WHEATLAND, Mo. — Ricky Thornton Jr. took full advantage of a late race caution, passing race leader Garrett Alberson with two laps to go to win the 11th annual Cowboy Classic on Thursday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.
The race was co-sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the Lucas Oil MLRA.
Alberson was in control of the 45-lap $10,000 to win event until the only caution of the race came out for second place running Chad Simpson with three laps to go.
On the restart, Thornton, who was running second, passed Alberson for the lead heading into turn three as the duo headed to the white flag. Thornton went on to earn his seventh Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.
Alberson had his best career finish with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, coming home in second with Devin Moran rounding out the podium in third after having one of the fastest cars on the track at the finish.
Chris Simpson, who led the first seven laps of the race was fourth with Spencer Hughes completing the top five drivers.
Thornton scored his 35th series victory and his 400th career triumph.
“I knew I was the only one on a softer right rear. I didn’t know if we were going to get any yellows or not,” Thornton explained. “Really, he [Alberson] fired off better than I did. He missed the bottom those two laps in a row, and whenever he slid high on the backstraightaway I knew he would be in the slick and I tried to get far enough by him so he knew where I was going to be down there getting into three. I am sure he was watching the board there a little bit. We touched a little bit getting into three. It feels pretty special this is my 400th career win. It’s been a lot of hard work and dedication to get to this point of my career.”
Alberson appeared to be on his way to his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory, but Thornton would take the point after the caution with three laps to go and lead the final two circuits to deny Alberson the win.
“To be bummed out with a second-place finish is a good thing. I am super proud of this Roberts Motorsports team; they have been working so hard,” Alberson said. “We’ve had a really good race car; this is actually our best finish. I kind of needed more speed and momentum and I was a little too tight on the bottom. I didn’t know what to do on that restart. Congrats to Ricky, he did the right things right there when he needed to. This car is really good. I think the long race is gonna fit it better.”
Moran, who won last year’s Show-Me 100 made a late-race charge on the top to take home third.
“I don’t know if we will get this exact track again the next two nights. So, we will just see. We learned some stuff on this Double Down Motorsports car. So, we will take that into tomorrow and Saturday and see what happens.”
The finish:
Feature (45 laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 4. 32X-Chris Simpson[2]; 5. 19M-Spencer Hughes[5]; 6. 18D-Daulton Wilson[19]; 7. 111-Max Blair[23]; 8. 90-Brian Rickman[14]; 9. 49-Jonathan Davenport[24]; 10. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[22]; 11. 1-Tim McCreadie[9]; 12. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[21]; 13. 25C-Chad Simpson[7]; 14. 10-Garrett Smith[3]; 15. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 16. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[17]; 17. 7T-Drake Troutman[20]; 18. 17SS-Brenden Smith[13]; 19. 12-Scott Crigler[16]; 20. 1/4J-Jaxon Ertel[15]; 21. 36-Logan Martin[8]; 22. 74X-Ethan Dotson[18]; 23. 157-Mike Marlar[11]; 24. 71-Hudson O’Neal[10]