HARLAN, Iowa — Ricky Thornton Jr. won the 16th annual Al Belt Custom Homes Silver Dollar Nationals on Saturday night at Shelby County Speedway, leading all 80 laps to become the 12th different driver to win the crown jewel event.
Thornton, a Chandler, Arizona, native who now resides in Indianola, Iowa, earned $52,000 for the victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event.
Jonathan Davenport, the only three-time winner in the event’s history, which began in 2011, gained two positions after the race’s lone caution with 70 laps complete.
Davenport, who was running fourth before the yellow, passed both Brian Shirley and Bobby Pierce to earn the runner-up finish and $53,000.
Pierce, who entered the event having won 12 of his previous 14 feature starts, ran second for 71 laps before Davenport slipped past him late, relegating him to third at the finish.
Shirley finished fourth, while championship points leader and Thursday night’s Go 50 winner Brandon Sheppard completed the top five.
In Wieland Victory Lane for the 60th time in his career and the fourth time this season, Thornton joined an elite group of Silver Dollar Nationals champions.
“At the start I didn’t know whether I needed to be on the bottom or the top,” Thornton said. “I felt like that first lap I moved out in three and four and I was like, ‘Man, that didn’t feel very good.’ I ran about four or five laps there, tried it again, and I don’t know if they were going in too hard above the cushion. It was weird because it was really fluffed up there, so I backed down and just rode around. Then we got to lapped traffic and I felt like I really wanted to move up and try to blow by those cars.”
“I was trying to get myself clear of Hoffman and McCreadie. I stayed beside them for what felt like 50 laps, and I figured the top wasn’t any better, so I just kept rolling around the bottom. Hats off to everyone at Koehler Motorsports. It’s a little sigh of relief because I feel like we got our old selves back. I love coming to this place, and thanks to all of the fans for coming out. It’s pretty awesome to win this since I’m only an hour and a half away.”
Davenport, who started ninth, quickly climbed to third before settling into fourth for much of the race. He passed Pierce and Shirley late to secure second.
“The track just went away. We could never get it packed in under green,” Davenport said. “I floated out there a few times and just slid. Before that caution came out I went all the way to the top because we’re not running for points, so I was going to try something. I thought Bobby might try the top on the restart, and if that happened it would give Shirley clean air on the bottom. Then maybe I could roll the middle just right and get a run on him. It kind of worked out, just not exactly the way I drew it up.”
Pierce, the 2019 Silver Dollar Nationals winner, rounded out the podium.
“I looked at the scoreboard and thought we were almost done because the race went by so fast. Congratulations to Ricky. He drove a heck of a race and did a great job getting through lapped traffic. I didn’t have anything for him. The last time we were here it was a barnburner, so we set up for that. We made a couple of changes I didn’t really like, but now I think we know a little better for next year.”
Al Belt Custom Homes Silver Dollar Nationals | Feature Finish (80 Laps):
Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $53,200
2 – 9 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $53,000
3 – 2 – 32 – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $15,000
4 – 7 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $10,800
5 – 3 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $9,900
6 – 4 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $9,200
7 – 5 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $8,200
8 – 11 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $6,800
9 – 6 – 15 – Clay Stuckey – Shreveport, LA – $5,000
10 – 8 – 19R – Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – $4,800
11 – 15 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $5,500
12 – 22 – 9 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – $4,600
13 – 12 – 18J – Chase Junghans – Manhattan, KS – $4,500
14 – 26 – 13 – Dallon Murty – Chelsea, IA – $4,400
15 – 21 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $5,100
16 – 17 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $4,200
17 – 10 – 9H – Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – $4,100
18 – 18 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $4,800
19 – 23 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $4,800
20 – 19 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $4,600
21 – 20 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $4,500
22 – 14 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $4,400
23 – 16 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $4,300
24 – 13 – 4 – Tad Pospisil – Norfolk, NE – $3,500
25 – 24 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $4,300
26 – 25 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $100
