The Longhorn Factory Team and new driver Brandon Overton will be chasing the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship in 2025 instead of the World of Outlaws, which the team won with Brandon Sheppard this past year.
The team’s new crew chief Anthony Burroughs revealed the team’s plan in an interview with FloRacing at the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show last week. Burroughs said, “Yep, our main goal is to get ready to win a Lucas Oil Series championship.”
It’s likely the beginning of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season is where the team will begin its 2025 campaign as well. The season kicks off at Golden Isles Speedway beginning on January 15th.
However, Burroughs did note “there’s always a possibility” that the team could begin the season at the Wild West Shootout at Vado Speedway Park in New Mexico, which runs from January 4-12. However, FloRacing’s Kyle McFadden says it is “unlikely.”
Nevertheless, Burroughs said, “I would love to go to Vado, but being a new team, only having a couple days to get to Brunswick, our main goal right now is to be prepared for Lucas Oil and to be prepared for Speedweeks.”
He added, “We’re going to run all the races at Speedweek. That’s the main focus for me. If everything works out and we have time, I’d say this year probably won’t be at Vado. Hopefully after this year we’ll be able to support it for years to come.”
Overton and the Longhorn Factory Team made their debut at the Gateway Dirt Nationals earlier this month. Overton looked to be set up for a really good weekend as he was the top qualifier in Group A on Thursday night, but a flat tire in his heat race put him behind and he never really recovered.
He did eventually get into the feature, but on a fast time provisional. He ended up finishing in 14th after starting in 20th. However, five of the cars that finished behind him were DNFs including Ashton Winger and Ryan Gustin who were running in the top 10 for much of the race.
Despite the poor outcome, Burroughs was positive about the experience, “The Dome was good. Obviously, we didn’t have the results we wanted. But at that time, we hadn’t tested yet, so that was our first time at the track. The weather was kinda iffy and I didn’t think we were quite ready yet. So that was our first time at the track. All that went excellent.”
He added, “We had some speed, but getting to work together with the guys at the track, being with Brandon, and all that went perfect. The communication was great. Our team’s solid, we knew that before we got there. But it’s still nice to get to the track.”
What do you make of the Longhorn Factory Team switching from the World of Outlaws to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series?