Brandon Overton
The Schaeffer’s Oil Spring Nationals made its way to the newly reconfigured I-75 Raceway on Friday night to contest the tour’s second race of the 2021 season. At the end of the night, it was Brandon Overton who stood tall in victory lane after charging from his tenth starting spot to win in dominating fashion. The Evans, GA driver earned $5,053 for his efforts.
A total of 32 cars were signed in for competition.
Dale McDowell proved to be the fastest in Group A qualifying with a lap of 14.56 seconds around the 3/8 mile clay oval beating out Jensen Ford, Tyler Millwood, and Colton Proffitt.
Michael Page led the way in Group B time-trials by touring the track in 14.72 seconds topping Cory Hedgecock, Jason Cardwell, and Chase King.
The top-4 from each qualifying group were locked into the feature.
Donald McIntosh outran John Ownbey, Will Roland, John Llewellyn, Stacy Boles, and Ruben Mayfield in the first heat race of the night.
It was Brandon Overton who bested Jadon Frame, David Crabtree, Manny Falcon, Christian Hanger, and David Payne in the second and final heat.
At the start of the 53-lap feature it was McDowell who grabbed the initial lead followed by Page, Ford, Hedgecock, and Cardwell. Ford went on the move early as he passed by Page to claim third.
A caution flag for the slowing car of Hanger slowed the action on lap 6. Page would take second back on the ensuing restart while Cardwell and Overton got by Hedgecock to assume fourth and fifth respectively.
The third running car of Ford spun on lap 8 to bring out another yellow flag. Overton continued his climb as he jumped to third on that restart.
Overton then moved to second on lap 9 when he passed Page.
Hedgecock rallied on lap 11 when he wrested fifth away from King. He would move one position further up the leaderboard on a lap 14 restart.
As the race approached the halfway mark, Overton began to close in on the leading car of McDowell. On lap 23 the No. 76 made its move and took the race lead.
From that point, Overton would dominate the event leaving McDowell, Page, and Hedgecock to fight over the runner-up position. On lap 35 that fight would be settled as Page got by McDowell to lay claim to the positions.
All the while, Overton pulled away even as he worked through slower traffic. Eventually, the No. 76 would take the checkered to secure the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Brandon Overton, 2. Michael Page, 3. Dale McDowell, 4. Cory Hedgecock, 5. Tyler Millwood, 6. John Ownbey, 7. Chase King, 8. Jason Cardwell, 9. Will Roland, 10. Manny Falcon, 11. Donald McIntosh, 12. Stacy Boles, 13. David Payne, 14. John Llewellyn, 15. Ruben Mayfield, 16. Jeff Neubert, 17. Johnny Cloer, 18. Colton Proffitt, 19. Jadon Frame, 20. Jensen Ford, 21. Christian Hanger, 22. David Crabtree
