Tazewell Speedway

Overton rockets to Southern Nationals win, Roberts wins title

7/29/2018

Tazewell Speedway

Overton rockets to Southern Nationals win, Roberts wins title

Brandon Overton came from 10th starting spot to win Saturday's Southern Nationals finale in front of a big crowd.

Dale McDowell took the lead on the start from pole sitter Chad Ogle. McDowell only needed to finish three spots ahead of Casey Roberts to win the series title. Roberts crashed his car in qualifying and had to go to a backup car for the heat races. McDowell looked to be comfortably in charge of the race until an attempted slide job on two slower cars went wrong and he cut a left rear tire on lap 20.

Michael Chilton inherited the lead with Eric Wells just behind in second. Chilton fought off Wells until Donald McIntosh took second from Wells. Chilton also appeared to be on his way to the win until a caution for a Steve Smith flat on lap 30 slowed the field.

On the restart, Overton came from 5th place to 3rd by perfectly timing the restart. Another caution waved a lap later setting up a showdown for the last 22 laps.

Chilton set the pace up front while McIntosh and Overton battled for second. Overton finally grabbed the spot and looked to chase down Chilton. A few laps later, Chilton had his own issues with slower traffic. That allowed Overton to zip by on the outside to take the lead. Chilton fought back and retook the lead as Overton found himself behind two cars at the tail of the field racing for position. With 3 laps to go, Overton took to the bottom and went back to the lead. Overton held on to win the $10,000 first place money. McIntosh passed Chilton for second.

Roberts' fourth place finish sealed the 2018 Southern Nationals championship. McDowell rallied to a fifth place finish, but came up a few points short of the title.

Schaeffers Southern Nationals Series