Chris Madden has been on a tear since joining forces with Scott Bloomquist Racing
With Saturday’s race at Cochran Motor Speedway in Georgia being cancelled due to overly wet conditions, the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Winter Series has been whittled down to a total of five races with two now remaining on the schedule. Teams and drivers will make their way to Gaffney, SC on Sunday afternoon(Jan. 26) for a $5,000-to-win affair and then finish the tour off at Modoc(SC) Raceway on February 29th as they contest a $7,000 first prize.
Chris Madden will come into Sunday’s race which is being held on what is essentially his home track with a 15-point advantage in the Xtreme Series standings over another local favorite in the person of Trent Ivey. Kyle Strickler, Logan Roberson and Zack Mitchell are also within striking distance of the leader.
The series will pay out $20,000 to its eventual champion.
Madden has won two of the three features held so far on this series as he took the checkered flag and a $10,000 payout away from the opener held at Cherokee Speedway as part of the Blue-Gray 100 event held back in November of 2019. He then scored a $5,000 victory at the Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn. on December 7th.
Those races served as endings of a magical second half of 2019 for the Gray Court, SC driver. After parting ways with his previous team, Skylne Motorsports, in June of last year, Madden joined forces with Scott Bloomquist and Cody Sommer to drive a second car for Scott Bloomquist Racing.
During that run with SBR, the 44-year-old racer notched crown jewel victories in the USA Nationals, the North-South 100, and the Topless 100 with those wins being sandwiched around a time when “Smokey” was briefly sidelined after breaking his eye socket in a golf carting accident prior to the running of the Dirt Million event.
However, Madden has not completed had his way on the Xtreme DIRTcar Winter Series. In the tour’s last event held at Lavonia(GA) Speedway it was reigning and two-time Ultimate Southeast Series champion Zack Mitchell who grabbed the $5,000 winner’s check after holding back Ivey and Madden.
Chris Madden (0M) battles Kyle Strickler (8) for the lead in the Xtreme DIRTcar Winter Series feature at Volunteer
Ivey sits second in the standings despite a hiccup at Volunteer. Finishes of second at Lavonia and sixth in the opener in Gaffney have elevated the “Little Head Knocker” into the runner-up spot in the overall run down.
After misfortune at the beginning, Modified ace and relative newcomer to Super Late Model competition Strickler has shown significant improvement within the series with a second place effort at Volunteer and a seventh at Lavonia to his credit.
Roberson is another relative newcomer to Super Late Models after winning numerous events competing in the Crate Late Model ranks in recent years. A fourth at Lavonia highlights his Xtreme effort so far with a seventh at Volunteer and a ninth at Cherokee also on his series résumé.
Chris Ferguson (22) and Zack Mitchell (57) will no doubt be factors at Cherokee on Sunday
Mitchell is the only driver aside from Madden to find an Xtreme victory lane with his Lavonia triumph. However, efforts outside the top-10 at Cherokee and Volunteer have hampered his run for the series title.
Other drivers who will almost certainly factor into the mix on Sunday at Cherokee will be North Carolina’s Chris Ferguson and South Carolina’s Ross Bailes. Both are always tough in Gaffney as was demonstrated by the fact that each qualified strongly and each won his respective heat race in the Blue-Gray 100 back in November.
But the question remains- Who has an answer for the driver who was arguably the hottest Super Late Model star in the country over the second half of 2019?
The answer will be forthcoming on Sunday. InsideDirtRacing.com will have live updates from Cherokee Speedway throughout the day.
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