Chris Madden’s perspective in Thursday’s technical inspection line at Florence Speedway was decidedly different than usual. Instead of sitting behind the wheel, the Gray Court, S.C., driver stood outside the Koehler Motorsports car, carefully watching to make sure his team passed inspection with flying colors.

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The typically stoic Madden, wearing a T-shirt and camouflaged shorts, first stood behind the right-rear corner of the car, then moved to the left side to get a closer look at inspectors. Then the 49-year-old with the stubbly but neatly trimmed gray goatee leaned in to quietly to ask about a particular measurement.

All the while, team driver and Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. stayed in the driver’s seat while Madden, making his crew-chiefing debut for the team Thornton joined last month, guided the team that includes crew members Ricky Arnold and D.J. Williams.

It’s an interesting transition for Madden, who first announced in June plans to step away from full-time racing at the conclusion of the season. Since then a bout with diverticulitis forced him off the World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series, and July 26 Madden was tapped as crew chief for the Mount Airy, N.C.-based Koehler team that threw a lifeline to Thornton after his release from SSI Motorsports.

"I mean, it's gonna be a little bit of adjustment, for sure,” said Madden, winner of many of the sport’s crown jewel races over a 30-season career. “But I've worked on guys' cars around home, went with them (to the track) at different times. I enjoy this side of it too, especially getting to work with Ricky here, you know, he's a great shoe and a great driver. So it’ll be interesting to see what we can do here.”

Most Lucas Oil teams at Florence for the $75,000-to-win Sunoco Race Fuels North-South 100, a crown jewel event preceded by twin semifeatures in Thursday and Friday programs, arrive in midseason form. The Madden-directed Koehler Motorsports team spent the past four days scrambling to prepare and outfit a rig (a truck and trailer team owner Bobby Koehler bought from Madden), and build a backup race car while preparing body panels and extra parts for the season’s home stretch.

“Yeah, we've had a busy week. We redone this (Longhorn Chassis) they've been racing and then, we built a new one to come,” Madden said. “So we had a long night last night and got here, I think at 5 this morning. So it's been a busy week, but hopefully it'll be worth it.”

The quartet gathered Monday in North Carolina to grind for three days.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it right now,” said Arnold, Madden’s former crew chief who came along to join the Koehler operation. “We’ll rest up next week.”

In the midseason team change that saw Hudson O’Neal return to the SSI ride, Thornton made his first of seven starts with Koehler’s team on July 11, driving teammate Jordan Koehler’s car with a No. 20rt decaled over the original No. 114. Thornton then spent the last two weekends driving for K&L Rumley Enterprises in World of Outlaws competition and returns to his Lucas Oil championship chase at Florence.

The team hit the ground running Monday in Mount Airy.

“Monday morning, we all knew what we had to do,” Arnold said. “We literally got straight to work. I think we finally had our first team meeting (Wednesday) morning before Ricky had to leave because we all just got there and put our nose down and went to work. We knew what we had to do and knew what kind of time we had to do it in. Monday to Wednesday we was wide open.”

Thornton wrapped the cars. Arnold prepared a half-dozen extra bodies. Madden went through the older and newer car and prepared setups. Williams prepared tires. Arnold and Williams restocked the trailer that Arnold and Stephen Eldridge (another Madden crew member) had emptied a week earlier. Other tasks included mounting seats and preparing Madden’s pit toolbox and crash cart (they’ll eventually be replaced later by Koehler-owned units).

Bobby Koehler has “made sure we've had what we need. They're taking care of us. Anything that we don't have, they said just let them know and they'll provide anything we need,” Arnold said, adding that restocking the trailer was a tall order.

“You don't really realize how much you need and how much you have in truck and trailer until you're restocking one completely from the ground up with new stuff,” Arnold said. “We all kinda pitched in … It's all been a team effort and everybody, like I said, everybody's already clicked like instantly.”

There will be more to do as the team plans another trip to North Carolina before the following weekend’s Comp Cams Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark. They’ll finish restocking the hauler and more.

“We got a notepad in (the hauler) right now. It says: Needs, Wants and Wish List. So we're filling it up that way we can go back next week,” Arnold said. “We're going to be on (page) 3 or 4 by the end of the day, I think.”

Everyone knows their roles, Thornton said, but it’s a seasoned crew. (For clarity, Arnold is known as “Ricky” while Thornton is “RTJ”. But “who knows, may we'll change all our names to Ricky,” Thornton cracked).

“Chris is obviously kind of like the crew chief role as far as like setups and overseeing everything and all that,” Thornton said. “And then D.J., he's all tires and then kind of whatever else we need. Ricky is a little bit of everything. Obviously all of us can help and do whatever job we need to just being around the sport for so long. So we all kind of have like our little mindset of what we want out of each guy, but at the same time, if they need help, any of us can jump in, too.

"So hopefully this weekend goes smooth for us and we can just kind of continue to grow and then just build off that.”

Thornton, who had a close and successful relationship with Anthony Burroughs while winning dozens of races with SSI Motorsports, is confident Madden can fulfill the same role the Koehler operation.

"We've all gelled together really fast, which I mean, there, there's plenty of time that we've parked next to Chris,” Thornton said. “So at least we always had that relationship before. I never worked this close with him, but I think overall it's going to be really good.”

The two never ran the same series at the same time and haven’t had any serious scrapes, and “we've always got along with them really well,” Thornton said. “Like I said, we've parked by him numerous times. So overall, we've gelled as good as we can as quick as we can, and really we've worked all day and all night the last few days, just trying to get everything prepared.”

Arnold added that “Chris and Ricky, I'd say, developed a friendship before this even started,” he said. “Nothing about this is bad. I think it's all gonna be good and hopefully we can have a good (finish to the season). Our end goal is to help Ricky finish this year off in the championship and hopefully we can do that.”

And that seems to be the plan for now as Madden and Thornton were reluctant to discuss plans beyond 2024.

“This right here is really just — I don't know, we'll just see how it goes to see what happens from here,” said Madden, who may occasionally drive a Thornton backup car. “But I have no plans right now. We'll just see what happens.”

Thornton envisions Madden being with the team “for sure to at least get through the rest of the year, that's our main focus. Get through the year and then just kind of figure out what our next step might be. It could be long term, or just (2024). You never really know. Just the way the world is today. We’ll for sure at least get through the year and then just kind of plan from there.”

Madden preferred to focus on short-term goals.

“I’m interested in getting the night going and getting some laps behind us and just glad to be able to a part of it here,” he said.

And Thornton agreed.

“Hopefully we can just have a smooth weekend and not really be thrashing next week to get ready for Batesville,” he said.