January 30, 2026 | By Matt Skipper, DIRTcar Racing PR

Thornton Strikes First in Opening DIRTcar Nationals Feature with UMP Modifieds

BARBERVILLE, Fla.—Ricky Thornton Jr is hunting for a spot in elite company at Volusia Speedway Park.

After winning the 2025 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals Big Gator championship in his Super Late Model, the Chandler, AZ native began his event activity with the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds in 2026 by taking a visit to Victory Lane Thursday night.

Commencing the 20-lap Feature from Pole Position, Thornton took command as his two Koehler Motorsports teammates, Evan Koehler and Jordan Koehler, followed in tow. He grew the lead to 1.7 seconds over the first seven laps of the Feature until the first caution waved for a slowing Kyle Hammer.

Thornton kept the dominance into the restart by using the cushion, while the Koehler brothers felt the “Bluegrass State” pressure of Tyler Nicely. The Owensboro, KY, racer started in 11th and worked his No. 25 machine into the top five for the restart, then used his momentum in the entrance of Turn 1 to slide under Jordan for third place. On Lap 10, Nicely powered his Modified to the inside of Evan in the same corner for second place.

At the helm of the pack, Thornton experimented with his Elite Chassis around multiple lanes before settling with the high side through Turns 1-2, then shifting the car to the bottom of Turns 3-4 to build a 2.7-second gap over Nicely.

When lapped traffic became an obstacle for Thornton to create forward progress, Nicely chopped the distance to a 1.1-second distance with five laps remaining. Thornton added lapped cars between him and Nicely, and he regained the lead by 1.8 seconds as the “Grand Canyon State” racer crossed the twin checkered flags.

With Thornton’s victory, he joins Nick Hoffman, Kyle Bronson, Ryan Gustin, and Kyle Strickler as the only drivers to win a UMP Modified and Late Model Golden Gator.

“Hats off to Nick [Hoffman] and everyone at Elite Chassis,” Thornton said. “I think I had six or seven laps before tonight, and it was really good. Really, our whole team was good. I feel like I had a really good car, I could go where I needed to, and really, I think the lapped cars made me learn a lot more about my racecar than I really thought. So hopefully I can be a little bit better come tomorrow.”

Up Next: The second night of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals will see the DIRTcar UMP Modifieds and American Sprint Car Series join forces for a Friday night battle on Jan. 30. Grandstand gates will open at 4 p.m ET, and Hot Laps will begin at 5:30 p.m.

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Thursday DIRTcar UMP Modifieds (68 entires)

Feature (20 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[11]; 3. 66-Cole Falloway[8]; 4. 36-Kenny Wallace[4]; 5. K9-Will Krup[3]; 6. 13-Charlie Mefford[10]; 7. 35A-Michael Altobelli[17]; 8. 35-David Stremme[7]; 9. 99H-Justin Haley[18]; 10. 77D-George Dixon[6]; 11. 97-Mitch Thomas[9]; 12. 09-Michael Ledford[14]; 13. 12L-Lucas Lee[20]; 14. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[16]; 15. 114K-Evan Koehler[1]; 16. 114-Jordan Koehler[5]; 17. 777-Trevor Neville[15]; 18. 17C-Coleman Evans[24]; 19. 77B-Ray Bollinger[23]; 20. 56-Chris Wilson[13]; 21. 3-Josh Sanford[19]; 22. 24CS-Curt Spalding[12]; 23. 45H-Kyle Hammer[21]; 24. 15X-Justin Stone[22]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps): 1. 35A-Michael Altobelli[2]; 2. 45H-Kyle Hammer[1]; 3. 1H-Ben Harmon[3]; 4. 57-Charlie Sandercock[7]; 5. 05-Dave Wietholder[12]; 6. 99-Cole Hilton[5]; 7. 7G-Seth Geary[8]; 8. 54-Zachary Hawk[11]; 9. 26-Adam Ogle[10]; 10. 24-Zeke McKenzie[9]; 11. (DNF) 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[4]; 12. (DNF) 01-Aidan Hinds[6]; 13. (DNF) 11-Dylan Drake[13]; 14. (DNS) 99W-Wade Olmsted

