Adam Family Motorsports announced today it will field a Longhorn Chassis for Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., during Jan. 10-18’s Wild West Shootout at Central Arizona Raceway in Casa Grande, Ariz., which brings the miniseries to Thornton’s home state for the first time since 2021.

Daniel Adam, the son of team owner Joe Adam, will pilot the team’s Rocket XR1.2 Chassis alongside Thornton throughout the Southwest miniseries. The connection with Thornton and Adam Family Motorsports likely came together after the team recently announced the addition of sponsor Hoker Trucking, a long-time supporter of Thornton throughout his racing career.

Adam’s team also cited a longstanding friendship with Bobby Koehler of Koehler Motorsports, Thornton’s usual team owner who gave the temporary partnership his blessing, allowing Thornton’s Anthony Burroughs-led Koehler Motorsports team to focus on preparing for Georgia-Florida Speedweeks.

Thornton, 35, will begin his stint as Daniel Adam’s teammate in the Wild West Shootout’s $25,000-to-win opener on Sat., Jan. 10. Thornton is also entered in Jan. 12-17’s Chili Bowl Nationals, an indoor midget event at the Tulsa (Okla.) Expo Center where he will compete in at least one midweek qualifying night preliminary program and could end up missing Jan. 17’s Wild West Shootout show if he’s in position to make the same day’s Chili Bowl finale.

The six-race Wild West Shootout includes $10,000-to-win programs on Jan. 11,, Jan. 14, Jan. 16 and Jan. 17 before concluding with a second $25,000-to-win event on Jan. 18.

Both the Wild West Shootout and Chili Bowl Nationals will be live-streamed on FloRacing.