WHEATLAND, MO. (July 15, 2023) – The rest of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is on alert. “Superman” is heating up.

Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., picked up his 71st career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory Saturday night – and second straight – capturing the 17th annual CMH Diamond Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment.

Davenport, who has earned the super hero nickname for his extended excellence in the sport, took home $15,000 and a diamond ring. He final the final 45 of 50 laps in his Longhorn race car and beat Devin Moran by 1.466 seconds for his fourth Diamond Nationals win and fourth Lucas Oil Speedway victory in 2023.

More important, Davenport said he’s settling into a winning rhythm after some inconsistent stretches early in the season left him lagging behind in the LOLMDS points chase.

“We were stuck in our ways for a long time at the beginning of the year,” Davenport said, noting the first portion of the season didn’t measure up to his tremendous 2022 season of 24 feature wins and around $1 million in prize money. “That’s the way this dirt late model racing goes. You can get too complacent and everybody catches up.

“We went to work and normally that’s what happens. You learn a whole lot more what not to do than what to do. But the guys never gave up on me. We’ve all been putting our heads together and we finally stumbled on some things that I like, so maybe we can keep it rolling from this.”

Davenport also won both preliminary nights of the Show-Me 100 in late May and the Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals in early April. This time, he had a mighty scare late en route to the latest win at Wheatland.

Davenport opened a three-second lead over Thornton by lap 37 when a caution for a slowing Spencer Hughes wiped out his lead, which at one time was four seconds. That set up a 13-lap shootout with Moran, Brandon Overton and Justin Duty following.

Davenport executed a flawless restart and used clean air to quickly open a 1.1-second lead over Thornton with 10 laps to go. Thornton moved to the high groove, but lost another half-second to the leader, before he moved back to the inside in a search to cut into the lead.

On lap 47, Davenport’s lead more 2.5 seconds when he slightly clipped the slowing lapped car of Dustin Hodges on the front straightaway as Hodges turned to the infield. The scare was brief as Davenport was able to dodge the incident relatively unscathed and hang on for a 1.4-second victory over Moran with Thornton finishing third.

“I couldn’t believe it, really,” Davenport said. “I messed up and he got away from me the lap before. I thought I could hug the bottom there and he would slide up again and I could get a good run on him. I don’t know if something broke on his car. He might have seen the layover flag and he was just gonna pull off and turned left and I didn’t have anywhere to go.

“Luckily, my right front was far enough ahead of him that I didn’t touch wheels with him and I didn’t cut the right-rear down.”

Moran, who won the Show-Me 100 when Thornton was disqualified in post-race inspection, was able to make a last-lap pass to nab the runner-up spot.

“Our Double Down Motorsports Longhorn was really good again,” Moran said. “That’s three seconds in a row. It’s good to be up front, but I feel like I get on these second streaks and it sucks sometimes.

“Congratulations to JD. He did a really good job. I just got held up in lapped traffic a little bit. All in all, the car was really good tonight.”

As for his strong showings at Lucas Oil Speedway this season, Moran said he’s aware that his Show-Me 100 win has an asterisk.

“We finished second here the first time, too. We’re getting better and better and we passed Ricky tonight and the last time we were here, he checked out on us,” Moran said. “I never really had a great track record here. I will say the track was awesome tonight. We raced all over it.

Thornton settled for third with Overton finishing fourth and Chris Simpson fifth.

Davenport took over the lead on lap five after Overton paced the early going. Davenport advanced from fourth to second by lap three and was challenging for the lead – and taking it – with and outside pass coming to the completion of lap six. Just three laps later, Davenport was ahead by 1.1 seconds and catching lapped traffic.

Overton closed to the rear of Davenport’s car by lap 15 with Moran just behind them as the top three were separated by a second as the race settled into a lengthy green-flag run.

Suddenly, Davenport seemed to kick it up a notch and by lap 22 opened a 1.4-second lead over Moran with Overton slipping to third and Thornton in fourth. By lap 30, Davenport’s lead had expanded to 3.3 seconds over Thornton, with Moran third and Overton falling to fourth.

As the laps quickly clicked away, Davenport appeared to be in total command until the lap-37 caution set up the home stretch.

Thornton set fast qualifying time with a 15.272 in Group B while weekly Lucas Oil Speedway Hermitage Lumber Late Model semi-regular Hodges paced Group A at 15.389.

