World of Outlaws Tennessee Tipoff

In 11 previous World of Outlaws Late Models races at Smoky Mountain Speedway, no driver from the Midwest had ever rolled into Victory Lane.

That was until Bobby Pierce came to town.

In his first trip to Maryville, the driver of the No. 32 led every lap of the Tennessee Tipoff on the way to win number 32 with The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet.

“A lot went through our minds coming here, thinking if we could come away with a top 10, that would be good, top five would be great,” Pierce said. “Definitely would not have imagined winning this race. I’ve never been here, but on top of that, it is red dirt, that’s not what I’m from and everyone knows that. We had a good car, that’s all I can say.”

Pierce began the 35-lap showdown from the outside of the front row next to Bilstein Pole Award winner Nick Hoffman. A strong run around the outside propelled the “Smooth Operator” to the early advantage while Hoffman raced Devin Moran for second behind him.

The gap between Pierce and Hoffman began to close once Pierce caught the tail of the field, but by that point, all eyes were on Jonathan Davenport, who drove from eighth to third in nine laps and was quickly running down the leaders.

Twelve laps in, “Superman” dove to the bottom entering Turn 3 and slid up in front of Hoffman to take over second. At that point, a head-to-head duel between two of dirt Late Model racing’s winningest drivers over the past decade was on.

Davenport got within range of Pierce on multiple occasions in the closing laps, but as the racing groove began to narrow late in the going, he ran out of opportunities to make the winning move as Pierce cruised to his first World of Outlaws win of the season.

Despite a winless start to the Outlaw season at Volusia Speedway Park, the win netted Pierce the Series points lead by 12 markers over Hoffman. Given the circumstances of racing on a new track that was wildly different than anything the Series typically faces, the win proved that Pierce and team have both the speed and versatility to vie for a second title in three years.

“If we can win on tracks we don’t think we’re going to be good at, that’s what it takes,” Pierce said. “I just want to be top five on tracks I’m not good at and then hopefully win the tracks I’m good at, that’s how you win the points.”

After an unlucky Redraw, Davenport took his chances with his tire choice in an effort to get to the front as soon as possible. He did just that, but was ultimately unable to get past the last car on his list in Pierce.

“I was just going where they weren’t,” Davenport said. “We went for a little bit different tire combination, started so far back. Short race, I didn’t figure there would be a lot of cautions with how slick the place was. We gambled a little bit and it paid off, got us close. I just needed the lap cars to work out a little bit different a time or two.”

Hoffman rounded out the podium in third for the second-straight race. After a week that included a last-minute trip to Illinois to pick up a substitute toter home, the strong run and subsequent second spot in points was exactly what Hoffman needed to make the extra effort worthwhile.

“I felt decent at the beginning of the race, just keeping pace with Bobby,” Hoffman said. “JD just blew my doors off and slid me there and then we just got in a train. I peeked the nose a couple times, got him to move down and debated on going back to the middle to try and roll back around him and it just didn’t play out.”

Dale McDowell finished fourth in his first start of the year in the Shane McDowell Racing No. 17M, while Devin Moran completed the top five.

RACE NOTES:

Jonathan Davenport picked up the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap and the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Jimmy Owens won Heat 1.

Devin Moran won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Nick Hoffman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Brandon Overton and Ryan Gustin won the two Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Jonathan Davenport won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Brandon Sheppard drove from 24th to 17th for the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Carson Ferguson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Jonathan Davenport won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Dale McDowell was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Devin Moran was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Jimmy Owens was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Mike Marlar was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Carson Ferguson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Garrett Alberson was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Camaron Marlar was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Models season resumes next Friday and Saturday, March 21-22, with the Battle at the Crossroads at Swainsboro Raceway. For more event information, click here.

If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (35 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[8]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell[5]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 7. 16-Sam Seawright[6]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 9. 93-Carson Ferguson[10]; 10. 58-Garrett Alberson[12]; 11. 96-Tanner English[11]; 12. 57M-Camaron Marlar[14]; 13. 23V-Cory Hedgecock[9]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[20]; 15. 2-Cody Overton[16]; 16. 111-Max Blair[15]; 17. B5-Brandon Sheppard[24]; 18. 76-Brandon Overton[17]; 19. 19R-Ryan Gustin[18]; 20. 9M-Tim McCreadie[13]; 21. 3S-Brian Shirley[26]; 22. 12-Ashton Winger[19]; 23. 74X-Ethan Dotson[21]; 24. 22*-Drake Troutman[23]; 25. 40B-Kyle Bronson[25]; 26. 6-Hudson O’Neal[22]