Cardwell, Coffey, Rickett, Overholser, Byers visit victory lane at Volunteer Speedway

Cardwell, Coffey, Rickett, Overholser, Byers visit victory lane at Volunteer Speedway By Robert Walden Volunteer Speedway Media/Public Relations BULLS GAP, Tenn. (June 17, 2017) — The temperature was hot around East Tennessee on Saturday as the thermometer hovered near the 90-degree mark, and the racing action was heated in the evening as Volunteer Speedway held an exciting five division Father’s Day weekend racing program. Jason Cardwell of Knoxville captured a crowd-pleasing Steel Head Late Model win, with Rex Coffey of Morristown recording the Sportsman Late Model victory, while Chris Rickett of Morristown won his fourth Modified Street feature. Richie Overholser of Corryton won the Classic Challenge for his third victory of the season, with John Byers capturing the Mini Stock win. During the week John Tweed of Greeneville serves as President and CEO of Landair Transportation, but when the weekend rolls around he enjoys getting behind the wheel of a dirt late model at “The Gap.” Tweed set fast-time at 13.198 seconds in Steel Head Late Model qualifying to earn the pole position for the 30-lap main event. Tweed smashed the loud pedal to jump out to the lead on the start over Chase King, Josh Henry, Greg Estes and Jason Cardwell. The event’s first caution waved just a couple of laps in when Estes got loose and spun in turn two. Off the double-file restart Tweed got a little high between turns one and two getting the car out of shape, and with young guns King and Henry bearing down it was a wild three-car scramble for the top three positions. Tweed managed to hang onto the point, but Henry passed King to take over the second spot. Another caution period slowed the action on lap 6 when both Chris Chandler and Ellery Leake had mechanical issues and entered the pits. Back under green Tweed was still showing the way out front over King, while Cardwell got past Henry to take over third in the running order. Cardwell was up-on-the-wheel applying pressure on King, and lap 8 racing off the fourth turn he pulled the trigger to shoot past into the runner-up position. But King wasn’t just going to roll over and not battle back, as he powered his way around Cardwell to retake the spot on lap 11 racing off turn four. The hard-nose racing between King and Cardwell had fans in the grandstands cheering, and lap and a half later Cardwell muscled his way back around King for second place and set his sights ahead on leader Tweed. Cardwell quickly closed in behind Tweed and began sizing his opponent up ready to make a move. Racing into the first turn on lap 18, Cardwell dropped to the inside of Tweed and as they raced up off (turn) two he pulled alongside to challenge for the lead on the backstretch. Speeding off into the third turn, Cardwell drove off hard and deep into the corner to move into the lead. Once out front and with a clear track...