World of Outlaws Alabama Gang 100

Bobby Pierce may have been born and raised in the cornfields of Illinois, but he’s fallen in love with the southeast in 2025.

In his debut at Smoky Mountain Speedway in March, he came, saw and conquered. Swainsboro Raceway was more of the same one week later, as Pierce collected a win and a podium in his first trip to that facility.

And in his third trip to Talladega Short Track, the “Smooth Operator” mastered the “Hornet’s Nest” for his third win of the year with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

“I really looked forward to coming here,” Pierce said following his first Talladega triumph. “Especially with $50,000, that’s a lot of money. I felt confident, I feel like we’ve got a good car right now almost anywhere we go. Probably wouldn’t have thought that before Smoky Mountain and Swainsboro, but we won those races and it was like ‘man, we’ve got a really good car, I’ve just got to drive it.”

The 2023 World of Outlaws champion started the 100-lap contest from the inside of row two, staring at the back of Bilstein Pole Award winner Cory Hedgecock and Jimmy Owens. Hedgecock pulled out to the early lead while Pierce made quick work of Owens in the opening circuits to grab second.

After sizing up Hedgecock for a dozen laps, Pierce went to the bottom of Turns 3 and 4 while Hedgecock rode the cushion and took over the top spot in the next set of corners. Pierce expected passing to become more difficult as the race progressed, which made it all the more crucial to get out front as soon as possible.

“It was only a matter of time until the bottom got really good,” Pierce said. “I saw Dennis Erb kind of pull away from me on the bottom there. It was kind of my race to lose at that point. After that, the only worry was if that middle did get cleaned up for a second and allow someone to roll around the outside.”

A flurry of yellows in the middle portion of the race created plenty of shuffling for second on back, as Owens got by Hedgecock for second on Lap 23 before losing the spot to Zack Mitchell just past halfway. Pierce wasn’t bothered by any of it though, as he nailed restart after restart to keep the lead.

When it appeared as if Pierce had the trophy in the bag coming to the white flag, Cody Overton cut a tire to set up a green-white-checkered dash to the finish. With Mitchell behind him in search of the biggest win of his career, Pierce put together two more flawless laps to take home the $50,000 payday.

The Alabama Gang 100 is Pierce’s latest addition to his collection of long-distance victories that also includes wins in the Prairie Dirt Classic, USA Nationals, the World 100 and more in the past year alone.

“Experience went a long way with that,” Pierce said. “Running more different tracks and more long-distance races and running up front in those races. Getting that experience has been good, learning to, when you’re in the lead, set the pace, not pushing too hard. Like when I was in second tonight, I really wanted to get the lead, so I was kind of pushing hard at that moment to get the lead. Once I got it, every caution that would come out, I would want to build the lead a little bit and then kind of ride.”

While Mitchell was unable to capitalize on his chance to pounce on Pierce with two to go, the southeastern stalwart was thrilled to end up on the podium in his first World of Outlaws Feature start of 2025.

“I got by Jimmy on the restart and got to second and felt it kind of latching up,” Mitchell said. “It is what it is. I kind of wanted to jump up to the top just to see there one time to try to see if I could go around him, but Jimmy must have been too close to me.”

One week after a season-best finish of second in Spring Nationals competition at Tazewell Speedway, Owens kept the momentum rolling with a third-place effort – his first World of Outlaws top five since Volusia Speedway Park in January.

“That last restart, Zack snuck by us on the bottom there,” Owens said. “Really, I just needed to choose the bottom lane, but it’s kind of hard to when you’re running second, choosing the top. Then we could roll the top side through 3 and 4, but on that last little bit Zack beat us, it got a little crummy up there and we just fell back into third. Just happy to come home with a good third-place finish.”

Jadon Frame came home fourth to establish a new World of Outlaws career best while Mike Marlar completed the top five.

RACE NOTES:

Austin Smith set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap Award.

Tyler Millwood won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Zack Mitchell won Real American Beer Heat 1.

Cory Hedgecock won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Jimmy Owens won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Jake Timm and Cade Dillard won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Cory Hedgecock won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Nick Hoffman drove from 20th to 12th for the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Zack Mitchell won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Jadon Frame was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Mike Marlar was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Cory Hedgecock was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Millwood was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Trey Mills was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision will head north to resume the season at the Dairyland Showdown at Mississippi Thunder Speedway, Thursday-Saturday, May 1-3. For tickets, click here.

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

Feature (100 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 57-Zack Mitchell[4]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 4. 81F-Jadon Frame[8]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 6. 23V-Cory Hedgecock[1]; 7. 9M-Tim McCreadie[12]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[20]; 9. 31-Tyler Millwood[5]; 10. 14JR-Trey Mills[11]; 11. 16S-Sam Seawright[10]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[23]; 13. 111-Max Blair[25]; 14. 22*-Drake Troutman[16]; 15. 12-Ashton Winger[6]; 16. 3S-Brian Shirley[9]; 17. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[15]; 18. 96-Tanner English[21]; 19. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[26]; 20. 2-Cody Overton[14]; 21. 74X-Ethan Dotson[24]; 22. 4W-Ryan Wilson[19]; 23. 212-Josh Putnam[13]; 24. 18X-Michael Page[22]; 25. 97-Cade Dillard[18]; 26. 49-Jake Timm[17]