WHEATLAND, Mo. (May 25, 2023) – Jonathan Davenport led all 45 laps of the Cowboy Classic on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway to kick off the 31st Annual Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 presented by Missouri Division of Tourism weekend with the victory. The win was Davenport’s first since he captured the Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals on April 1st.

Davenport’s second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season came as he held off a hard-charging Ricky Thornton Jr. in the final 10 laps to win by .967 seconds over the current Big River Steel Chase for the Championship presented by ARP points leader. Thornton earned the Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race with his tenth to second performance. 

Tyler Bruening ran in second for the first half of the race until Thornton got by him. Bruening rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third. Tim McCreadie was fourth followed by Spencer Hughes who rounded out the top five drivers at the finish.

Davenport was in control to the race from the start, but lapped traffic allowed Thornton to catch up to him after he had passed Bruening for second. Thornton pulled even with Davenport a handful of times and the two made slight contact in turn three racing for the lead. Davenport was able to hold off Thornton to score his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win since January 30th at Bubba Raceway Park. 

Davenport in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 67th time in his career was relieved to be back on top of the podium. “The racetrack was awesome for about the first 30 laps. They caught me before I moved up enough. Hats off to the track crew they did a great job, they don’t need to really overdo it for Saturday night. We have been off a little bit. It’s been a lot leading up this. We’ve learned a lot what not to do. We’ve learned somewhat what to do now to these race cars.”

Davenport who won the Show-Me 100 in 2015 and was in contention for the win a year ago until a mishap with a lapped car is set on redemption in Saturday night’s $50,000 to win crown jewel. “I sure hope so it turns out better this year than last year’s race. I have had two or three races circled on my calendar from last year that I let get away that we should have won.”

Thornton, who swept the two Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series races last weekend gave Davenport fits a few times in a race that went caution-free. “I thought for sure I was spinning him [Davenport] out down there. He moved off the bottom in three and I was trying to squeeze by him on the outside and I caught him with my left front flopper. I barely caught his quarter-panel, but I didn’t spin him around. We had a good car. I found the bottom there before anyone else and that’s how I got to second.” 

Bruening rounded out the podium in third as he picked up some valuable points which set’s the lineup for Saturday night. “The car was really good tonight. We were just a spot or two short there. Jonathan was good, Ricky’s been good all year. Those guys are tough. They are at the top of their game. It’s good to have a Capital up front. You either quit or you keep working and keep trying. We are not going to quit. We are going to keep trying to get better. Eventually we will be a spot, or two better and we will get that first win.”

The winner’s Lance and Darla Landers, Double L Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Dyna Gro Seed, Lucas Oil Products, Bilstein Shocks, VP Fuels, Mark Martin Automotive, Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, ASC Warranty, and Midwest Sheet Metal.

Completing the top ten were Dillon McCowan, Chis Simpson, Devin Moran, Tyler Erb, and Jimmy Owens.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
10th Annual Cowboy Classic
Thursday, May 25, 2023
Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO

Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Garrett Alberson / 15.809 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Jonathan Davenport / 16.017 seconds

Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[7]; 5. 82-Jace Parmley[8]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[3]; 7. 7D-Dusty Leonard[6]; 8. 93-Mason Oberkramer[5]; 9. 19M-Colby Moore[9]; 10. 15L-Payton Looney[10]

Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 32-Chris Simpson[2]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[7]; 4. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[6]; 5. 96-Dalton Imhoff[5]; 6. USA1-Chris Hawkins[9]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[3]; 8. 11H-Jeff Herzog[4]; 9. 26-Glen Powell[8]; 10. (DNS) 04-Tad Pospisil

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 15-Justin Duty[2]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 5. USA28-Kylan Garner[4]; 6. 45-Cole Wells[7]; 7. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[10]; 8. 15T-Matt Johnson[8]; 9. 1X-Aaron Marrant[5]; 10. 29-Chandler Moenning[9]

AP1 Insurance Heat Race #4 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[5]; 5. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[7]; 6. 50-Kaeden Cornell[4]; 7. 49J-Justin Wells[8]; 8. 11K-Jon Kirby[6]; 9. 1A-Bryon Allison[9]; 10. 14R-Jeff Roth[10]

Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 3. 51-Larry Ferris[2]; 4. 25C-Chad Simpson[4]; 5. 2-Tyler Stevens[6]; 6. 54-David Breazeale[3]; 7. 22F-Chris Ferguson[8]; 8. 3-Brennon Willard[7]; 9. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 10. 50C-Kayden Clatt[10]

Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 3. 111B-Max Blair[2]; 4. 94-Austin Rettig[4]; 5. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[6]; 6. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 8. 22H-Dustin Hodges[5]; 9. 36-Mark Daye[9]

Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 2. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 3. 82-Jace Parmley[3]; 4. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[1]; 5. 11H-Jeff Herzog[10]; 6. 7D-Dusty Leonard[7]; 7. 93-Mason Oberkramer[9]; 8. 96-Dalton Imhoff[4]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 10. USA1-Chris Hawkins[6]; 11. 19M-Colby Moore[11]; 12. 26-Glen Powell[12]; 13. (DNS) 15L-Payton Looney; 14. (DNS) 04-Tad Pospisil

UNOH B-Main Race #2 (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 2. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[1]; 4. 45-Cole Wells[5]; 5. 15T-Matt Johnson[9]; 6. USA28-Kylan Garner[3]; 7. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[7]; 8. 49J-Justin Wells[8]; 9. 50-Kaeden Cornell[6]; 10. 11K-Jon Kirby[10]; 11. 1A-Bryon Allison[12]; 12. 14R-Jeff Roth[14]; 13. 29-Chandler Moenning[13]; 14. 1X-Aaron Marrant[11]

MyRacePass B-Main Race #2 (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 25C-Chad Simpson[1]; 2. 2-Tyler Stevens[3]; 3. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 4. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[6]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 6. 94-Austin Rettig[2]; 7. 22F-Chris Ferguson[7]; 8. 54-David Breazeale[5]; 9. 3-Brennon Willard[9]; 10. 22H-Dustin Hodges[10]; 11. 36-Mark Daye[12]; 12. 78S-Steve Stultz[11]; 13. 50C-Kayden Clatt[13]

10th Annual Cowboy Classic Feature Finish (45 Laps):