UNION, Ky. (Aug. 14) — Brandon Overton added another flourish to his already spectacular 2021 campaign with a resounding victory in Saturday night’s Sunoco North-South 100 at Florence Speedway.

But while the $50,000 triumph won’t be the biggest of Overton’s crown jewel successes this season — not after his sweep of June’s double Dreams at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio — it will certainly hold a prominent place in his ’21 log book.

Winning the most prestigious Dirt Late Model race in his car owner David Wells’s home state of Kentucky gave his performance some extra juice.

“I know this place means a lot to ‘em,” Overton said of his boss and Wells’s son Eric, who decided together to hire Overton in late 2019. “I’ve been a nervous wreck all day because I really wanted this one really bad. I know it’s special to them. It makes me happy to make them happy.”

The 30-year-old star left no doubt about his dominance in the century grind. He started third, bolted into second at the initial green flag and dogged polesitter Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., until shooting underneath the event’s defending champion to assume command on lap 22.

From there no one could manage to mount a serious challenge to Overton, who easily handled three restarts between laps 43 and 80 to drive his Longhorn Chassis under the checkered flag a healthy 4.728 seconds ahead of McCreadie.

McCreadie grabbed the $20,000 runner-up spot in his Paylor Motorsports Longhorn car with a last-lap pass of Blairsville, Ga.’s Jonathan Davenport, whose advance from the ninth starting position reached second on lap 96 when he overtook a fading Josh Rice of Verona, Ky. Davenport settled for a third-place finish, 12th-starter Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., finished fourth and Rice completed the top five.

Rice, 24, hustled forward from the seventh starting spot to grab second from McCreadie on lap 61, raising hopes that May’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series winner at Florence could record a monumental home-track victory. But he never drew close enough to threaten Overton before a defeating right-rear tire caused him to fall from second to fifth over the final five circuits.

Seeking a sweep of Florence’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned weekend after capturing the $10,000 top prize in Thursday’s 50-lap North-South Shootout, Overton came out firing on all cylinders in his sixth career North-South 100 feature start. He surged into the lead a bit earlier than he typically has in long-distance races this year and proceeded to control the action for the final 78 laps.

As Overton raced afterward, his No. 76 was once again in a league of its own.

“I’ll tell you what, that thing was awesome,” said Overton, who made his first North-South 100 feature appearance in 2014 (finished 20th) and had a previous best placing of second in last year’s event. “About anybody could’ve drove it tonight. We’ve been working really hard on it and it definitely paid off.”

The only moment that gave the cool, calm and collected Overton any real trepidation was when the hard-charging Rice appeared in second on lap 61.

“I was looking up there at that (score) board and I seen that number 11 car and I knew it was Rice and I said, ‘Oh, s---, this is gonna be bad,’ ” Overton earnestly said. “Honestly, when I seen him, I thought, he’s gonna rip around this top and there ain’t no chance in hell I’m going up there, so that’s where he was gonna have to pass me at.”

Rice briefly got his deficit to Overton under 1 second on the 80th circuit when the pacesetter dealt with heavy lapped traffic. But after a caution flag flew that very lap for debris on the backstretch, Overton easily pulled away on the restart and just kept distancing himself from the field.

When Overton climbed out of his car to celebrate his first-ever North-South 100 victory with David Wells and the rest of his team, he wore a very satisfied smile.

“Hell, I don’t even know what to say,” said Overton, whose latest triumph pushed his earnings for his 21 overall triumphs this season to an astounding $502,575. “It’s a dream come true to drive this thing. I don’t wanna stop.

“I owe it all to (David and Eric Wells). They put it in my hands and told me, ‘Here you go, take care of it, and let’s see what you got.’ I can’t thank them enough.”

Overton also had words of thanks for the overflow crowd that attended the event.

“Man, this is cool, all these people here, ‘ya all pumping us up right before the race,” Overton said. “This is awesome. I love coming here just because of you all, so I appreciate every one of you.”

McCreadie, 47, led the race’s first 21 laps as he sought to become just the fourth back-to-back North-South 100 winner, but he couldn’t join Pat Patrick (1983-84), Owens (2010-11) and Don O’Neal (2012-13).

