7/30/2023
Dale McDowell
Dale McDowell double dips with Southern Nationals at North GA and Tazewell
Dale McDowell banked a pair of $10,053 triumphs with the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals over the course of a steamy weekend in the driver’s seat of the Shane McDowell Racing / E-Z-GO No. 17m Cometic Gaskets / Klotz Synthetic Lubricants / Connected Strategy Advisors / Team Zero Race Cars / Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model.
McDowell collected the winner’s spoils on Friday night at North Georgia Speedway, followed by another victorious performance at Tazewell Speedway on Sunday evening.
“It was a long and hot weekend for everyone, but our team did an amazing job of giving me what I needed. We were able to steal one on Friday at North Georgia [Speedway]. Carson [Ferguson] is becoming a heck of a littler acer and was doing everything good,” McDowell said. “It’s just you don’t know where to go [to get by the lapped traffic]. I had been playing with the top down there [in turns three and four] just to try to get a run if we got to lapped traffic and really couldn’t do anything down here [in turns one and two]. We just got a little lucky there, ya know he got pinned down there on the bottom.
“Then on Sunday at Tazewell [Speedway] we put ourselves in a good position from the time we unloaded. I’m very very blessed to drive a car like this and it’s so good, things are going our way. I can’t emphasize that enough. I’m blessed to drive it when it’s no good and when I’m not doing a good job, but I’m super blessed right now and I feel really fortunate. Everything is just clicking.”
Kicking off a three-race stretch with the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals, Shane McDowell Racing and Dale McDowell invaded Tri-County Racetrack (Brasstown, N.C.) on Thursday afternoon for the $7,553-to-win opener.
Earning the eighth-starting position for the A-Main via his qualifying effort, McDowell advanced three spots in the 40-lap affair to register a fifth-place finish. He chased Jimmy Owens, Ricky Weiss, Donald McIntosh, and Carson Ferguson to the checkers.
In a field of 36 Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals entries on Friday at North Georgia Speedway (Chatsworth, Ga.), Dale followed up the sixth-fastest qualifying lap in his group with a runner-up showing in his heat. Stealing the lead from Carson Ferguson on the final lap of the feature after the race-long pacesetter got caught up in lapped-traffic, McDowell soared to the $10,053 victory, which came ahead of Ferguson, Donald McIntosh, Michael Page, and Ricky Weiss.
With Saturday’s Ray Varner Ford 53 at Tazewell Speedway (Tazewell, Tenn.) shifted to Sunday by wet weather, McDowell raced his way into the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals finale with an eight-lap heat race win.
Soaring to his second win in as many nights, Dale led flag-to-flag in the caution-plagued 53-lapper to register his eighth win of the season and 13th career with the tour. He banked a $10,053 payday ahead of Ricky Weiss, Jimmy Owens, Donald McIntosh, and Jason Trammell.
Full results from the events are available at www.SouthernNationalsSeries.com.
McDowell will venture to Duck River Raceway Park (Wheel, Tenn.) this Saturday for the Deep Fried 75, which posts a $20,000 top prize for the Hunt The Front Super Dirt Series.
For more information on the event, please visit www.HTFseries.com.
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