2023 Lucas Oil Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway

Jonathan Davenport Wins SRX Debut After Surviving Sliders From Clint Bowyer

Jonathan Davenport Wins SRX Debut After Surviving Sliders From Clint Bowyer

Dirt Late Model star Jonathan Davenport beat a star-studded field in his SRX debut at Lucas Oil Speedway on Thursday night.

Aug 18, 2023 by Brandon Paul
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A country boy from Georgia beat his heroes on the big stage Thursday night in Wheatland, Missouri. In his SRX debut, Jonathan Davenport survived a fierce challenge from Clint Bowyer to win the series' season finale at Lucas Oil Speedway.

"I'm speechless. This is awesome," Davenport said on the ESPN Thursday Night Thunder broadcast. "This is just such an awesome experience. Thanks so much to SRX for giving me this opportunity to come out here to race with some of my heroes, some legends, some superstars. I'm just and ol' country boy from Georgia that runs dirt cars."

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Davenport, the star of the Dirty Dollars film on FloRacing, started from the pole in the main event and led the entire distance. However, the win didn't come without multiple challenges and a little bit of paint swapped. 

Following a restart with 10 laps to go, Bowyer threw a major slider on Davenport into turn one and slid directly in front of Davenport's No. 49. Davenport kept his foot in the gas and gave Bowyer a slight nudge, sending Bowyer up the track and creating enough room to get back underneath him to retake the lead.

Bowyer attempted another major slider entering turn three and slid all the way up to the wall, allowing Davenport and others including Ken Schrader to drive underneath him. Davenport narrowly escaped the chaos with the race lead, while Bowyer fell back through the field after his Hail Mary move. 

"I didn't know Clint was going to slide me right there," Davenport said. "I would've let him go on across but I hit him right at the right time. I was already back in the gas. I knew he was going to come back again so I just lifted and somebody else took us three wide."

Another restart with three laps to go put NASCAR Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski to Davenport's inside, but the Dirt Late Model ace was able to power away to claim the victory. 

Keselowski, who has limited dirt racing experience, turned in a runner-up effort at the checkered flag. Schrader, Ryan Newman and Bowyer completed the top five. 

Newman clinched the 2023 SRX championship following heat races on Thursday night.

Thursday night's SRX field included a handful of drivers with dirt racing experience including Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Ken Schrader and Kenny Wallace.

The driver known as "Superman" is the first short track racer to win an SRX event since Doug Coby won the inaugural SRX race at Stafford Motor Speedway in 2021.  

Davenport will return to the dirt this weekend for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway. Fans can watch the Topless 100 live on FloRacing. Click here to sign up today. 

SRX at Lucas Oil Speedway Results

1) Jonathan Davenport

2) Brad Keselowski

3) Ken Schrader

4) Ryan Newman 

5) Clint Bowyer

6) Marco Andretti

7) Tony Stewart

8) Kenny Wallace 

9) Helio Castroneves

10) Hailie Deegan

11) Ernie Francis Jr. 

12) Bobby Labonte