Jonathan Davenport looked in good form at Eldora Speedway during Night 1 of the Clash on the Wabash with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, but he ended up retiring early with an apparent mechanical failure.
Davenport started the night off strong qualifying third in Group A with a time of 14.931. That set him on the pole of the third heat race, which he won.
With his heat race win in the third heat, he started the 40-lap feature in fifth. He quickly moved to second motoring around the bottom of turns 1 and 2 underneath Ricky Thornton Jr. and Josh Rice. He then got past Garrett Alberson, who drove it in a little too hard into 3 and 4 and had to chase it up the track. By the end of the first lap, Davenport was firmly in second.
While he quickly got to second, he was unable to find a way around race leader Chris Madden and began to play defense as Brandon Sheppard and Josh Rice threatened him around lap 7. Davenport was up to the task and expertly moved down the track to take the air away from Sheppard. However, that left him exposed to a run up high from Josh Rice. Rice would take the spot with 31 to go.
However, as Rice went to challenge Madden, Madden moved up into his lane through 3 and 4 and took his air away. That allowed both Davenport and Sheppard to get around him on the bottom. In fact, Davenport was side-by-side with Madden for the lead coming to the line with 28 to go.
As they got deeper into lap traffic, Davenport got slowed up by Daniel Hilsabeck, who was running the same bottom line that he was. That allowed Rice, Sheppard, and Ricky Thornton Jr. to work past him through the top and middle. Unfortunately, the epic 5-car battle for the lead would come to an end with 26 laps left after Chris Ferguson drew a caution due to a left rear flat tire.
Davenport would restart in fourth, but found himself in sixth as both Devin Moran and Kyle Bronson got around him. He would fall to seventh as Ricky Thornton Jr. also got back around him. He would maintain that position for the next 10 or so laps before he ended his night by pulling it into the pits and parking it with an apparent mechanical failure with 13 to go.
Davenport and his team explained in a post to Facebook that a “plug wire fell off” and “forced him to retire with 13 laps remaining.”
He will be back in action for Night 2 of the Clash on the Wabash that pays $50,000 to the winner of the 50-lap feature. The race time has moved up due to inclement weather heading to the track. Hot alps will begin at 4:45 PM with the spectator gates opening at 4:00 PM.
🚨SATURDAY START TIME MOVED UP
Due to impending weather late Saturday night, Saturday’s Clash on the Wabash hot laps have been moved up to 4:45 pm. https://t.co/pF0BHDc0c3
— ELDORA SPEEDWAY (@EldoraSpeedway) October 10, 2026
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