Cody Overton is responding to reports and speculation that his World of Outlaws Late Model plans for 2026 came to a halt following engine issues during practice at Hendry County Motorsports Park on Thursday.
On February 20th, DirtonDirt.com’s Kyle McFadden reported, “Without a motor for his self-owned team, Cody Overton of Thomson, GA., today said he’s apparently abandoned his bid for a third consecutive full-time season on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series.”
However, within that report, McFadden also noted, “Overton said he plans to rejoin the World of Outlaws for March 13-14 events at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., and Smoky Mountain Speedway in Maryville, Tenn., and run most of the tour’s races.”
Overton himself informed McFadden, “I’m going to just forget this weekend even happened and then just start back over when we go to Smoky and just kind of see how things go on, and if it works it works. If not, so be it.”
Overton would then run with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at All-Tech on February 20th in Bruce Kane’s #15. He explained to FloRacing how that came together, “Last night we practiced and ended up breaking a piston, we think, in my motor. So fresh out of motors. That was it.”
“Drove up here really to just help Brandon, come hang out, and then the plan was to drive Bruce’s car at Bubba. Then we get here and he just got here — I don’t know 2 to 3 hours ago — and he said, ‘Hell, I’m here. You want to race?’ I said, ‘[Expletive] let’s try just it.”
Now, in a post to Facebook, Overton has clarified he is not abandoning the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. He wrote, “Clearing the air on this weekend…. We had every intention of running Hendry County. Unfortunately, after losing another power plant during practice, we were forced to call the weekend early. Bruce Kane was working to get motors down to us, but time just ran out.”
“The decision was made to head up and help Brandon at All-Tech… and just so happened Bruce made it there. With everything lining up, we decided to go ahead and race,” he added. “We definitely hate missing Hendry County. It looked like an incredible show last night, and we absolutely plan on being back with the Outlaws as soon as possible.”
“We can’t thank everyone enough for the continued support. This hasn’t been the start to the year we wanted… but we’re not quitting,” he concluded. “Still an outlaw.”
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