Through preliminary action at this week’s 55th World 100 at Eldora Speedway, three drivers have seemingly separated themselves from the rest entering Saturday’s finale: Jonathan Davenport, Dale McDowell and Nick Hoffman. | Complete World 100 coverage

Some would argue, like veteran Dirt Late Model mechanic Gary Winger, that Davenport is once again in a league of his own at the half-mile oval where he’s racked up 26 victories following back-to-back prelim triumphs on Thursday and Friday.

“It would be really, really hard for me to pick anybody to win but him,” said Winger, who’s closely watched the Eldora competition this weekend as a consultant for Integra Racing Shocks.

But if there’s anything that McDowell and Hoffman also have in common with Davenport, it’s they’ve been able to bring a well-rounded race car to Eldora this week, accentuated by commanding the middle to bottom grooves of the racetrack.

It’s created another clash of styles on Dirt Late Model racing’s biggest stage with drivers who classify more as bottom feeders having an advantage over the cushion riders.

That’s put the pressure on virtually the whole field, especially top-ranked driver and reigning World 100 champ Bobby Pierce, entering Saturday’s all-important 15-lap heats. Though Pierce had a pair of respectable prelim podium finishes, he’s unsettled that he can’t run the middle, nor get his race car to steer, like Davenport, Hoffman or McDowell.

“I was talking with my dad about it. Obviously, we want our car to be more than one dimensional. Right now, that’s what I feel like, it’s very one dimensional,” said Pierce, whose father Bob Pierce serves as the team’s crew chief. “If I get off the top, I’m just another car out there. But I was like, you know, at this point, our two prelim nights, we haven’t gotten any better. So it’s like, we can’t keep trying stuff now. We have to go into Saturday and maybe the track is different, and maybe a miracle happens.

“If you go throwing the kitchen sink at it for 100 laps, then the car could be way out of balance then, and then you’re worse off. I was telling him, it is what it is. I’m kind of done trying to figure it out honestly. They definitely got something we don’t. I’m kind of done.”

Pierce entered last year’s World 100 finale similarly: frustrated after running second and third on his prelim nights. But this time around is a little more unnerving for Pierce, who “tried a couple things, but didn’t seem to get much better” Friday.

Pierce also added that last year’s racetrack when he won the World 100 “definitely had some more top side to it,” as opposed to this weekend so far where “the cushion, there’s a little in the apex of turns one and two, way up there, but not much.”

“Three and four is more crumb. It’s kind of moisture crumb, definitely not a curb. The World (last year), you could lean on it coming off four,” Pierce said. “There were kind of some spots you could actually feel the curb build up. This go-around, it’s just a lot harder to run the top. It’s harder to make speed up there. I feel like you’re on the gas, and you’re in the gas. That guy in the middle, he’s still there. It’s a far away around there and you feel like you’re doing an awful lot to gain very little. That’s why it’s hard to do for 100 laps. You take a chance of knocking your spoiler off, and that’s not good. We’ll see what we get.

“More than anything, just getting more comfortable in the seat, running the wall. I could probably drive this place with my eyes closed around the wall because that’s where I’ve been all weekend. It seems to be the only place I get some speed. You got your cars that are really fast in the middle. I always say, you can’t run that line (the top) like that for 100 laps. Our goal is to get ourself in position at the end, and then you can kind of get more wild with it, and you can try some lines, like the far high side.

“I don’t know, how the track is this weekend, it’s really favoring the cars that are in the middle. So we’ll see (Saturday) if we get a different track.”

Beyond simply needing to run the middle of the track, having a car that will steer all over the racetrack and can navigate dirty air, plus find enough mechanical grip to carry enough speed around Eldora’s circular configuration, is paramount.

For Thornton, who purposely “tried to back up during the feature to drop myself down in points” in Friday’s 11th-place finish, he’s close to have a well-balanced car, but still can’t quite maneuver his car as sharply as Davenport, or even Hoffman or McDowell.

“I feel like I have plenty of traction, I just can’t steer like I need to,” said Thornton, who added “J.D.’s the car to beat, no matter where” and later quipped that drivers ought to “just pray J.D. doesn’t win his heat and lap us the first 20 laps” of the feature.

“He can run across the top. He can run across the bottom. He can go through the middle,” Thornton said of Davenport. “Whatever he has figured out here, it’s the same as always. He’s got a little leg up on all of us. I feel like Hoffman has been really, really good this weekend. Obviously Bobby is really good. You never know exactly how good a guy is and isn’t with the split-field features and stuff like that.

“Overall, we have really good speed. … I need to do a little better job manipulating the car come feature time. Overall, we have a lot of speed. … But no, overall, we’ve been competitive. We unloaded a brand-new car Sunday. We’ve been tuning on it, getting it better. I feel like I need to steer a little better. Here, I feel like it’s the other way around. Usually you steer but don’t have a whole lot of traction.”

