SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — Chris Madden picked up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victor of the season Friday night at Deer Creek Speedway.
Madden took the lead ap from Brandon Overton on the 13th land went on to win night two of the NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 weekend.
Madden crossed the finish line 1.539 seconds ahead of Overton. Bobby Pierce was third, followed by Ricky Thornton Jr. and Jonathan Davenport. Madden became the 16th different winner this season with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
Madden in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 18th time in his career picked up $5,000 for the win plus an additional $750 from NAPA Auto Parts.
“I just found me a little line there where I could run the middle and got in the corner real good. When Brandon [Overton] got to traffic it’s better to be behind a guy than leading him,” Madden said. “We made a good run down here and got on the outside of him and we just got the lead there.”
Overton, who entered the weekend third in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship led the first 12 laps before his fellow front row starter Madden passed him.
“We were a little bit better tonight. Obviously, mother nature helped us a ton there’s still a lot of brown out there. At least we didn’t fall back. We are steadily working on it we aren’t giving up. We love coming here. It’s an awesome racetrack. The track was good for that little feature there. We’ll take it,” said the defending NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 winner.
Pierce, who was in contention for the win one night ago battled several laps with Overton to finish third.
“I think the big race tomorrow night is going to be really good. I have looked forward to this race and 75 laps is three times the length the last two nights have been. We will see how the track transitions you know. I think it was about to get to that point probably where in about 25 laps the middle would have become awfully slick. We were right there but we just couldn’t make anything happen. It’s going to be a really fun show tomorrow night. I am still kicking myself from yesterday we would have probably been on the pole after the last two nights.”
The finish:
Chris Madden, Brandon Overton, Bobby Pierce, Ricky Thornton Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Spencer Hughes, Tim McCreadie, Chad Simpson, Tyler Erb, Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Bruening, Shane Clanton, Max Blair, Mike Marlar, Daulton Wilson, Earl Pearson Jr., Stormy Scott, Dustin Sorensen, Garrett Smith, Garrett Alberson, Dillon McCowan, Johnny Scott.