On the final restart of Thursday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 40-lapper at Eagle Raceway, Ricky Thornton Jr. knew that going to the bottom groove wasn’t going to cut it.

The Chandler, Ariz., driver and series points leader dropped low the previous two restarts and knew that was opening the door for a charging Jonathan Davenport, who briefly grabbed the lead from Thornton on the 34th lap when the leader misjudged the turn-four cushion. | RaceWire

“I figure that last time, the only way (Davenport) got that good of a run was he just had to get around the top and then get a really good back straightaway,” Thornton said.

The solution? Beat Davenport at his own game. No doubt his crew members winced when the No. 20rt headed for the outside concrete wall at full speed on the restart with four laps remaining.

"I drove into (turn) one wide open,” Thornton said. “I thought I was going to leave the ballpark. I got in … Ooooh! Ahhhh! Right when I got to the wall, finally I got turned to drive down the back straightaway.”

Thornton knew the decision helped seal his series-leading eighth victory of the season.

"I think it took me two or three laps to kind of get the bottom going as good as I needed to,” Thornton said. “I think he would have probably drove right by me, so it worked out for us.

"I screwed up on the curb there in (turns) three and four and then let him pretty much get by me. So I was able to get back by him and then the yellow came out and I'm like, ‘Man, I really don't know where I need to be in (turns) one and two.’ I knew three and four I needed to be on the top just because that's where I had been running, so I went to the bottom of those two restarts.”

"I felt decent but not as good as I was while we were under green and then that last one, like I said, he got next to me so I knew I at least needed to run the top for a lap or two.

"Once I got out there, I'm like, ‘Well, if I go to the bottom and miss it, I'm probably going to give this thing away,’ so I just stayed up and held it on the floor.”

“One little misstep and it was going to be a car.” A car destroyed, he meant.

While the rugged conditions tested man and machine, Thornton was impressed that the third-mile track known for open-wheel racing allowed for plenty of passing in a race with three lead changes among three leaders.

"Hopefully the next couple of nights track's just as racy. I felt like you could kind of run all over it. If you were better than a guy, you could move low and go around them or move up and go around them,” Thornton said. “I feel like our cars are all so close anymore, it's hard to get a racetrack where you got two lines like that. So hats off to these guys and looking for the next two nights.”