Thornton, one of Sunday’s Baltes Classic winners, feels he’s flying under the radar entering Saturday. He’s been superb on half-miles this year with nine of his 15 overall victories on such tracks mainly because of his ability to navigate dirty air while maintaining momentum. In Friday’s feature, he tested his maneuverability by “trying to put myself in bad situations at that point, just to see what I did need to work on.” He came away with valuable insight.

“I feel like there’s some stuff I can do to steer a little better. I feel like I have plenty of traction, it’s just the steering part, steering through the corners,” Thornton said. “(My car isn’t) losing the nose in dirty air, I feel like in dirty air, my car is pretty good. I need to make more speed behind a car. I need to get to a guy, get in his dirty air, and drive by him. Where tonight I really couldn’t. I could get to him, but not complete a pass. Racing big tracks all year has helped that, just trying to do the right things in the car.”

Should Thornton win the sixth heat Saturday, he’ll start from the World 100 pole, too. The upside for Thornton is “across the middle is where I’ve been the best,” which is key because “you have more racetrack to let the car steer.” But like Pierce, he’s discouraged with less to lean on in the high groove.

“I feel like the track is way different than how it normally is here,” Thornton said. “Normally, you go out, it’s greasy, muddy, but I’ve probably only been through five tear-offs all weekend where normally you go through five tear-offs in one heat race. Hopefully they bring the water truck out … other than that, I feel good through the middle.”

McDowell emphasized it’s not necessarily a hindrance should a driver not feel totally comfortable with their car going into the 100-lap finale, as long as that driver can navigate dirty air well enough without the aerodynamic aspect stifling the ability to maneuver.

“Ricky is exactly right. You have to have maneuverability to get through traffic the best you can,” McDowell said. “That seems to come and go here. Throughout the 100 laps, you’ll drive off, or you’ll see somebody drive off, and the line will move around and another line starts working. You’ll get comfortable and then all of a sudden, the car isn’t acting the same and you’ll have to move around the find something else. Sometimes you can migrate right back to that. That’s what makes this place interesting … it’s challenging from lap to lap.

“It’s very hard to lead here because you don’t know where to go, and no signaling. You don’t know if your lap times are good, but it makes it good for the race fans.”

Winger, the longtime mechanic and consultant who’s worked with Hall of Famers Scott Bloomquist and Freddy Smith and currently guides his son Ashton Winger’s career, stresses that maneuverability is essential at Eldora because a smooth-driving, nimble car is easier on tire management. He gives Hoffman props for following in Davenport’s tire-managing footsteps at Eldora.

“My personal opinion, I think Hoffman is going to get his tires to last longer because of Hoffman,” Winger said of his driving style. “Like, he's a really, really smooth racer. Dale McDowell’s the same way. He'll get his tires to last longer because he's a really smooth driver. Bobby Pierce is as good a driver as there is on the planet. But his car don't do that. So, I mean, the best case scenario for the race is to have a top that's there the whole time.

“Or pit everybody at lap 50 and let them change tires, except for J.D. Because then they can get after it for 50 (laps) and the problem is, everybody’s gonna smoke their stuff in the first 50, quote-unquote saving their stuff. They’re not on the same level of saving their stuff as J.D. is.”

Winger believes that Davenport’s been able to separate himself at Eldora simply through the way he enters each corner of the circular half-mile. While most drivers have the habit of easing off the throttle and jabbing on the fuel to get their car to rotate, Davenport does none of that.

“The more you go ‘whop, whop, whop’ with the throttle, the more you hurt your tires. But Davenport, he lets off the gas and his car turns without any effort. And stays tight. Like, it turns like it should be loose, but it's not loose, you know what I mean?” Winger said. “It just turns without any effort. There's a few of them that that are close to that. Obviously, that's Hoffman and McDowell.

“McDowell's always been good about that. Bobby's more aggressive. And I just think if there's not a lip to lean on, if it's icy all the way across the racetrack, it's going to be hard for Bobby because he's got to have something to lean on. And if he's got something to lean on, he can do all 100 laps up there.

“I don't know if there's anybody any better. But if there's not nothing to lean on, he's going to struggle, you know, taking care of his tires.”

Like every World 100 finale, scenarios are endless. But Winger believes it’s Davenport vs. the field because his maneuverability is unmatched.

“Oh, yeah, 100 percent. Like, I'd put all of my money and all of my buddy’s money on it. … I mean, there's nobody that can manage their tires, still be stuck enough to carry corner speed, and move around and find traction on the racetrack,” Winger said. “Like, if this guy needs to go to the infield, he can go to the infield. If he can run around the wall, he can run around the wall.

“If he wants to enter out, wheel across and leave down on the inside wall, he can do that. And I mean, when your car is that maneuverable, it's going to be really hard to beat. I don't know how you can beat it without, obviously, figuring out how to get your car to do that.”