Through three races with his new-look SSI Motorsports team, this much is clear: Hudson O’Neal has virtually picked up where Ricky Thornton Jr. left off, powering to Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victories Monday and Tuesday at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway and Shelby County Speedway.

It’s also clear that the 23-year-old superstar has been, in his own words, “a little bit of the villain, I guess,” as back-to-back victories have simultaneously evoked back-to-back celebrations amid an unmistakable shower of boos. 

“We’re going to embrace it and we’re going to see if we can’t convert some people (into fans) as we go,” O’Neal said. “We’re going to do the best we can and be as humble as we can. And do our best. We’re just trying to win the next one.”

Granted, O’Neal’s victories have come in the heart of IMCA country, the region that served as the instrumental steppingstone to the Arizona-born Thornton, the former SSI driver, and his fast-rising career.

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Based off that logic, many of those spectators are presumably disgruntled Thornton supporters unloading their displeasure toward O’Neal, who replaced the former Iowa native aboard the ultra-fast SSI race machine. For crew chief Anthony Burroughs, the boos are “kind of funny.”

“When they’re booing, you’re usually winning,” said Burroughs, who added he’s “thankful for our (SSI) guys)” because “it speaks volumes to their character to stick everything out and listen to the boos.

“We’re going to load up, go get some sleep, and go to work tomorrow,” he added, proclaiming the rinse-spit-repeat mantra that sums up the all-business demeanor that’s churned out 52 victories at SSI since the start of last year.

Until Monday’s victory at the third-mile Eagle Raceway, O’Neal had gone 22 races without a Lucas Oil Series triumph dating back to Feb. 6 at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., with Rocket1 Racing.

Since leaving Mark Richards’s Rocket Chassis house car program in the middle of March, O’Neal went from five points out of the Lucas Oil Series lead to outside the top-four in the standings, a backslide that saw an average finish of 12.8 over 15 series races aboard his self-owned No. 71 equipment.

In short, SSI owner Todd Burns offered O’Neal an opportunity he’d be foolish to turn down: Combining their assets to alleviate financial pressures for the both of them while surrounding O’Neal with the team that fueled Thornton to 2023 DirtonDirt.com's Driver of the Year honors.

O’Neal has said “it was really rewarding” to take on the endeavor starting his own team, “but financially and equipment-wise, it was a no-brainer to partner up with the SSI team.”

The drawback from that has been “I’m the one on the hate end of it,” he said. “Not the hate end that I got the opportunity, but the hate from the way it’s been put out there,” as in how people are perceiving the midseason transition that’s super-charged the Dirt Late Model world.

“I can speak for myself and Mr. (Todd) Burns, (the SSI owner): I know Mr. Burns had the best of intentions at heart,” O’Neal said after his Monday victory at Eagle. “I think he thinks the world of Ricky. It’s unfortunate the way it’s all worked out. At the end of the day, like you said, it’s drawn more fans. That’s been good.”

With their back-to-back one-two finishes, the O’Neal-Thornton saga hasn’t waned quite yet. But in the SSI race machine, O’Neal has looked a lot like Thornton: Convincing, hard to pass, and only growing stronger late into features.

WATCH: Highlights from Tuesday's Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature at Shelby County Speedway.

In both features at Eagle and Shelby County, O’Neal snatched the lead with 32 laps remaining and never looked back, controlling the bottom of both third-mile ovals smoothly and with precision. O’Neal said he “most definitely” feels the SSI cars only grow stronger as features progress, a hallmark ability of the team that propelled Thornton toward many victories late in the going.

“That’s a testament to Anthony Burroughs and Justin Tharp and Nick Hardy and D.J. Williams (who’s no longer with the team),” O’Neal said. “It’s a testament to how hard they’ve worked and have gotten this program to where it is, along with Todd Burns and Vicki Burns showing them support to build what they’ve built today.

“I’m not taking any of the credit because I wasn’t here for any of it. I’m just the very fortunate one that gets to come in and be the fill-in. We’re just excited for the rest of the year.”

With two wins and a runner-up finish out of the box, O’Neal’s success, in that small sample size, is already in step with the standard Thornton left at SSI. That raises the question: Does O’Neal feel he must win as much as Thornton did to consider himself successful or not?

“No, not really,” O’Neal said. “I felt a little bit of pressure coming in here. I was holding myself to a little bit of that pressure. But the more I’ve gotten around Burroughs and everybody else, they’ve shown me that I don’t have to be Ricky Thornton Jr., right? That I’m Hudson O’Neal and I’m always going to be Hudson O’Neal. We’re just going to try and work with that and do the best we can.

“If we win, we win. If we don’t, we’re just going to keep working as hard as we can. It’s all we can do. To answer your question, I don’t feel like I have to win as much as Ricky. We really want to. As long as we work hard and stay focused, if all things work out, then hopefully the wins will come.”

As Burroughs and O’Neal vocalized Tuesday, winning isn’t as easy it appears.

“It can flip in a hurry and be way different,” O’Neal said.

“It could turn … there’s no guarantees in this sport,” Burroughs added. “You never know what tomorrow is going to bring. We’re just working really hard to try and get better.”

On the upside, Burroughs already sees where SSI can better O’Neal at the wheel — “I mean, we have a ways we can get better,” he said — as they’re “just trying to get better today and pick a new area to work on everyday that can fit him.”

“That’s what we’re to keep doing and see what happens,” Burroughs said. “That’s all we can do.”

When asked if he’s felt O’Neal has picked up, performance-wise, where Thornton left off, Burroughs said, “Yes, yes, yes,” and commended his new driver for “making up for a lot of things” they haven’t quite perfected on the race car.”

“We’re just having to tweak on it a little bit, give him what he likes,” Burroughs siad. “Obviously none of these guys in the pit area are going to hop in each others’ cars and feel the way they want to feel. We’re just doing the best we can to give him his feel. We’ve been fortunate enough to hit it close. I ain’t saying we gave him a perfect car. But those guys are good enough, they don’t have to be perfect.

“The communication is good. The guys are working hard. You can’t ask for more. It’s a testament to Justin and Nick. Those are the guys working a lot of hours and not a lot of sleep. This time of year, it’s a grind.”

As O’Neal heads to Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D, on Thursday, he’ll continue to be gracious toward those who don’t approve of him as he counters the showers of boos with showers of praise toward his SSI team.

“I’m very fortunate to be in the situation I am with a lot of good people around me,” O’Neal said. “If it weren’t for the people around me, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today. There’s a big change coming out of my program and going to this with the caliber of help. It’s showing, that’s for sure.”