McDowell Captures Fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Dixie Shootout

Story By: JAMES ESSEX / LUCAS OIL LATE MODEL DIRT SERIES – WOODSTOCK, GA – Dale McDowell dominated the Lucas Oil Dixie Shootout on Saturday night at Dixie Speedway. The Georgia native set the Miller Welders overall fast time, won his heat, and led all 50-laps to score his fourth-career win in the annual event.

Jonathan Davenport finished second after making several charges at McDowell throughout the main event. Josh Richards finished in third after yielding second to Davenport on lap 18. Brandon Overton came across the finish line in fourth. Tim McCreadie notched his second-straight top five finish with his fifth-place run.

“It was a great night for us. We qualified well and started up front. Thanks to Shane [McDowell] and everybody with the team. They all worked extremely hard on this car and it paid off tonight. I was thinking of Mike [Swims] when I came around for the checkered flag. I felt like he was talking to me and saying good job buddy or something like that. Thanks to all of the Swims family, this place has remained such a solid piece of racing history for years and years. Thanks to all of you race fans, without you, we couldn’t do this.”

A caution with 25-laps completed helped McDowell as Davenport had cut the gap between the two. “I never thought I would see the day when clean air is so important in dirt track racing. When I got behind those guys I was trying to lap, it was dirty, messy air, and I couldn’t maneuver the car like I wanted to. When you are out front in those situations, you are just a sitting duck. Those guys behind you are going to go where you aren’t.”

“I figured JD [Davenport] was on the top side and Shane [McDowell] was giving me signals that he was closing. He looked really good in his heat, so I figured he was on the top side and Josh was in the middle. I had to get kind of greedy and those guys are tough week in and week out. It’s so special to win this race,” said the 52-year-old driver in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the ninth time in his career. With his win, he becomes the 19th different winner on the tour in 2018.

“I really don’t know if I wanted to see that caution at lap 25,” said Davenport, who extended his series point lead with his runner-up finish. “We were pretty good in lapped traffic. We were quite maneuverable and that’s how we got by Josh. The track was cleaning up in a hurry. Congratulations to Dale, he had tough luck last night while leading at Tri-County. This might be the best I have ever raced here. I grew-up about an hour and a half from here. It was a great points night for us as well.”

Richards was happy with his podium finish. “We had a really good car tonight. I have to thank Clint Smith for giving me some pointers, he has a lot of experience racing here and it definitely helped me. We had a pretty good car for the feature. We just need to fine tune it a little bit. Towards the end I was just trying to ride and save the right rear tire.”

The winner’s Sweet-Bloomquist Race Car is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by: Textron Off-Road, New Era Industrial, Klotz Synthetics, Cometic Gasket, Will Kinzer Foundation for Autism Research, and Quality Natural Gas.

Completing the top ten were Casey Roberts, Tyler Millwood, Jimmy Owens, Don O’Neal, and Earl Pearson Jr.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Lucas Oil Dixie Shootout
Dixie Speedway – Woodstock, Ga.

Miller Welders Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Dale McDowell / 14.455 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Tyler Millwood / 14.573 seconds

Eibach Springs Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Dale McDowell, Cla Knight, Michael Brown, Justin Shipley, Zach Leonhardi, Frank Ingram, Gregg Satterlee, Kyle Bronson, Scott Bloomquist, John Henderson, Scott Groves

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Josh Richards, Casey Roberts, Brandon Overton, Donald McIntosh, Ray Cook, Steven Roberts, Dalton Polston, Will Roland, Aaron Wilson, Blake Spencer, Cass Fowler

Simpson Performance Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Tyler Millwood, Jimmy Owens, Austin Horton, Clint Smith, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jason Croft, Austin Tyler Smith, Lamar Haygood, Brian Connor, Kenny Collins, Eric Granger

QA1 Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): Jonathan Davenport, Tim McCreadie, Earl Pearson, Jr., Don O’Neal, Jason Hiett, Mason Zeigler, Darrell Lanigan Aaron Ridley, Bobby Pierce, Rob Mayea, Michael Page

Penske Racing Shocks B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Ray Cook, Zach Leonhardi, Frank Ingram, Steven Roberts, Kyle Bronson, Gregg Satterlee, Aaron Wilson, Dalton Polston, Will Roland, Scott Groves, John Henderson, Cass Fowler, Blake Spencer, Scott Bloomquist-DNS

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): Jason Hiett, Dennis Erb, Jr., Jason Croft, Darrell Lanigan, Austin Tyler Smith, Mason Zeigler, Aaron Ridley, Michael Page, Bobby Pierce, Lamar Haygood, Kenny Collins, Rob Mayea, Brian Connor-DNS, Eric Granger-DNS

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

FINISH	START	CAR #	DRIVER NAME	HOMETOWN	EARNINGS
1	1	17m	Dale McDowell	Chickamauga, GA	$12,000
2	4	49	Jonathan Davenport	Blairsville, GA	$6,400
3	3	1R	Josh Richards	Shinnston, WV	$4,500
4	11	76	Brandon Overton	Evans, GA	$2,750
5	8	39	Tim McCreadie	Watertown, NY	$2,950
6	7	101	Casey Roberts	Toccoa, GA	$1,800
7	2	31T	Tyler Millwood	Kingston, GA	$1,500
8	6	20	Jimmy Owens	Newport, TN	$2,100
9	16	5	Don O’Neal	Martinsville, IN	$2,000
10	12	1	Earl Pearson, Jr.	Jacksonville, FL	$1,900
11	14	06	Clint Smith	Senoia, GA	$1,075
12	10	16	Austin Horton	Whitesburg, GA	$1,050
13	21	F9	Frank Ingram	Woodstock, GA	$1,025
14	23	0	Scott Bloomquist	Mooresburg, TN	$1,800
15	18	1J	Jason Hiett	Oxford, AL	$1,000
16	25	14	Darrell Lanigan	Union, KY	$800
17	17	53	Ray Cook	Brasstown, NC	$1,000
18	9	79	Michael Brown	Lancaster, SC	$1,000
19	20	28	Dennis Erb, Jr.	Carpentersville, IL	$1,700
20	24	32	Bobby Pierce	Oakwood, IL	$1,700
21	22	9J	Jason Croft	Woodstock, GA	$1,000
22	26	22	Gregg Satterlee	Indiana, PA	$800
23	19	24	Zach Leonhardi	Cartersville, GA	$1,000
24	5	42	Cla Knight	N. Augusta, SC	$1,000
25	13	08	Justin Shipley	Douglasville, GA	$1,000
26	15	7	Donald McIntosh	Dawsonville, GA	$1,000