There was plenty of hemming and hawing from race fans and competitors alike when the playoff-style championship format was announced by Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials last December. But Ricky Thornton Jr., who has held the orange spoiler for much of the year, has made peace with the format and whatever happens at the end of Saturday’s Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway.

“There’s a lot of really bad things happening in the world. How fortunate are we that a race is our biggest source of grief or trouble,” Thornton Jr. wrote in a Facebook post. “The race will happen Saturday. The outcome will be what it will be. We’ve prepared extensively. It will be glorious or it will be heartbreaking. No outcome will take away what we’ve accomplished this season.”

Thornton Jr. is right. He’s had a season to remember, even if it doesn’t result in him winning his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship. He’s up to 23 victories, 41 top five and top 10 finishes in 51 starts this season. No other driver has double-digit victories. 

Jonathan Davenport has seven wins and Hudson O’Neal has six. Devin Moran has two wins. And yet all three of them are now tied in points with “RTJ.” But that’s the nature of the new format, and as Thornton Jr. says, everyone knew that when they signed up to race this year.

“We didn’t agree with the format when it was announced, but we did sign up knowing what it was.”

Should things go right for Thorton Jr. on Saturday, he’ll take home a $200,000 check for winning the championship, the most money a Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship has ever paid out. In fact, the driver who finishes second in points will take home $150,000, which is what it paid to win the championship just one year ago. Even if you finish fourth in points, you’ll still receive a $100,000 prize. Last year it paid just $50,000 to finish third in points.

But regardless of what happens, regardless of whether Thornton finishes ahead of O’Neal, Davenport and Moran, Thornton Jr. has made it clear that he will accept whatever fate comes his way.

“On Sunday the sun will rise again, and when it does Burroughs and the boys will probably already have the car washed. We will celebrate our little girl’s first birthday, and the world will keep turning.”

And Thornton Jr. is right. In the end, it’s just a race. For all four of these drivers and teams, racing is their life and their livelihood. It puts food on the table and a roof over their head. But it’s just a sport at the end of the day.

"Just remember on social media this weekend that the things that you say about other people say much more about your character than they do whoever you’re speaking negatively of. Please be kind to each other. Not just in regards to racing, but in all of life. Let’s make it a fun weekend.”

Thornton Jr. has already proven worthy of being a champion, even if the result doesn’t reflect that on Saturday night.

Saturday’s Dirt Track World Championship at Eldora Speedway will be broadcast live on MAVTV on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.