RURAL RETREAT, Va. — For a driver who had just won Saturday's 53-lap Schaeffer’s Southern Nationals feature at Wythe Raceway, Chris Madden looked like just a regular guy shortly after returning to his trailer parked inside turns three and four of the half-mile oval’s infield pit area.

Already changed into a T-shirt and shorts, Madden sat almost hidden on a step stool alongside his Longhorn Chassis No. 44, alone with his thoughts as his crew members, Ricky Arnold and Stephen Eldridge, alternated between packing up the trailer and talking to people stopping by to congratulate them.

And the 49-year-old star from Gray Court, S.C., had plenty to consider. The $10,053 victory was, after all, his first since returning to action following a brief health-induced break that forced him to abandon his pursuit of the 2024 World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series championship — as well as his first checkered flag since announcing in early June that he will retire from full-time competition at the conclusion of the season.

“It feels good to win again,” Madden said, a clear sense of calm and satisfaction hovering over him.

The night could be considered a return to normalcy for the well-decorated racer who saw the trajectory of his campaign upended by the pain in his gut that began to overtake him just over a month ago. He developed diverticulitis, an inflammation of irregular bulging pouches in the wall of the digestive tract that causes severe abdominal pain among other symptoms.

“Actually, I had this problem (flare up) while I was at Eldora (Speedway),” Madden said, recalling June’s Dream weekend at the famed track in Rossburg, Ohio, where he tallied finishes of fourth in a preliminary feature and fifth in Saturday’s 100-lap finale despite not feeling 100 percent throughout his visit. “I was just dealing with it, and I got to a point where I couldn’t deal with anymore. I was overwhelmed.”

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Madden found himself knocked down so much with pain that he had to seek medical attention. He ultimately had to call off his chase of the WoO tour, which he announced publicly June 20, the day of a WoO event at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Summertown, Tenn., that was scheduled to kick off a nearly three-week road trip for Madden and his team.

Giving up his hopes for his elusive first-ever WoO title was of course a great disappointment for Madden, who has three runner-up and one third-place finish in his four seasons as a series regular. He was ranked fourth in the standings at the time, 60 points behind leader Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., but feeling good about his chances of rallying.

“We had done some things and gotten better, and I feel like we were gonna be able to make a charge" to win the title, Madden said. “We had just gotten closer (to Sheppard) after we won two in a row there (on May 16 and 18 at Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio, and May 18 at Pennsylvania’s Marion Center Raceway), then we broke a motor (on May 19 at Path Valley Speedway Park in Spring Valley, Pa.) and that set us back again. We made up all those points in two nights and then we lost it all in one night, but I feel like we still had a good shot at it.”

Instead of beginning his comeback on the tour’s busy early-summer swing, Madden was home recovering and adjusting to his new normal. He didn’t require surgery, but diverticulitis is a problem that needs to be managed with lifestyle changes like maintaining a high-fiber diet and avoiding certain potential trigger foods (nuts, seeds, beans, fruits and vegetables with skin, whole grains) that the body can’t digest easily.

“We’re dealing with it the best way we can and just making sure that I do the right things and regulate myself the way I’m supposed to so everything’s good,” Madden said. “They say if I take care of myself and do what I’m supposed to, I’ll be OK, but it’s something I’ll have for a lifetime.”

Madden made his first start following his departure from the WoO circuit in June 28-29’s unsanctioned Volunteer 50 weekend at Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tenn., where he finished fourth in a semifeature and sixth in the $50,000-to-win finale. A planned holiday weekend Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series appearance on July 6 at Senoia (Ga.) Raceway was rained out before he entered Friday’s Southern Nationals opener at Beckley (W.Va.) Motor Speedway and finished 21st because of a flat right-rear tire that led him to retire while running fifth on lap 13.

Vintage Smoky Madden was back at Wythe, a huge, well-banked track where he never fails to feel at home. His Saturday victory was the fourth of his career in Southern Nationals action at the track (he previously won events in 2007, ’08 and ’13).”

“It’s a pretty cool place,” Madden said. “I like it. I’ve always liked it. I’ve had a lot of success here.

“I like (longtime Wythe owner) Mr. Fred (Brown) here too. He’s one of the older guys (he’s 83) that’s left keeping racetracks up. It’s just amazing what a job he does here. It’s a lot of racetrack to work on and he does a phenomenal job with it. It’s a pretty good racetrack to be this big.”

Madden didn’t know, though, if he’d be able to add another Wythe triumph to his resume when Saturday’s modest feature field (just 14 of the night’s 16 entries were on the track) took the green flag. He started on the outside pole alongside Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga. — a three-time Southern Nationals winner at Wythe, including in 2022 and ’23 — but immediately fell to third rounding turns one and two as the 58-year-old McDowell surged into the lead and Brandon Overton, 33, of Evans, Ga., slid into second.

“We were too tight to start with,” Madden said. “I couldn’t take off. Dale killed me on the start, and then I couldn’t turn in one and two. Then I finally got going and I had a pretty good race car. I just needed about three laps to get going.”

First, however, Madden had to avoid being swept up in the 33-year-old Overton’s lap-nine crash in which his car shot into the wall between turns one and two and rolled onto its roof.

“I was right there,” Madden said of the accident. “I was just trying to miss him. I knew he was gonna hit the wall, but I didn’t know how far he was gonna bounce out. I was trying to get turned and I was sideways, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I hope I don’t hit him,’ you know? Obviously it scared me.

“I seen the whole ordeal. That’s a scary moment right there. That ain’t what you wanna see. This is a fast place.”

Madden pulled his car up near the accident scene during the red flag to check on Overton’s condition. After an Overton crew member indicated that Overton was fine, Madden’s mind was set at ease and he went back to work. He inherited the lead on lap 18 after McDowell slowed with a cut left-rear tire and then controlled the rest of the race, beating Donald McIntosh of Dawsonville, Ga., to the finish line by 5.247 seconds — more than the length of Wythe’s long straightaways — after what was a lengthy event.

“When I seen like lap 24 (on the scoreboard), I was like, ‘Good God, we gotta run almost 30 laps more,’ ” Madden said. “But you just stay focused and keep on going.”

Would Madden have been able to deal with McDowell and Overton if the two stars didn’t experience trouble? He wasn’t sure.

“Those guys, their cars were very balanced at the beginning of the race,” Madden said. “I don’t know how it would’ve been later, but I was just way too tight early, then I was really good in the middle of the race. Who knows what would’ve happened?”

Madden was the one who made it through the feature unscathed, giving him what he hopes is the first of many more victories over the course of his remaining months as a full-time Dirt Late Model driver.

“Exactly,” said Madden, whose upcoming “pick-and-choose” scheduled includes several Southern Nationals starts (Bulls Gap on Sunday and perhaps the three ensuing events) and a trip to Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway for July 24’s Castrol FloRacing Night in America show and July 26-27’s WoO-sanctioned Prairie Dirt Classic.