“I did the best I could to run every lap,” McCreadie said. “I tried to take it easy, but it’s hard. Brandon wasn’t waiting around tonight. He figured he needed to get control of the race, and obviously Rice, man, that kid’s such a battler.

“Usually when somebody comes up there (racing the top) you go up there, so I tried (after Rice took second from him running the cushion). I maintained but I just wasn’t good enough. I faded, and really, I just got lucky at the end. I don’t know if they were worse in traffic, but to race with Rice and J.D. like that at the end was pretty crazy. It would’ve been pretty wild if that was for the win.

“It’s a satisfying run,” he added. “I’m not happy, but at the end of the day I think we finished better than we probably were.”

McCreadie recorded his third runner-up finish in a crown jewel event this season, following seconds in June 10’s Dream and July 24’s Silver Dollar Nationals at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb.

“Second’s are cool, they’re fun, they’re satisfying when you go to the checkbook,” McCreadie said. “But we want to be where (Overton’s) at down there, and we want these people screaming and yelling for us.

“To be sandwiched between the two winningest guys (Overton and Davenport) this year, and the two hottest cars this year, is pretty cool for us. We need to get better though. These two are like Pac-Man — they’re just gobbling all the wins up, so we just better get a little better.”

Davenport, 37, attempted to again use the approach that yielded him a $50,000 victory in the previous week’s World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series-sanctioned USA Nationals at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis., but second was as high as he could climb before McCreadie nosed him out for the spot on the final lap.

“I tried to stay patient at the first, keep my tires under me, because I knew it was gonna get slick top to bottom,” Davenport said. “I just wanted to have the best tires possible for the last 20 laps. We got to second, but McCreadie found a different line there and got back to us and a lapped car held me up coming off turn four and I couldn’t quite get the run I had been getting back to the line and he barely beat us.

“We just tightened up a little too much,” he continued. “We felt a little too good there hot-lapping, and I guess we were wasn’t smart enough to know the front tire had as much grip as the rear ones so we turned pretty good there. I couldn’t run the bottom like we needed to. We just missed a little bit. It don’t take but one adjustment anymore, these guys are so good.”

The race’s three caution flags flew on laps 43 (ambulance needed outside the track), 53 (Johnny Scott slowed with a flat tire) and 80 (debris on the backstretch).

Notes: Overton became the 26th winner in the 38-year history of the North-South 100. He’s the third driver from Georgia to capture the race, joining Davenport (2015) and the late Mike Head (1990). … Overton was stopped by officials during the lap-43 caution because a “mist” was seen coming from the back of his car early in the race and they wanted to make sure his fuel cap was on tight. It was and Overton continued on; his crew said the spray was from fuel overflow at the start. … Zack Dohm of Cross Lanes, W.Va., climbed into the top five from the 10th starting spot before retiring on lap 85 while running eighth. His crew thought his car might have run out of fuel. … After being inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame, Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., finished 25th in his first North-South 100 feature start since he placed 11th in 2008. … The race’s first retiree was Devin Gilpin of Columbus, Ind., who dropped out with driveline woes. … There was a lengthy break from action stretching over an hour-and-a-half before the feature was green-flagged because officials had to wait for the scheduled 9:30 p.m. ET start of the live broadcast on MavTV. The feature ultimately began at 9:53 p.m.

