Ricky Thornton Jr. will look to improve on his successful rookie run at the West World Championships with USAC Racing as he returns to the event for a second time at the end of this month.

USAC Racing announced Thornton will return to the event on Facebook, “Ricky Thornton Jr will return to the #WesternWorld Championships at Central Arizona Raceway on October 22-23-24.”

He will again be competing in a Petty Performance Racing prepared car with his traditional 20RT number. He will be competing in both the 410 and 360 classes of the event.

Thornton had a standout debut last year in what was his first appearance in a non-wing 410 Sprint Car. He had previously competed once before in a non-wing Sprint Car, but it was a spec 360 back in 2017.

On Friday night, he won his heat race besting the likes of Braden Chiaramonte and Briggs Danner. He then advanced six spots in the feature to finish fourth and lock himself into Saturday night’s Dash.

In the Dash, he finished fourth and then brought it home fifth in the $35,000 to-win finale. His performance earned him the Western World Rookie of the Year and an extra $1,500.

Thornton shared with FloRacing that he outperformed his expectations, “My goal was just to make the main both nights. So to have a fourth and a fifth is pretty special.”

However, despite acknowledging that he outperformed his expectations, he felt he could have been at least a position better on Saturday night given the equipment his Petty Performance Racing team provided him. C.J. Leary was able to get around him for the fourth position with 11 laps left, but he had an issue at the end of the race and went to the work area ceding the position back to Thornton. Then on the final restart Brady Bacon was able to beat him by a nose coming to the checkered flag.

Thornton said that he “felt like I probably let my guys down a little bit tonight.”

Given his solid fourth and fifth place finishes last year, one would assume that Thornton and his team might have a little bit higher expectations this year than just making the features.

The 59th Western World Championships take place between October 22-23, 2026 at Central Arizona Raceway.

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