Marlar Wins North South Shootout on Final Lap

UNION, KY (August 13, 2020) – Mike Marlar passed race leader Brandon Overton on the final lap to win Thursday Night’s Sunoco North-South Shootout at Florence Speedway. Marlar’s late race dramatics earned him his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season. He became the 16th different driver to win on the tour this year. Overton finished .529 seconds behind Marlar at the checkers. Zack Dohm closed on the top two in the final laps to take third with Jimmy Owens and Tim McCreadie completing the top five drivers. 

In a race slowed by only one caution flag, Owens was dominate for most of the race until Overton and Marlar caught him with five laps to go. Overton squeezed by to take the lead on lap 47 but a daring last lap pass propelled Marlar by Overton to pick up his first-ever late model victory at Florence. 

Marlar was elated in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 14th time in his career. “I knew there was a little patch around the outside and I didn’t want to do a crossover move. I was afraid we would rub, and I really didn’t want to pass him [Overton] down there like that. With the way everybody was racing there at the end I just took advantage of what was happening. We rubbed a little bit earlier in the race. You never want that stuff to happen. It was an awesome race.” 

“We took off a little bit there in the spring, but have been back for about a month now. I have to thank my car owner Ronnie Delk and my crew guys, Josh and Jerry and Little Brian with Integra Shocks and Derek and Nick Jones with Rockets Convenience Fuels. We have always enjoyed coming to Florence. We have run second so many times here in a late model. We’ve had success in a modified at Florence but have never won here in a late model. When you race with the Lucas Oil Series it’s the best competition in the country. Racing is a humbling sport and whenever you win it is always nice.” 

Overton came up just short of his fourth LOLMDS win of the season. “I had a tire going down at the end.  That was just good hard racing with Mikey, yes we rubbed a little bit, but we were both going for the win.  We changed a lot on the car from last night. We haven’t run with these Lucas tire rules for a while it’s totally different than what we have been used to recently. We really picked it up tonight and we came close.” 

Dohm ended up rounding out the podium in Victory Lane. “I wish we had about ten more laps. We’re going to get one of these Lucas Oil races soon if we keep running like we have. This Longhorn Chassis has been spot on. We have been able to pick up some good wins recently and we would like to get that big check on Saturday for sure.” 

The winner’s Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Delk Equipment Sales, Rockets Convenience Plus, Brucebilt Performance, PPM Racing Products, and Can-Am Automotive. Completing the top ten were Josh Richards, Stormy Scott, Tyler Erb, Dale McDowell, and Josh Rice.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Sunoco Race Fuels North/South Shootout
Thursday, August 13th, 2020
Florence Speedway – Union, KY

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Tyler Erb / 16.355 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Jimmy Owens / 16.536 seconds 

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 3. 0-Scott Bloomquist[2]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[6]; 5. 1V-Vic Hill[4]; 6. 7R-Kent Robinson[7]; 7. 17ST-Shannon Thornsberry[8]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 9. 626-Brian Mullins[9]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 17D-Zack Dohm[4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 5. 8-Kyle Strickler[6]; 6. 1G-Devin Gilpin[5]; 7. 1M-Connor Meade[7]; 8. 21H-Robby Hensley[8]; 9. (DNS) 83F-Jensen Ford

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[2]; 4. 79-Kyle Hardy[3]; 5. 22F-Chris Ferguson[5]; 6. 7W-Ricky Weiss[7]; 7. 94M-Jason Miller[6]; 8. 33J-Jesse Lay[8]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 3. 28X-Tyler Carpenter[4]; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell[5]; 5. 1B-Ross Bailes[3]; 6. 56C-Colton Horner[6]; 7. 32S-Chad Stapleton[7]; 8. 20B-Todd Brennan[9]; 9. 83-Scott James[8]

MyRacePass Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 2. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 3. 12J-Jason Jameson[4]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 6. 49G-Billy Green[8]; 7. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 8. 51M-Joey Moriarty[7]; 9. (DNS) 21P-Kirk Phillips

Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 2. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 6. 22L-Skyller Lewis[7]; 7. 11J-Drew Armstrong[6]; 8. 17T-Tim Vance[8]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 2. 7W-Ricky Weiss[9]; 3. 22F-Chris Ferguson[6]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[2]; 5. 8-Kyle Strickler[5]; 6. 79-Kyle Hardy[3]; 7. 1G-Devin Gilpin[8]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[13]; 9. 1V-Vic Hill[4]; 10. 94M-Jason Miller[12]; 11. 21H-Robby Hensley[14]; 12. 33J-Jesse Lay[15]; 13. 1M-Connor Meade[11]; 14. 17ST-Shannon Thornsberry[10]; 15. 7R-Kent Robinson[7]; 16. (DNS) 626-Brian Mullins; 17. (DNS) 83F-Jensen Ford

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 17M-Dale McDowell[1]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 4. 1B-Ross Bailes[4]; 5. 49G-Billy Green[8]; 6. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 8. 32S-Chad Stapleton[10]; 9. 56C-Colton Horner[7]; 10. 18D-Daulton Wilson[11]; 11. 11J-Drew Armstrong[12]; 12. 17T-Tim Vance[15]; 13. 22L-Skyller Lewis[9]; 14. 21P-Kirk Phillips[17]; 15. 83-Scott James[16]; 16. 20B-Todd Brennan[13]; 17. (DNS) 51M-Joey Moriarty

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps): 

Race Statistics
Entrants: 52
Lap Leaders: Jimmy Owens (Laps 1 – 45); Brandon Overton (Laps 46 – 49); Mike Marlar (Lap 50)
Wrisco Feature Winner: Jimmy Owens
Margin of Victory: 0.644 seconds
Cautions: Kyle Bronson  (Lap 15)
Series Provisionals: Tanner English, Tyler Bruening
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Series Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Mike Marlar, Brandon Overton, Zack Dohm
Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Dale McDowell (Advanced 11 Positions) 
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jimmy Owens
Allstar Performance Most Laps Led: Jimmy Owens (45 Laps)
Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon Overton
Eibach Springs Rookie of the Race: Tyler Bruening
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket Chassis
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Kent Fegter (Brandon Overton)
Dirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Jimmy Owens (Lap #1 – 16.843 seconds)
STEEL-IT Tough Break of the Race: Jimmy Owens
PFC Brakes Pole Award: Kyle Bronson
Time of Race: 18 minutes 24 seconds