FARLEY, Iowa — Jonathan Davenport dominated the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Friday night at 300 Raceway, leading all 50 laps and collecting $12,000 for the effort.
Davenport survived a late-race charge from Tyler Erb to claim his sixth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season. Devin Moran trailed Davenport and Erb to the finish line, passing Josh Richards on the final lap to take third.
Richards came home fourth, followed by Tim McCreadie who crossed the finish line in fifth after starting in 20th.
Davenport took the lead at the start of the Truck Country 50, with polesitter Brian Birkhofer settling into the second spot. In only his second race of the 2019 season, Birkhofer set the Miller Welders Overall Fast Time and went on to earn the PFC Brakes Pole Award.
Throughout the race, various drivers challenged for the top spot. Along with Birkhofer and Erb, Moran and Richards also made a bid for the lead. Erb closed the gap on Davenport in the final laps but came up just short at the finish line.
The win marks Davenport’s 42nd-career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory. He emerged from his car to the cheers of a large crowd.
“I wasn’t going to let another race slip away this weekend,” Davenport said. “Hudson did a great job last night. Hats off to my crew, I tore the car up last night, not on purpose. They worked hard on this car today and everything was spot-on tonight.”
“We were really close to fast time tonight. We were second overall in time trials and won our heat. This new car has been on a rail. We’ve been saving it a little bit; I don’t think we need to change a thing on it. They farmed the track, but we had the right set-up on it. Our car was so balanced. Thanks to Jack Cornett for giving us all that horsepower. Hats off the 300 Raceway staff and all of the fans that came out tonight.”
Erb was happy with his runner-up finish in the Best Performance Motorsports, Rocket.
“I didn’t think I could get by him [Davenport] at the end,” he said. “We had a bad night last night. Our car has been fast, but we just haven’t had any luck. I got to JD’s right rear and chased him down at the end. The tires would come and go. You just had to make good decisions out there. I could see under caution that he [Davenport] had tread left on the right rear. I was worried about the left rears with all the tire spin in the last 10-15 laps.”
The finish:
Jonathan Davenport, Tyler Erb, Devin Moran, Josh Richards, Tim McCreadie, Earl Pearson Jr., Shannon Babb, Billy Moyer Jr., Chad Simpson, Chris Simpson, Jimmy Owens, Jason Jameson, Jeremiah Hurst, Hudson O’Neal, Kyle Bronson, Stormy Scott, Shanon Buckingham, Joel Callahan, Tyler Bruening, Spencer Diercks, Tim Simpson, Brian Birkhofer, Don O’Neal, Chad Holladay.