Devin Moran realized early in Thursday's 25-lap NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 preliminary feature at Deer Creek Speedway that racing at the front of the pack was the place to be. 

Once the 28-year-old standout from Dresden, Ohio, won the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event’s $5,000 first prize by a comfortable 2.663 seconds over Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., and was informed of the mayhem behind him — including a last-lap scrape between the top two drivers in the tour’s standings that boiled over into extracurricular activity and Ricky Thornton Jr's disqualification — he was even more thankful that he spent more than half the distance alone in the lead.

Behind Moran, a confrontation occured involving Chandler, Ariz.'s Thornton and Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., the pair who entered the weekend sitting first and second in the Lucas Oil Series points standings and having finished 1-2 in June's $50,000-to-win events on the tour.

As Moran was flashing under the checkered flag to capture the A-main, Thornton was charging to the outside of O’Neal entering turn three in a bid for seventh place. The duo had both started deep in the field — Thornton from the 19th spot, O’Neal one row farther back in 21st — and were digging for every position to gain more points in hopes of being among the 16 drivers who will lock into Saturday’s 75-lap, $50,000-to-win finale following Friday’s second preliminary program.

Thornton’s attempt to overtake O’Neal fizzled out, however, rounding turn four as O’Neal slid up the track, reducing Thornton’s available space. Thornton ended up squeezed into the outside wall, breaking his momentum and damaging his SSI Motorsports Longhorn machine as he settled for a ninth-place finish while O’Neal, despite a crunched right-side door on his Rocket Chassis house car, sped on to claim seventh.

Thornton, 32, crossed the finish line with the right-rear corner of his No. 20RT thoroughly smashed and its left-front tire flattened, among other damage, but he managed to catch O’Neal on the backstretch during the cool-down lap. With Thornton steaming over his second significant run-in of the night with O’Neal — their tussle during the first heat ended with contact that sent O’Neal spinning in turn two — the division’s No. 1-ranked driver expressed his displeasure by bumping the left-side of O’Neal’s car and crowding the 22-year-old into the backstretch wall.

There was an even more heated exchange between Thornton, O’Neal and their crews in the pit area moments later. The teams’ trailers were separated by just two pit stalls — the haulers of Ross Robinson and Earl Pearson Jr. — so they were in close proximity for some “yelling, screaming and hollering,” as Rocket house car owner Mark Richards said later, and also, according to eyewitnesses, a bit of pushing and shoving before the episode was broken up and the crews settled down to repair their vehicles.

O’Neal declined to comment on the situation with Thornton as he helped the Rocket1 crew patch up his car, which was in need of repairs for the second time Thursday after his heat incident with Thornton had eliminated him with nose, suspension and radiator damage from being hit by Robinson as he spun. Richards had few words as well aside from noting that he wasn’t pleased with Thornton’s decision to run into O’Neal on the track after the checkered flag.

Thornton offered just a few words on the record, responding to a question about what happened by saying it was a result of “racing Hudson O’Neal.” He added as a warning, “Don’t worry, I’ll see him here,” suggesting that O’Neal would remain on his mind for the remainder of the weekend. Thornton’s crew chief, Anthony Burroughs, didn’t comment, though his agitation was clear from the stern look on his face as he worked on RTJ’s car.

The controversial face-off between the national tour's top two drivers — and Martinsville, Ind., residents — provided yet another headache for tour director Rick Schwallie, who was on the scene in the pit area with other officials afterward. He wasn't immediately available for comment in the hours after the feature, most of which he spent in conversation with the principles involved. An official finish for the feature was not posted until just after 2 a.m. local time when the Lucas Oil Series issued a press release noting that Thornton had been disqualified to last place in Thursday's race and did not receive purse money or event points (the race did not offer points toward the Lucas Oil championship) because he “made contact with another car” after the race, a violation of series rules.

But while the Thornton-O’Neal fracas dominated the night’s discussion, Moran relished his second Lucas Oil Series victory of the season. It did slightly resemble his first triumph, in May 27’s Show-Me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., in that his performance was overshadowed by a high-profile postrace controversy — he inherited the $50,000 win, of course, after Thornton was penalized four spots for failing the deck-height measurement due to a broken droop limiter on his car — but he noted that this time he didn’t have to wait to be declared the victor.

“To get our first Lucas win going across the line first was really satisfying,” Moran said.

Moran, who earned his first-ever win at Deer Creek in his third career visit to the track, couldn’t answer affirmatively if he would have been able to overcome Wilson and Pierce if the two drivers hadn’t experienced trouble. He was confident, however, that he steered a formidable Double Down Motorsports Longhorn Chassis.

“I felt like Daulton was really good, and then Bobby obviously was trying to slide him (for the lead) when that caution came out (on lap 11) and Bobby smoked the wall (in turn four to break his car’s right-rear axle) and Daulton got a flat (forcing him to pit during the caution period),” Moran said. “It was a really tough break for both of ‘em.

“It’s hard to tell to tell if I had anything for them. I really wasn’t even in a rhythm to watch them guys because I was trying to race with (Brandon) Overton and Davenport (for third place during the race’s first half). Right when I got by them is when (Wilson and Pierce) did that and the caution came out.

“Really, I don’t feel like I got to assess a whole lot until I got in the lead because there were just cars going everywhere,” he added. “I was just stuck on that bottom at the start. Spencer (Hughes) was running around that top so I knew I needed to move up there in (turns) one and two … it was just a lot of people just going every which way and then trying to figure out which was the fastest.”

Moran deciphered that quandary. He’s been doing that quite well lately as Thursday’s triumph marked his sixth straight top-five finish on the Lucas Oil Series, turning around a spring lull.

“We’re getting on a little bit of a roll,” said Moran, who won in his first two starts of 2023 with his new Roger Sellers-owned ride (back-to-back World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series victories in January at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.) but went winless until May 27. “A lot of people don’t realize how tough this Lucas deal is. The last time I ran this Lucas tour was in 2020 and I was really bad. Last year I had some good runs, but I feel like I’m better right now than I was all of last year, excluding Speedweeks. It’s just a tribute to my crew guys for working hard and Roger Sellers for believing in us.”