The reigning three Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champions will want to take Saturday night at Fairbury Speedway — Hudson O’Neal 19th, Devin Moran 20th and Ricky Thornton Jr. 25th — and toss them in the metaphorical trash can.

Just how much of an outlier was it? Between the three of them, they’d combined for only one finish of 19th or worse in series action this year: Thornton’s 24th-place finish at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway after breaking a driveshaft.

All three were swept up in separate incidents Saturday. Moran’s trouble started with a flat tire on lap 27 while running 21st. His Double Down Motorsports team bolted on fresh rubber, but he could only rally to 20th, one lap down.

Thornton had charged from 25th to 11th in the closing laps when he tangled with Tyler Erb entering turn one with eight laps remaining. The Chandler, Ariz., driver said he was still deciding whether to commit to the top or bottom before choosing the bottom — the same piece of real estate Erb aimed for.

“It’s part of it,” Thornton said.

O’Neal seemed the most frustrated of the three. He also got swept up in the Thornton-Erb tangle, but not until moments after both cars had stopped on the track.

Running 14th at the time, O’Neal “thought the yellow was already out” as he barreled into turn one and had nowhere to go, only to be sent to the tail for being collected in the wreck — compounding the frustration of a night that began with him starting fifth.

Winner Brandon Sheppard chopped 125 points off his 260-point deficit to O’Neal, who now leads by 35 points over Moran and 135 over Sheppard. Thornton, meanwhile, goes from 205 points behind to 280 going into this week’s Eagle (Neb.) Raceway tripleheader.