Four rounds are complete in the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and now the Dirt Track World Championship only remains until a national champion is crowned Oct. 19 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.

Ricky Thornton Jr. stormed from 60 points behind Devin Moran following Oct. 4-5's Pittsburgher weekend to jump ahead both Moran and Jonathan Davenport by 50 points ahead of the championship finale. After commanding the Pittsburgher doubleheader in 1-2 fashion, Moran and Davenport couldn't get anything going during Jackson 100 weekend, with Moran finishing 10th and sixth as Davenport finished ninth and fifth, respectively.

Now 165 points behind, Tim McCreadie is mathematically eliminated from title contention.

Below is a breakdown of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Chase for the Championship with four races down and one race remaining.

1. Ricky Thornton Jr. (6,690 points)

Thornton entered the Jackson 100 weekend 60 points behind leader Devin Moran and exits 50 points ahead of Moran and Jonathan Davenport ahead of DTWC championship weekend.

Now on the cusp of a would-be first Lucas Oil title, RTJ and his Koehler Motorsports team appear to have put the kinks that come with forming a team midseason behind them to potentially seal the deal at Eldora. The 34-year-old can clinch the title with a podium finish Saturday or by virtue of a fourth-place finish coupled with Friday's fast-time honors (10 bonus points).

He'll have to do far better than Sept. 7's World 100 showing where he started sixth but could only complete 78 of 100 laps in a 20th-place finish. 

What RTJ said after finishing first and second during Brownstown's Jackson 100 doubleheader:

"Honestly, we wanted to come into the weekend and close the gap that we were behind. Obviously we didn't think we'd close that and get out front. Overall, a really good weekend for us. Not that it makes it easier for us going into Eldora, but at least we know we don't have to win the race. I feel like, last year, it was do or die, you had to win the race. Overall, just glad all the hard work is finally paying off. I feel like we have a little bit better balance than what we've had the past couple weeks. Really good weekend."

T2. Jonathan Davenport (-50 points)

Considering his finishes of 15th and eighth in previous Brownstown starts earlier this year, Davenport's ninth- and fifth-place results from Jackson 100 weekend will have to suffice heading into the DTWC championship finale.

Davenport felt like he played defense pretty much every time he took the Brownstown, Ind., quarter-mile, especially in Saturday's feature where he "tried to hang on to whatever we could there." Fortunately for the 40-year-old he's off to his favorite racetrack, Eldora Speedway, where he'll be very much on the offensive attack at the track he owns nine Crown Jewel victories.

Best case scenario for Davenport at the DTWC is Friday's 10-point fast-time bonus, Saturday's feature victory and for Thornton to finish fourth or worse.

Davenport on his outlook toward DTWC weekend after Brownstown:

"When it gets down to the race, maybe I'll do a little math. But we're going to go try to win fast time and try to win the race. As I was telling them guys (his Double L Motorsports crew), it's been a long time since I went Eldora and tried to set fast time. It'll be a little different. But we're just going to go, and we know we have a really good hotrod for there. We got really good notes. We're going to go in there guns blazing, and the way the cards fall is the way they fall."

T2. Devin Moran (-50 points)

With his 10-point lead now a 50-point deficit, Moran will hope for fortune at Eldora as he eyes his first career Lucas Oil title this DTWC weekend. 

His finishes of 10th and sixth at Brownstown — his first weekend without a top-five since Aug. 17-18's Topless 100, by the way — were the most unexpected developments from the Jackson 100 weekend, especially at a track he won at in March vs. Lucas Oil Series competition and finished fifth in September on Castrol FloRacing Night in America.

Another fifth-place finish at Eldora — where he finished in Sept. 7's World 100 — will probably not cut it for the 30-year-old this weekend, but at least Moran is still high on confidence heading into the Big E within his home state of Ohio.

Moran on his DTWC championship weekend outlook after Brownstown:

“Going to be a lot tougher now than where we were coming into the weekend. Just one of those deals we suck it up, work harder, and try to win out the rest of the year. I wasn’t very good all weekend. I just struggled with the balance and struggled with being in the racetrack. It’s one of those deals we have to work on it and see what happens next week at Eldora. ... Have to set fast time, win the race, and hope that Ricky finishes fifth or worse. We’ll see what happens.”

4. Tim McCreadie (-165 points)

Now 165 points behind Thornton, McCreadie's title hopes turned out as short-lived as he's mathematically eliminated from title contention.

Even if T-Mac earns 10 fast-time bonus points on Friday, wins Saturday's DTWC for 200 points and has Thornton finish 21st or worse (that'd be 75 points), he'd still need 30 points. McCreadie did finish fourth in Saturday's Jackson 100, but his 19th-place finish Friday — the 40-lap feature he spun running seventh — is what caved his chances.

The 50-year-old still has the chance to win his first career DTWC this weekend at Eldora and, with some fortune being 115 points behind Davenport and Moran, make a run at second in the points standings.

T-Mac on putting his season with Rocket1 Racing in perspective:

“I think we’ve come a long way. It’s a shame that we’re not at the beginning. I think if we could start in Volusia (Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla.) tomorrow, we’d be so much better than we were. It’s hard to do everything mid-season, and it’s really hard to do it when I’ve never been around the car or the motor or the shocks. ... We switched every single thing for me personally.

“It’s the only way to get better. I know everybody knows Ricky (Thornton Jr.) switched teams (in July), but he didn’t switch shocks, motors. We switched everything — a car I had never seen before, you know what I mean? On top of that, you know, a chassis I had never seen, shocks I had never seen, Ford motors vs. Chevrolets. But it’s been rewarding.”

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