38th Sunoco North-South 100 finish
Pos. Driver (car no.), hometown, chassis, earnings
1. Brandon Overton (76), Evans, Ga., Longhorn, $50,000
2. Tim McCreadie (39), Watertown, N.Y., Longhorn, $20,000
3. Jonathan Davenport (49), Blairsville, Ga., Longhorn, $10,000
4. Jimmy Owens (20), Newport, Tenn., Rocket, $9,000
5. Josh Rice (11), Verona, Ky., Rocket, $8,000
6. Kyle Bronson (40B), Brandon, Fla., Rocket, $7,000
7. Nick Hoffman (0H), Mooresville, N.C., Team Zero, $6,000
8. Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas, Rocket, $5,000
9. Stormy Scott (2s), Las Cruces, N.M., Longhorn, $4,500
10. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20rt), Chandler, Ariz., Longhorn, $4,000
11. Gregg Satterlee (22), Indiana, Pa., Rocket, $3,500
12. Michael Chilton (97), Salvisa, Ky., Rocket, $3,250
13. Hudson O'Neal (71), Martinsville, Ind., Rocket, $3,000
14. Kyle Strickler (8), Mooresville, N.C., Team Zero, $2,750
15. Josh Richards (14), Shinnston, W.Va., Rocket, $2,500
16. Scott James (83), Bright, Ind., Rocket, $2,400
17. Earl Pearson Jr. (1), Jacksonville, Fla., Black Diamond, $2,300
18. Shane Clanton (25), Zebulon, Ga., Capital, $2,250
19. Trevor Landrum (18), Erlanger, Ky., Team Zero, $2,200
20. Zack Dohm (17), Cross Lanes, W.Va., Longhorn, $2,150
21. Darrell Lanigan (29), Union, Ky., Club 29, $2,100
22. Johnny Scott (1st), Las Cruces, N.M., Longhorn, $2,075
23. Mike Marlar (157), Winfield, Tenn., Rocket, $2,050
24. Matt Cosner (66c), Ridgeley, W.Va., Rocket, $2,025
25. Terry Phillips (75), Springfield, Mo., Capital, $2,000
26. Devin Gilpin (1G), Columbus, Ind., Rocket, $2,000
Lap leaders: McCreadie 1-21; Overton 22-100
Heat race winners (among 46 cars): McCreadie (2), Chilton, Erb, Strickler, Davenport, Overton, Rice, O'Neal, Owens
Consolation race winners: Gilpin, Thornton
Provisional starters: Clanton, S. Scott, Cosner, Landrum
Non-qualifiers’ race winner: Dale McDowell, Chickamauga, Ga.

Feature lineup

(100 laps)

Row 1: Tim McCreadie, Michael Chilton
Row 2: Brandon Overton, Hudson O'Neal
Row 3: Darrell Lanigan, Kyle Bronson
Row 4: Josh Rice, Mike Marlar
Row 5: Jonathan Davenport, Zack Dohm
Row 6: Tyler Erb, Jimmy Owens
Row 7: Gregg Satterlee, Kyle Strickler
Row 8: Terry Phillips, Earl Pearson Jr.
Row 9: Devin Gilpin, Ricky Thornton Jr.
Row 10: Scott James, Josh Richards
Row 11: Nick Hoffman, Johnny Scott
Row 12: Shane Clanton, Stormy Scott
Row 13: Matt Cosner, Trevor Landrum

Non-qualifers' race

Finish (30 laps): Dale McDowell ($2,000), James Rice, Spencer Hughes, Dustin Linville, Duane Chamberlain, Justin Rattliff, Tommy Bailey, Jesse Lay, Jason Jameson, Todd Brennan, Tristan Chamberlain, Jeremy Creech, Curt Addison, Ethan Toedter, Vern Lefevers.

Consolation recap

Indiana-based teams swept the consolation races with Devin Gilpin of Columbus winning from outside the front row and Morgantown's SSI Motorsports driver Ricky Thornton Jr. winning from the pole, both in flag-to-flag fashion in 15-lappers. ... Spencer Hughes, 20, of Meridian, Miss., came from fifth briefly to second in the first consy, but he lost the final transfer spot to Nick Hoffman in the final laps while fading. ... Two top contenders were knocked from contention on the first lap when Dale McDowell and Stormy Scott got together on the backstretch, sending Scott's car into the infield berm for a 480-degree spin that left his car facing the wrong way at the turn-three entrance. No other cars struck Scott's machine but McDowell's left-rear tire was flattened and nosepiece damage forced Scott out. McDowell finished fifth. ... Scott was among four drivers getting provisional starting spots along with Shane Clanton, Matt Cosner and Trevor Landrum. ... Cosner ran second early in the consy and faded to finished seventh. ... Clanton finished ninth in his consy and Landrum used the consolation race as test session.

