March 30, 2026 | By Lucas Oil Late Model Series PR

Ricky Thornton Jr. Scores First Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Win of 2026

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio—Ricky Thornton Jr. took the lead with five laps remaining, passing Brandon Sheppard and holding him off by just 0.167 seconds at the finish line to capture his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory of the season Sunday night at Atomic Speedway.

Thornton, who also won last year’s Buckeye Spring Classic at Atomic, earned $15,000 for his 57th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.

Sheppard, who led the opening 45 laps, finished second. Brandon Overton reclaimed third from Josh Rice on the final lap to round out the Big River Steel podium. Rice and Max Blair completed the top five.

Starting fourth, Thornton charged to his second overall win of 2026 and his first since the opening round of the Wild West Shootout in January.

“I felt like Tyler (Erb) was really good early, and then I was racing Brandon (Overton), and I’m not sure what happened to him,” said the Chandler, Arizona native. “He got back around me off turn two and then slowed down - didn’t look like anything broke. On the restart, I debated whether to go top or bottom. I felt like the top would be better, but if the bottom got a run, they’d slide you. So I chose the top and drove as hard as I could into turn one to make sure Overton couldn’t slide me.”

“I didn’t feel like I was any better than Shep, but once we got to lapped traffic, I thought those guys were racing hard and might hold me up. One of the lapped cars made a small mistake entering turn three, which slowed Shep just enough for me to get underneath him. From there, I just focused on not making a mistake. I wasn’t sure if we needed to go back to the bottom in turns one and two, but I tried it because Overton had almost passed me there earlier. It really picked up my pace. The track was different than usual, but it raced really well.”

Sheppard, who led a combined 59 laps between Brownstown on Saturday and Atomic on Sunday, came within half a car length of Thornton at the finish.

“We had a really good car - definitely capable of winning,” Sheppard said. “I got to the 19M and the 6, and they were running side-by-side and entering a little low. I couldn’t get enough of a run to make a move and got stuck there for too long. I knew someone had to be right behind me. Congrats to Ricky—he capitalized on my mistake. I’m disappointed in myself because my crew works their tails off and gives me a great race car every night. Still, this is the best we’ve been in the slick here in a long time, so we’re happy with the car.”

Overton held off Rice after briefly losing third place late in the race.

“I was catching the leaders by running a different lane,” Overton said. “I started ripping around the top and getting a good run. Josh slid me, so I knew I had to go. It was a heck of a race, and thanks to Josh for racing me clean. The track was awesome again - I’ve never been here when it wasn’t good.”

Thornton’s Koehler Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and backed by Knight’s Companies, Hoker Trucking, Capital Waste, Certified Inspection Services, Strange Oval, SI Towing and Recovery, Coltman Farms Racing, and Sunoco Race Fuels.

Completing the top ten were Hudson O’Neal, Garrett Alberson, Drake Troutman, Devin Moran, and Brian Shirley.


Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Buckeye Spring 50
Atomic Speedway | Waverly, OH

Sunday, March 29, 2026

Allstar Performance Time Trials

Fast Time Group A: Drake Troutman | 13.217 seconds (Overall)
Fast Time Group B: Garrett Alberson | 13.223 seconds

Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 22*-Drake Troutman[1]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 6. 71C-RJ Conley[5]; 7. B1-Josh Bocook[8]; 8. S21-Seth Daniels[7]

Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[2]; 3. 13-Dallon Murty[3]; 4. 28-Tyler Carpenter[6]; 5. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[8]; 6. C4-Freddie Carpenter[4]; 7. 19M-Brenden Smith[5]; 8. 6-Clay Harris[7]

Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 3. 11-Josh Rice[3]; 4. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 5. 12J-Jason Jameson[5]; 6. 71R-Rod Conley[6]; 7. 00-Justin Cooper[7]; 8. 12L-Dave Loudin[8]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 111-Max Blair[1]; 3. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 5. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 6. 93L-Cory Lawler[7]; 7. (DNS) 1*-Kyle Moore

Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 6 Transfer): 1. 12J-Jason Jameson[2]; 2. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[3]; 3. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 4. 71C-RJ Conley[5]; 5. C4-Freddie Carpenter[7]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 7. 71R-Rod Conley[6]; 8. 93L-Cory Lawler[8]; 9. B1-Josh Bocook[9]; 10. 19M-Brenden Smith[11]; 11. 6-Clay Harris[15]; 12. S21-Seth Daniels[13]; 13. 00-Justin Cooper[10]; 14. 12L-Dave Loudin[14]; 15. (DNS) 1*-Kyle Moore


