The opening rounds of the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series are in the books, which means two weekends remain until a national champion is crowned Oct. 19 at Eldora Speedway's Dirt Track World Championship in Rossburg, Ohio.

Devin Moran and Jonathan Davenport commanded this past weekend's 36th annual Pittsburgher 100 presented by Big River Steel, with Moran claiming Friday's $10,000 payday and Davenport thoroughly dominating Saturday's $50,000 race-record top prize.

Fellow Big Four drivers Ricky Thornton Jr. and Tim McCreadie. meanwhile, have work to do this Friday and Saturday at Brownstown Speedway's Jackson 100 should they stay in the title race.

Below is a breakdown the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Chase for the Championship with two races down and three races remaining.

1. Devin Moran (6,260 points)

Moran kicked off his playoffs in grand fashion during the Pittsburgher, sweeping Friday's action and charging from the 12th-starting spot to finish runner-up to Saturday's victor Jonathan Davenport.

The Dresden, Ohio driver's 10-point fast-time bonus on Friday gives him the points edge over Davenport heading into Brownstown, a place Moran won on the tour on March 23. He also recently finished fifth at the track in the Castrol FloRacing Night in America event.

What Moran said during Pittsburgher weekend: 

"Because I feel like we’ve been really so consistent all year, we didn’t want to change our mindset,” Moran said Friday when addressing his mentality toward the Lucas Oil Series playoffs, especially if there's any pressure. “So really, I didn’t feel anything different.

“For me it’s kind of the same as last year, because I had to be really good the last two races before Eldora (Speedway’s season-ending Dirt Track World Championship) to get into it (the inaugural Big Four format that featured a single, best-finisher-wins race). So last year I had three races I had major pressure on. This year we have five, so for me it don’t feel a whole lot different. We’ve been through it, so we just gotta keep working hard and hopefully nothing happens.”

2. Jonathan Davenport (-10 points)

Aside from not earning fast-time bonus points, Davenport turned in a championship-caliber weekend at PPMS, finishing runner-up to Moran on Friday before thoroughly dominating Saturday's finale, a race (aboard his Eldora Speedway car) that at one point he led by more than seven seconds 

Now the Blairsville, Ga., veteran eyeing a record-tying fourth Lucas Oil Series title is off to Brownstown, a track that hasn't been his best this year. He finished 15th there in Lucas Oil Series action earlier this March and faded to finish eighth in last month's Castrol FloRacing Night in America event after leading early laps at the track.

What Davenport said about Brownstown after Saturday's win:  

“We’ve been really good at Brownstown and we’ve been really bad,” said Davenport, whose lone Jackson 100 victory came in 2015. “Heck, we was leading last week at Brownstown (in the Castrol event before fading to an eighth-place finish). We feel like we know why we backed up so much. That gives us a little bit of confidence because we did start out the night good there.

“But hell, we might do that again. And the time before that (March 23’s Lucas Oil event) we finished 15th and that was really our worst finish all year, and that’s the best we could do. There wasn’t really nothing wrong. Hopefully we don’t do that again.”

3. Ricky Thornton Jr. (-60 points)

Respectable finishes of third and sixth has Thornton sitting 60 points behind Moran heading into Brownstown, a place he's had top-five runs going for him in two trips there this year.

RTJ, last year's Jackson 100 winner, finished fifth in March 23's Lucas Oil Series race at Brownstown and battled for fifth in last month's Castrol Series there before a tangle with Moran sent him spinning in an eventual 15th-place finish.

RTJ on his Pittsburgher weekend and outlook for Brownstown: 

“We were just a little off all weekend. We struggled getting traction off the corner, worked on it and got it better," he said. "That was probably the best I felt all weekend. Just wasn’t as good, as good as I needed to be.”

"Yeah, (being 60 points behind) is definitely manageable. I feel like we were really good at Brownstown last week. Eldora, it's Eldora, so you don't really know. I think we'll have a good shot both nights at Brownstown. The biggest thing there is getting qualified. It's hard to pass in those short features in the first night. We'll tune it up a little bit. As I said, that was the best we felt all weekend. I feel like we're moving in the right direction."

4. Tim McCreadie (-80 points)

McCreadie has the most work to do among the Big Four drivers after finishes of eighth and fourth during Pittsburgher weekend. The stakes are higher for the Rocket Chassis house car driver this trip to Brownstown, the place he debuted with the Shinnston, W.Va., team back on March 23.

The two-time Lucas Oil Series champ finished third at Brownstown in Sept. 25's Castrol Series event.

T-Mac on his Pittsburgher weekend and outlook for Brownstown: 

“We need to run better than fourth, but we made big strides from last night,” McCreadie said. “I mean, eighth was terrible. That was just a bad deal all the way around and it’s tough to come back from that, but tonight we lost a little but it wasn’t major."

“This isn’t gonna be easy. Tonight shows that we can put some things together — we can get some fast time points and things of that nature — and I think we were really good at Brownstown last week. But everybody’s good at every track. Hopefully we can have a car that was as balanced as the last time that we raced there. Then Eldora could be a crap shoot. We’re not out of it, but we definitely have got a hill to climb.”

2024 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Chase For The Championship Schedule