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Brandon Overton had unlocked an outside lane, passed race-long pacesetter Chris Madden for the lead on lap 37 and was half a circuit away from taking the white flag in Saturday night’s 50-lap Tennessee Tipoff feature at Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn. The first national touring series victory of Overton’s resurgent 2026 season — and first World of Outlaws Late Model Series triumph in nearly three years — seemed inevitable. But what was shaping up to be a joyful $20,000 moment for the 34-year-old star from Evans, Ga.
, suddenly turned to disaster as he approached turn three on lap 48. He couldn’t avoid colliding with Dennis Erb Jr. ’s spinning car and his bid was abruptly squelched, done in by a vicious impact that he was fortunate to escape without serious injury.
“When I seen (Erb),” Overton related in a text message when asked about the accident, “I said, ‘Oh, f---, this is gonna hurt. ’” There was essentially nothing Overton could do to avoid the veteran Erb’s machine. Overton was amid lapped traffic down the backstretch with Carson Ferguson a couple car lengths ahead and Jake Timm and Sam Seawright to his outside.
When Ferguson let off the gas and ducked low, Overton’s field of vision was opened to Erb’s car spun sideways right in front of him. Overton T-boned the right side of Erb’s car, sending all four wheels of the 53-year-old Illinois racer’s No. 28 off the ground.
Overton’s Riggs Motorsports mount came to an almost immediate stop with its nose crushed and steam and fluid spewing out; Seawright, meanwhile, clipped Erb’s car on the way by and slid to a stop over the banking between turns three and four while the second-running Madden spun to the top of turn three after his car’s left-rear corner caught the left-front of Overton’s No. 76. All the drivers involved emerged from their cars under the own power; Erb even headed to turn two during the red flag period to offer some angry words to stopped WoO rookie Logan Zarin, whom Erb blamed for the contact that sent him spinning.