GREENWOOD, NE (July 20, 2021) – Brandon Overton found himself in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory lane at I-80 Speedway for the Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals. During the 30 lap A-Main event, Overton had his hands full with several other drivers along his way to the checkers.
Overton pulled away from Hudson O’Neal after a restart with five laps to go for his second series win of the year and his first ever at the Nebraska speedplant. Overton led on two different occasions during the race as O’Neal briefly led laps 15-18 until Overton forged back ahead for the final time on the 19th circuit. O’Neal finished in second followed closely by Ricky Thornton Jr., Kyle Bronson, and Frank Heckenast Jr.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the ninth time in his career, the 30-year-old Georgia native continued his two-month winning streak. “The first restart out there he (O’Neal) was ready. He snuck around me there on the outside and I just stayed calm. Our car is good, it’s really balanced. It isn’t all the way right yet, but we just have to keep working on it. All-in-all, to come out here and set fast time and win the race it’s pretty cool. This is such a cool place with a great payout. I am glad to be here to support the Kosiski’s and Lucas Oil.”
O’Neal, the 2021 Show-Me 100 winner challenged Overton for several laps before coming home in second. “I don’t think I would have outrun him [Overton], but maybe I would have competed a little better than I did. I rolled that top really good on that restart. I mean, I was just running as hard as I could. I wasn’t going to sustain up there for very long until he was going to drive right back around me because I was going to get my tires really hot. It’s pretty amazing the way he’s running. I am not disappointed at all to finish second to him.”
Eibach Springs Rookie-of-the-Year candidate, Thornton Jr. came home in third. “This track kind of fits the way I drive. I am super-aggressive, but then you have to back up your exit. The track was really good tonight, hopefully it’s a really good week.”
Overton’s Wells Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Allstar Concrete, Crossfit Overton, Garnto Southern, Big Dog Stump and Tree, R.W. Powell Construction, Clean Way Clearing and Grading, ATC Site Construction, Dirt Mafia, Hurst Construction, and EZ-GO.
Completing the top ten were Shane Clanton, Tim McCreadie, Chase Junghans, Ricky Weiss, and Jonathan Davenport.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals
Tuesday, July 20th, 2021
I-80 Speedway – Greenwood, NE
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Spencer Hughes / 16.669 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Brandon Overton / 16.644 seconds (overall)
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 6. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[9]; 7. 49T-Jake Timm[7]; 8. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[10]; 9. 7D-Dusty Leonard[8]; 10. 11H-Spencer Hughes[6]; 11. 45-Dan Battaglia[11]
Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 2. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 3. 18J-Chase Junghans[3]; 4. 7W-Ricky Weiss[4]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 7. 98-Ben Schaller[8]; 8. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[9]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]; 10. 7R-Ross Robinson[7]; 11. (DNS) 214-Jake Neal
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 6. 32S-Chris Simpson[8]; 7. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 8. 3C-Mike Collins[9]; 9. 10C-Junior Coover[10]; 10. 53-Andrew Kosiski[7]
