Jonathan Davenport passed Tim McCreadie late in the going at I-80
Jonathan Davenport came into the Silver Dollar Nationals weekend at I-80 Speedway as the top money winner in all of Dirt Late Model racing and he added to his bank account on Sunday night in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series sanctioned event in what might possibly be the last time for this race at this track.
The Longhorn Chassis driver from Blairsville, Georgia earned $53,000 for his efforts in the race held on the Greenwood, Nebraska track and shown live by FloRacing.com.
A total of 60 cars were signed in for competition.
The top-18 starters in the feature were determined by a series of heat races on Friday night that employed a passing points system.
The top-18 starters were: 1. Mike Marlar, 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Bobby Pierce, 4. Ricky Thornton Jr., 5. Max Blair, 6. Jimmy Owens, 7. Jonathan Davenport, 8. Jimmy Owens, 9. Chase Junghans, 10. Brandon Sheppard, 11. Kyle Strickler, 12. Chad Simpson, 13. Devin Moran, 14. Nick Hoffman, 15. Johnny Scott, 16. Dale McDowell, 17. Brian Shirley, 18. Tyler Bruening
B-main 1 Finish: 1. Cade Dillard, 2. Bill Leighton, 3. Hudson O’Neal
B-main 2 Finish: 1. Shane Clanton, 2. Ricky Weiss, 3. Spencer Hughes
B-main 3 Finish: 1. Kyle Bronson, 2. Garrett Smith, 3. Tyler Erb
Ryan Gustin won the Non-Qualifiers race and chose to start the feature rather than take the $5,300 first prize for winning that race.
Feature Re-cap: The 80-lap feature took the green flag with McCreadie, Thornton and Marlar going three wide for the lead with McCreadie leading Thornton, Marlar, Pierce and Pearson. Pearson passed Pierce for fourth on the second lap before the front runners spread out and began logging laps in the early going.
Pierce took the fourth spot back from Pearson on lap 11 while Marlar moved in and began to issues challenge on Thornton for second. But on lap 17, Pierce moved around both Marlar and Thornton to gain the runner-up spot. Marlar moved to third around Thornton on lap 18 while Davenport barged into the top-5 by passing Pearson.
The leaders found themselves in heavy traffic by lap 20 with Pierce right on the rear spoiler of McCreadie as Marlar laid back in waiting. Further back, Davenport continued to rise as he moved to fourth on lap 24.
McCreadie used slower traffic to his advantage as he built a lead of three seconds as the race approached the lap 25 mark. Davenport took third on lap 27 when he got by Marlar. However, Marlar would take that position back on lap 37.
At the halfway mark, the race had not yet seen a yellow flag with McCreadie continuing to control the pace with Pierce, Marlar, Davenport and Pearson trailing.
Marlar moved to second on lap 47 when he passed Pierce. But the first yellow flag of the night waved on lap 48 for the slowing car of Sobbing. On the restart, Pearson rose to third while Pierce fell back to sixth as Moran burst into the top-5 for the first time in the feature.
A lap 58 caution slowed the pace when Erb dropped off the pace. Davenport went back to third on the lap 58 restart but another yellow flag came out just two laps later for the stalled car of Alberson. McCreadie had led all 60 laps up to that point.
Davenport went to second around Marlar on lap 62 but immediately had to battle Moran for that position while McCreadie again drove away. Davenport drove away from the battle between Marlar and Moran as he went after McCreadie.
McCreadie caught the tail of the field with less than 10 laps to go which allowed Davenport to close. On lap 74, Davenport charged to the lead with an outside move as the two drivers split slower traffic.
In the end, it was Davenport who would score yet another lucrative victory in the 2022 season and the third Silver Dollar Nationals of his career.
Feature Results: 1. Jonathan Davenport, 2. Tim McCreadie, 3. Devin Moran, 4. Mike Marlar, 5. Earl Pearson Jr. 6. Brandon Sheppard, 7. Bobby Pierce, 8. Ricky Thornton Jr., 9. Jimmy Owens, 10. Chase Junghans, 11. Chad Simpson, 12. Tyler Bruening, 13. Ricky Weiss, 14. Nick Hoffman, 15. Shane Clanton, 16. Max Blair, 17. Hudson O’Neal, 18. Garrett Smith, 19. Brian Shirley, 20. Spencer Hughes, 21. Kyle Bronson, 22. Cade Dillard, 23. Daulton Wilson, 24. Tyler Erb, 25. Jesse Sobbing, 26. Kyle Strickler, 27. Ryan Gustin, 28. Johnny Scott, 29. Garrett Alberson, 30. Dale McDowell, 31. Bill Leighton, 32. Ben Schaller, 33. Ross Robinson
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