Michael Atwell Dominates, Makes History in Rattler 250 Triumph

Michael Atwell put on a historic display at South Alabama Speedway, winning the 49th Rattler 250 and leading nearly every lap of the UARA National Super Late Model event in the process.

The Naples, Florida driver started on the pole for the 250-lap race, and went nearly unchallenged for the entirety of the contest. Even a late-race caution with 17 laps to go was not enough to deter Atwell, as he crossed the finish line ahead of fellow Florida drivers Colin Allman and Stephen Nasse.

“I can’t give enough gratitude to the guys behind me and the guys on this team for giving me a great car,” said Atwell. “We went out there, just did our job.

“It doesn’t get much better than this kind of weekend. Pole, win, led every lap. That’s all we can ask for.”

Atwell’s performance broke a record held by NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion Ty Majeski for most laps led in a Rattler 250. Majeski led 242 of 250 laps during the first of his five Rattler wins in 2016.

“Well, that’s a pretty good name to beat,” said Atwell. “Like I said, I couldn’t do it without these guys behind me working their tails off the whole weekend. We had some bad luck last year. So far this year, it’s been nothing but sunshine and rainbows, so hopefully we can keep it rolling."

Atwell is no stranger to big Late Model wins, including two victories in the Bill Bigley, Sr. Memorial during his career in his home state of Florida. However, there is still a special place in Atwell's trophy case for the Rattler 250 victory and the traditional meeting with the rattlesnake in victory lane.

“This has got to be right up there," said Atwell. "Winning a Bigley, winning two of them is really special just because I’m from Naples, where the Bigley family is from. We’re all friends, so winning that is a big deal.

“Standing here with Chris Davidson who’s got one, Mike Garvey, and all those guys this is pretty damn cool. Hopefully we can come back next year and get the 50th, too.”

Allman received a final opportunity to challenge Atwell for the victory with 17 laps to go, as Jake Finch slowed to a stop from the fifth position. However, Allman could not draw even with Atwell and settled for a second-place finish.

“I just missed my line too many times at the end there," said Allman. "I was trying to do too much. His car was really good, man, they were fast. We could match lap times once we got rolling there. They fired off a little better than we did. When the time came to hit my marks and start reeling him in, I blew it.

“Second’s good for us, man. You see it, it’s me, my dad, my buddy Jacoby. It’s an ’06 Lefthander Chassis. Huge thank you to Racecar Engineering. We had a big wreck a couple of weeks ago and had to get the Pro car back together. They had everything we needed. Just wish we could have had it, but we’ll try again next year.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Nasse claimed his sixth top-five finish in 13 Rattler appearances with a third-place effort. While Nasse admitted he struggled throughout the weekend, he was happy to have persevered for another podium finish in the event.

“I hate it for my guys," said Nasse. "We really struggled all weekend, so this, to be honest, is a really good finish considering where we started. We pretty much struggled all race, but we were able to keep good track position. We never quit trying.”

Dustin Smith finished fourth, the highest-placing driver among the Alabama contingency in the home state race. Dylan Bigley rounded out the top five.

The only driver to lead a lap other than Atwell in Sunday's race was Canada's Cory Hall. Hall challenged Atwell on a lap 53 restart, narrowly nosing out ahead of Atwell at the line to conclude that lap before giving way to Atwell.

Kendrick Kreyer clawed back from two laps down to finish sixth, with Hall taking the seventh position in the final running order. Timothy Watson, Gabe Sommers and Steve Dorer completed the top 10.

Bubba Pollard’s bid for a third consecutive Rattler 250 victory ended just before the halfway mark of the race. After being involved in an opening lap incident with Tony Elrod and Casey Roderick, Pollard drove back into the top 10.

However, just before the halfway break at lap 125, Pollard’s machine lost power and limped to pit road, not returning to the race. Pollard was piloting the No. 23 typically driven by Billy VanMeter in Super Late Model competition.

Roderick finished 14th, completing 196 of the race's 250 laps.

The 49th Rattler 250 was originally scheduled for Saturday, March 15. However, severe weather forced the postponement of the event to Sunday afternoon.

-Photo credit: Reid Scott

49th Rattler 250 Unofficial Results