After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis of J.D.’s preliminary win
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt.com staff reporter
Jonathan Davenport celebrates at Eldora. (joshjamesartwork.com)
ROSSBURG, Ohio (June 5) — Instant reaction and analysis from Friday’s Dream XXXII preliminary night at Eldora Speedway, a 50-lap, $30,000-to-win split-field program captured by Jonathan Davenport (RaceWire; complete Dream coverage):
JD’S SURPRISE: Right before Friday’s final restart, a fan turned to me and asked what I thought Jonathan Davenport would do lining up second inside Brandon Overton. Honestly, I told him I didn’t think Davenport would force anything. Why would he? Throwing a slider from that spot — let alone a big one — isn’t typically how he operates. Then what does he do? He uncorks a textbook slider on the lap-45 restart, narrowly clearing Overton off turn two before driving away from there. It was the kind of aggressive, eyebrow-raising move you don’t always associate with Davenport, who typically beats drivers by patiently drawing them into his clutches rather than with flashy maneuvers. This time, though, was a clear exception. More than anything, it showed he likely had another level at his disposal throughout the 50-lap feature. Up to that point, Davenport hadn't been especially eye-catching this week. But as I've said before, just because he isn't flashy doesn't mean he doesn't have something. Few things in life are certain: death, taxes and Davenport finding his way back on the Eldora victory stage rank among them.
FEGER FOILED: If not for the string of cautions, I’m convinced Jason Feger would’ve won Friday’s prelim. His car was good enough to carve through traffic and thrive on longer green-flag runs. The problem was that the race never stayed green long enough after he lost the lead on lap 16. Feger looked most vulnerable on restarts and in the laps immediately following them. Every caution seemed to work against him. Still, he’ll gladly take fourth. More importantly, this is the best Feger has looked “in the slick” at Eldora in quite some time — and arguably the best he’s looked during Dream week, period. He hasn’t qualified for a Dream A-main since 2016, missing the show every year since — with ’19 as the exception when he didn’t enter. Ending that decade-long stretch of DNQs and capping the weekend with a top-10 finish should be Feger’s mission Saturday.
WHAT IF: In the same vein as the Feger note above, Brandon Overton might very well be celebrating his first Eldora victory since the 2022 Dream if not for the caution with five laps remaining. And if Overton could have that restart back, he would’ve picked the bottom to shield himself from Davenport’s slider. Not thinking Davenport would actually pull the trigger on a bomb entering turn one, he elected to take the top, which is how he squandered the lead. Still, there was far more good than bad to take away from Friday. The good news for Overton is he went from running a lap down in 18th during Wednesday’s FloRacing Night in America feature to back in contention Friday. That’s an encouraging sign for a driver who’s been trying to recapture his Eldora magic for the last four years. He’s definitely starting to find it again.
ENVISIONING THE POLE: Trey Mills already knows what’ll it take to land on the pole of the Dream’s A-main. In his mind, starting from the pole of the sixth heat Saturday is a familiar script. In Wednesday's FloRacing Night in America feature, the 18-year-old launched from the pole of his heat, grabbed the lead at the start and drove away to win with relative ease. “It’s the same situation,” said Mills, who, as a World of Outlaws rookie, speaks with strikingly calm confidence. After finishing seventh from 17th on Friday to back up his sixth-place run Wednesday, Mills has clearly shown he’s capable entering the finale. Does he have the car to contend for 100 laps? I’m not so sure — and Mills feels the same. But either way, these are invaluable experiences for a driver absorbing every Eldora lesson at such a young age. He missed last year’s Dream feature by three spots and the World 100 by two. Even those near-misses have value. For someone like Mills, who appears equipped for the long haul in this sport, it’s easy to imagine him years from now — perhaps even as an Eldora winner — tracing part of his rise back to moments like these.
BLAME GAME: First off, I’m glad to see Mason Zeigler is OK. Nobody likes seeing a wreck like that. Second, if Nick Hoffman could have that moment back — the instant after he clipped the inside wall exiting turn four and shot up the racetrack into Zeigler — he absolutely would. Hoffman has far too much respect for both his equipment and the drivers around him to knowingly put himself in that situation. It’s also worth noting this isn’t the first run-in between the two drivers. In a World of Outlaws event at Pennsylvania's Path Valley in May 2024, Hoffman led the opening two laps from the pole before contact with Zeigler while battling for the lead broke a bolt on the left-front lower A-frame and knocked him out of contention. Despite that history, Zeigler wasn’t assigning the blame onto Hoffman afterward. And Hoffman was clearly concerned about Zeigler’s wellbeing. Both drivers appeared to view the incident for what it was: a racing deal with an unfortunate outcome. Nobody involved benefitted from it, and nobody looked more frustrated by the outcome than Hoffman himself.
GOOD JOB, RTJ: I just want to give Ricky Thornton Jr. a shoutout for a job well done color-commentating Friday’s FloRacing broadcast. Hopefully fans got a glimpse of how sharp he really is, because I’ve always enjoyed interviewing him. Thornton studies the sport — racetracks, racecraft, you name it — as thoroughly as anyone. And he doesn’t just understand what’s happening — he can process it in real time and clearly explain it’s function. It’s certainly an underrated quality for any race car driver that translates to success behind the wheel.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Twenty-seven. That’s how many total overall victories Jonathan Davenport now owns at Eldora, including his 11 total major-event triumphs spread across the World 100 (five), Dream (four), Eldora Million and Intercontinental Classic.