Middaugh cruises to another USRA Modifieds win: Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified points leader Ryan Middaugh of Fulton led all 20 points, rolling to his fourth Lucas Oil Speedway feature win of the season.

“The redraw can hurt you or it can help you,” said Middaugh, who started on the pole. “Starting on the front row, it helped. Keeping Nic (Bidinger) behind me – I knew he was gonna be tough. But we had a really good car. The track was really good.

“We’re having a heck of a year. The car is three years old and it seems to be getting better.”

Middaugh opened a 1.8-second lead over Nic Bidinger by the halfway mark of the 20-lapper with Paden Phillips running third. The Lucas Oil Speedway season points leader and also the USRA national leader in points pulled away from there.

Middaugh wound up 2.56 seconds in front of Bidinger with Phillips third, Jeff Cutshaw fourth and Jason Pursley in fifth.

USRA Stock Cars win goes to Dimmitt: Waylon Dimmitt of Camdenton took over the lead on lap 10 and pulled away late to capture the O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature.

While picking up his third victory of the Lucas Oil Speedway season, Dimmitt beat Johnny Fennewald by 1.8 seconds.

“The track was good and slick and the cautions helped us out some,” Dimmitt said after an event with seven cautions.

Dimmitt started 14th but took over the lead midway through the 20-lapper. he was a second in front of William Garner when the final caution slowed the action on lap 12. Dean Wille rallied back to second by lap 14, but Dimmitt was pulling away and with the race staying green he was able to secure the win.

Garner wound up third with Chris Dishong fourth and Ed Griggs in fifth.

LUCAS OIL SPEEDWAY UNOFFICIAL RESULTS (JULY 15, 2023)

CMH Diamond Nationals Presented by Summit Racing Equipment

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series/Lucas Oil MLRA

A Feature – 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[6]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 5. 32C-Chris Simpson[7]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[11]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[15]; 8. 15J-Justin Duty[9]; 9. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[14]; 10. 39-Tim McCreadie[13]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 12. 25-Chad Simpson[12]; 13. 111B-Max Blair[18]; 14. 174-Ethen Dotson[20]; 15. 58-Garrett Alberson[23]; 16. 7-Ross Robinson[24]; 17. 8-Dillon McCowan[21]; 18. 11H-Jeff Herzog[22]; 19. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[17]; 20. 22H-Dustin Hodges[5]; 21. (DNF) 11-Spencer Hughes[10]; 22. (DNF) 36-Logan Martin[16]; 23. (DNF) 14G-Trevor Gundaker[25]; 24. (DNF) 15L-Payton Looney[3]; 25. (DNF) 18D-Daulton Wilson[19]

Fast Shafts B Main 1 – 1. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[2]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[4]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 5. 46J-Jason Papich[3]; 6. 1X-Aaron Marrant[6]; 7. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 8. 1A-Bryon Allison[10]; 9. 45-Cole Wells[8]; 10. 50-Kaeden Cornell[9]; 11. 82-Jace Parmley[11]; 12. 7J-Ryan Johnson[12]

UNOH B Main 2 – 1. 111B-Max Blair[1]; 2. 174-Ethen Dotson[3]; 3. 11H-Jeff Herzog[2]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 5. 50C-Kayden Clatt[7]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 7. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 8. 1TC-Tucker Cox[11]; 9. 96-Dalton Imhoff[8]; 10. 0X-Jason Sivils[10]; 11. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[5]; 12. 42L-Lane Ehlert[12]

Penske Shocks Heat 1 – 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. 22H-Dustin Hodges[1]; 3. 15J-Justin Duty[3]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[8]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[5]; 6. 46J-Jason Papich[4]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[9]; 8. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 9. 50-Kaeden Cornell[6]; 10. 82-Jace Parmley[10]

Summit Racing Equipment Heat 2 – 1. 15L-Payton Looney[1]; 2. 32C-Chris Simpson[2]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 5. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[6]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson[5]; 7. 1X-Aaron Marrant[9]; 8. 45-Cole Wells[8]; 9. 1A-Bryon Allison[7]; 10. 7J-Ryan Johnson[10]

Simpson Race Products Heat 3 – 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes[2]; 4. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 5. 111B-Max Blair[6]; 6. 174-Ethen Dotson[5]; 7. 7B-Mark Burgtorf[8]; 8. 50C-Kayden Clatt[7]; 9. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 10. 1TC-Tucker Cox[10]

