PORT ROYAL, Pa. (April 27) — If Jonathan Davenport, Devin Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr. are putting on a master class of what success looks like on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, then Garrett Alberson is a student pressed to learn their ways. 

With finishes of third, third and fourth from the tour’s three-race Mid-Atlantic weekend gave the Las Cruces, N.M., driver an up-close look at what makes Lucas Oil’s Big Three so good — and perhaps why they’ve combined to win 13 consecutive features. From race craft to nuances of how their race cars individually perform, Alberson isn’t shy to say he’s been studying Davenport, Moran and Thornton closely.

“That’s part of the deal, you start studying the guys around you, which fortunately we’re around good cars. We’re getting to really kind of pick apart what they do,” the 35-year-old Alberson said. “You don’t know what’s under their cars, obviously. We’re all racers in that way. We don’t talk about that stuff. But studying how they operate and how they try to drive them and stuff like that. It’s all part of the game. It’s kind of fun.”

Of all the drivers Alberson raced over the weekend, he battled Thornton the most. On Friday at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway, the Roberts Motorsports driver charged from 12th to second in 28 laps before Thornton took second on lap 37, nearly overtaking Moran at the finish.

Saturday at Hagerstown (Md.) Speedway, Alberson was closest to Lucas Oil victory lane this year when he led the opening 31 laps, but Thornton again got around him en route to the $25,000 victory. And Sunday at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway, Alberson started second alongside the pole-starting Davenport, but couldn’t hold off Thornton, who took second on lap 11.

Alberson was on his way to a third podium in as many races over the weekend until the lap-33 caution at Port Royal.

“We weren’t bad on that long run there (from laps 15-33). When I had a little rhythm going, my tire temps were right,” Alberson said. “I felt like we had a shot at J.D. there (for second). I was catching him for second there right before that yellow came out, and I moved around on the track a little bit more than him.

“I thought I had more ammo to use to get him with, but I don’t know if I was trying too hard under that green-flag run to where on that next restart I didn’t have a lot of tire left, or something like that. I lost out to Devin (for third).

“We’re close. Just Ricky has crazy good traction, and his car is balanced and making good decisions. We’ll just keep working on it and we’ll be right there.”

Alberson’s impressed by how much traction Thornton’s Koehler Motorsports No. 20rt team has found wherever they go, especially on racetracks where grip can be hard to come by, like Hagerstown and Port Royal. Alberson notes the strengths of Davenport and Moran, too.

“J.D.’s car steers so good, if you have to do something a little more treacherous, his car is more natural to operate,” said Alberson, who then called Moran’s car “real neutral” because “he can do whatever he needs to, but it seems like whenever it gets momentum-slick is where he really shines.”

“(Moran’s) car, he can run off throttle and not get real tight or loose,” Alberson said. “His car does really good. It doesn’t have the most traction, maybe not the best steering, but when there’s momentum and slick, like in these longer races, I think that’s why he shows up at the end because his car is neutral. It’s not super dominant in one area.”

Alberson, meanwhile, feels most comfortable on momentum-oriented racetracks, ovals where he can wind his car up over a longer run and simply outrun the competition. The tracks he’s won at this year — Vado (N.M.) Speedway Park on Jan. 10 and Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., on Jan. 25 and Feb. 13 — fit that mold.

Hagerstown did at first, but down the stretch, Alberson didn’t have race-winning traction like Thornton. At Port Royal, he again lacked the traction to keep pace with Thornton, but he’s in the ballpark. It’s likely not noticeable to the naked eye, but Alberson finds it fascinating Lucas Oil tour title contenders, himself included, are generating speed in different ways.

“It’s almost like we’re after certain things. Like our car and Ricky’s car, and even J.D.’s car, we’re all after, like, a little bit of a different thing,” Alberson said. “Some nights it falls more one way than the other. Like, (Saturday), you needed a lot of grip, just a lot of straight-up traction. Ricky had that. It seems like where we can carry a lot of momentum, like a lot of speed, mine does pretty good.

“It’s like we all have a little different program and you just see where it falls out,” he added. “But to be at least somewhat consistent on half-miles is like a big step for us.”

Lucas Oil’s five-race playoff opener Sept. 26 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway is a long way off — five months and 29 points races — but Alberson hopes weekends like these make his top-four pursuit so attainable he doesn’t have to stress too much.

“You’re always going to think about it a little bit. Trying not to get too caught up in it and do the best we can every night,” Alberson said. “When everything is gelling and going well, if you’re just doing your best every night, usually that’s the right way to do it, I think. I’ve done it before, you can get caught up in the points and it eats at you really bad.

“Like, you have a rough night and you think, ‘Oh, God, the points.’ It’s gonna happen. You have to make the best out of every night you’re on the racetrack. That’s all you can do.”

With Brandon Overton (65 points behind in fifth), Daulton Wilson (75 points behind in sixth), Hudson O’Neal (125 points behind in seventh) and Brandon Sheppard (190 points behind in ninth) also in pursuit of a playoff spot, Alberson knows it won’t be easy.

Alberson's sticking point is trying to understand why his primary car excels at bigger tracks — the Longhorn he ran all three races also won last August at Port Royal — and why it doesn’t as much on bullrings. He’s also trying to get his second car up to speed so he doesn’t have to rely on solely one race machine.

With six of the next seven Lucas Oil races on black-dirt bullrings, not including the three FloRacing Night in America events at Illinois next week before May 9 at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway and May 10 at Fairbury (Ill.) Speedway, Alberson hopes to find answers sooner than later.

“It’s tricky because I don’t know if we really have a program purposely tailored to big tracks and small tracks,” Alberson said. “That car just seems to run well for whatever reason at big tracks. I’m still trying to learn that part I guess, why that car seems to shine a little more in one scenario or not.”

Next up: Friday at Circle City Raceway, the quarter-mile in Indianapolis, Ind., and Saturday at the undersized half-mile Florence Speedway in Union, Ky.

“It makes what you do next weekend a little interesting because the car we’ve been racing is a newer car but it hasn’t been getting maybe the results that this one has,” Alberson said. “We have to think about it.”