Dale McDowell turned in a perfect night at the Taz
Dale McDowell turned in a perfect night on Monday at the Tazewell Speedway as he set the fast time in qualifying, won his heat race then went on to lead every lap of the feature race. The driver of the No. 17m machine became the third different driver in as many years to win the Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals/Valvoline Iron-Man Late Model Series co-sanctioned Lil Bill Corum Memorial race.
The Team Zero Race Cars driver from Chickamauga, Georgia earned $23,100 for his efforts on the track located in Tazewell, Tennessee.
A total of 20 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: 1. Dale McDowell(11.267), 2. Ricky Weiss, 3. Austin Neely, 4. Jimmy Owens, 5. David Payne, 6. Donald McIntosh, 7. Dakotah Knuckles, 8. Vic Hill, 9. Mack McCarter, 10. Josh Henry, 11. Brandon Williams, 12. John Llewellyn, 13. Brian Smith, 14. Aaron Guinn, 15. Adam Ahl, 16. Jason Trammell, 17. Matthew Holt, 18. Brian Shockley, 19. Josh Sneed, 20. Steve Smith
McDowell received a $2,100 bonus for being the fast qualifier because he had pre-registered for the event.
Heat 1 Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Dakotah Knuckles, 4. Josh Henry,, 5. Jason Trammell, 6. Brian Smith, 7. Josh Sneed
Heat 2 Results: 1. Ricky Weiss, 2. David Payne, 3. Vic Hill, 4. Brandon Williams, 5. Aaron Guinn, 6. Steve Smith, 7. Matthew Holt
Heat 3 Results: 1. Austin Neely, 2. Donald McIntosh, 3. Mack McCarter, 4. John Llewellyn, 5. Brian Shockley, 6. Adam Ahl
Feature Re-cap: The 75-lap main event got underway with McDowell leading Owens, Weiss, Neely and McIntosh. On the third lap of the race, Steve Smith, Brian Smith, Aaron Guinn and Matthew Holt were involved in an incident that resulted in the first yellow flag of the night.
On the initial attempt at a restart, Hill and Payne got together while battling for third causing both to crash and be eliminated from the race.
On the second lap 3 restart, Weiss moved to third while McIntosh took fourth and Neely fell back to seventh.
McDowell broke away from his pursuers quickly and built a sizable lead until a lap 12 caution for debris slowed the pace. Just before that yellow flag, McDowell had a close car as he had contact with a slower car but was able to continue on without losing the lead.
A long stretch of green flag racing again saw McDowell control the pace with Weiss and Owens contesting second behind him while McIntosh and Knuckles disputed the fourth position just behind that.
As is often the case at Tazewell, slower traffic became a factor during the green flag run with McDowell picking his way through and adding to his margin until a lap 39 caution for a flat tire on Henry’s car bunched the field once again.
Owens moved to second on the restart and kept pace with McDowell for the next several laps untile the top-5 running car of Knuckles slowed to bring out the race’s final caution on lap 57.
Over the closing laps, McDowell maintained control with Owens just a few car lengths back with the two veteran drivers ultimately finishing that way.
Click the play button below to hear our post-race interview with Dale McDowell:
Feature Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Ricky Weiss, 4. Donald McIntosh, 5. Brandon Williams, 6. Mack McCarter, 7. Jason Trammell, 8. Austin Neely, 9. Aaron Guinn, 10. Adam Ahl, 11. Josh Sneed, 12. Dakotah Knuckles, 13. Josh Henry, 14. Steve Smith, 15. Brian Shockley, 16. Brian Smith, 17. Matthew Holt, 18. John Llewellyn, 19. David Payne, 20. Vic Hill
Dale McDowell and crew in victory lane
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