API Insurance Heat 4 – 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 4. 36-Logan Martin[6]; 5. 11H-Jeff Herzog[3]; 6. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[5]; 8. 96-Dalton Imhoff[8]; 9. 0X-Jason Sivils[10]; 10. 42L-Lane Ehlert[9]

Qualifying Group A – 1. 22H-Dustin Hodges, 00:15.389[16]; 2. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:15.416[2]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:15.443[19]; 4. 32C-Chris Simpson, 00:15.482[7]; 5. 15J-Justin Duty, 00:15.601[18]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:15.666[1]; 7. 46J-Jason Papich, 00:15.701[9]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:15.712[5]; 9. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.947[14]; 10. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:15.993[4]; 11. 50-Kaeden Cornell, 00:16.011[3]; 12. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:16.029[12]; 13. 14G-Trevor Gundaker, 00:16.030[20]; 14. 1A-Bryon Allison, 00:16.080[17]; 15. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:16.120[6]; 16. 45-Cole Wells, 00:16.125[11]; 17. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:16.169[15]; 18. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:16.342[13]; 19. 82-Jace Parmley, 00:16.535[10]; 20. 7J-Ryan Johnson, 00:16.679[8]

Qualifying Group B – 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:15.272[15]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:15.372[4]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes, 00:15.430[18]; 4. 25-Chad Simpson, 00:15.530[7]; 5. 1H-Hudson O’Neal, 00:15.542[11]; 6. 11H-Jeff Herzog, 00:15.580[12]; 7. 99-Devin Moran, 00:15.581[1]; 8. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:15.725[16]; 9. 174-Ethen Dotson, 00:15.740[6]; 10. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:15.754[19]; 11. 111B-Max Blair, 00:15.851[2]; 12. 36-Logan Martin, 00:15.894[17]; 13. 50C-Kayden Clatt, 00:15.995[5]; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:16.023[8]; 15. 7B-Mark Burgtorf, 00:16.151[9]; 16. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:16.220[13]; 17. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:16.231[14]; 18. 42L-Lane Ehlert, 00:16.640[3]; 19. 1TC-Tucker Cox, 00:16.718[20]; 20. 0X-Jason Sivils, 00:17.150[10]

Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modifieds

A Feature – 1. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[2]; 2. 3B-Nic Bidinger[6]; 3. 127-Paden Phillips[5]; 4. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[9]; 5. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 6. 68-Kerry Davis[14]; 7. 155-Terry Kirk[11]; 8. 85-Tyler Shaw[4]; 9. 33S-Ben Stockton[10]; 10. 356-Reggie Jackson[3]; 11. 21-Greg Scheffler[1]; 12. 23-Lucas Dobbs[12]; 13. C3-Chad Staus[16]; 14. 10P-Dayton Pursley[13]; 15. 7D7-Kyle Covert[15]; 16. 17-Richard Kimberling[17]; 17. (DNF) 21W-Tracy Wolf[8]

Heat 1 – 1. 3B-Nic Bidinger[1]; 2. 21-Greg Scheffler[3]; 3. 85-Tyler Shaw[5]; 4. 21W-Tracy Wolf[2]; 5. 33S-Ben Stockton[4]; 6. 23-Lucas Dobbs[6]; 7. 10P-Dayton Pursley[9]; 8. C3-Chad Staus[8]; 9. 17-Richard Kimberling[7]

Heat 2 – 1. 127-Paden Phillips[3]; 2. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[8]; 3. 356-Reggie Jackson[4]; 4. 38C-Jason Pursley[5]; 5. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[2]; 6. 155-Terry Kirk[1]; 7. 68-Kerry Davis[7]; 8. 7D7-Kyle Covert[6]

O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars

A Feature – 1. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[14]; 2. 91-Johnny Fennewald[6]; 3. 7-William Garner[5]; 4. 68-Dean Wille[3]; 5. 16S-Chris Dishong[11]; 6. 47-Ed Griggs[4]; 7. 2-Colton Bourland[16]; 8. 74-Rodney Schweizer[8]; 9. 0F-Mason Beck[2]; 10. 5K-Steve Herrick[1]; 11. 83-James Ellis[9]; 12. 12-Christopher Sawyer[18]; 13. 45-Bob King[12]; 14. 24-Noah Long[15]; 15. (DNF) 85-Darrin Schmidt[7]; 16. (DNF) 34-Blake Bolton[17]; 17. (DNF) 24M-Blayne McMillin[13]; 18. (DNF) 8M-James McMillin[10]

