WHEATLAND, Mo. — Jonathan Davenport is considered the king of late model dirt racing these days and his dominant performance on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway did nothing to dispel that notion.
Davenport led all 40 laps in spanking the field in a caution-free feature during the finale of the 10th annual Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals Presented by Arizona Sport Shirts.
The three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion and 2015 Show-Me 100 winner needed only 11 minutes and 3 seconds in going green-to-checkers, picking up $10,000.
The win came one night after “Superman” finished second to Ricky Thornton Jr. It was his fifth overall in 2023 and ninth career MLRA triumph.
“Last night we just got behind in qualifying,” said Davenport, who swept Saturday’s action as he set fast qualifying lap and won his heat race in addition to wiring the feature field. “I’ve got to thank my crew on this one here. This is a new car that they built in the past week. Everybody at Longhorn from the fab guys to the assembly guys to the parts guys … I really appreciate it.
“Our guys put their heads together and really hit on something tonight. I’ve got to thank them.”
Reigning MLRA Series champ Chad Simpson finished second, 2.9 seconds behind Davenport. Garrett Alberson was third.
Davenport sprinted to the lead and already was passing lapped cars, just six laps into the race. He had a 3.1-second lead over fellow front-row starter Chad Simpson with Spencer Hughes running third in the early going.
Continuing to set a blistering pace, Davenport maintained his command as the race soared past the halfway point. He was 3.6 seconds clear of Simpson with Garrett Alberson another two seconds behind the runner-up by lap 25.
From that point on, it was all about handling lapped traffic and Davenport did so in expert fashion. Even as Simpson gradually cut into the lead over the final 10 laps, Davenport’s lead was never in doubt.
“You can’t ever take your foot off the gas with these guys. You start loafing through lapped traffic and the guys behind you will close really quick,” said Davenport, who next weekend will make his first attempt in the NASCAR Cup Series in the dirt race on the high banks of Bristol.
“It feels really good to win,” Davenport added. “We’ve had a lot of bad racing luck (this season). We’ve had fast cars and it just feels good. It builds confidence back up in the team and myself.
“I’m pretty much going into the biggest weekend of my career racing next week, so I have to thank those guys and I’m looking forward to going to Bristol next week.”
Simpson had a solid run for the runner-up position and said he was able to close the gap on Davenport a bit, but not enough to mount serious bid without a caution.
“You always feel like you have a shot,” Simpson said, “but I knew once he got back to clean traffic he was just a little better car than we were.”
A total of 50 Late Models checked into the pits and there were 114 cars across all four divisions.
Seven-time Lucas Oil Speedway Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod champ Kris Jackson made a decisive pass with two laps remaining to claim the Ozark Golf Cars USRA B-Mod feature win.
Jon Sheets finished second and Franklin settled for third with Ryan Gillmore fourth.
The O’Reilly Auto Parts USRA Stock Cars feature turned into a battle of attrition and David Hendrix came away the winner.
Damon Clevenger held off Chad Eichleberry to win the Show-Me Vintage Racers Series feature.
The finish:
Feature (40 laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 4. 32P-Bobby Pierce[13]; 5. 36-Logan Martin[5]; 6. 11-Spencer Hughes[4]; 7. 15L-Payton Looney[9]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott[8]; 9. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[14]; 10. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[12]; 11. 96V-Tanner English[16]; 12. 11H-Jeff Herzog[3]; 13. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[10]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 15. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[20]; 16. 19R-Ryan Gustin[22]; 17. 2-Tyler Stevens[24]; 18. 8-Dillon McCowan[11]; 19. 51-Larry Ferris[15]; 20. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[25]; 21. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[23]; 22. 78S-Steve Stultz[17]; 23. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[27]; 24. 3-Brennon Willard[26]; 25. 32S-Chris Simpson[18]; 26. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[19]; 27. USA1-Chris Hawkins[21]; 28. 93-Mason Oberkramer[28]