After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis of Silver Dollar Nationals
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Ricky Thornton Jr. powers to victory. (photosbyboyd.smugmug.com)
HARLAN, Iowa (July 18) — Instant reaction and analysis from Saturday’s Al Belt Custom Homes Silver Dollar Nationals at Shelby County Speedway, a $52,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event captured by Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler Ariz. (RaceWire):
QUIET FINALE: With all eyes on Shelby County as the 3/8-mile oval hosted its first-ever Dirt Late Model crown jewel event, the 80-lap feature unfortunately didn’t produce the competitive action that everyone craved. It was a largely uneventful, one-lane affair — Ricky Thornton Jr. led the entire distance off the pole with the only notable position-swapping coming following the race’s lone restart on lap 70 — even though the track surface didn’t lock down with rubber. The bottom lane just became too dominant with a mud ring that provided optimal traction. There was no repeat of Thursday’s barnburner 50-lapper that kicked off the weekend, which really left everyone perplexed, including Lucas Oil Series director Rick Schwallie. “I don’t even know what to think,” he said while considering how the field quickly migrated to the inside lane and largely stayed there. “I was standing on the frontstretch before the race and all the drivers were saying they’d be ripping the top for 80 laps.” What took the outside out of the game? The drivers I talked to mentioned that the cushion ended up too packed down so there wasn’t the “fluff” creating grip like there was for Thursday’s feature.
BACK ON TOP: Yes, Ricky Thornton Jr. was a flag-to-flag winner of the Silver Dollar Nationals, but the circumstances were of little concern to the 35-year-old. He needed a big win — he needed one bad — and he got it. It’s been a frustrating season for the 2024 Lucas Oil Series champion as he just hasn’t been able to settle into the winning rhythm he’s enjoyed for several years; he entered the weekend with just two full-field Lucas Oil triumphs and five overall wins in ’26. Breaking through in a major doesn’t mean all his ills have been cured, but you couldn’t help noticing the sense of relief the win brought to Thornton and his Koehler Motorsports crew led by Anthony Burroughs and Justin Tharp. They were smiling like they haven’t in quite some time. It was a dominant performance by RTJ, who heads into the richest stretch of the Dirt Late Model campaign looking like he might have his swagger back.
THE RUNNER-UP QUANDARY: The unique purse put forth by SDN promoter Joe Kosiski — a $52,000 check for the winner but a richer $53,000 payoff for second place — produced some intrigue in an otherwise ho-hum feature. After Bobby Pierce secured second behind Thornton on lap two and soon realized the bottom groove was the place to be, you had to wonder if he might just be content to settle in there and not risk losing the hefty runner-up payday by making an unsuccessful bid for the lead. But Pierce searched around, albeit carefully, in an effort to find a way by Thornton, and on the lap-70 restart he even made an outside charge at both ends of the track to take a shot. He did end up dropping to third when Jonathan Davenport snuck by him through the middle of the track on lap 72 — costing him $38,000 in earnings with third worth $15,000 — but he asserted that the racer in him wasn’t going to let an opportunity for a crown jewel win go by without making a run at it, regardless of the inflated second-place money. And when I asked Thornton if he would have accepted losing the lead late in the distance with a bigger runner-up booty to fall back on, he made it clear that he would have been “pissed” no matter his earnings because winning is why he races.
SAVVY SURGE: Davenport’s burst from fourth to second in the two laps following the lap-70 restart was the most notable move of the race. He figured that the middle just might retain enough traction for a few circuits if he managed to pack down some crumbs during the caution period, and his racer’s intuition proved correct as he was able to stick above Brian Shirley and Pierce to grab second. It faded away before he could take a swing at Thornton, but he effectively felt like he made a winning pass thanks to the $53,000 runner-up payoff. Davenport’s immense talent and racecraft was on display with the maneuver, which fifth-place Brandon Sheppard wanted to try but couldn’t because Davenport got there first while third-running Shirley knew he should go to the middle on the restart but didn’t because he admittedly didn’t have the confidence to pull it off amid his 2026 struggles.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Thornton recorded his seventh career victory in a Dirt Late Model in a crown jewel event, joining his triumphs in the Firecracker 100 (2023 and ’24), Dirt Track World Championship (’21), Knoxville Nationals (’23), Prairie Dirt Classic (’23) and World 100 (’25).
