There’s no stopping Ricky Thornton Jr. right now.
Since elevating Justin Tharp to crew chief of the Koehler Motorsports No. 20RT after parting ways with Anthony Burroughs, “RTJ” has caught lightning in a bottle. After an up-and-down spring and summer, “RTJ” won his second race with his new-look team at Eldora Speedway on Oct. 9, and nearly a month later, he still can’t stop winning.
Thornton completed the weekend sweep the following night at Eldora. One week later at West Virginia Motor Speedway’s Dirt Track World Championship, he won two more. He then took a week off to go USAC Sprint Car racing in Arizona before returning to his day job at Portsmouth Raceway Park on Oct. 30-31, and proceeded to extend his Late Model win streak to six.
When the team rolled into The Dirt Track at Charlotte for Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals, they were up against perhaps their toughest task yet. They had to defeat a massive 74-car field featuring nearly every big name Late Model racing has to offer. But Thornton is a proven winner at Charlotte thanks to his three prior victories in 2023 and 2024, and his odds looked better than ever to add a fourth.
Early on in Thursday’s Feature, Thornton was fighting his way through the pack while it looked like Brandon Overton‘s race to lose out front. The Evans, GA driver is wheeling a Billy Franklin-owned Rocket Chassis this weekend as opposed to his usual Longhorn Chassis ride at Riggs Motorsports. It’s been a trying season for Overton, but “Big Sexy” looked like his old self leading comfortably until some precipitation arrived 17 laps into the 35-lap Feature.
The rain gave teams a chance to return to their haulers and make adjustments under the short red flag prior to the second half of the race. When the green flag flew again, Overton was still fast, but Thornton’s car instantly came to life. Thornton restarted fifth, but was past Overton and into the lead within two laps. Some late lap traffic gave Overton a chance to reel Thornton back in, but he was unable to stop Thornton from clinching his seventh Late Model win in a row and his fourth at World Finals.
“We decided to just leave it covered, put a little bit of fuel in, hop in and go back out,” Thornton commented on his lack of changes during the break. “I was just able to get a really good restart. Those guys kind of got to [Turn] 1 and shoved, and I was able to drive straight. I got second right away, and I knew if I could at least pressure Brandon and get by him, then just try to get as far out as I could before I got to lap cars.”
Overton finished his first night in a Rocket in second ahead of Bobby Pierce in third, who extended his points lead over fourth-running Nick Hoffman by two to 78 with two nights remaining. Chris Ferguson rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: Dave Smith Motors World of Outlaws World Finals rolls on at The Dirt Track at Charlotte on Friday, Nov. 6, with another 35-lap, $15,000-to-win, World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision Feature. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
Want to watch the World of Outlaws? Stream every lap live on DIRTVision.
RACE NOTES:
Kale Green won Heat 1.
Chris Madden won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Brandon Overton won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Michael Leach won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Jadon Frame won WIX Filters Heat 5.
Chris Ferguson won Heat 6.
Tim McCreadie, Jonathan Davenport and Daulton Wilson won the Last Chance Showdowns.
Brandon Overton won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Trey Mills won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.
Brandon Overton was the Air National Guard Second-Place Finisher.
Bobby Pierce was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Chris Ferguson was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Trey Millswas the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Michael Leach was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.
Brandon Sheppard was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Tim McCreadie was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Ryan Gustin was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.
Tyler Erb was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
Josh Rice was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.
Jonathan Davenport was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.
Daulton Wilson was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[12]; 2. 17-Brandon Overton[1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[11]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[8]; 5. 22-Chris Ferguson[4]; 6. 14-Trey Mills[10]; 7. 09-Michael Leach[3]; 8. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[13]; 9. 44-Chris Madden[5]; 10. 9M-Tim McCreadie[19]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[9]; 12. 1-Tyler Erb[25]; 13. 11R-Josh Rice[15]; 14. 49-Jonathan Davenport[20]; 15. 93-Carson Ferguson[16]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson[26]; 17. 16-Ben Watkins[14]; 18. 58V-Daulton Wilson[21]; 19. 5-Drake Troutman[18]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[29]; 21. 19-Dustin Sorensen[28]; 22. 58-Garrett Alberson[23]; 23. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[27]; 24. 49M-Luke Morey[22]; 25. 4-Kale Green[6]; 26. 13-Dallon Murty[7]; 27. 8-Kyle Strickler[17]; 28. 23-Beckham Malone[24]; 29. 1Z-Logan Zarin[30]; 30. 81F-Jadon Frame[2]