Bobby
Pierce Makes First Trip to Smoky Mountain Pay Off!
(March
14, 2025) 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. (MRM
Racing Photos)
“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.
(MRM Racing Photos)
World of Outlaws Late Model Series
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]
(MRM Racing Photos)
Street Stocks
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 42-Robbie Comer[2]; 2. A13-Austin Byrd[4];
3. 3W-Scott Smith[1]; 4. 20H-Johnny Hughes[7]; 5. 10-Eric Hughes[3];
6. 15-Lamar Hughes[5]; 7. 1-Cody Satterfield[11]; 8. T11-Tim Kilby[8];
9. 21-Johnny Lay[13]; 10. 21XP-Bobbie Petty[10]; 11. 20-David
Brogdon[14]; 12. 156-Marcus Mays[12]; 13. J3-Chad McLemore[15];
14. 09-Nick Baker[9]; 15. (DNS) 11-Ryan Watson; 16. (DNS) 51-Dave
Lewis
(MRM Racing Photos)
Front Wheel Drive
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 21-Dustin Duncan[1]; 2. B56-Brandon Porstner[3];
3. 17W-Gregory Wyatt[8]; 4. 199-Jason Crowder[4]; 5. 21T-Travis
Taylor[10]; 6. 69-Josh Chastain[7]; 7. 85-Travis Weeks[5]; 8.
00-Brandon Crawford[11]; 9. 206-Allen Vaughn[6]; 10. J15-Justin
Beal[9]; 11. 10-Dan Sandiford[15]; 12. 12-Trent Lee[19]; 13. 84-Donnie
Lowe[16]; 14. 506-Josh Davis[18]; 15. 17-Dustin Holt[2]; 16. 57-Shal
Ritenour[20]; 17. 24-Ricky Ritenour[12]; 18. 57C-Cody Ritenour[14];
19. 0-JACKSON CRAWFORD[13]; 20. 88-Larry Rudd[17]; 21. 22-Caleb
Manning[21]; 22. (DNS) 45-Colton Keasler
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