BARBERVILLE, Fla. — Ricky Thornton Jr. is hunting for a spot in elite company at Volusia Speedway Park.
After winning the 2025 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator championship in his super late model, the Chandler, Ariz., native began his event activity with the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds in 2026 by taking a visit to victory lane Thursday night.
Commencing the 20-lap feature from the pole, Thornton took command as his two Koehler Motorsports teammates, Evan Koehler and Jordan Koehler, followed in tow. He grew the lead to 1.7 seconds over the first seven laps of the feature until the first caution waved for a slowing Kyle Hammer.
Thornton kept the dominance into the restart by using the cushion, while the Koehler brothers felt the “Bluegrass State” pressure of Tyler Nicely. The Owensboro, Ky., racer started in 11th and worked his No. 25 machine into the top five for the restart, then used his momentum in the entrance of Turn 1 to slide under Jordan for third place.
On Lap 10, Nicely powered his Modified to the inside of Evan in the same corner for second place.
Thornton experimented with his Elite Chassis around multiple lanes before settling with the high side through Turns 1-2, then shifting the car to the bottom of Turns 3-4 to build a 2.7-second gap over Nicely.
When lapped traffic became an obstacle for Thornton to create forward progress, Nicely chopped the distance to a 1.1-second distance with five laps remaining. Thornton added lapped cars between him and Nicely, and he regained the lead by 1.8 seconds as the “Grand Canyon State” racer crossed the twin checkered flags.
Thornton joins Nick Hoffman, Kyle Bronson, Ryan Gustin and Kyle Strickler as the only drivers to win a UMP Modified and late model Golden Gator.
“Hats off to Nick [Hoffman] and everyone at Elite Chassis,” Thornton said. “I think I had six or seven laps before tonight, and it was really good. Really, our whole team was good. I feel like I had a really good car, I could go where I needed to, and really, I think the lapped cars made me learn a lot more about my race car than I really thought. So hopefully I can be a little bit better come tomorrow.”
The finish:
Feature (20 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[11]; 3. 66-Cole Falloway[8]; 4. 36-Kenny Wallace[4]; 5. K9-Will Krup[3]; 6. 13-Charlie Mefford[10]; 7. 35A-Michael Altobelli[17]; 8. 35-David Stremme[7]; 9. 99H-Justin Haley[18]; 10. 77D-George Dixon[6]; 11. 97-Mitch Thomas[9]; 12. 09-Michael Ledford[14]; 13. 12L-Lucas Lee[20]; 14. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[16]; 15. 114K-Evan Koehler[1]; 16. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 17. 777-Trevor Neville[15]; 18. 17C-Coleman Evans[24]; 19. 77B-Ray Bollinger[23]; 20. 56-Chris Wilson[13]; 21. 3-Josh Sanford[19]; 22. 24CS-Curt Spalding[12]; 23. 45H-Kyle Hammer[21]; 24. 15X-Justin Stone[22]
