Brandon Overton
Brandon Overton was at the top of the Dirt Late Model world throughout most of the 2021 season. The Evans, Georgia driver made the Eldora Speedway his personal playground last year. That Rossburg, Ohio track opted to not only contest its regularly scheduled Dirt Late Model Dream and World 100 races but to also make up those races lost due to the 2020 pandemic. ‘Big Sexy’ took both of the Dream features and one of the two World 100 events.
Not only was Overton superior at Eldora but he also won the prestigious North-South 100 at the Florence(KY) Speedway and the Firecracker 100 at Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway along with a string of other races.
Overton set the bar very high for himself and his Wells Motorsports team last year which makes it difficult to live up to the expectations followers of this form of motorsports might have had for him going into this season.
This is not to suggest that Overton’s 2022 season has gone badly. As a matter of fact, the 31-year-old ace has won 10 features during the current campaign including a $50,000 payday in a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, Minnesota. Still, other drivers have captured the bulk of the glory up to this point in 2022.
Jonathan Davenport and Chris Madden have consistently been at the top of the heap this season in the same way Overton was last year. If Overton is to join those two at the top of the sport over the remainder of this season, the upcoming schedule of races offer the opportunity to do exactly that.
Over the next few weeks, Dirt Late Model teams will make their way to some of the sport’s biggest and most traditional events. Coming soon will be the $50,000-to-win USA Nationals at the Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin. That will be followed by the $75,000-to-win North-South 100 then the $50,000-to-win Topless 100 at the Batesville(AK) Motor Speedway.
In September, Overton and the rest of the Dirt Late Model world will go to the site of his greatest glory for the World 100 weekend. First, the resumption of the $128,000-to-win Dirt Late Model Dream, which was previously halted by rain, will take place. The No. 76 Longhorn Chassis by Wells was running second behind Madden after 14 of 100 laps when the weather set in back in June.
Following that makeup race, the 52nd World 100 will take place. That historically prestigious race will not only offer its much coveted Globe Trophy but a lucrative $55,000 payout as well.
Brandon Overton in the Wells Motorsports Longhorn Chassis
Podium finishes have been the order of the day in those races since Overton took the wheel in the Wells Motorsports car. He won the USA Nationals in 2020 then followed that up with a second place finish last year. Second place was the result in 2020 at the North-South 100 which he then followed up with a win in that historic race last season.
Overton ended his night with a podium finish in last year’s Topless 100 and his 2021 record at Eldora has been well documented.
Overton has had a very solid season so far in 2022. After all, he currently ranks sixth in the DirtonDirt.com Top-25 poll. But because he set the bar for himself so high last year it may seem to some as if he has been a bit off this year. Although that really isn’t the case, his past record indicates that these next few weeks could move him right back near the top of the Dirt Late Model world.
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