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Sam Seawright takes Deep Fried 75 opener at Duck River Raceway Park

WHEEL, Tenn. (Aug. 2) – If Sam Seawright was dozing off during his late-night drive at Duck River Raceway Park on Friday night, he got the wake-up call he needed on lap 22. Despite being comfortably ahead of second-running Brandon Overton, Seawright slid high in turns three and four and brushed the wall.

The miscue allowed the third-starting Overton, the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series points leader, to grab the lead at the flag stand. But it was the only lap the Evans, Ga., superstar led as a refocused Seawright battled back, used a slider on the very next circuit to regain the top spot and never trailed again.

After regaining his composure, Seawright, of Fort Payne, Ala., finished 0.617 of a second ahead of Hampton, Ga.’s Ashton Winger, who started eighth before working his way forward to nip Overton at the line on the last lap. Seawright earned $5,000 in the 30-lap prelim for Saturday’s $20,000 Deep Fried 75.

“I don’t know what happened,” said Seawright. “I just drove into turn three a little hotter than I had and thought I gave it away there. But I didn’t give up. I just kept givin’ her all I had and it paid off. I led that thing too long to give it away like that. Brandon (Overton is) my hero. To be up there racing with Ashton (Winger) and Brandon, sliding each other, it’s awesome.”

Sixth-starting Tanner English of Benton, Ky., and fourth-starting Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga., followed Overton in fourth and fifth, respectively. Polesitter Wil Herrington of Hawkinsville, Ga., slipped five spots to finish sixth.

For Seawright, it was a great start to a Deep Fried 75 weekend that he’s had circled on his calendar for a long time. His second Hunt the Front win of his career is also his second this season.

"I've just always been good here (at Duck River) ever since I was a little kid racing Crate cars. I don't know what it is," said Seawright, who won the event in 2019 when it paid a scant $2,500-to-win. "But I really wanted to win that race bad. You know, me and Livie (Smith) got engaged. She's my fiancée now and my dad didn't get to come for a long time because he was so sick and he's back here with us and that kind of lit a fire under me to do good."

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