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 1 – 1. 68-Dean Wille[5]; 2. 91-Johnny Fennewald[8]; 3. 5K-Steve Herrick[1]; 4. 74-Rodney Schweizer[4]; 5. 16S-Chris Dishong[3]; 6. 8M-James McMillin[9]; 7. 11-Waylon Dimmitt[7]; 8. 2-Colton Bourland[2]; 9. 12-Christopher Sawyer[6]; 10. 24-Noah Long

Bill Roberts Chevrolet Heat 2 – 1. 7-William Garner[2]; 2. 47-Ed Griggs[4]; 3. 0F-Mason Beck[7]; 4. 85-Darrin Schmidt[5]; 5. 83-James Ellis[6]; 6. 45-Bob King[8]; 7. 24M-Blayne McMillin[3]; 8. 24-Noah Long[9]; 9. 34-Blake Bolton[1]

Thursday Night Madness next: A special Thursday Night Madness program is next up at Lucas Oil Speedway was the INEX Legends Cars, POWRi Midwest Mods and POWRi Pure Stocks will be in action running for $300 to win features in each class. Pit Gates open at 4 p.m., spectator gates at 5, hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.

Ozarks Food Harvest Food Drive Night on Saturday: On Saturday, it’s Big Adventure RV Weekly Racing for Ozarks Food Harvest Food Drive Night Presented by KY3. Fans who bring four non-perishable food items will get FREE Admission to the races. The O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars will be featured with a 25-lap, $750-to-win feature.

For information about any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.

Camping World SRX advance tickets on sale: It’s just five week until some of the world’s legendary drivers visit Lucas Oil Speedway to crown a champion in the Camping World Superstar Racing Experience Series.

General admission tickets remain on sale for the Camping World SRX “Thursday Night Thunder” on Aug. 17 at Lucas Oil Speedway, the finale of the six-race series and determine the 2023 champion. All SRX races will air live on ESPN.

Drivers announced for the Lucas Oil Speedway event include NASCAR Cup Series champions Tony Stewart, Brad Keselowski and Bobby Labonte, along with NASCAR drivers Kenny Wallace, Ken Schrader, Ryan Newman, Clint Bowyer and Hailie Deegan. Also on hand will be four-time Indy 500 winer Helio Castroneves, plus reigning SRX Champion Marco Andretti and fellow Indy-car driver Paul Tracy and Trans-Am champion Ernie Franics Jr.

The series will pit the drivers against one another in identically prepared cars with points accumulated in each of the six events.

Tickets for the SRX event are $35 in advance and $40 at the gate (ages 16 and over). Kids (ages 6-15) will be $20 with ages 5-and-under free. Advance tickets can now be purchased via Stubwire. Pit passes are $50 and must be purchased the day of the event.

USRA Modifieds will be the support class with details being finalized on eligible drivers for that portion of the show.

Tentative Lucas Oil Speedway Camping World SRX schedule:

(Thursday, August 17th)

Noon – Pit gate will open for Drivers and crews only

1 p.m. – Main grandstand gates open

2:10 p.m. – Modified hot laps

2:30-4:30 p.m. – SRX practice sessions

4:30-5 p.m. – Track prep

5 p.m. – Modified heat races

5:30-6:15 p.m. – SRX drivers Q&A sessions (4 group sessions)

6:15 p.m. – Modified Feature

6:45-7:15 p.m. – Track prep and intermission break

7:15 p.m – SRX cars to grid

7:35 p.m. – SRX driver introductions

7:45 p.m. – Opening ceremonies and National Anthem

7:50 p.m. – SRX drivers to cars

8 p.m. – ESPN live

8:02 p.m. – Drivers start engines

8:12pm – SRX green flag

10 p.m. – Victory Lane set up and top 3 driver interviews for ESPN

2023 Camping World SRX Series schedule:

(All races on Thursday nights, live at 8 p.m. CDT on ESPN)

July 13 – Stafford Motor Speedway, Stafford Springs, Connecticut

July 20 – Thunder Road Speedbowl, Barre, Vermont

July 27 – Motor Mile Speedway, Fairlawn, Virginia

Aug. 3 – Berlin Speedway, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Aug. 10 – Eldora Speedway, New Weston, Ohio

Aug. 17 – Lucas Oil Speedway, Wheatland, Missouri

For information on Camping World SRX Series tickets or about any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.

CONTACT:

Danny Lorton

Lucas Oil Speedway General Manager

Office: (417) 282-5984