Following Friday night’s rain out of the Southern Nationals race at Smoky Mountain Speedway the series has come down to one final race to decide the championship. Casey Roberts will enter the Saturday night finale at Tazewell Speedway with a slim lead of Dale McDowell. Brandon Overton lies third in the standings despite the fact that he has won four of the eight contested series events over the two-week span. However, mechanical issues that resulted in poor finishes at Wythe Raceway and Boyd’s Speedway very much wrecked his chances at the title.
InsideDirtRacing.com caught up with the three top contenders prior what was scheduled to be the next-to-last event on the series at Smoky Mountain.
Here is what each of them had to say prior to the hot laps and qualifying sessions that were held before the rains came in and halted the racing action for the night. The points title will be decided on Saturday night at Tazewell no matter what makeup date is decided on for Smoky Mountain.
Casey Roberts leads the Southern Nationals standings
While Roberts has not yet won a race on the mini-series, he and his Blount Motorsports team have been a marvel of consistency which has landed them in the lead of the standings.
Casey Roberts: “These guys have been working hard and keeping stuff well maintained. We haven’t had nothing to break and that means a lot. We’ve been staying out of trouble. Hopefully we’ll get a win before these races are over. I just want to win a race, you know. We’ve been good but we’re here to win so maybe we can pull one off here in the next couple of nights.”
“You just go out there and do your best. You just put it on the edge and hope your time is good. It matters a lot. Sometimes these groups are stacked sometimes, you know, one group might be stacked more than another but you’ve got to outrun them all to win so it don’t matter.”
McDowell won the series opener at Wythe Raceway and has been highly competitive since with his Shane McDowell Racing team. The driver insists that points are not necessarily his team’s primary focus but would be excited to win nonetheless. And unlike some competitors, the Georgia native likes the challenge presented by the high banks and high speeds of Tazewell Speedway.
Dale McDowell enters the Tazewell finale second in the Southern Nationals standings
Dale McDowell: “We seem to be better, I don’t know if it’s an age thing, when the tracks get slicker.”
“When we came into this thing we really didn’t know if we were going to run the whole thing. We’re in Brandon Kinzer’s car and we’re just trying to work out some things with it. We weren’t really points racing. We’re going for wins and if you run as good as you can the points will put themselves out there where you need to be. Obviously, if we could win it that would be awesome and if we can’t it’s not because we haven’t tried. It’s just going to be one of those deals. Casey has been awfully good, Brandon has been awfully good, Joey Coulter has been awfully good, several cars will be good tonight and we just hope we’re one of them.”
“I as a driver like going to Tazewell. Shane as a team owner, it’s rough on equipment a little bit, but we’re going. But I like it although it can be a little rough on equipment. My brother is just a little bit tight and a little bit safe when we’re tearing that stuff up.”
Brandon Overton has won four Southern Nationals races
Overton has shown excellent speed in his Billy Franklin owned car picking up four wins along the way. However, mechanical gremlins have likely derailed his hopes for a series title.
Brandon Overton: “We’ve just been working hard. We’ve had a lot of bad luck but we don’t give up. We’ve been busting our butt and we’ve been up until 4:30 or 5:00 just about every night of this trip, like I said, we’re just working hard and never giving up.”
“It’s definitely pretty tough. I was laying there in the bed last night just thinking about that Summer Nationals deal where you’ve got thirty days. I guess we do it for ten or twelve and we’re about to die already. It takes a toll on you and it takes a toll on your equipment, but you’ve just got to keep it was fresh as you can. You’ve got to service and maintain as best as you can.”
“We hadn’t been really worried about the points because after Boyd’s the other night we kind of figured our chances we’re probably done. We’re just going to go and maybe get a win tonight and tomorrow night and that would be good for us. We’re just getting better and better with this car and that’s the biggest thing.”
“I definitely like Tazewell. It’s banked and high speed and that fits my driving style, I guess you could say. If we don’t win the points we’ve done what we meant to do and that’s all we can ask for.”
Each of these interviews can be seen on my Twitter account timeline- @RichardAllenIDR
