GREENWOOD, NE – Chris Madden continued what has become the best season of his career, winning the Dirt Track Bank Go 50 on Thursday night at I-80 Speedway. The 47-year-old South Carolina native took the lead at the start of the main event and led flag-to-flag for his fourth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.

Jonathan Davenport crossed the line in second as he was 1.925 seconds behind the winner at the finish. Bobby Pierce charged from the outside of the tenth row to round out the podium in third and earn the Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the race. Mike Marlar finished in fourth as he continued a streak that started in mid-June with his 15th consecutive Top-5 finish. Brandon Sheppard completed the Top-5 finishers.

In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 17th time in his career, Madden had to battle lapped traffic for several laps before pulling away from Davenport for the win. 

“At that moment of the race when I split those lapped cars, I was too tight, and it was breaking my momentum going into three. I just wasn’t carrying enough corner speed. I had to back off there and set them up at the right time to make the right move. We had a great race car on the long runs as usual. We are trying to find something here and there for the short runs. You never know when this is going to turn around. That’s the way racing is. This is an amazing place. I appreciate what the Kosiski’s have done here for many years. I haven’t been here many times, but it’s one of my favorite places to come to. It’s a long way from home, but we definitely enjoy it.”

VIDEO: Hear from Chris Madden and the rest of Thursday's top finishers. 

Davenport, who along with Madden are the top two earners so far in 2022 came home in second. “He [Madden] made a couple of good moves in traffic. I was probably just one adjustment off to be able to run with him. Tomorrow he’ll probably make one and then I maybe will be two adjustments off then. He was pretty good tonight, and we were too. We tried a little something and it just didn’t work, I was just a little too tight there.”

Pierce, who was not in attendance last year at I-80 made his return a memorable one on Thursday night with a stirring 20th to third place run. “It was a fun track tonight, I’m glad to come back to I-80. It’s been a good racetrack for me. It has won us a lot of money here. It’s tough. You must get up on wheel here especially starting where I did. Unfortunately, we had to start back there. I would have liked to have started up front to see what I had for JD and Chris, maybe that can happen Saturday night.”

The winner’s Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Drydene Performance Products, Franklin Enterprises, Henderson Amusement, Millwood Plumbing, VP Fuels, Penske Racing Shocks, Worley Monument, DirtCar Lift, Davis Diesel Service, and Swift Springs.

Completing the top ten were Ricky Thornton Jr., Tim McCreadie, Stormy Scott, Earl Pearson Jr., and Hudson O’Neal.