Darrell Lanigan hadn’t raced at Magnolia Motor Speedway in nearly 10 years.
There was hardly an adjustment period Saturday for the former World of Outlaws champion and driver of the No. 15 Georgia Boots Super Late Model car.
Lanigan started sixth in the Country Pleasin’ Clash at The MAG and sprung past Jimmy Owens on lap 49 to win the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model race and a $12,000 prize.
“We saved our tires there early on,” he said. “My car really came on. We built this piece this week. When we hot lapped here on Thursday night it was really in the ground. I’d like to thank Clint and Casey Bowyer for giving me this chance.”
Lanigan, who is in his first full season driving for NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer, entered Saturday’s race with mixed results. He started 10th in the Dirt Late Model Dream, a 100-lap, $100,000-to-win race at Eldora Speedway in Ohio before wrecking a third of the way through and finishing 24th.
“We’ve been terrible lately,” Lanigan said. “We went to build a new car this week, and it definitely paid off.”
Owens registered his third-straight podium finish and looked to run away with the trace after taking the lead on lap 4. Owens, who finished third in the 2015 Clash, alternated between high and low lines with relative ease but struggled to get by lap traffic.
“The track latched down a bit on the bottom,” Owens said. “You’re kind of a sitting duck out front. We had a good hot rod, could run high and low. We couldn’t run as good low as I wanted to in one and two.
“I knew we were in trouble when I caught those lap cars and couldn’t get by them. I thought once I cleared them I could get down. I fooled around too long and let Darrell snuck up there. I started to move to the bottom once I saw him the first time, but when you’re up so high, I didn’t want to cut him off and cause a reckless crash.”
The Clash was originally slated for 100 laps and a $20,000 prize to the winner, but thunderstorms Friday washed out qualifying and heat races for the feature, which were bumped to Saturday’s slate in a show that didn’t conclude until after 1 a.m. The 60-lap feature, which didn’t feature a caution, was convenient because the track started to catch rubber around the 50-lap mark, Lanigan said.
“We kept on playing with that bottom and kept feeling a bit more each lap,” Lanigan said. “Jimmy just didn’t know it — he was trying to pass those lap cars out there. That’s the bad part about leading — you just don’t know where to be.
“I caught that little bit of rubber there and stayed in it and got by him.”
Brandon Shepard finished third, while Scott Bloomquist, who didn’t finish last year’s Clash, finished fourth. Bloomquist rebounded from a blown motor during hot laps to start eighth. Jared Landers, last year’s runner-up at The Clash, finished fifth.
Ronny Lee Hollingsworth, of Northport, Alabama, (14th) was the highest finisher of Magnolia regulars. Shay Knight, of Columbus, took 17th, while Eric Cooley, of Fulton, was 18th. Chad Thrash, of Meridian, was 22nd, while Jimmy Cliburn, of Star, took 23rd. All of the Magnolia regulars took home at least $1,000.
In other action, Chase Washington won the NeSmith Late Model feature. Evan Ellis, Monte Skinner, Brent Barrett, and Micheal Arnold rounded out the top five.
Ronald Dunn held off Spencer Hughes to win the Street Stocks feature. Hughes has more than 10 wins this season, and five straight at Magnolia. Lee Ray, Jay Burchfield, and Johnny Stokes rounded out the top five. The win was Dunn’s third of the season at Magnolia. Hughes or Dunn have won every Street Stocks race at Magnolia this season.
John Beard won the Factory Stocks feature. John Johnson, Brandon Whitley, Brad Gable, and Logan Showah rounded out the top five.
Joey McKinney won the 602 Late Model feature. Austin Steele, Tony Shelton, Brooke Carter, and Wesley Greene rounded out the top five.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 32 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.