Overton Outruns Davenport Tuesday In Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Action At East Bay

Story By: LUCAS OIL LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES – TAMPA, FL – Brandon Overton finally fought off several tough challengers as he went to Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Victory Lane on Tuesday Night at East Bay Raceway Park.

Overton held the lead for the first 12 laps of the 40-lap main event. Jonathan Davenport shot around him on a restart and led for three circuits, but Overton never gave up and recaptured the lead on lap 16 as he went on for his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2020.

Davenport had to fight off repeated challenges from Jimmy Owens to hold on to the second spot at the end. Owens came home third to notch his sixth consecutive top five finish. Shane Clanton stayed in the mix the entire distance taking fourth at the finish. Kyle Bronson earned the Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race coming from 18th to finish in fifth.

Overton was the Performance Friction Brakes Pole Award recipient of the main event and took the lead at the start of the race over Owens and Davenport. Overton was cruising along until a caution on lap 12 slowed the action. On the restart Davenport went to the outside lane, passing both Owens and Overton to take over the lead.

Overton came right back three laps later to regain the lead for good, as he had to battle heavy traffic in the closing laps with cars running three-wide in front of him. In the end, he was able to reach the checkers first for his fifth career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and his second-ever at East Bay.

With the win the 29-year-old Georgia native becomes the fifth different winner in five races of the series’ reopening tour. Overton had led the previous two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series races, but a shorted-out coil wire and a broken flywheel knocked him out of contention for the win both times.

“I was definitely concerned about lapped traffic at the end. That is the problem about leading here, JD rolled me on that restart, but you just don’t know where to go. It just all worked out for me near the end and they [traffic] were where I needed to be, and I was just trying to be patient. I tried to get as close to them as I could without hitting them and I just held on. Thanks to crew for working all day on the racecar after it was torn up last night. My car owner David Wells is here. It’s always good to get a Lucas Oil win for David and Eric [Wells].”

Davenport, the three-time and reigning series champion moved closer to Tim McCreadie in the championship points race with his second-place run. “I was trying to find every inch on the racetrack, and I think I just overheated my left rear tire after the last caution. That is when the car got really loose. We got lucky when we got the lead, but I went back to the bottom and I left the door open for him [Overton] to get back around me.”

Owens maintains third in the championship points with yet another podium finish for the Tennessee racer. “We had a really good race car all night long. On that first take-off, the outside was just a little crumbly and we had to run on the bottom quite a bit. I ran a lot of laps on the bottom and then I decided to go to the top. I also made a bad lane choice on that last restart.

Everybody’s crew has been working hard and everybody has had their ups and downs, that is just a part of it.”

The winner’s Wells Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Allstar Concrete, Crossfit Overton, Big Dog Stump and Tree, Penske Shocks, Dirt Mafia, Sunoco Race Fuels, Convenient Lube, and EZ Go.

Completing the top ten were Tim McCreadie, Josh Richards, Earl Pearson Jr., Devin Moran, and Tanner English.

Owens leads the Riggs Drilling Solution points heading into the final night at East Bay on Wednesday. He leads davenport by 70 points in the chase for the $5,000 first place prize.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
GEICO East Bay Nationals – presented by Brandon Ford
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Overton / 14.546 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Jimmy Owens / 14.495 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[3]; 4. 14-Josh Richards[5]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 6. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 7. 20B-Todd Brennan[6]; 8. 311-Ken Monahan[8]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 2. 0E-Rick Eckert[1]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 4. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[6]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[5]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill[7]; 8. (DNS) 29-Larry Grube

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 3. 111-Steven Roberts[5]; 4. 33J-Jeff Mathews[2]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 6. 71-Hudson O’Neal[7]; 7. 91S-Blake Naylor[8]; 8. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[2]; 3. 6S-Blake Spencer[4]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 5. 89-GR Smith[5]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 7. F15-Jeremy Conaway[7]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 4. 25W-Allen Weisser[2]; 5. 1V-Vic Hill[6]; 6. 20B-Todd Brennan[5]; 7. (DNS) 311-Ken Monahan; 8. (DNS) 29-Larry Grube

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 2. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 3. 89-GR Smith[2]; 4. 91S-Blake Naylor[5]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 6. F15-Jeremy Conaway[6]; 7. (DNS) 25Z-Mason Zeigler

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (40 Laps):