MARYVILLE, Tenn. — One year after breaking while leading Smoky Mountain Speedway’s Tennessee Tipoff feature, Chris Madden gained his redemption at the 4/10-mile east Tennessee track.

Surviving heavy traffic throughout the second half of Saturday’s World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series feature, the second-starting Madden of Gray Court, S.C., scored a flag-to-flag victory in the ninth running of Smoky Mountain’s annual early-season event, earning a $12,000 payday as the World of Outlaws tour competed for the first time since February’s Speedweeks action at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.

After securing the lead on the start of the 50-lapper, Madden had pulled to a comfortable advantage before traffic allowed fifth-starting Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., to close the gap midway through the race. Marlar made multiple low-side attempts to overtake Madden as the leaders raced through traffic, but each bid came up short.

Madden put a pair of slower cars between himself and Marlar in the closing laps and pulled away to the win by a margin of 1.066 seconds.

“We had a great race car tonight and the redraw definitely helped us there to get the lead,” said the 45-year-old Madden, whose 29th career WoO victory came in his second Tennessee Tipoff triumph. “Mikey was really good tonight too. We got to lapped traffic there at the end. I knew he was closing up on me and I had to try to get me some lapped cars between me and him, so I made a move down here to get a couple behind me. We done what we needed to do to get the win.”

Losing pace with Madden in the final circuits, Marlar was forced to fend off a strong challenge from polesitter Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., for the runner-up spot. Davenport took the position when Marlar slipped high in turns one and two on lap 45, but Marlar took the spot back when Davenport made the same mistake two laps later.

Marlar held the second position at the finish while Davenport settled for third. Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., finished fourth and sixth-starting Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., finished fifth.

Madden, who last week wrapped up his second straight championship on the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series, continued his recent upward trend with Saturday’s victory. After starting the 2021 season with no top 10s and three missed main events in his first five races, Madden, who started the year with two new crew members, has since reeled off six straight top 10 runs including a Drydene Series win to go along with Saturday’s WoO triumph.

The upswing has rekindled questions in Madden’s status on the WoO tour this season. The former series regular, who dropped off the tour midway through the 2020 season and started his own team late in the year, was not specific when asked about his upcoming plans in victory lane.

“We’re going to run as many of them as we can,” Madden told WoO pit reporter Ruben Mireles. “I got two new (crew members) in Ricky and Steven there. Those guys are working extremely hard and learning fast, doing an outstanding job for me. I’m proud of them and glad to have them.”

Looking to win the Tennessee Tipoff at Madden’s expense for the second straight season, Marlar charged to second early in Saturday’s feature and took multiple looks under Madden for the lead. But when Madden moved his line down the track, Marlar knew his chances of winning had slimmed.

“Chris did a really good job of getting in the right lane at the right time,” said Marlar, the 2018 WoO champion. “I got under him down there and almost got him, and then he knew to move down. There’s was kind of a sweet spot and he moved down there and got in that. But heck, it was a fun race. I think it was definitely exciting for the fans there because we were nip and tuck there the whole race until there at the end I got a lapped car I couldn’t get around.”

After slipping back to third in the race’s opening laps, the pole-starting Davenport had caught the lead battle of Madden and Marlar by lap six and had just overtaken Marlar for second before the race’s second caution negated the pass and cooled Davenport’s charge.

“That second caution came out right at the worst time,” said Davenport, the three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion who was looking for his first WoO victory since mid-2019. “It was right before it started taking rubber and I had the top going pretty good. I was going to slide Mikey there. I’m sure the guys would’ve told Chris where to go, but we could’ve made it interesting for a little bit.”

The race was slowed by two early cautions. The first appeared for debris with four laps completed. The second caution waved with six laps complete after a backstretch tangle between Cade Dillard of Robeline, La., and Sam Seawright of Rainsville, Ala., left Dillard’s car with heavy front-end damage.

Notes: Twenty-eight of the race’s 32 starters were running at the finish with 20 cars on the lead lap. … In addition to the two WoO points provisionals, six drivers took emergency series provisionals for a total of eight provisional starters. … Defending series champion Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., was never a factor in starting ninth and finishing eighth. He moved from sixth to second in the WoO points standings, however, as the race’s top finishing series regular. … Sheppard is now 66 points behind WoO rookie contender and series points leader Kyle Strickler of Mooresville, N.C., who finished 15th.

Feature lineup

Row 1: Davenport, Madden
Row 2: O'Neal, Thornton
Row 3: Marlar, McCreadie
Row 4: Lanigan, Owens
Row 5: Sheppard, Ferguson
Row 6: Dillard, Hedgecock
Row 7: Richards, Ford
Row 8: Seawright, Weiss
Row 9: Overton, Bronson
Row 10: McDowell, Bronson
Row 11: Boles, Bailes
Row 12: Bruening, Hanger
Row 13: Erb Jr., Bloomquist
Row 14: Briggs, Clanton
Row 15: Breazeale, Gustin
Row 16: Jackson Jr., Junghans