Last Chance Showdown 2 (8 Laps): 1. 3-Josh Sanford[1]; 2. 77B-Ray Bollinger[3]; 3. 43A-Mark Anderson[5]; 4. 51-Dalton Lanich[10]; 5. 17W-Mikey Wilson[8]; 6. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[7]; 7. 5B-Bobby Bagley[9]; 8. 15H-Gator Hise[11]; 9. 11D-Brian Diveley[12]; 10. 0-Glenn Styres[2]; 11. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[4]; 12. (DNS) 21B-Hunter Breland

Last Chance Showdown 3 (8 Laps): 1. 99H-Justin Haley[1]; 2. 15X-Justin Stone[3]; 3. 7-Brad DeYoung[4]; 4. 96M-Mike McKinney[6]; 5. 27-Jason Garver[2]; 6. 28B-Jason Brookover[8]; 7. 90-Jason Beaulieu[5]; 8. 17-Chris Wilson[7]; 9. 1-Eric Kinney II[9]; 10. 52-Mikey Kopka[12]; 11. 3G-Bryce Graber[11]; 12. T23-Keith Tincher[14]; 13. (DNS) 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt; 14. (DNS) 10X-Billy Uptegraff

Last Chance Showdown 4 (8 Laps): 1. 12L-Lucas Lee[5]; 2. 17C-Coleman Evans[2]; 3. 72-Todd Neiheiser[1]; 4. 155-Peyton Harlow[4]; 5. X-Wyatt Scott[7]; 6. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[3]; 7. 28-Mason Lobb[6]; 8. 9-Ken Schrader[9]; 9. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[8]; 10. 17T-Tyler Evans[10]; 11. 25B-Greg Belyea[11]; 12. 3F-Rob Fuqua[12]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 114K-Evan Koehler[1]; 2. 97-Mitch Thomas[2]; 3. 45H-Kyle Hammer[6]; 4. 1H-Ben Harmon[4]; 5. 99-Cole Hilton[3]; 6. 57-Charlie Sandercock[5]; 7. 24-Zeke McKenzie[9]; 8. 54-Zachary Hawk[7]; 9. (DNF) 11-Dylan Drake[8]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. K9-Will Krup[2]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 3. 35A-Michael Altobelli[6]; 4. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski[4]; 5. 01-Aidan Hinds[5]; 6. 7G-Seth Geary[7]; 7. 26-Adam Ogle[8]; 8. 05-Dave Wietholder[3]; 9. (DNS) 99W-Wade Olmsted

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 114-Jordan Koehler[1]; 2. 56-Chris Wilson[2]; 3. 3-Josh Sanford[6]; 4. 77B-Ray Bollinger[4]; 5. 43A-Mark Anderson[3]; 6. 17X-Richard Michael Jr[5]; 7. 5B-Bobby Bagley[7]; 8. 15H-Gator Hise[8]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 35-David Stremme[2]; 2. 777-Trevor Neville[1]; 3. 0-Glenn Styres[5]; 4. 31G-Stephen Pedulla[6]; 5. 21B-Hunter Breland[3]; 6. 17W-Mikey Wilson[7]; 7. 51-Dalton Lanich[4]; 8. 11D-Brian Diveley[8]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 13-Charlie Mefford[2]; 3. 99H-Justin Haley[3]; 4. 15X-Justin Stone[7]; 5. 90-Jason Beaulieu[4]; 6. 17-Chris Wilson[6]; 7. 1-Eric Kinney II[8]; 8. 3G-Bryce Graber[9]; 9. (DNF) 10X-Billy Uptegraff[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 36-Kenny Wallace[2]; 2. 24CS-Curt Spalding[1]; 3. 27-Jason Garver[5]; 4. 7-Brad DeYoung[4]; 5. 96M-Mike McKinney[6]; 6. 28B-Jason Brookover[3]; 7. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt[7]; 8. 52-Mikey Kopka[8]; 9. T23-Keith Tincher[9]

Heat 7 (8 Laps): 1. 77D-George Dixon[2]; 2. 09-Michael Ledford[4]; 3. 72-Todd Neiheiser[1]; 4. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain[3]; 5. 12L-Lucas Lee[7]; 6. X-Wyatt Scott[5]; 7. 9-Ken Schrader[6]; 8. 25B-Greg Belyea[8]

Heat 8 (8 Laps): 1. 66-Cole Falloway[1]; 2. 1TS-Tyler Spalding[5]; 3. 17C-Coleman Evans[4]; 4. 155-Peyton Harlow[3]; 5. 28-Mason Lobb[7]; 6. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr[8]; 7. 17T-Tyler Evans[2]; 8. 3F-Rob Fuqua[6]

