CONCORD, N.C. – Chris Madden led a Scott Bloomquist Racing sweep of the top-two positions during the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series portion of the Can-Am World Finals on Friday night.
Jonathan Davenport started the 50-lap feature at The Dirt Track at Charlotte from the pole and dominated the first half of the race as Madden rocketed from fourth to second on the opening lap, with Scott Bloomquist following Madden in third.
The first caution waved seven laps in just as Davenport caught the tail of the field. Boom Briggs suddenly slowed right in front of Davenport, forcing the leader and runner-up Madden to take evasive action to avoid Briggs as the caution waved.
Davenport retained the lead on the restart, but the field only got two more laps in before Darrell Lanigan spun in turns three and four to bring out the caution flag. Brent Larson and Blake Spencer also spun in an effort to avoid Lanigan.
When the race resumed Davenport held serve, but behind him Bloomquist made the move to take second from Madden. Davenport continued to lead with Bloomquist and Madden in pursuit until reaching the tail of the field on lap 19.
With Davenport battling traffic, that allowed Bloomquist and Madden to close in on the race leader. On lap 22 Madden was able to get a run on Bloomquist coming out of turn two, taking the second position back from his boss going down the backstretch.
Davenport continued to lead while working traffic, but Madden and Bloomquist were hot on his trail. Madden managed to get under Davenport out of turn two on lap 30, but Davenport used a run on the high side of turns three and four to pull clear down the frontstretch.
Two laps later Madden took another shot coming out of turn two, but this time he had company as Bloomquist went to the outside while Madden went under Davenport to take the leaders three-wide.
Just as that was happening the caution flag waved when Dustin Mitchell slowed on track, saving Davenport’s lead for the moment. On the ensuing restart Madden saw his chance, rocketing to the inside of Davenport to take the lead by the time the field was through turn two.
Now out front, Madden wasted no time pulling away as Bloomquist worked over Davenport for second. He led comfortably until catching traffic with five laps left in the feature, which allowed Davenport and Bloomquist to close back in.
Neither were able to get close enough to make a move on Madden, who scored his third World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model feature victory of the season by .533 seconds at the checkered flag.
“I just had to keep missing the berm and make sure I didn’t scoot out of the rubber,” said Madden, who collected his third World Finals triumph of his career. “It’s pretty bittersweet for me and Scott today. We lost Randy Sweet today. It’s a big moment.”
Davenport tried one last time to make a move on Madden on the final lap entering turn one by trying the high side, which opened the door for Bloomquist to drive under him and take second to give the Scott Bloomquist Racing team the top two positions at the checkered flag.
“It’s pretty special,” Bloomquist said about Scott Bloomquist Racing sweeping the top-two positions. “We’ve had a good time with Chris here.”
Bloomquist said he’s almost back to full strength after suffering a leg injury in a motorcycle accident earlier this season.
“I’m getting close to back. I’ve got most of the feeling back in my leg,” Bloomquist noted. “The car was really good.”
Davenport was forced to settle for third after leading more than half of the race. Chris Ferguson finished fourth, with Cade Dillard in fifth.
World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series champion Brandon Sheppard came from 13th to finish sixth.
The finish:
Chris Madden, Scott Bloomquist, Jonathan Davenport, Chris Ferguson, Cade Dillard, Brandon Sheppard, Shane Clanton, Josh Richards, Kyle Hardy, Don O’Neal, Steven Roberts, Hudson O’Neal, Dale McDowell, Ricky Weiss, Mike Marlar, Ryan King, Chase Junghans, Tim McCreadie, Joey Coulter, Dennis Erb Jr., John Blankenship, Darrell Lanigan, Blake Spencer, Ross Bailes, Brian Birkhofer, Jimmy Owens, Dustin Mitchell, Brent Larson, Boom Briggs.