Dale McDowell in victory lane
Dale McDowell took over $21,000 away from Tazewell Speedway when he won the Bill Corum Memorial earlier this season and on Sunday night in the rain-delayed Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals finale he added even more to his winnings from the high banked track. McDowell dominated the feature to score his second consecutive win with that mini-series after capturing the checkered flag on Friday night at North Georgia Speedway.
The Team Zero Race Cars driver from Chickamauga, Georgia earned $10,053 from the track located in Tazewell, Tennessee.
Aside from McDowell’s accolades, another honor was handed out on Sunday evening as Jimmy Owens was crowned as the 2023 Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals champion. That title came with a prize of $10,053 and a new Honda pit bike.
A total of 23 cars were signed in for competition
Qualifying Results: 1. Austin Neely (10.996), 2. Ricky Weiss, 3. Donald McIntosh, 4. Dale McDowell, 5. Jason Trammell, 6. Kenny Collins, 7. Josh Henry, 8. Michael Chilton, 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Dakotah Knuckles
Heat 1 Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Austin Neely, 3. Dakotah Knuckles, 4. Josh Henry, 5. Forrest Trent
Heat 2 Results: 1. Ricky Weiss, 2. Jason Trammell, 3. Jordan Koehler, 4. John Llewellyn, 5. Brenden Smith
Heat 3 Results: 1. Donald McIntosh, 2. Jimmy Owens, 3. Kenny Collins, 4. David McCoy, 5. Bryan Shockley
B-main Finish: 1. Carson Ferguson, 2. Mike Benedum, 3. Aaron Guinn, 4. Travis Fultz, 5. Chris Chandler, 6. Joshua Chesney, 7. Steve Smith
Feature Re-cap: The 53-lap feature got off to a bit of a caution-filled and chaotic start with McDowell going to the early lead with McIntosh, Neely and Weiss in a three-wide scramble just behind as those drivers fought second place. That situation briefly sorted out with Neely, McIntosh, Weiss and Owens trailing the leader.
Chris Chandler spun just after the completion of the second lap to bring out a caution flag. But it would be on the restart where the chaos would really begin. Neely, McCoy, Knuckles and Guinn were caught up in an accident along with top-3 series points contenders Ferguson and McIntosh.
Both Ferguson and McIntosh would have to restart from the tail of the field after going to the pit area for repairs.
A lap 6 caution for a crash involving Knuckles, Trent and Benedum again slowed the pace. Then on the restart, Henry, Neely, Collins and Shockley tangled.
When green flag racing resumed, McDowell began to slip away from the pack with Weiss, Owens, Koehler and Trammell working to keep pace. However, Knuckles spun on lap 15 to bring out what would prove to be the final yellow flag of the night.
Once the race went back to green flag conditions, McDowell began to dominate leading by a significant margin with only slower traffic to contend with. Behind him, Weiss and Owens appeared to settle into a rhythm while McIntosh stormed through the pack working his way back into the top-5 around the halfway mark in the race.
Over the second half, the top-5 of McDowell, Weiss, Owens, McIntosh and Trammell spaced out and worked their way toward the finish wrestling with slower traffic much of the way.
Ultimately, McDowell would cruise to his second consecutive win in the Southern Nationals finale race at Tazewell having also claimed the top prize in 2022.
Click on the play button below to hear our recorded post-race interview with feature winner Dale McDowell:
Click on the play button below to hear our recorded post-race interview with Southern Nationals champion Jimmy Owens:
Feature Results: 1. Dale McDowell, 2. Ricky Weiss, 3. Jimmy Owens, 4. Donald McIntosh, 5. Jason Trammell, 6. Kenny Collins, 7. Jordan Koehler, 8. Forrest Trent, 9. Dakotah Knuckles, 10. Brenden Smith, 11. Carson Ferguson, 12. Austin Neely, 13. Mike Benedum, 14. Aaron Guinn, 15. David McCoy, 16. John Llewellyn, 17. Travis Fultz, 18. Brian Shockley,, 19. Chris Chandler, 20. Josh Henry, 21. Joshua Chesney, 22. Steve Smith
Jimmy Owens and crew celebrating the championship
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