Cody Overton Sneaks Towards First Summer Nationals Triumph at Montpelier Motor Speedway
In the second chapter of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models at Indiana’s Montpelier Motor Speedway, it was the Tri-Star Motorsports No. 2 that was parked in Victory Lane.
After going winless since March 1, Cody Overton had a major morale boost on Wednesday night after winning his first career Hell Tour Feature in hard-working fashion around the bottom lane.
Reigning champion Tyler Erb jumped out to the early command over Zack Mitchell as the two distanced themselves by over five seconds on third-place Rusty Schlenk and Overton in fourth.
After the Thomson, GA, pilot passed Schlenk on the bottom lane for third place on Lap 9, the first caution of the night was flown on Lap 12 to reset the pace.
On the restart, Overton used his momentum on the bottom to get by Mitchell for second place on the first lap, but the Coltman Farms Racing No. 57 retook the spot with a slide job while “Terbo” grew the distance from the two battling drivers to 4.6 seconds.
On Lap 23, the complexity of the Feature changed when a lapped car spun to the top of the track in Turn 4. Erb, who was behind the car on the cushion, made contact and spun down the track, ending his chances to earn a pivotal win towards his championship chase.
The caution gave way to new contenders for the win as Mitchell led to the restart over Overton, Trey Mills, Mark Whitener, and Jason Feger. The restart saw Mitchell lead into Turn 1, but Mills threw a slide job on Mitchell through the corner to take the lead.
While Feger and Whitener ran to the cushion, Overton glued his car to the bottom lane as the top five ran four-wide entering Turn 3 while Mills chose the top to block Feger and Whitener’s momentum.
Overton, who quietly kept his car to the bottom, snuck by Mills off of Turn 4 to take the lead on the restart while the Jacksonville, FL driver kept his No. 14JR Longhorn Chassis to the top in his attempt to stay even with Overton.
The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Models presented by DIRTVision sophomore outmatched Mills and held onto the lead for the final six laps to score his first career Hell Tour Feature race. He becomes the second Peach State driver to win in 2025, and the 119th different winner in the tour’s history.
“Oh man, God was looking out for me,” Overton said. “We definitely gambled on tires tonight, and I don’t think it was right the longer I ran. I was like ‘I’m SOL, I’m just gonna ride, but whatever.’
“I wasn’t too worried about the restarts, ‘cause I knew I could probably get back out front, but it was just a matter of time, and they could start circling and getting their hard tires back good. I mean, sometimes, you just gotta be lucky.”
While Erb made a hard-charging effort in the remaining laps to finish in sixth, he sits 80 points back from overall points leader Jason Feger, who finished in third place.
Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals enter the final four nights of Week 5 with a trip to Michigan’s Butler Motor Speedway on Thursday, July 10.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-Cody Overton[5]; 2. 14JR-Trey Mills[6]; 3. 25F-Jason Feger[9]; 4. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[14]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[11]; 6. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 7. 5-Mark Whitener[8]; 8. 51-Devin Shiels[18]; 9. 71R-Rod Conley[3]; 10. 91-Rusty Schlenk[4]; 11. 42-Chad Finley[16]; 12. 46-Colin Shipley[10]; 13. 29-Christian Hanger[7]; 14. 31M-Tyler Millwood[13]; 15. 75-Dillon McCowan[12]; 16. 38-Thomas Hunziker[22]; 17. 18-Jacob Stuhr[15]; 18. 17SR-Brody Smith[17]; 19. 57-Zack Mitchell[2]; 20. 07-Rylee Knoll[20]; 21. 95J-Jerry Bowersock[21]; 22. 114-Clayton Bryant[23]; 23. 17SS-Brenden Smith[19]
