Brandon Overton was in charge from the start of the Mountain Moonshine Classic on Saturday night at Smoky Mountain Speedway – collecting $50,000 for the win in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned event after leading all 60 laps of the race.
Overton held off challenges early from Ryan Gustin and late in the race from Ricky Thornton Jr. but never trailed for his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2024.
Thornton finished in second and Gustin rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third. Jonathan Davenport was fourth and Brandon Sheppard completed the top five finishers.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 18th time in his career the Evans, Georgia driver became the 11th different winner this year on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
“I didn’t know if I was ever going to win another race. I have been knotted up all day. We were not very good last night, and we worked on it. We qualified good, we heat raced good, and I knew it was all up to me to not screw it up. We made the right decisions and I think the first lap me and Ryan, we both knew getting out in front early was important. We kind of rubbed down there, but that’s awesome we were the only two Infinity Chassis’ here and we ran one-two most of the race. So, hats off to Eric [Wells] and everybody back at the shop. To win in front of all these people I appreciate all of you coming out. It was a special night.”
Thornton chased down Overton in the closing laps but ran out of time falling 0.824 seconds short at the finish.
“It was a really good night for us. I was a little mad I didn’t qualify in front of Brandon in our group. I knew him starting on the pole that it was going to be really tough to pass him. The lapped cars made it really tough on him there was a lot of them that you kind of had to slide and hope they slowed down. All-in-all it was good weekend for us. Congrats to Overton and to Ryan for a good race as well.”
For Gustin it was his first Big River Steel Podium finish since All-Tech earlier in the year.
“We’ll take it, obviously when those yellows kept coming out I kept taking the top on those restarts. I would get a good start, but Ricky had a really good restart there on the last one he got us. I’ve got to tip my hat to him he left me room on every restart so thanks to him for that. These Infinity Chassis have been really good, we have been off a little there compared to where we needed to be. To finish third in a crown jewel race we will take it anytime.”
The winner’s Wells and Sons Motorsports, Infinity by Wells Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Coltman Farms, Garnto Southern, Big Dog Stump and Tree, Boswell Oil, R.W. Powell Construction, Convenient Lube, Muscle Factory, Harco Construction, and Victory Fuel, Hurst Construction, All-Star Concrete, Penske Racing Shocks, and Dirt Mafia.
Completing the top ten were Devin Moran, Tim McCreadie, Nick Hoffman, Dale McDowell, and Kyle Bronson.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Mountain Moonshine Classic | Night 2
Saturday, June 15, 2024
Smoky Mountain Speedway – Maryville, TN
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Overton | 15.459 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran | 15.483 seconds
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 111-Max Blair[6]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[5]; 7. 18D-Daulton Wilson[7]; 8. 11B-Stacy Boles[8]; 9. 93-Cory Lawler[9]; 10. 05-Corey Roulette[10]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 36V-Cory Hedgecock[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 4. 83-Jensen Ford[4]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 6. 25B-Mike Benedum[5]; 7. 22-Chris Ferguson[10]; 8. J27-Jay Scott[9]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 10. 11-Jimmy Johnson[8]
Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 3. 93F-Carson Ferguson[3]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[5]; 6. 126-Kaede Loudy[6]; 7. 91-Heath Hindman[7]; 8. 18-Trevor Landrum[8]; 9. B00-Josh Henry[10]; 10. (DNS) 55H-Benji Hicks
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 17M-Dale McDowell[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 3. 1-Tim McCreadie[4]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 5. 7W-Ricky Weiss[5]; 6. 7T-Drake Troutman[6]; 7. 14-Haiden Cowan[8]; 8. 1G-Rusty Ballenger[7]; 9. (DNS) 17SS-Brenden Smith
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 7-Ross Robinson[2]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[5]; 5. 25B-Mike Benedum[4]; 6. 22-Chris Ferguson[6]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]; 8. J27-Jay Scott[8]; 9. 11B-Stacy Boles[7]; 10. 11-Jimmy Johnson[12]; 11. 93-Cory Lawler[9]; 12. (DNS) 05-Corey Roulette
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 7W-Ricky Weiss[2]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[4]; 4. 126-Kaede Loudy[3]; 5. 91-Heath Hindman[5]; 6. 14-Haiden Cowan[6]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[10]; 8. B00-Josh Henry[9]; 9. 18-Trevor Landrum[7]; 10. (DNS) 1G-Rusty Ballenger; 11. (DNS) 55H-Benji Hicks
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series PR
