WHEATLAND, Mo. — In a dominant performance, Jonathan Davenport ran away with the 32nd annual Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism on Saturday night at the Lucas Oil Speedway.
The race was shortened to 80 laps with impending weather in the area. The race, the first crown jewel event of the season was the second Show-Me 100 victory for the three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion who earned $50,000 of the event record $277,000 purse. The race was co-sanctioned with the Lucas Oil MLRA.
Tim McCreadie, who started ninth made a charge on Davenport with about 15 laps to go to keep the possibility of a late-race challenge, but his hopes went away with ten laps to go as Davenport stretched his lead to 5.296 seconds when the checkered flag fell.
Daulton Wilson, who started eighth, but fell to 12th early in the race rebounded nicely to round out the podium in third. Ross Robinson came from 25th to earn the Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race coming home in fourth, his best career finish in a crown jewel event. Ricky Thornton Jr. who won on Thursday and Friday could not complete the weekend sweep as he finished in fifth.
Davenport in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 77th time in his career won his first Show-Me 100 since 2015. Davenport is the first driver to win the Show-Me 100, leading every lap of the race since he did it nine years ago.
“It was the craziest day,” Davenport explained. “We were talking in the trailer that here lately I was making all the wrong tire choices, so I came and looked at the track and they said they wasn’t going to do anything with it. It’s the wettest I have seen in a long time. I know back here at the MLRA race in April we ran twos and a four all night then last night threes were better, and it was 40 laps. It turned out to be a good call. I almost done it last year and I wish I would have, but we didn’t, and so hindsight is 20/20 so it come back round in 2024.
“I talked to Mark [Richards] before the feature and that’s what Timmy had on too. It was good for both of us. I wanted to win this for my team so bad, but kind of in the bottom of my heart I was pulling for Timmy once he got to second. He’s had a rough week for sure. You know how things work out I figured I was going to push or jump the cushion and he was going to pass me, but as long as I ran second to him, I would have been alright with that.”
For McCreadie, who took over the driving duties of the Rocket1 in March had his best finish for the Mark Richards Racing entry coming home in the runner-up spot to earn $20,000.
“I got a little free, so you’re better earlier than you want to be because you’re not carrying enough speed into turn one. If I was smarter, I should have even backed my corner up and throttled harder. I think I did like five laps in a row and then I couldn’t see JD anymore. For me and the team it’s been a climb as every night we have some success, but we haven’t been able to put a full night together. A little bit of moisture in the track helped.”
Wilson, who won the last East Bay Winternationals in February made a nice comeback after falling out of the top ten early in the race as he charged to third at the end getting by both Robinson and Thornton in the closing laps.
“We were definitely had on a different tire than anybody up here now [on the podium]. We finally got going there and got clear, there was a gaggle of cars there, and I came back up through there.”
The finish:
Feature (80 laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 2. 1-Tim McCreadie[9]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[25]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 7. 71-Hudson O’Neal[17]; 8. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[10]; 9. 20-Jimmy Owens[14]; 10. 111-Max Blair[5]; 11. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[18]; 12. 93F-Carson Ferguson[13]; 13. 6-Clay Harris[24]; 14. 25C-Chad Simpson[12]; 15. 32X-Chris Simpson[6]; 16. 8-Dillon McCowan[20]; 17. 3-Brennon Willard[32]; 18. 10-Garrett Smith[16]; 19. 1X-Aaron Marrant[31]; 20. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[21]; 21. 11-Jeff Herzog[30]; 22. 93-Cory Lawler[28]; 23. 157-Mike Marlar[15]; 24. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 25. 90-Brian Rickman[11]; 26. 96-Tanner English[23]; 27. 17SS-Brenden Smith[27]; 28. 25-Tony Jackson Jr[29]; 29. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[19]; 30. 7T-Drake Troutman[26]; 31. 19M-Spencer Hughes[7]; 32. 36-Logan Martin[33]; 33. 49W-Justin Wells[22]