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Tim McCreadie (39), as seen racing Jonathan Davenport (49) during the 39th annual Sunoco Race Fuels North South 100 on Aug. 14 at Kentucky’s Florence Speedway, received some assistance from his Longhorn Chassis teammate Thursday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway. (Michael Moats Photo)
Dirt Late Models

LUCAS NOTES: Davenport Gives McCreadie A Hand

August 27, 2021

PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Tim McCreadie recovered from a heat-race mishap to go from 16th to fifth in Thursday night’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series main event at Port Royal Speedway.

His nearest competitor helped those rebound efforts.

Noticing McCreadie, his Longhorn Chassis teammate, working feverishly with his No. 39 crew to repair his damaged race car before the 30-lap feature, Jonathan Davenport grabbed some tools and entered the scene.

“When one of us has a problem, we’re going to help the other one,” said Davenport, the man who trailed McCreadie by 155 points in the series entering Thursday.

McCreadie busted up his race car when an attempt to race off the cushion in turns one and two went amiss in heat four. The right rear and right front needed repairs. The left rear frame plates, meanwhile, were contorted.

While McCreadie worked on the rear of the car, Davenport helped fix the right front with a Paylor Motorsports crew member.

Davenport set fast time in his group and finished second Thursday to draw within 120 points of McCreadie. But Davenport helped McCreadie maximize his night.

“I don’t want to see any bad luck from anybody,” Davenport said. “We gave them a little helping hand. We didn’t do much. They did an excellent job getting their car prepared and he did an excellent job getting back to fourth or fifth, or whatever he did. That’s what it takes to win championships.”

– McCreadie is in position for his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship with 18 races to go.

That can be hard to believe because the 47-year-old has won plenty of races in the late model ranks through the years.

His 120-point margin isn’t all that comfy. The margin can actually be overcome in one night, especially if more problems like the ones McCreadie faced Thursday arise.

The points payout in the top-five goes as follows: 200-180-170-160-155. It’s a five-point reduction from sixth to 21st. Twenty-first onward rewards 75 points.

The overall fast qualifier receives 10 bonus points.

Theoretically, a Davenport win and McCreadie finishing 20th or worse on a given night would erase the margin. That could make Thursday a pivotal factor when a champion is determined Oct. 16 at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park.

“We persevered and got what we could,” McCreadie said. “It could’ve been a lot worse. We’ll take it and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.”

– Throw Hudson O’Neal into the championship picture, too.

Five days after outworking Jonathan Davenport to win the Topless 100 at Batesville (Ark.) Motor Speedway, the 20-year-old won again Thursday night at Port Royal Speedway.

He is one of the most confident drivers on tour right now, 180 points behind McCreadie.

“I think we’ve found just a little bit right now,” O’Neal said. “Just a little bit goes a really long way in this sport. We’ve had a good couple weeks here and hopefully we can have some good speed for the rest of the week.”

– Chris Ferguson returned from a three-week layoff with COVID-19 on Thursday.  

A parts failure caused him to drop out of the feature and finish 24th.

He did, however, run in the top-five for the first time since he placed third in the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, on June 16.

– Kyle Hardy carried the load for the Pennsylvania-area racers on Thursday night.

The Linden, Va., native finished sixth and drove to as high as fourth in the 30-lap main event.