Jonathan Davenport didn’t sugarcoat anything when asked what the deciding factor had been in Saturday's $50,000 drive to his Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory at Port Royal Speedway.

Of course, the Blairsville, Ga., superstar started from the front row, but he hadn’t won a full-field feature since June 8's Dream XXX at Ohio's Eldora Speedway more than two months ago.

“Got my head out of my ass with the car and thought about it,” Davenport said. “Just got the car better so it can turn. I was just way too tight. Normally when I start too tight, I can’t turn. I always overadjust for the feature, so I stay too tight all night.

“We were better in the feature last night, but I was still way too tight than I needed to be. We got to think about it and sleep on it. Came back with a gameplan today and started out better. We hot-lapped better and qualified better.”

Davenport’s had a trio of semifeature victories since his ninth Eldora crown jewel — two at Florence Speedway’s North-South 100 in Union, Ky., on Aug. 8-9 and another June 20 at Lernerville Speedway’s Firecracker 100 in Server, Pa. — as his winless streak in full-field features climbed to 18 races before Saturday Rumble by the River finale.

When Davenport was made aware he went that long without such a victory, he didn’t appear that interested, nor worried, with statistics putting into perspective what he just accomplished.

“Oh … yeah? I knew it’d been in a minute,” said Davenport, who later added “I don’t even know how many wins I have this year.”

Davenport, the 10-time winner this year, has had a lot on his mind lately. For starters, his 74-year-old father, J.L., is currently in the hospital battling congestive heart failure.

In the midst of that, Davenport’s Double L Motorsports team has been preparing three separate race cars for upcoming events: The one they won with Saturday at Port Royal, Davenport’s beloved Eldora race machine that’ll gun for a sixth Big E crown jewel since 2019 at Sept. 5-7’s World 100, and a brand-new race car for the seven-race Lucas Oil Series playoff that starts Sept. 27 at Brownstown (Ind.) Speedway.

Additionally, Longhorn Chassis staffer Matt Langston no longer travels with the Double L Motorsports team as he’s returned to Longhorn’s headquarters in China Grove, N.C. That’s shifted responsibilities among the Double L Motorsports team led by crew chief Cory Fostvedt, Zach Huston and even Davenport himself.

The team has also added a tire specialist, Tyler Phelps of Warren, Pa., to its race-day crew. Davenport brought up the change in road crew when the comment was made that at least he hasn’t had major shakeups recently like the magnitude of his nearest competitors, Tim McCreadie, Hudson O’Neal, and Ricky Thornton Jr.

“It may look like that from the outside, but not really,” Davenport said. “Halfway through last year, we lost Vinny (Guliani). And then had Cory (Fostvedt join as crew chief) last year. We’re tying to work better together. This year, Matt’s been with us, so we lost him a couple weeks ago.”

Davenport regained some of his Man of Steel tendencies Saturday where he bucked a trend of subpar feature starts to win his third feature of $50,000 or more this year. Since June’s Dream triumph, he’s had an average start of 8.5 in full-field features. Four of his previous seven full-field starts have been 15th or worse, too.

On Saturday, Davenport earned quick-time honors in the second group that set himself up for an outside front-row feature start. And then, in the feature, Davenport found a good enough balance, something he’s admittedly struggled with of late, to finish the job.

During Friday’s 40-lap feature, Davenport went with the softest tire compound — the NLMT 2s — on his left side, the NLMT 3 medium compound on his right-front and the NLMT 4 hardest compound on his right-rear.

“I thought that was right, but we were way too tight (Friday) bottoming out,” Davenport said. “I didn’t give the 3 a real chance to be able to steer. I feel like later in the race it probably would’ve been better, especially if that cushion would’ve never left. This place races great, but I feel like it’d be a little better if that cushion ain’t there so we can start moving around.”

Being 520 points ahead of fifth-place Tim McCreadie in the Lucas Oil Series standings, Davenport’s also admitted he’s “been able to experiment a little bit.” Since Davenport’s historic summer of 2022 where he won seven of his 16 full-field features in July and August, he’s only won three of 34 full-field features in July and August since then.

Davenport’s said he’s tried “a lot of stuff” with the hope of finding victory lane again more frequently. 