Consolation race results

(15 laps; top three transfer)

First consolation: Devin Gilpin, Scott James, Nick Hoffman, Spencer Hughes, Jesse Lay, Kent Robinson, Dustin Linville, Duane Chamberlain, Shane Clanton, Jason Jameson, Kody Evans, Grant Garrison, Robby Hensley, Ethan Toedter. Scratched: Jeremy Freeman.

Second consolation: Ricky Thornton Jr., Josh Richards, Johnny Scott, James Rice, Dale McDowell, Tommy Bailey, Matt Cosner, Todd Brennan, Justin Rattliff, Jeremy Creek, Tristan Chamberlain, Vern Lefevers, Trevor Landrum, Stormy Scott, Curt Addison.

Consolation lineups

(15 laps; top three transfer)
First consolation
Row 1: Scott James, Devin Gilpin
Row 2: Kent Robinson, Nick Hoffman
Row 3: Spencer Hughes, Shane Clanton
Row 4: Dustin Linville, Duane Chamberlain
Row 5: Jesse Lay, Kody Evans
Row 6: Robby Hensley, Grant Garrison
Row 7: Jason Jameson, Ethan Toedter
Row 8: Jeremy Freeman
Second consolation
Row 1: Ricky Thornton Jr., Dale McDowell
Row 2: Stormy Scott, Matt Cosner
Row 3: Josh Richards, Johnny Scott
Row 4: Tommy Bailey, Todd Brennan
Row 5: Justin Rattliff, James Rice
Row 6: Trevor Landrum, Tristan Chamberlain
Row 7: Jeremy Creech, Vern Lefevers
Row 8: Curt Addison 

Saturday's schedule

3 p.m. - Pit gates open
3 p.m. - Main and back gates open
7 p.m. - Hot laps
7:30 p.m. - Competition begins
- Late Model consolations (20 laps)
- Modified feature
- Late Model non-qualifiers' race (30 laps)
- Sunoco North-South 100

Heat recap

Two-time Sunoco North-South 100 winner Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., was the lone driver to win two heat races Friday, helping him earn the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series pole Saturday as the tour's points leader tries to win Florence Speedway's biggest race for the second year in a row and third time overall.

McCreadie's passing-point total topped 46 entrants while a surprising Michael Chilton of Salvisa, Ky., earned Saturday's outside front-row starting spot as he'll try to become the first Kentucky-based driver since the late Jack Boggs to win the North-South.

The rest of Saturday's top 10 starters are Thursday's tuneup winner Brandon Overton of Evans, Ga., and Hudson O'Neal of Martinsville, Ind., on the second row followed by third-row starters Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., and Kyle Bronson of Brandon, Fla.

The fourth and fifth rows will be made up of Ralph Latham Memorial winner Josh Rice of Verona, Kyi., Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., and Zack Dohm of Cross Lanes, W.Va.

Rain between the two rounds of heat races pushed racing into the wee hours with the final heat race wrapping up at 1:30 a.m.

Heat race results (second round)

First heat: Tim McCreadie, Matt Cosner, Terry Phillips, Dale McDowell, Joanthan Davenport, Kyle Strickler, Grant Garrison, Josh Richards. Scratched: Trevor Landrum.

Second heat: Brandon Overton, Scott James, Kyle Bronson, Earl Pearson Jr., Duane Chamberlain, Kent Robinson, Justin Rattliff, Jeremy Creech, James Rice.

Third heat: Josh Rice, Mike Marlar, Spencer Hughes, Todd Brennan, Tyler Erb, Devin Gilpin, Jason Jameson, Robby Hensley. Scratched: Curt Addison.

Fourth heat: Hudson O'Neal, Zack Dohm, Ricky Thornton Jr., Nick Hoffman, Gregg Satterlee, Stormy Scott, Kody Evans, Dustin Linville, Jeremy Freeman.

Fifth heat: Jimmy Owens, Michael Chilton, Darrell Lanigan, Shane Clanton, Jesse Lay, Tommy Bailey, Johnny Scott, Ethan Toedter, Tristan Chamberlain, Vern Lefevers.

