FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (June 13) — Regaining the lead from Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., with seven laps remaining in the 50-lap distance, Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla., scored his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the 2019 season on Thursday at Fayetteville Motor Speedway.

Starting outside the second row, Bronson edged ahead of race leader Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., out of turn four to assume the point on lap 31. Falling to Overton briefly on the 43rd circuit, Bronson shot back to the front of the field one lap later to earn a $10,000 payday in the Dunn Benson Ford Wayne Gray Memorial.

“I've had a real good car for the past few months, we just haven't had the results to show for it with bad luck and stuff,” Bronson said. “Tonight we were able how good a car we have. (Davenport) got the lead there and I was kicking myself in the butt and I was like, 'How did I let this guy by me?'

“I feel bad, I hit that hole there (in turn four) and you turn sideways and (he and Davenport) got together a little bit. Then I was just kind of cruising too easy there and let Overton get next to me and throw me the ol' fender there a little bit. ... I had a blast doing this. The track was a little rough, it had a little character.”

It was polesitter Tyler Erb of New Wavery, Texas, who shot to an early lead, falling to Davenport on lap 13. Rolling into second when lapped traffic worked to his advantage, Bronson ran second to Davenport at the halfway mark, grabbing the lead just a handful of laps later. Surviving the caution-plagued distance and Overton’s late-race challenge, Bronson captured his second career Lucas Oil Series victory.

“I've had a fast car, I just haven't had the results to show for it,” Bronson said. “I knew as long as we kept a fast race car like we've been having, our time was going to come. Hopefully our luck's turned around here.”

Overton finished 0.722 seconds behind Bronson at the checkered flag. After leading the first 12 laps, Erb ran third, with Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., advancing from the seventh starting spot to finish fourth. Leading laps 13-30, Davenport rounded out the top five.

As the laps clicked off, Overton was hopeful he could park his Rum Runner Racing machine in victory lane in honor of his late crewman Billy Vacek, who died earlier this week in a camper fire.

“(Bronson) got by me and my hat's off to him,” Overton said. “I really wanted to win that one. It's been a rough week for us. I’m going to try my damndest to get us one tomorrow or Saturday. I don't really know what to say. (Vacek) he was like my right-hand guy over here, everything was going good. We're going to get him one here soon. I guarantee the crowd got their money's worth tonight. All in all, I guess it's better than it being one groove around the bottom.”

While the racing surface presented a challenge to drivers, Erb was still able to come away with a podium finish.

“Lapped traffic at the beginning definitely did not help us out,” Erb said. “You just had to survive and we survived in third. A lot of give and take and this is where we ended up. Tonight, it might've been a little bit safer to be in a train (race).”

Notes: Bronson’s previous Lucas Oil Series victory was Feb. 18, 2018 at Florida’s East Bay Raceway Park. … Eleven of the 25 starters finished the race. … A red flag fell on lap 33 when Shanon Buckingham of Morristown, Tenn., made hard contact with the inside retaining wall. His car was heavily damaged but he was uninjured. …. Making his first series start since Feb. 9 at East Bay Raceway Park, Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., completed just two laps and finished 24th.