport on both ends of the track as the laps clicked away.
Finally, Overton would make his move on the last lap diving to the inside of turns one and two then drag racing Davenport down the backstretch and ultimately taking the lead in turn three.
Overton sailed under the checkered flag to score his second Spring Nationals victory of 2022.
“I don’t even know where to begin,” Overton said in his victory lane interview. “I was dogging Madden for second for the longest time then we got the restart and he chose the top and I knew that was my opportunity to get by him, it was just really to pass tonight. I wanted to slide J.D. but I said I just needed to wait and when I do make a move I better make it count. I just needed to get the run and I could sail it off in there. Awesome race. I don’t know what else to say.”
Feature Results: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Jonathan Davenport, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Ross Bailes, 5. Dale McDowell, 6. Kyle Strickler, 7. Jimmy Owens, 8. Carson Ferguson, 9. Jensen Ford, 10. Cla Knight, 11. Tyler Arrington, 12. Matthew Nance, 13. Kenny Collins, 14. John Llewellyn, 15. Freddy Mooney, 16. Brandon Williams, 17. Jeff Smith, 18. Chris Madden, 19. Payton Freeman, 20. Brenden Smith, 21. Travis Greer, 22. Michael Brown, 23. Ricky Weiss
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Still winless Jonathan Davenport comes up one lap shy at Wythe
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