EVANS, Ga. (07/30/20) – Brandon Overton put an exclamation point on his phenomenal run with the Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals Series this season by winning the championship.
Driving the Wells Motorsports No. 76 Crossfit Overton/ Allstar Concrete/ Longhorn Chassis by Wells/ Clements Racing Engine-powered Super Late Model, Overton outdueled championship contenders Chris Madden and Ross Bailes to secure his third-career Southern Nationals Series title.
“Chris is a good racer. He’s gonna be fast no matter what he drives or what he gets in, so to go head to head with him, to run this deal, that’s pretty cool to me,” said Overton, standing in the Wells & Sons Motorsports hauler reflecting on the 12-race minitour after securing the championship. “And Ross (Bailes), Ross is a hell of a race car driver, too … just bad luck, you know. I figured it was gonna come down to whoever — me, Ross and Madden — whoever had the worse luck … whichever one of us had the worse luck was how the points were gonna fall.”
“I enjoy this. This is good for me,” Overton said. “I always kind of get in a rhythm when I come do this because I get to mess up. This year, not so much. This year I didn’t get to try as much as I wanted to try because I had to race against Chris every night. A couple of the nights that I won, I had my car ready to go and I was gonna try some stuff and I had my car on the ground ready to go and I said, ‘Jack it up.’ We don’t need to give him any points.”
Kicking of the final week of the 12-race miniseries, Overton was one of 26 cars on hand at Tri-County Racetrack (Brasstown, N.C.) on Tuesday afternoon. Timing in second fastest in his group behind Chris Madden, Overton earned the third-starting position for the $3,500-to-win A-Main.
With four cautions slowing the 35-lapper, Brandon jumped up one spot to register a second-place finish behind Madden with David Payne, Tyler Millwood, and Jake Knowles rounding out the Top-5.
On Thursday evening at Crossville (Tenn.) Speedway, Overton was the only competitor in time trials to break the 13-second mark with a 12.984 second lap, locking him into the pole position for the A-Main.
Jumping into the lead on the drop of the green flag, Overton led wire-to-wire to record his 15th win of the season and fourth straight series victory at the 1/3-mile Tennessee oval. Finishing ahead of Chris Madden, Cory Hedgecock, Donald McIntosh, and Tyler Millwood, Brandon pocketed a $3,500 payday.
The following night at 411 Motor Speedway (Seymour, Tenn.), Brandon came in second fastest in his group behind Kyle Hardy before picking up a 10-lap heat race victory.
Starting the $10,053-to-win A-Main in third, Overton dropped one spot in the 53-lapper to place fourth behind Chris Madden, Dale McDowell, and Cory Hedgecock with Ross Bailes coming in fifth.
For the tour’s finale, Overton headed to Tazewell (Tenn.) Speedway) on Saturday afternoon. Slipping back to a fourth-place finish in his heat race, Brandon earned the 15th-starting position for the finale.
With $10,053 on the line, Brandon charged from the tail off the field after pitting on lap 18 to replace a flat tire to finish fifth behind Dakotah Knuckles, Michael Chilton, Ryan King, and Vic Hill.
Overton reached Victory Lane on six occasions over the course of the 12-race miniseries and never finished outside the Top-5. In the end, Overton finished 20 markers ahead of Madden to clinch the championship title and the $5,053 prize.
“It was grueling for sure, but I don’t regret any of it. It’s been a lot of fun,” Overton added. “Thanks to David and Eric Well for giving me the opportunity to drive for them, my crew for their hard work every night, all of our great sponsors, and of course the fans. We’re going to take a weekend off before hitting up some of these crown jewel events the next few weeks.”
To learn more about these events, please visit www.SouthernNationalsSeries.com.
The team will take this weekend off before making the 18-hour trek north to Cedar Lake Speedway (New Richmond, Wis.) for the 33rd Annual USA Nationals, August 6-8. The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series event kicks off on Thursday with a complete program highlighted by a $6,000-to-win main event. On Friday, double heat races and a dash will set the line-up for Saturday’s $50,000-to-win finale.
To learn more about these events, please visit www.WoOLMS.com.
Brandon Overton would like to thank all of his marketing partners, which include Crossfit Overton, Wells Motorsports, Allstar Concrete, Longhorn Chassis by Wells, Big Dog Stump and Tree, RW Powell Construction, Convenient Lube, Big Blue Smoke House, Doug Campbell Body Shop, Clements Racing Engines, Penske Shocks, Hoosier by Brian, Top Notch Kustom Koncepts, Steering Buddy, Impact Race Gear, Swift Springs, Penn Grade Oil, Quarter Master, Earnhardt Technologies Group, Wilwood, All-Star Performance, Wehrs Machine, Schoenfeld, Winters Performance, Performance Bodies, Peterson Fluid Systems, Sunoco Race Fuels, Fast Shafts, AFCO Racing Products, COMP Cams, Quickcar Products, and MSR Mafia Marketing Services.
For the latest information concerning Brandon Overton, please visit www.BrandonOverton76.com. To learn more about Wells Motorsports, visit www.WellsAndSonsMotorsports.com.