“A lot of stuff,” Davenport emphasized. “I ain’t really going to say and lead somebody down a foxhole. Just been working on a lot of things, a lot of little stuff. Nothing major. But nowadays you’re an eighth packer in the right-front, you’re one turn on the wheelbase, you’re a rod adjustment away from what helps you win. It doesn’t take much anymore.”

Davenport added “it’s really been the same ever since they put us on this droop rule” — the rule where postrace rear deck heights must not exceed 51 inches, checked with both rear tires off the ground — “and (since) these new (Hoosier NLMT) tires came along” at the start of last year.

As statistics show, Davenport and most of the the competition has fallen behind the pace of Thornton’s 54 wins and Bobby Pierce’s 63 wins since the start of last season.

“If somebody finds one little advantage and then figures out how to adjust around it, and if you can do it in all conditions, they’re going to be superior for a while,” Davenport said. “Like Ricky was that way for a year and a half. And Bobby’s found something. It just takes that little bit. Once you get your confidence built up, you start rolling good, and it doesn’t matter if you start fourth in the heat.

“But if you can start doing repetitive stuff every time you unload, you know what you have and you’re not trying things. While you’re running good, everyone else is chasing you, so they’re trying more stuff and they’re going to miss more than they hit. It makes you look even better.”

Despite feeling a step or two behind, Davenport believes he’s slowly turning the corner. He swept North-South 100 prelims, but needing to start fourth in the opening heat race of Saturday’s finale buried his chances. He started 19th in the 100-lap feature and finished sixth.

“We’ve been getting better and better, getting more consistent, and trying some new things,” Davenport said. “Once you find something that works, then you have to figure out how to adjust around it. Yeah, we were really good at Florence. The invert in the heat screwed us, really. But we weren’t fast enough to pass. I feel like if we would’ve started in the top-five we would’ve ran better.”

At the Topless 100, Davenport employed the brand-new race car he hopes will carry him through the first six points races of the seven-race Lucas Oil Series playoffs. He “missed a little bit” with the car on opening night of the Topless 100, starting 19th and finishing 15th. But during the 100-lap finale, he drove from 15th to finish second to McCreadie.

“Batesville, brand-new car, never made a lap with it. So the first night I missed a little bit, chose the wrong lane in the heat race, and that put us in the back,” Davenport said. “Then obviously (Friday) it rubbered up on the third lap, so we couldn’t get through the field. But I felt really, really good in the feature. Felt like we were going to get McCreadie and then it was just enough left on the top that I couldn’t deal with it.”

Davenport also feels he’s back to running his race cars through the middle of the racetrack just how he likes it.

“When my car is really good through the middle and they have to rely on the cushion, that’s when I feel good about my chances,” Davenport said. “I felt good coming into this weekend. I just missed it a little bit — it was my fault Friday (at Port Royal) — the first day.”

With three points races remaining before the series seven-race playoff — Aug. 31 at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park; Sept. 1 at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va.; and Sept. 21 at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway — Davenport’s thinking how he can make a run for his fourth Lucas Oil Series title and potentially collect $250,000 at Oct. 19’s Dirt Track World Championship.

Winning the DTWC would net $100,000 while winning the series title would give him another $150,000. And with Sept. 5-7’s World 100 around the corner, Davenport’s strategized how he can maximize his race team’s resources to perhaps finish out the year with a bang.

“Luckily we’ve been consistent enough throughout the year that we have a little bit of a cushion,” Davenport said. “I’ve been able to experiment a little bit. Then with losing (Matt), I’ve had to pick up more roles doing stuff. I’ve had to try more things based off my feel on what I wanted to do. 

“But it hasn’t really changed my approach any. It just allowed me to do a little more out-of-the-box stuff and still have that one car sitting there ready to go. I know it’s a really good car now. The first couple laps I made with it I didn’t like it at all. We worked on it and got better.

“I want a fresh car, a fresh motor. These guys are so tough anymore, if we get in that final four — with it being seven races — if you break one time, you’re probably done. There’s five or six guys that have a chance at it. We’re all running pretty steadily in the top-seven, the top-eight, so you better not mess up when it comes down to it.”