2-24 Page 10

Overton keeps his win streak alive at Volusia, as WISSOTA-area drivers are shut out from feature

By Spence Smithback

BARBERVILLE, FL (February 9) - The 2026 dirt Late Model season may only be a few weeks old, but Brandon Overton has already matched his win total from the entirety of 2025.

He got the ball rolling with a Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series victory at Needmore Speedway, and then swept the weekend at Screven’s Winter Freeze. But winning in regional action in your home state is one thing — beating the best in the business at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals is another.

Nevertheless, Overton remained in top form on Monday at Volusia Speedway Park, dominating the first DIRTcar Late Model feature of the week. It was the Evans, Georgia driver’s first national-level triumph in over nine months and his fifth DIRTcar Nationals win in the past six years.

“I’m so glad I won, because I’m so sick and tired of hearing this s**t about how I don’t race against nobody,” Overton said. “There’s no slouches anymore. If you race a Super Late Model, no matter where we go in the country, there is somebody there that’s fast. You couldn’t have scripted it any better. The only bad thing about winning is losing. You get a little taste and you want to win, and when you lose, damn it sucks.”

Overton started from the pole and after fending off a challenge from Cade Dillard in the opening laps, he went to work on building an advantage. After Dillard settled into second, he came under attack from Nick Hoffman, who took away the runner-up spot prior to the first caution of the race 13 laps in for a flat tire on Chris Madden’s machine.

Hoffman tried to make a move on the restart, but he couldn’t clear Overton and instead lost second to Brandon’s brother, Cody Overton. Another yellow for a slowing Dillard reracked the field once more, but Brandon Overton pulled away and drove home to the checkered flag. Behind him, the younger Overton came out on top of a battle with Devin Moran to secure second, signifying a much-needed turnaround from his last trip to Volusia for DIRTcar Sunshine Nationals when a pair of blown engines nearly ruined his season before it began.

“I gambled on the tires, I put a three on,” said Cody. “[Brandon] said he was putting a two on, so I said I’m going to be different, maybe I can beat him that way. I’m just glad nothing fell off, nothing’s broke, still looking for a transmission. Shoutout to [Brandon’s] guys; soon as I got done with my heat, they were actually at my trailer, trying to help me figure out what I need to do for tomorrow. I don’t mind running second to him, I guess.”

Moran finished third for the final spot on the podium, while Max Blair and Hoffman completed the top five.

Minnesota’s Brent and Matthew Larson, Jake Timm, Dan Ebert and Dustin Sorensen were on hand for action, as well as Montana’s Michael Leach and South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft, but no drivers from the region qualified for the feature.

SUMMARY

Super Late Models:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[3]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 4. 111-Max Blair[7]; 5. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 6. 71-Hudson O'Neal[17]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[9]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[8]; 9. 1-Tyler Erb[5]; 10. 9M-Tim McCreadie[18]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[10]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 13. 22*-Drake Troutman[6]; 14. 5-Mark Whitener[19]; 15. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[16]; 16. 44-Chris Madden[11]; 17. 14-Trey Mills[22]; 18. 18-Chase Junghans[21]; 19. 388-Jackson Hise[23]; 20. 58V-Daulton Wilson[24]; 21. 16S-Sam Seawright[20]; 22. 13-Dallon Murty[14]; 23. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[15]; 24. 97D-Cade Dillard[2]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[2]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. 49-Jake Timm[5]; 5. 11R-Josh Rice[6]; 6. 11B-Stacy Boles[4]; 7. 55E-Eli Johnson[8]; 8. 0-Glenn Styres[7]; 9. 14R-Reid Millard[9]; 10. 3S-Brian Shirley[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 97D-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 3. 13-Dallon Murty[3]; 4. 5-Mark Whitener[7]; 5. 14-Trey Mills[8]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 7. B1-Brent Larson[9]; 8. 24-Tyler Wyant[6]; 9. 114K-Evan Koehler[4]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 4. 16S-Sam Seawright[7]; 5. 388-Jackson Hise[8]; 6. 09-Michael Leach[5]; 7. 11-Austin Smith[3]; 8. 19M-Brenden Smith[6]; 9. T1-Todd Morrow[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 49M-Luke Morey[2]; 5. 81-Jason Riggs[6]; 6. 31-Tyler Millwood[9]; 7. 8S-Kyle Strickler[5]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 10. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[10]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[6]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[4]; 5. 58V-Daulton Wilson[3]; 6. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[9]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[7]; 9. J4-John Garvin Jr[8]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 22*-Drake Troutman[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 9M-Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. 19-Dustin Sorensen[3]; 5. 77-Preston Luckman[7]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[8]; 7. 1Z-Logan Zarin[6]; 8. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[4]; 9. 17-Austin Howes[9]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 5-Mark Whitener[2]; 2. 14-Trey Mills[4]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[1]; 4. 11R-Josh Rice[3]; 5. 24-Tyler Wyant[10]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[6]; 7. B1-Brent Larson[8]; 8. 114K-Evan Koehler[12]; 9. 11B-Stacy Boles[5]; 10. 55E-Eli Johnson[7]; 11. 0-Glenn Styres[9]; 12. 14R-Reid Millard[11]; 13. 3S-Brian Shirley[13]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 16S-Sam Seawright[1]; 2. 388-Jackson Hise[3]; 3. 49M-Luke Morey[2]; 4. 31-Tyler Millwood[6]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 6. 11-Austin Smith[7]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs[4]; 8. 8S-Kyle Strickler[8]; 9. 09-Michael Leach[5]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs[12]; 11. 19M-Brenden Smith[9]; 12. T1-Todd Morrow[11]; 13. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[13]

Last Chance Showdown 3 (10 Laps): 1. 18-Chase Junghans[1]; 2. 58V-Daulton Wilson[3]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[10]; 5. 77-Preston Luckman[4]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[6]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 8. 1Z-Logan Zarin[8]; 9. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 10. 8-Matthew Larson[9]; 11. J4-John Garvin Jr[11]; 12. 17-Austin Howes[12]