Dale McDowell sailed to the SoNats victory
Dale McDowell turned in a dominating performance on Sunday night to win the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals feature race at Wythe Raceway. The National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame member led every lap as he cruised to the victory in the second race on the summer mini-series.
The Team Zero race Cars driver from Chickamauga, Georgia earned $10,053 for his efforts on the track located in Rural Retreat, Virginia in a race aired live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 23 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: 1. Ross Bailes(17.011), 2. Dale McDowell, 3. Carson Ferguson, 4. Jensen Ford, 5. Chris Ferguson, 6. Jimmy Owens, 7. David McCoy, 8. Logan Roberson, 9. Haiden Cowan, 10. Ricky Weiss
Heat 1 Results: 1. Ross Bailes, 2. Jensen Ford, 3. David McCoy, 4. Ricky Weiss, 5. Cody Overton, 6. Mike Benedum, 7. John Llewellyn, 8. Kenny Collins
Heat 2 Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Chris Ferguson, 3. Cory Hedgecock, 4. Logan Roberson, 5. Will Roland, 6. Austin Neely, 7. Brenden Smith, 8. Kevin Wilson
Heat 3 Results: 1. Carson Ferguson, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Donald McIntosh, 4. Tyler Clem, 5. Haiden Cowan, 6. Jordan Koehler, 7. Chris Chandler
Feature Re-cap: The 53-lap feature took the green flag with McDowell bolting to the lead over Bailes, Carson Ferguson, Chris Ferguson and Ford. On the second circuit it would be McIntosh who would work his way into the top-5 by passing Ford.
Both Fergusons got by Bailes on lap 3 with Carson moving to second and Chris taking third. McIntosh also joined that party by passing Bailes for fourth on lap 4.
McDowell had stretched his lead over Carson Ferguson and Chris Ferguson to 2.5 seconds by lap 6. The No, 17m car remained in control until a lap 16 yellow flag for a spin by Koehler regrouped the field. McDowell led Carson Ferguson, Chris Ferguson, McIntosh and Bailes at the time of the yellow flag.
Bailes moved back around McIntosh for fourth on the lap 13 restart. At the front, McDowell again drove away from the battle among the cousins for second and third. By lap 21, McDowell again led by more than three seconds.
McDowell found himself among slower traffic on lap 30 which allowed the Fergusons to cut into the lead. However, once the leader cleared traffic he reopened the gap after Carson Ferguson brushed the outside wall on lap 36.
With 10 laps remaining, McDowell’s lead rose to more than six seconds over Carson Ferguson and eight seconds ahead of Chris Ferguson. But a lap 47 caution for Overton provided an opportunity for the pack to catch up to the race leader.
Following the lap 47 restart, McDowell picked up where he left off as he cruised to the eleventh Southern Nationals win of his career.
Feature Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Carson Ferguson, 3. Chris Ferguson, 4. Ross Bailes, 5. Donald McIntosh, 6. Logan Roberson, 7. Ricky Weiss, 8. Jensen Ford, 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Mike Benedum, 11. Tyler Clem, 12. Will Roland, 13. Jordan Koehler, 14. Haiden Cowan, 15. Cory Hedgecock, 16. Cody Overton, 17. David McCoy, 18. Austin Neely, 19. Brenden Smith, 20. Kevin Wilson, 21. Chris Chandler, 22. John Llewellyn
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