7/26/2025
Mike Benedum
Mike Benedum breaks through for first Southern Nationals win at Tazewell Speedway
Earns $10,053 Payday and First Career Series Victory
SALEM, W.Va. (07/28/25) – Mike Benedum brought the curtain down on the Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals in thrilling fashion, powering to his first win of the 2025 season during Saturday night’s Ray Varner Ford 53 at Tazewell Speedway in Tennessee.
Benedum capitalized on a lap-17 pileup that eliminated several contenders and dominated the remaining 37 circuits to score his first victory of the season, pocketing the $10,053 winner’s purse.
“I love Tazewell. (The track) was so rough there that I decided that I’d roll the outside and I’m sure glad I did because I would’ve been right in the middle of that (lap-17 rollover crash),” Benedum said. “I hate it for them guys, I wanted to beat them fair and square, I didn’t want them to wreck. But, I thought we had a pretty good hot rod anyway because I was holding on there.”
The final week of the 11-race summer series kicked off for Benedum on Tuesday at Georgia’s Toccoa Raceway, where he opened the busy stretch with a fifth-place finish in the 40-lap feature.
After matching that result in Thursday’s stop at Sugar Creek Raceway, he recorded a seventh-place finish in the penultimate round at North Georgia Speedway.
When the tour arrived at Tazewell Speedway for Saturday’s finale, Benedum made an early statement by setting fast time overall in qualifying with a blistering 11.265-second lap. He followed it up with a heat race victory to earn a prime starting spot for the 53-lap Ray Varner Ford 53 main event.
After steering clear of a pivotal lap-17 crash, Benedum seized the lead and never looked back, fending off Kaede Loudy, Beckham Malone, Josh Sneed, and Jeff Neubert to claim the richest win of his career—surpassing his previous best, a $7,000 payday in 2018 at Tyler County Speedway.
Benedum’s consistency throughout the series earned him a fourth-place finish in the final championship standings.
Complete results from the final week are available at www.SouthernNationalsSeries.com.
Looking ahead, Benedum and his team are still finalizing their short-term schedule, but have the World 100 at Eldora Speedway in September circled as their next confirmed outing. Once finalized, fans can find the team's upcoming schedule at www.BenedumMotorsports.com.
Mike Benedum would like to thank all of his marketing partners including BSI Well Service, BlackRock Enterprises, Shane McDowell Racing, Clarksburg Mack, Burlile Performance Products, Mark IV, Slicker Graphics, 1st Phorm, Victory Seats, Team Zero Racecars, and MyRacePass Marketing Services.
For the latest news and updates, visit www.BenedumMotorsports.com or subscribe to the team’s official newsletter at https://pages/MikeBenedumRacing.
Article Credit: Michael Moats photo
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