Josh Rice and Dale McDowell scored wins as the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series opened its 2021 season.
Rich was the winner in the season opener on Friday night at West Virginia’s Beckley Motorsports Park, while McDowell recorded the victory in Tuesday night’s race at I-75 Raceway in Sweetwater, Tennessee.
On Friday night, Josh Rice was the fourth and final leader and emerged victorious in the season opener at Beckley Motorsports Park.
The win gave the Verona, Kentucky, racer a $10,053 payday, and marked the first series victory of his career.
After rolling off form the fifth place starting spot, Rice climbed up to the second spot and was in prime position to take advantage of leader Devin Moran’s flat right-side tires under caution to assume the point for a lap 39 restart.
Josh then kept his machine out front of the field in the waning laps and survived a late caution flag with only four circuits remaining to beat a charging Zack Dohm to the checkered flag by 1.529 seconds.
“I watched a lot of videos from here and seen how good the cushion was,” Rice said. “I was like – this looks like my cup of tea. I’ve got to give a big shout out to Zack Dohm who is really good here. To be able to come here and outrun him is really cool. I hate how the deal with (Jacob) Hawkins happened, but I was just so much faster and it was time to go.”
Dohm finished in second, with Jacob Hawkins in third, Dawsonville, Georgia’s Donald McIntosh in fourth and Jensen Ford in fifth.
Mother Nature was the only winner on the next two race nights, as Saturday night’s race at Wythe Raceway in Rural Retreat, Virginia and Monday night’s race at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee were both washed out.
The series finally returned to action on Tuesday night at I-75 Speedway, where Dale McDowell recorded his sixth career series victory.
The Chickamauga, Georgia driver ran in the third spot early in the contest before moving up to second and hounding race long leader Cody Overton for the point. McDowell swept by Overton on the 18th lap and led the remainder of the distance to pocket the $4,053 top prize.
“It feels awfully good,” McDowell said. “It was a good night for the E-Z-GO hot rod. We were here (for the Spring Nationals race in April) and led for a little bit – then that guy by the name of Brandon Overton got by us and we fell back to third. I was able to move around the racetrack and it was awfully good. Hats off to everyone that prepped the racing surface… it was a good night for us.”
Ryan King, Jensen Ford, Cory Hedgecock, and John Ownbey rounded out the top five.
Following a scheduled day off on Wednesday, the Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series will roll into West Georgia Speedway in Whitesburg, Georgia on Thursday, July 22. For more information, visit SouthernNationalsSeries.com.
Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series
Beckley Motorsports Park – Beckley, WV
Race Results – July 16, 2021
1. (5) Josh Rice $10,053
2. (12) Zack Dohm $5,000
3. (2) Jacob Hawkins $2,500
4. (14) Donald McIntosh $1,800
5. (9) Jensen Ford $1,250
6. (1) Devin Moran $900
7. (13) Cody Overton $800
8. (8) Mike Benedum $700
9. (3) Ross Bailes $675
10. (7) Henry Hornsby $650
11. (19) Ahnna Parkhurst $625
12. (11) Stacy Boles $600
13. (17) Benjamin Cranford $575
14. (22) Andy Standridge $550
15. (21) Jeff Neubert $525
16. (6) Michael Brown $500
17. (15) Aaron Barley $500
18. (20) Aaron Carter $500
19. (10) Rick Williams $500
20. (16) Garrett Smith $500
21. (18) Jordy Nipper $500
22. (4) Dale McDowell $500
Schaeffer’s Oil Southern Nationals Series
I-75 Raceway – Sweetwater, TN
Race Results – July 20, 2021
1. (4) Dale McDowell $4,053
2. (10) Ryan King $2,000
3. (9) Jensen Ford $1,400
4. (12) Cory Hedgecock $1,000
5. (3) John Ownbey $800
6. (1) Cody Overton $700
7. (6) Michael Brown $600
8. (7) Kenny Collins $550
9. (14) Daulton Wilson $525
10. (8) Donald McIntosh $500
11. (5) Colton Profitt $480
12. (13) Garrett Smith $470
13. (11) Stacy Boles $460
14. (16) Bobby Giffin $450
15. (23) Jeff Neubert $40
16. (20) Jordy Nipper $430
17. (18) Chase Oliver $420
18. (19) Craig Greer $410
19. (15) Dusty Carver $400
20. (17) Chuck Southard $400
21. (2) David Crabtree $400
22. (22) Andy Standridge $400
23. (21) Ahnna Parkhurst $400
