Tennessee Doubleheader On Tap For World Of Outlaws Late Model Series Racers
Story By: NICK GRAZIANO / WORLD OF OUTLAWS – LEWISBURG, TN – After five days of racing in Florida, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series will turn its attention to a doubleheader weekend in Tennessee.
The Series on Friday, March 5, will make its seventh appearance at Duck River Raceway Park, in Lewisburg, TN, and on Saturday, March 6, will make its 10th appearance at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, TN for the Tennessee Tipoff.
The first five races of the 2021 season have set the stage for several exciting storylines heading into the next two events – including rookie contender Kyle Strickler currently leading the points after two wins in the first five races, Ricky Weiss continuing to tune his new self-made Sniper Chassis and Dennis Erb, Jr. off to a strong start.
One of the most surprising storylines is three-time defending champion Brandon Sheppard still in search of a win and top-five finish. He and his Rocket1 Racing team will be hungrier than ever to find their way back to the top when the season continues in Tennessee, currently sitting sixth in the championship standings. Sheppard earned his first win at Duck River in 2019 but has yet to visit Victory Lane at Smoky Mountain with the Series.
A win for Sheppard during the doubleheader weekend would mark a historic moment in his career. It would be his 70th career World of Outlaws win. He’s currently eight wins behind Josh Richards, who has collected the most trophies in Series history with 77. Richard’s 77th career World of Outlaws win came at Duck River last year.
However, there has yet to be a repeat winner at the quarter-mile track. The previous winners include:
- 2020 – Josh Richards
- 2019 – Brandon Sheppard
- 2017 – Mike Marlar
- 2016 – Dale McDowell
- 2014 – Darrell Lanigan
- 2013 – Eric Wells
At Smoky Mountain, 2004 Series champion and Tennesse-resident Scott Bloomquist is the only repeat winner with the World of Outlaws. Of his 33 career Series victories, two of them came at the 4/10-mile track in 2015 and 2016. Since Bloomquist’s last win in 2016, there have been five different winners at the track – the Series’ most recent winner Brandon Overton won in 2017, Chris Madden and Dale McDowell won in 2018, Jimmy Owens won in 2019 and 2018 Series champion Mike Marlar won there last year.
With the level of competition displayed in the first five races at Volusia Speedway Park, fans can expect to see more of that thrilling action from The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet at both Tennessee tracks. Especially with $10,000-to-win on the line at Duck River and $12,000-to-win on the line at Smoky Mountain.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.
