EASTABOGA, Ala. Bobby Pierce may have been born and raised in the cornfields of Illinois, but hes fallen in love with the southeast.

In his debut at Smoky Mountain Speedway in March, he came, saw and conquered. Swainsboro Raceway was more of the same one week later, as Pierce collected a win and a podium in his first trip to that facility.

And in his third trip to Talladega Short Track, the Smooth Operator mastered the Hornets Nest for his third win of the year with the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision.

I really looked forward to coming here, Pierce said. Especially with $50,000, thats a lot of money. I felt confident, I feel like weve got a good car right now almost anywhere we go. Probably wouldnt have thought that before Smoky Mountain and Swainsboro, but we won those races and it was like man, weve got a really good car, Ive just got to drive it.

The 2023 World of Outlaws champion started the 100-lap contest from the inside of row two, staring at the back of Bilstein Pole Award winner Cory Hedgecock and Jimmy Owens. Hedgecock pulled out to the early lead while Pierce made quick work of Owens in the opening circuits to grab second.

After sizing up Hedgecock for a dozen laps, Pierce went to the bottom of Turns 3 and 4 while Hedgecock rode the cushion and took over the top spot in the next set of corners. Pierce expected passing to become more difficult as the race progressed, which made it all the more crucial to get out front as soon as possible.

It was only a matter of time until the bottom got really good, Pierce said. I saw Dennis Erb kind of pull away from me on the bottom there. It was kind of my race to lose at that point. After that, the only worry was if that middle did get cleaned up for a second and allow someone to roll around the outside.

A flurry of yellows in the middle portion of the race created plenty of shuffling for second on back, as Owens got by Hedgecock for second on Lap 23 before losing the spot to Zack Mitchell just past halfway. Pierce wasnt bothered by any of it though, as he nailed restart after restart to keep the lead.

When it appeared as if Pierce had the trophy in the bag coming to the white flag, Cody Overton  cut a tire to set up a green-white-checkered dash to the finish.

With Mitchell behind him in search of the biggest win of his career, Pierce put together two more flawless laps to take home the $50,000 payday.

The Alabama Gang 100 is Pierces latest addition to his collection of long-distance victories that also includes wins in the Prairie Dirt Classic, USA Nationals, the World 100 and more in the past year alone.

Experience went a long way with that, Pierce said. Running more different tracks and more long-distance races and running up front in those races. Getting that experience has been good, learning to, when youre in the lead, set the pace, not pushing too hard. Like when I was in second tonight, I really wanted to get the lead, so I was kind of pushing hard at that moment to get the lead.

Once I got it, every caution that would come out, I would want to build the lead a little bit and then kind of ride.

While Mitchell was unable to capitalize on his chance to pounce on Pierce with two to go, the southeastern stalwart was thrilled to end up on the podium.

I got by Jimmy on the restart and got to second and felt it kind of latching up, Mitchell said. It is what it is. I kind of wanted to jump up to the top just to see there one time to try to see if I could go around him, but Jimmy must have been too close to me.

One week after a season-best finish of second in Spring Nationals competition at Tazewell Speedway, Owens kept the momentum rolling with a third-place effort.

That last restart, Zack snuck by us on the bottom there, Owens said. Really, I just needed to choose the bottom lane, but its kind of hard to when youre running second, choosing the top. Then we could roll the top side through 3 and 4, but on that last little bit Zack beat us, it got a little crummy up there and we just fell back into third. Just happy to come home with a good third-place finish.

Jadon Frame came home fourth to establish a new World of Outlaws career best while Mike Marlar completed the top five.

The finish:

Bobby Pierce, Zack Mitchell, Jimmy Owens, Jadon Frame, Mike Marlar, Cory Hedgecock, Tim McCreadie, Nick Hoffman, Tyler Millwood, Trey Mills, Sam Seawright, Ryan Gustin, Max Blair, Drake Troutman, Ashton Winger, Brian Shirley, Tristan Chamberlain, Tanner English, Dennis Erb Jr., Cody Overton, Ethan Dotson, Ryan Wilson, Josh Putnam, Michael Page, Cade Dillard, Jake Timm.