Qualifying A (2 Laps): 1. 114K-Evan Koehler, 00:18.229[8]; 2. 25-Tyler Nicely, 00:18.311[2]; 3. 114-Jordan Koehler, 00:18.370[32]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville, 00:18.397[3]; 5. 97-Mitch Thomas, 00:18.403[34]; 6. K9-Will Krup, 00:18.452[10]; 7. 56-Chris Wilson, 00:18.459[15]; 8. 35-David Stremme, 00:18.496[21]; 9. 99-Cole Hilton, 00:18.596[14]; 10. 05-Dave Wietholder, 00:18.627[12]; 11. 43A-Mark Anderson, 00:18.639[24]; 12. 21B-Hunter Breland, 00:18.662[5]; 13. 1H-Ben Harmon, 00:18.742[1]; 14. 21CZ-Cole Czarneski, 00:18.750[16]; 15. 77B-Ray Bollinger, 00:18.765[9]; 16. 51-Dalton Lanich, 00:18.810[11]; 17. 57-Charlie Sandercock, 00:18.814[29]; 18. 01-Aidan Hinds, 00:18.827[4]; 19. 17X-Richard Michael Jr, 00:18.833[19]; 20. 0-Glenn Styres, 00:18.840[20]; 21. 45H-Kyle Hammer, 00:18.895[17]; 22. 35A-Michael Altobelli, 00:18.901[28]; 23. 3-Josh Sanford, 00:18.952[7]; 24. 31G-Stephen Pedulla, 00:18.957[13]; 25. 54-Zachary Hawk, 00:19.131[33]; 26. 7G-Seth Geary, 00:19.216[31]; 27. 5B-Bobby Bagley, 00:19.234[25]; 28. 17W-Mikey Wilson, 00:19.250[23]; 29. 11-Dylan Drake, 00:19.320[27]; 30. 26-Adam Ogle, 00:19.619[26]; 31. 15H-Gator Hise, 00:19.784[30]; 32. 11D-Brian Diveley, 00:19.803[18]; 33. (DNF) 24-Zeke McKenzie[22]; 34. (DNS) 99W-Wade Olmsted

Qualifying B (2 Laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:18.016[32]; 2. 24CS-Curt Spalding, 00:18.180[1]; 3. 72-Todd Neiheiser, 00:18.188[28]; 4. 66-Cole Falloway, 00:18.461[25]; 5. 13-Charlie Mefford, 00:18.484[5]; 6. 36-Kenny Wallace, 00:18.653[31]; 7. 77D-George Dixon, 00:18.667[27]; 8. 17T-Tyler Evans, 00:18.731[6]; 9. 99H-Justin Haley, 00:18.763[33]; 10. 28B-Jason Brookover, 00:18.793[14]; 11. 72H-Tristan Chamberlain, 00:18.795[26]; 12. 155-Peyton Harlow, 00:18.814[18]; 13. 90-Jason Beaulieu, 00:18.874[17]; 14. 7-Brad DeYoung, 00:18.879[2]; 15. 09-Michael Ledford, 00:18.914[19]; 16. 17C-Coleman Evans, 00:18.918[15]; 17. 10X-Billy Uptegraff, 00:18.968[7]; 18. 27-Jason Garver, 00:18.968[34]; 19. X-Wyatt Scott, 00:18.973[12]; 20. 1TS-Tyler Spalding, 00:19.005[4]; 21. 17-Chris Wilson, 00:19.007[21]; 22. 96M-Mike McKinney, 00:19.013[29]; 23. 9-Ken Schrader, 00:19.030[23]; 24. 3F-Rob Fuqua, 00:19.050[16]; 25. 15X-Justin Stone, 00:19.088[3]; 26. 11Z-Zane Oedewaldt, 00:19.161[30]; 27. 12L-Lucas Lee, 00:19.165[8]; 28. 28-Mason Lobb, 00:19.235[20]; 29. 1-Eric Kinney II, 00:19.262[24]; 30. 52-Mikey Kopka, 00:19.431[13]; 31. 25B-Greg Belyea, 00:19.444[9]; 32. 8-Jimmy Lennex Jr, 00:19.485[10]; 33. 3G-Bryce Graber, 00:19.847[22]; 34. T23-Keith Tincher, 00:20.187[11]