Buckeye Spring 50 Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Pos - Start - Car # - Competitor - Hometown - Earnings
1 - 4 - 20RT - Ricky Thornton Jr - Chandler, AZ - $16,300
2 - 1 - 1 - Brandon Sheppard - New Berlin, IL - $7,900
3 - 3 - 76 - Brandon Overton - Evans, GA - $5,900
4 - 10 - 11 - Josh Rice - Crittenden, KY - $4,900
5 - 8 - 111 - Max Blair - Centerville, PA - $3,971
6 - 7 - 71 - Hudson O'Neal - Martinsville, IN - $3,800
7 - 6 - 58 - Garrett Alberson - Las Cruces, NM - $3,300
8 - 5 - 22* - Drake Troutman - Hyndman, PA - $2,300
9 - 14 - 99 - Devin Moran - Dresden, OH - $3,600
10 - 9 - 3S - Brian Shirley - Chatham, IL - $3,071
11 - 12 - 60 - Dan Ebert - Lake Shore, MN - $2,900
12 - 11 - 13 - Dallon Murty - Chelsea, IA - $1,800
13 - 20 - 71C - RJ Conley - Wheelersburg, OH - $1,600
14 - 23 - 6 - Clay Harris - Jupiter, FL - $2,400
15 - 17 - 12J - Jason Jameson - Lawrenceburg, IN - $1,400
16 - 16 - 40B - Kyle Bronson - Brandon, FL - $2,200
17 - 24 - 19M - Brenden Smith - Dade City, FL - $2,100
18 - 19 - 22 - Daniel Hilsabeck - Earlham, IA - $1,100
19 - 13 - 93 - Carson Ferguson - Lincolnton, NC - $1,900
20 - 22 - 8 - Dillon McCowan - Urbana, MO - $1,900
21 - 21 - C4 - Freddie Carpenter - Parkersburg, WV - $1,000
22 - 18 - 20TC - Tristan Chamberlain - Richmond, IN - $1,000
23 - 2 - 1T - Tyler Erb - New Waverly, TX - $1,100
24 - 15 - 28 - Tyler Carpenter - Parkersburg, WV - $1,000


Race Statistics 

Entrants: 31

Bilstein Shocks Pole Sitter: Brandon Sheppard
MD3 Lap Leaders: Brandon Sheppard (Laps 1-45); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 46-50)
Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Brandon Sheppard
Wieland Feature Winner: Ricky Thornton, Jr.

Margin of Victory: 0.167 seconds

Hellraizer Jacks Cautions: Tyler Carpenter (Lap 12); Tyler Erb (Lap 12 restart)
MyRacePass Series Provisional: Clay Harris, Brenden Smith
Fast Time Provisional:
Emergency Provisionals: n/a
Track Provisional: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton
Penske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton, Josh Rice, Max Blair
Behrent’s One-Lap-to-Go Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton
PEM 4th Place Feature: Josh Rice
Diversified Machine 5th Place Feature: Max Blair
Wilwood Brakes 7th Place Feature: Garrett Alberson
Wehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Dan Ebert
Velocity Manufacturing 13th Place Feature: RJ Conley
XS Power Batteries 15th Place Feature: Jason Jameson
Hoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Clay Harris (Advanced 6 positions)
MD3 Most Laps Led: Brandon Sheppard (45 Laps)
Sunoco Race Fuels Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Devin Moran
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: n/a
Pro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Sheppard | Lap 4 | 14.482 seconds
FK Rod Ends Hard Luck Award: Tyler Erb
Victory Fuel Power Move of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr.
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Anthony Burroughs
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Race Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Brandon Sheppard | 13.0675 seconds

Time of Race: 19 minutes 03 seconds


Big River Steel Championship Standings Presented by ARP:

Pos - Car # - Competitor - Hometown - Points - Earnings
1 - 99 - Devin Moran - Dresden, OH - 1625 - $107,500
2 - 71 - Hudson O'Neal - Martinsville, IN - 1610 - $85,300
3 - 76 - Brandon Overton - Evans, GA - 1530 - $40,750
4 - 20RT - Ricky Thornton Jr - Chandler, AZ - 1525 - $50,350
5 - 111 - Max Blair - Centerville, PA - 1450 - $34,871
6 - 1 - Brandon Sheppard - New Berlin, IL - 1440 - $48,800
7 - 6 - Clay Harris - Jupiter, FL - 1375 - $35,10
8 - 58 - Garrett Alberson - Las Cruces, NM - 1350 - $29,80
9 - 40B - Kyle Bronson - Brandon, FL - 1295 - $20,375
10 - 11 - Josh Rice - Crittenden, KY - 1260 - $21,225
11 - 3s - Brian Shirley - Chatham, IL - 1245 - $21,671
12 - 93 - Carson Ferguson - Lincolnton, NC - 1235 - $22,450
13 - 60 - Dan Ebert - Lake Shore, MN - 1205 - $21,875
14 - 19M - Brenden Smith - Dade City, FL - 1080 - $15,100
15 - 8 - Dillon McCowan - Urbana, MO - 1045 - $11,375
16 - 22 - Daniel Hilsabeck - Earlham, IA - 1005 - $14,225
17 - 13 - Dallon Murty - Chelsea, IA - 985 - $9,750
18 - 93L - Cory Lawler - Hanover, PA - 890 - $9,325
19 - C4 - Freddie Carpenter - Parkersburg, WV - 850 - $3,600