BRISTOL, Tenn. — Chris Madden led every lap in Friday night’s XR Super Series Late Model feature to score the $50,000 victory at the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals.
Madden, who earlier in the day set a track record at 14.950 seconds at 128 mph in qualifying, drove his ultra-quick car to lead all 50 laps from the pole and claim his second win in the four-race series over the two-week event. With the win, Madden moved into contention to claim the $100,000 event bonus that will be awarded tomorrow to the racer with the highest average finish.
“It’s pretty awesome, what a phenomenal race car, we had some mishaps last Saturday, but we recovered well,” said Madden, who won last Friday night’s race in similar dominating fashion but finished 12th Saturday. “It’s awesome to be at Bristol and see all the fans out and appreciate all their support.”
Madden, from Gray Court, S.C., says he hopes he can make a similar run in Saturday’s 50-lap finale to try and pocket the hefty bonus check.
“Our goal is to win races and we have a big points fund going into tomorrow night,” Madden said. “There’s definitely some tough competition here this weekend, but we’ve been fortunate to put ourselves in position to win and that’s what we have to do tomorrow.”
He says the $100,000 he’s won so far is critical funding for his team.
“It takes every bit of it, we’re just thankful and blessed to be able to win,” Madden said. “Hats off to the crew. Thanks to XR for stepping out on a limb to give us racers some great money to race for. We appreciate them.”
Last Saturday’s winner Chris Ferguson made a late race charge to finish second and was followed by rising star Devin Moran in third. NASCAR Cup Series champ Kyle Larson finished fourth, Ricky Weiss was fifth and Scott Bloomquist finished sixth.
The finish:
Chris Madden, Chris Ferguson, Devin Moran, Kyle Larson, Ricky Weiss, Scott Bloomquist, Dale McDowell, Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Sheppard, Earl Parson Jr., Kyle Strickler, Jimmy Owens, Kyle Bronson, Brandon Overton, Ricky Thornton Jr., Darrell Lanigan, Dakotah Knuckles, Joseph Joiner, Ashton Winger, Garrett Smith, Mike Marlar, Mark Whitener, Shane Clanton, Ross Bailes.