WHEATLAND, Mo. — In what’s developing as his best Dirt Late Model season, what Ricky Thornton Jr. has accomplished in this week’s Show-Me 100 prelims at Lucas Oil Speedway might be the most impressive.

The Chandler, Ariz., native's nation-leading eight victories are undeniably nice, but there’s another sense of pride in passing 29 cars between a pair of features to earn the outside pole of Saturday’s 100-lap, $50,000-to-win crown jewel. Thornton’s success with SSI Motorsports has put him atop the points on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, and he showed blue-collar moxie Friday in roaring from 24th to third in a backup car.

“This winter, I feel like our team, we went up a whole another notch,” Thornton said. “We ended the year really strong last year. Then, this year, we took the extra time off to make sure everything was prepared right. If something like this does happen (when a backup car is needed), you’re prepared and have everything ready to go. That part helped us a ton. Our communication between our whole team, it’s second to no one.”

Thornton resorted to a backup car Friday after an engine went bad just as he clinched a transfer spot in his heat race. Switching machinery meant Thornton had to start from the tail of the field. Thornton remained stuck there, mired in last, the opening 12 laps and clearly didn’t look like himself. A caution for Tyler Stevens on lap 13 granted Thornton and his team the opportunity to make adjustments in the hot pit that better fit the greasier track conditions.

“I would say a lot of it is that the adjustments we made weren’t a ton, but it was enough just to fix in the slime off three. We were really bad. We fixed that problem essentially,” Thornton said. “When I stopped, (crew chief Anthony) Burroughs knew exactly what we needed to do. He asked me, and we said the exact same thing. It worked out.

“As soon as I pulled in, my crew guys were there immediately. That part helps, too. You don’t have to wait and mess around. I kind of struggle whenever it’s that fresh, farmed, slime (surface) here. As soon as the track cleans off and blackens up some, I feel like our stuff comes alive. I feel like we’ll be really good (Saturday). We might struggle a little bit in the first 10 laps or so, but as long as I don’t lose a bunch of spots, I think we should have a really successful night.”

VIDEO: Watch highlights from Friday's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series race at Lucas Oil Speedway.

Thornton’s toughest job this weekend might boil down to which car he’ll choose for Saturday’s Show-Me 100. Both cars are formidable and Thornton probably can’t go wrong with whichever race machine he rolls with. While his primary car swept last weekend’s Lucas Oil Series in Iowa and took him for a 10th-to-second run in Thursday’s Cowboy Classic, Thornton undoubtedly comfortable in his backup car, a machine that carried him to a $100,000 victory in the 2021 Dirt Track World Championship. 

According to Thornton, the backup car he employed Friday has more than 300 races to its credit. Former SSI pilot Hudson O’Neal drove the car in 2019 before the car became Thornton’s primary race machine in ’20 and ’21.

“Old faithful is still going,” Thornton said. “No, we’ve been fortunate enough we haven’t had to unload it at all this year until tonight. It’s a really good car. We’re kind of debating if we’re going to run it tomorrow or the other one. The problem we run into is, we’re in the show and we should start second. If something happens in our hot lap session tomorrow, you have to make sure you have another car to still maintain your starting spot. Something crazy could happen and you could need to unload a backup car at the last second. … We’ll have both cars ready. We’ll decided once it gets time.”

Thornton is also having another engine delivered to his team in time for Saturday’s evening Show-Me 100 just to be safe.

“Luckily we have a couple guys at the shop who are coming to bring it,” Thornton said. “Either way, we’ll have both cars ready. The motor we’re putting it is a really good motor; we’ve ran it a bunch. Shouldn’t have any problems.”

Another impressive aspect about Thornton’s Show-Me weekend is that the team found ways forward even without Burroughs for an evening on Thursday.

“It really showed last night, like Anthony wasn’t even here. He was at his boy Ryan’s graduation,” Burroughs said. “It kind of showed how well our team really is, where (Anthony) was able to do something — and we talked to him on the phone and stuff — but he wasn’t here to watch the racetrack or give ideas, any of that stuff. We had a really successful night last night. Tonight, our team’s gelling really, really well. Hopefully we can keep it going.”

Thornton’s only self-professed weakness of the season is getting the most out of his car in tackier race conditions, whether early in the night such as a qualifying run or later in the night after thoroughly reworked racing surface. In time-trialing sessions this week, Thornton’s logged the 11th and 14th quickest times in his group.

“Last year here in the big show, I kind of struggled a little bit when it was slimy,” Thornton said. “We were here earlier (April 1) for the MLRA race and it was the same thing the second night. It’s like, once that little bit of slime goes away, I feel like our stuff really takes off. We caught a couple cautions at the right time (on Friday). Under yellow, it allowed us to pack the track in enough where that slime was gone. I think once that happened, I was kind of able to get going. 

“Our car was good enough tonight once it got slick that I could kind of go wherever I needed to, whereas a lot of the guys were stuck way up top or on the bottom. It worked out for me that I was still able to maneuver and get all the way up to third.”

While the slimy conditions are a challenge, Thornton truly feels he has one of, if not, the most well-rounded package in the country at the moment. He’ll start outside the front row in Saturday’s 100-lapper alongside Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., who led every lap in both preliminary features.

“Our package that we have, we can show up anywhere and be competitive,” Thornton said. “We might not qualify as good as what we might need to, but as soon as the track slows down a little bit, I feel like we have the best car here. One hundred laps, I know they’re going to prep it. By lap 30 or so, it’ll be nice and slick. (Davenport) has been really good this weekend. (Tim) McCreadie’s been really good this weekend. I think the main thing is not getting myself so far behind so I won’t have to hurt my stuff trying to get back to them. I think we’ll be good.

“Kind of glad tonight is over with. It was a roller coaster,” Thornton added. “You never know what’s going to happen. Earlier in the main, I almost got lapped by J.D., and caught a caution when we needed it. I was able to pit. As I said, we made a couple of small adjustments, and I was really good after that. The track was good. I felt like it was pretty good last night until it rubbered. It didn’t rubber tonight. I’m sure tomorrow they’ll do another full farm. We’ll see how we end up. Hopefully we’re up front and have a really solid night.”

Thornton felt like he’s “about equal” with Davenport when it comes to performance and drivability in dirty air. In open track, Thornton gives the slight advantage to Davenport, likely because no one’s been able to pass him all week. On Saturday, though, Thornton’s starting in the same position — outside the front row — that Davenport’s used in winning twice.

“If it’s like last year, we’re going to be through traffic and all that,” Thornton said. “As I said, it’s about capitalizing on my starting position and not letting something crazy happen and before we know we’re back to 14th or 15th. That’ll be the main thing tomorrow.”