Skyline Motorsports and its two drivers- Shane Clanton and Tyler Bruening- have made the decision to leave the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series in favor of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2020. Clanton was the 2015 WoO Late Models champion and has been a full-time competitor on that tour since 2005.
The news was published on ShaneClanton25.com on Monday morning.
Shane Clanton will compete on the LOLMDS tour in 2020
Skyline Motorsports began its 2019 season with drivers Chris Madden and Tyler Bruening set to run the full WoO Late Models schedule with support from Capital Race Cars. However, the team owned by Iowa businessman Greg Bruening parted ways with Madden in June and brought Clanton in as a full-time teammate to the younger Bruening.
The 44-year-old Clanton cited a need to try something new as the reasoning for the change.
“I’ve been running with the Outlaws since 2005, and it was just time for a change,” Clanton declared in the press release. “With the way that the Lucas Oil schedule worked out this year, it made sense for us to run it. Also, several of the races are located in close proximity to Iowa, which allows our car owner Greg Bruening to get to see us race more often.”
Clanton finished as the runner-up in the 2019 WoO Late Models standings behind champion Brandon Sheppard. He earned four series wins and amassed 14 top-5 and 34 top-10 results during the season.
Bruening indicated a desire to continue building on his Late Model driving career as reason for the switch in series. He also pointed out the benefits of his team’s close relationship with Capital Race Cars leader Marshall Green.
“Over the past few years, we’ve been branching out more and more with our program in preparation to run a national tour,” Bruening said. “This past season was our best to date with our open engine program. With the help of Shane and Marshall we’ve been able to take our overall program to a whole new level. We’ve got a lot of great supporters behind us, and we’re excited to tackle this new challenge.”
Bruening enjoyed a banner 2019 season, which included nine wins, 25 Top-5 finishes, and 32 Top-10 outings in all races, which included 14 starts on the WoO tour while Clanton tallied eight wins, 25 Top-5 finishes, and 48 Top-10 runs in WoO and non-WoO races.
The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series kicks off its 2020 season at Golden Isles Speedway in Brunswick, GA on January 31.
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