BATESVILLE, Ark. — Jared Landers beamed when he climbed from his car following Friday’s 30-lap Comp Cams Topless 100 preliminary feature. Making his first start since last year’s Topless 100, the Batesville, Ark., native and son of Double L Motorsports team owner Lance Landers finished sixth in the preliminary feature to guarantee his starting spot in the 31st annual Topless 100.

It was a solid accomplishment for the 2010 event champion who rarely competes outside his home track’s marquee event. Naturally, the emphasis Landers puts on the Topless 100 is off the charts. It’s the biggest event of the season right in his backyard and he gets a rare opportunity to slide back behind the wheel of a Super Late Model.

“It’s just right here by our home shop you know and I won my first race here,” said Landers, who ran among the top five early in Saturday’s feature before pitting on lap 66 and eventually calling it quits on lap 71, credited with 26th. “I got a lot of laps around this momentum-, smaller momentum-type racetrack. And I don’t know. My dad, and Nutrien Ag who actually began sponsoring me, which is Crop Productions back in, shoot, I guess in 2014 or ’15, they were my sponsor and they like to see me run up here every now and then, because I don’t give up. I wanna drive it as hard as I can.”

Perhaps that’s why Landers became so upset when his car’s carburetor hung wide open during Saturday’s hot-lap session, forcing him into a spin in turn one as he barely kept the car out of the wall before he managed to bring it to a stop. Landers climbed from the car, walked down the backstretch and caught a ride back to the pit area with an official while leaving the car sitting in turn two where his brother Gavin went to retrieve it.

Yelling in exasperation, Jared Landers slammed his helmet to the ground and disappeared toward Jonathan Davenport’s truck, quickly changing from his firesuit before his car even made it back to the pit stall. With his chances of starting the feature in jeopardy, it was an emotionally-charged reaction.

Without a doubt, Landers and Davenport put a little extra effort into the Topless 100 each year and for good reason.

“It means a ton really because (team owner Lance Landers) don’t get to see us that often,” said Davenport, who finished second behind winner Dale McDowell of Chickamauga, Ga. “It meant more before because when (former crew chief) Jason (Durham) had the cars at his place (in Kentucky) we were never there (in Batesville). We’re at least at the shop a little more than we used to be.

“But Lance can bring some of his customers over here and some of the guys that work for him and everything and especially with (primary sponsor) Nutrien Ag Solutions being their home here with Steve Martin. They always have the bus up on the hill, so it’s just an awesome place for everybody to gather just right here at the shop.”

Since joining Double L Motorsports in 2018, Davenport, of Blairsville, Ga., has been nothing short of spectacular for his team owner, delivering a much sought after World 100 victory for the team in 2019 and adding two more in 2021-’22. Last year, Davenport managed to produce a Topless 100 win for his boss as well (Jared Landers was driving for Team Dillon when he won in 2010). Davenport said running well at Landers’s home track is always important.

“Absolutely. This is his home turf so we have to defend it like it’s our own,” Davenport said.

How much emphasis a driver puts on an event is purely subjective though. While Landers and his weekend teammate Davenport make the Topless 100 a focal point, two of Batesville’s biggest stars, Hall of Famer Billy Moyer and his son Billy Moyer Jr., both said they treat the event just like any other race — as much as possible anyway.

“Probably in my younger days it might have meant more. Now it’s kinda just another race you know,” the elder Moyer said. “It’s close to home for sure and we love that part of it. For where we live down here for Late Model racing I ask myself sometimes what I ever moved here for. Back in the day it was better than Iowa back when I come to Larry Shaw’s 100 years ago.

“Anyway, this race, (promoter) Mooney (Starr) really built it into something. You see the pits are nearly full and it’s like a carnival around here with the side-by-sides. It’s good money for sure if you win the thing.”

Moyer admitted that had he been able to capitalize on his near miss in 2020 — which would have been his fifth career Topless 100 win and first since 2005 — it would have been held with much higher esteem.

“That would have meant a lot. We started a ways back,” said Moyer. “My ol’ car just kinda come to life to me there and could run wider than everybody ran. Jimmy (Owens) was protecting the bottom there and the white flag come out and I’m like ‘I gotta go for it now.’ It’s kinda pushy there off (turn) two there all the time here anyway. I passed him coming off of two but I thought his right front was still at my number. We’re gonna go into (turn) three and it’s the last lap and you know, eight tires are better than four. So I kept my foot in it and bumped that wall and tore the right-front off of it and we ended up fifth or whatever. That would have meant a lot to win that one.”

Moyer’s crystal clear recollection of the 2020 race is a good indicator of how special it was to be competing for a crown jewel win regardless of where it was. But after sliding from his fourth starting spot all the way back to 17th in Friday’s preliminary race — a finishing position that landed the 65-year-old on the pole of a consolation race on Saturday rather than locking him into the feature — not even a $50,000 crown jewel at his home track was enticing enough for Moyer to stick around. He loaded up his Tim Lance-owned car and decided to scratch from Saturday’s program.

Meanwhile, Moyer Jr., whose shop is 6 or so miles up the road from the track, was simply trying to get through the weekend. He advanced to the feature via a provisional and struggled to a 23rd-place finish in the weekend finale.

“It’s just another race,” Moyer Jr. said. “Like, you got people everywhere you know and you can’t have time to talk to every single one of them because you’re trying to work. What I like is you see guys that you see at the parts store and people you eat lunch with and stuff like that and that’s really cool. You see some random fans and you see some people from here who have your T-shirt on and you’re like, ‘Aww that’s pretty damn neat,’ but nah, it’s just another race and I’m just not worth a crap here.

“I just struggle here and you try to not put too much pressure on (yourself) but you can’t help but do it. Honestly I don’t like it because it just puts more pressure on myself. I’ve won four or five (races) here, but this isn’t one of my good tracks. This is not one of my better tracks and maybe it is because everything’s around here and I have anxiety anyway. It’s a great paying race right here at the house and that’s so cool. But I’m ready to go somewhere else. The best part is I get to sleep in my own bed and see my family.”