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps): 1. 24-Bill Leighton[1]; 2. 1C-Chad Simpson[3]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 6. 0-Scott Bloomquist[2]; 7. 22M-Charlie McKenna[7]; 8. 52-Brian Kosiski[8]; 9. 6H-Al Humphrey[9]; 10. 22F-Chris Ferguson[11]; 11. 80-Allan Hopp[10]
LINE-X B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 3. 32S-Chris Simpson[4]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[5]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 6. 98-Ben Schaller[6]; 7. 3C-Mike Collins[7]; 8. 10C-Junior Coover[11]; 9. 6H-Al Humphrey[10]; 10. (DNF) 7D-Dusty Leonard[8]; 11. (DNS) 53-Andrew Kosiski; 12. (DNS) 80-Allan Hopp; 13. (DNS) 214-Jake Neal
UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11H-Spencer Hughes[2]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 0-Scott Bloomquist[3]; 4. 22F-Chris Ferguson[11]; 5. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 6. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[7]; 7. 22M-Charlie McKenna[5]; 8. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[9]; 9. 52-Brian Kosiski[6]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]; 11. 7R-Ross Robinson[8]; 12. 45-Dan Battaglia[12]
I80 Nationals Al Belt Custom Homes (30 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 6. 25-Shane Clanton[9]; 7. 39-Tim McCreadie[12]; 8. 18J-Chase Junghans[15]; 9. 7W-Ricky Weiss[14]; 10. 49-Jonathan Davenport[10]; 11. 157-Mike Marlar[13]; 12. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 13. 20-Jimmy Owens[19]; 14. 1T-Tyler Erb[21]; 15. 32S-Chris Simpson[23]; 16. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 17. 11H-Spencer Hughes[20]; 18. 14-Josh Richards[16]; 19. 0-Scott Bloomquist[24]; 20. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 21. 24-Bill Leighton[18]; 22. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[22]; 23. 1C-Chad Simpson[8]; 24. 04-Tad Pospisil[17]
BRAGGING RIGHTS LATE MODELS
Dirt Track Bank A Feature 1 (22 Laps): 1. 18-Jesse Sobbing[3]; 2. 83-Jake Bridge[4]; 3. 92-Jacob Brown[2]; 4. 3-Cole Wayman[1]; 5. 21D-Travis Dickes[6]; 6. 07-Ben Sukup[7]; 7. 77-Cory Dumpert[13]; 8. 5S-Dylan Schmer[17]; 9. 5K-Kyle Prauner[5]; 10. 47-AJ Jorgensen[12]; 11. 22-Jake Jorgensen[14]; 12. 35-Kale Kosiski[16]; 13. 55-Chase Brown[18]; 14. 21H-Brett Hopp[9]; 15. 1150-Todd Bell[15]; 16. 41-Robbie Jorgensen[11]; 17. 98-Brandon Saltzman[10]; 18. 36-Jim Johnson[8]; 19. 9-Andy Eickhoff[19]; 20. 94-Matt Haase[20]
Dirt Track Bank B Feature 1 (8 Laps): 1. 1150-Todd Bell[1]; 2. 5S-Dylan Schmer[2]; 3. 9-Andy Eickhoff[5]; 4. 52-Rob Kosiski[3]; 5. 56T-Andrew Tilley[9]; 6. 112-Tyler Smith[8]; 7. 3X-Hayden Kenkel[7]; 8. 12B-Alex Banks[4]; 9. 21T-Tyler Harr[6]
Dirt Track Bank B Feature 2 (8 Laps): 1. 35-Kale Kosiski[6]; 2. 55-Chase Brown[1]; 3. 94-Matt Haase[4]; 4. 9P-Mark Plowman[3]; 5. 6K-Roger Elliot[5]; 6. 10-Jack Hearty[2]; 7. 8BALL-Joe Robey[8]; 8. 21-Tracy Harr[7]
Dirt Track Bank Heat 1 (6 Laps): 1. 92-Jacob Brown[3]; 2. 5K-Kyle Prauner[4]; 3. 36-Jim Johnson[7]; 4. 55-Chase Brown[2]; 5. 10-Jack Hearty[1]; 6. 94-Matt Haase[6]; 7. 35-Kale Kosiski[5]; 8. 112-Tyler Smith[8]
Dirt Track Bank Heat 2 (6 Laps): 1. 18-Jesse Sobbing[5]; 2. 21D-Travis Dickes[4]; 3. 41-Robbie Jorgensen[2]; 4. 77-Cory Dumpert[6]; 5. 52-Rob Kosiski[3]; 6. 12B-Alex Banks[7]; 7. 21T-Tyler Harr[8]; 8. 8BALL-Joe Robey[1]
Dirt Track Bank Heat 3 (6 Laps): 1. 83-Jake Bridge[6]; 2. 98-Brandon Saltzman[2]; 3. 21H-Brett Hopp[7]; 4. 5S-Dylan Schmer[1]; 5. 1150-Todd Bell[8]; 6. 9-Andy Eickhoff[5]; 7. 3X-Hayden Kenkel[3]; 8. 56T-Andrew Tilley[4]
Dirt Track Bank Heat 4 (6 Laps): 1. 3-Cole Wayman[3]; 2. 07-Ben Sukup[4]; 3. 47-AJ Jorgensen[2]; 4. 22-Jake Jorgensen[6]; 5. 9P-Mark Plowman[1]; 6. 6K-Roger Elliot[5]; 7. 21-Tracy Harr[7]