Jonathan Davenport Reveals Which Tour He'll Follow In 2025
Jonathan Davenport Reveals Which Tour He'll Follow In 2025
Jonathan Davenport bids for his fourth title on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series this season.
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In the season-opening Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series weekend at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga., three-time champion Jonathan Davenport said he was “90 percent” sure he’d again follow the national tour again. | Complete Speedweeks coverage
The 40-year-old also mentioned he’d contemplated campaigning on the World of Outlaws Late Model Series because it’s a bucket-list endeavor of his to run the World Racing Group series before his touring days are over.
But after not appearing as one of the 31 drivers signing WoO’s platinum membership before Friday’s season opener at Volusia Speedway Park, the Blairsville, Ga., superstar was asked: “Lucas it is?”
“Lucas it is,” said Davenport, whose Double L Motorsports No. 49 team prepares to chase their fourth touring title this year, a championship that’ll again come down to Oct. 17-18’s Dirt Track World Championship at his favorite racetrack, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio.
Davenport’s verbal commitment makes him the 12th driver to pledge their intentions to follow the Lucas Oil circuit this season joining a tentative series roster with Garrett Alberson, Dan Ebert, Carson Ferguson, Clay Harris, Cory Lawler, Devin Moran, Hudson O’Neal, Brandon Overton, Ross Robinson, Brandon Sheppard and Brenden Smith.
Last year’s Lucas regulars Max Blair, Tim McCreadie, Jimmy Owens, Ricky Thornton Jr., Drake Troutman, and Daulton Wilson haven't pledged a commitment to either tour. For Davenport, it’ll be his 10th year on the tour. His first came in 2012 for Clint Bowyer Racing when he finished seventh in the standings.
But since his 2015 championship with the K&L Rumley Enterprises team, he’s only skipped the tour once, that coming in 2022 during his monstrous $2 million season.
He's nearly always a title contender, winning two more titles (2018-19), finishing second in 2016, placing third three times (2020-21 and '24), and finishing fourth in 2023.
“We were thinking about World of Outlaw just to change it up. Nothing against Lucas — Lucas does a great job and, you know, they’ve stepped up their game,” Davenport said. “I’m getting to the older point in my career now I’ve always wanted to run World of Outlaws just one time, but this is only the second year they ever scheduled against (Batesville Motor Speedway’s) Topless 100 (in Locust Grove, Ark.).
“Batesville, with Nutrien Ag Solution and being a home base for my car owner, we just can’t miss that race.”
With WoO regular Tyler Bruening winning last weekend at Golden Isles, Davenport, who has three runner-ups in as many races to begin 2025, is the way-too-early Lucas points leader after a single race. The tour returns to action Thursday at All-Tech Raceway for the first of three scheduled nights of action at the 4/10-mile oval in Ellisville, Fla.
“Three seconds in a row ain’t bad,” Davenport said Saturday in his postrace interview with DIRTVision’s Hannah Newhouse. “I guess it could always be worse. We’re showing speed. A win will finally come.”
After his Batesville-based team “roughed it” last year with only two crewmen — crew chief Cory Fostvedt and general mechanic Zach Huston, who’s now Garrett Alberson’s crew chief — Davenport has a three-man road crew this year.
Tyler Bragg, a member of the 2022 crew, has returned to the No. 49 squad as a general mechanic. Dirt Late Model racer Cole Perine from Lowell, Ohio, a two-time Super Late Model winner last season at Tyler County Speedway in Middlebourne, W.Va., has also joined the team as a general mechanic
“He’s shown a lot of dedication” and “is a great addition to the team,” Davenport said of Perine.
Fostvedt returns as a third-year crew chief. Davenport has 16 Lucas victories and 61 top-fives in 102 series starts since 2023 when Fostvedt took over for Jason Durham. Davenport, who finished second Saturday to Garrett Alberson and Huston’s No. 58 team, is happy for his former mechanic moving up in the sport.
“Zach wanted to progress his career a little bit, and saw the opportunity for that, which is good for him,” Davenport said. “But I feel like I have a good bunch of guys. I can’t be at the shop all the time, so I’m confident in them to give me the best race car possible.”