Ricky Thornton Jr. has the weekend off from Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series action, but the race-loving 35-year-old is embarking on a holiday schedule with even more ambitious travel than he faces on the national tour. 

He’ll start Saturday close to his home in Indianola, Iowa, with a visit to Boone (Iowa) Speedway to pull double-duty in the IMCA Modified and Stock Car divisions during the track’s Prelude to the Super Nationals program. 

Then it’s a nearly 600-mile drive to Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, to meet his Koehler Motorsports Dirt Late Model team for a World 100 tuneup run in Sunday night’s Baltes Classic. 

The most surprising event of his weekend? Monday afternoon’s 410 Sprint Car Labor Day Classic at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, a roughly 470-mile overnight drive from Eldora. 

Thornton has remarked that his success in Lucas Oil Series competition at Port Royal at least partially derives from him watching broadcasts of Sprint Car races at the half-mile oval, so now he’ll have a chance to test his open-wheel ability there behind the wheel of the Indy Race Parts No. 71 that he’s occasionally piloted in recent years.

Fans unable to attend the action at Eldora Speedway or Port Royal Speedway can watch every lap live on FloRacing.

Editor’s note: Excerpted from “Take Five,” a recurring DirtonDirt feature in which senior writer Kevin Kovac highlights five noteworthy developments from around the Dirt Late Model landscape (Index to Take Fives)