Rain delay

Rain that hit the speedway after the first round of heats put the program under a rain delay about 8:30 p.m. Late Models returned to competition more than four hours later after a lenghty track-packing session and modified competition.

Heat race results (first round)

First heat: Michael Chilton, Gregg Satterlee, Kyle Bronson, Dale McDowell, Ricky Thornton Jr., Scott James, Shane Clanton, Matt Cosner, Todd Brennan, Curt Addison.

Second heat: Tyler Erb, Kent Robinson, Darrell Lanigan, Earl Pearson Jr., Terry Phillips, Tommy Bailey, Spencer Hughes, Grant Garrison, Jeremy Freeman.

Third heat: Kyle Strickler, Devin Gilpin, Hudson O'Neal, Zack Dohm, James Rice, Trevor Landrum, Tristan Chamberlain, Vern Lefevers, Duane Chamberlain.

Fourth heat: Jonathan Davenport, Stormy Scott, Josh Richards, Johnny Scott, Josh Rice, Jimmy Owens, Kody Evans, Jeremy Creech, Jason Jameson.

Fifth heat: Tim McCreadie, Brandon Overton, Dustin Linville, Mike Marlar, Nick Hoffman, Robby Hensley, Justin Rattliff, Jesse Lay, Ethan Toedter.

Numerical roster

Nick Hoffman (0H), Mooresville, N.C.
Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas
Earl Pearson Jr. (1), Jacksonville, Fla.
Devin Gilpin (1G), Columbus, Ind.
Grant Garrison (1GK), Walton, Ky.
Johnny Scott (1st), Las Cruces, N.M.
Stormy Scott (2s), Las Cruces, N.M.
Kody Evans (4G), Camden, Ohio
Kent Robinson (7R), Bloomington, Ind.
Dustin Linville (D8), Lancaster, Ky.
Kyle Strickler (8), Mooresville, N.C.
Curt Addison (8A), Florence, Ky.
Tommy Bailey (11), Corbin, Ky.
Spencer Hughes (11), Meridian, Miss.
Josh Rice (11), Verona, Ky.
Jason Jameson (12J), Lawrenceburg, Ind.
Vern Lefevers (13), Cincinnati, Ohio
David Webb (13W), Nicholasville, Ky.
Josh Richards (14), Shinnston, W.Va.
James Rice (15), Verona, Ky.
Justin Rattliff (16), Campbellsville, Ky.
Zack Dohm (17), Cross Lanes, W.Va.
Jeremy Creech (17c), Richmond, Ind.
Dale McDowell (17m), Chickamauga, Ga.
Trevor Landrum (18), Erlanger, Ky.
Todd Brennan (20), Zanesville, Ohio
Jimmy Owens (20), Newport, Tenn.
Duane Chamberlain (20c), Richmond, Ind.
Ricky Thornton Jr. (20rt), Chandler, Ariz.
Tristan Chamberlain (20tc), Richmond, Ind.
Robby Hensley (21H), Walton, Ky.
Gregg Satterlee (22), Indiana, Pa.
Ethan Toedter (23T), DeMossville, Ky.
Shane Clanton (25), Zebulon, Ga.
Darrell Lanigan (29), Union, Ky.
Jesse Lay (33), Walton, Ky.
Tim McCreadie (39), Watertown, N.Y.
Kyle Bronson (40B), Brandon, Fla.
Jonathan Davenport (49), Blairsville, Ga.
Billy Green (49G), Walton, Ky.
Matt Cosner (66), Ridgeley, W.Va.
Hudson O’Neal (71), Martinsville, Ind.
Terry Phillips (75), Springfield, Mo.
Brandon Overton (76), Evans, Ga.
Scott James (83), Bright, Ind.
Michael Chilton (97), Salvisa, Ky.
Mike Marlar (157), Winfield, Tenn.

Friday's schedule

3 p.m. - Pit gates open
5:30 p.m. - Main and back gates open
6:30 p.m. - Hot laps
7:30 p.m. - Competition begins
- Late Model heats (first set)
- Modified heats
- Late Model heats (second set)
- Modified consolation