OCALA, Fla. (Feb. 28) — If there’s anything Josh Rice can hang his hat on this Georgia-Florida Speedweeks, it’s that he’s qualified for six of seven Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series features through his heat race or B-main, relying on a single provisional Feb. 20 at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla.

And even on that night, he rallied through the field to register a 10th-place effort. While the Crittenden, Ky., touring rookie in his debut season with JRR Motorsports would like a better average finish than 16.8 two weeks through the Lucas Oil campaign, Rice knows the going could be far worse.

“We had to use one emergency provisional and that was when I got it on the wall in the heat race at All-Tech,” said the 27-year-old Rice, who’s 12th in the Lucas Oil standings and 45 points ahead of Cory Hedgecock in the Rookie of the Year race. “But we haven't, luckily, haven't needed to use any more of them. So, I mean, that's one good thing about how we've been running, but yeah, the best finish so far has been sixth” last Feb. 19 at All-Tech.

“Other than that, we haven't really shown much speed,” added Rice, who logged three additional top-10 finishes in 10 starts before the Lucas Oil season across action at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., and Needmore Speedway in Waycross, Ga.

Rice debuted a brand-new Longhorn Chassis for the first time all Speedweeks on Saturday, a crimson-red machine previously owned by Richard Childress Racing development driver Carson Brown, the 17-year-old driver that crew chief Randall Edwards worked with before Brown transitioned full-time to the stock car ranks.

He showed the most speed he’s had all week at Ocala, climbing into the top 10 from the 21st-starting spot until a fuel pump issue derailed the night on lap 44.

Until Saturday, Rice had raced held-over Longhorns that former JRR driver Daulton Wilson used toward the end of last year. But, as Rice emphasized, they weren’t brand new like the car he deployed on Saturday: one car had been reclipped following a wreck while another had a customized steering rack for Wilson that Rice wasn’t accustomed to.

“They were a little different,” Rice said of the previous two cars he’s raced this Speedweeks. “(The customized steering rack) is something that Daulton wanted. I really don't know if it even makes that big of a difference or not. That was just something we noticed, and Daulton never liked it. That car was only like four nights old. And Daulton never liked it.”

After three subpar nights at Ocala — finishes of 16th, 23rd and 16th from Tuesday through Thursday — Edwards and Rice called a family friend to haul their brand-new crimson-red Longhorn from Kentucky on a rollback trailer. The rainout on Friday gave them even more time to switch their focus on the Longhorn they debuted Saturday.

“We decide because we were going to switch to it for (Friday) and then luckily it rained out, and then that was that was when we decided to just get this one down here and get the work on it,” said Rice, who’s working eagerly to acclimate himself to the fleet of Longhorns his JRR team has for him after enjoying most of his Super Late Model success aboard Rocket Chassis.

For Rice, this marks his first true Speedweeks experience. His most recent Florida trip came in 2022 when he entered all five Winternationals events at East Bay Raceway Park, qualifying for just one feature that week. Rice has yet to solve Florida’s tricky dirt, so rather than making drastic changes to the two cars he’s already raced during Speedweeks, the idea of starting fresh with a brand-new Longhorn simply made sense.

“We talked about it because we were wanting to try a bunch of different stuff. James (Rattliff), our car owner, was like, ‘Why don't we just get a good base under us and we'll go from there?’ Rice said. “I'm like, I agree. … Obviously new cars and new tracks, it’s tough. Luckily, we've only used one emergency provisional. So hopefully we don't need any more of them.”

Before Saturday’s finale at Ocala, Rice said “we could probably breathe a little bit more if we could get in the top 10.” He reached the top 10 in the 50-lap feature, but couldn’t go the distance to secure the pick-me-up finish he sought.

The month of March brings a more favorable schedule for him: four nights at Golden Isles Speedway, the 4/10-mile track where he has little experience at but a momentum-based track more up his alley; March 14’s Northern Allstars Late Model Series event at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway; March 20’s Northern Allstars event at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.; and March 27-28’s Lucas Oil weekend at Atomic Speedway near Chillicothe, Ohio, and Brownstown.

Last year, Rice finished second and fifth in Lucas Oil action at Atomic and Brownstown.

“This place here is tough and it's narrow, so if you qualify bad, you're pretty much screwed right off the ribs,” Rice said of Ocala. “Would be nice to go somewhere different for a few days.”