Jonathan Davenport was not only visibly upset, but he made it clear he was not happy with Bobby Pierce during his post-race interview for the North/South 100 at Florence Speedway.

With 46 laps to go Bobby Pierce had tracked down Jonathan Davenport, who had dominated much of the race up to that point. Pierce went to the outside through turns 3 and 4 and got a great run off the corner and looked to pull to the outside of Davenport going down the front stretch. However, Davenport drifted up the track and took the line away coming across the start/finish line. Pierce responded with a very close slider through 1 and 2 that saw his rear quarter panels get crunched by Davenport’s nose.

It did not stop there, Davenport threw a slider in turns 3 and 4. When Pierce went to cross him over, Davenport put his nose to Pierce’s right rear quarter panel getting him sideways down the front stretch. The contact allowed Davenport to clear Pierce and retake the lead through turns 1 and 2. Pierce then slid Davenport through 3 and 4. Coming out of 4 the two made contact again. This time Pierce’s nose connected with Davenport’s right rear quarter panel.

Davenport would hold off Pierce for the next couple of laps before Pierce made another run at him. The two would make contact again with 39 laps to go. After Pierce threw a slider at him through turns 1 and 2, Davenport gave him a bump to the left rear quarter panel going down the back stretch. However, after that Pierce would set sail while Davenport began to slightly fade losing spots to Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Jason Jameson.

Following the race, Pierce addressed all of the contact telling FloRacing’s Ben Shelton, “You know, you want to get the lead as quick as you can because if the track transitions-. You never know. Last year, here, it went to the bottom. It was really hard to run the top towards the end of the race. So I didn’t want to give anyone that opportunity. If I could take it I was going to take the lead and try to just hang on the rest of the race. Sometimes it’s a lot easier leading the race than running second. You get a restart and then your double file again. I fell to third there on the one restart so I didn’t want to do that again. I wanted to get the lead.”

“We raced hard, me and JD,” he continued. “I know he was mad, but it’s just hard racing here. He runs a specific line. It’s nothing against him, it’s a very, very good line. It’s just very hard to make a pass. But it works for him. He’s won a lot of big races kinda running that diamond line. It’s just tough when you’re trying to guess exactly if he’s going to do it or not. I hit the brakes down the straightaway because he came up to the wall. So I’m like, ‘Okay, he’s running the top.’ Went into the bottom and then he kinda came down and we made contact.”

“I know winning a Lucas race is a big deal for all these Lucas guys, getting them extra points, I know that’s in their mind. JD, Ricky, Devin, all them guys it’s in their mind to win these races to get these points, but I wanted that win pretty bad too. So it was just fun race, hard race, and we got her done.”

As for Davenport, he told Shelton, “Obviously, he’s always right. I don’t know how to throw sliders and he does. … I could sit here and talk s**t or whatever, but-. He’s really good. He’s really good. We all know that the top’s going to be really good at Florence and I was just running my race, keeping my tires under me, and was going to try to make a run back at him the last 10 or 15 because I knew he was probably going to pass me and get going there. That’s just the way this place races.”

“I could say a whole lot more, I mean it just keeps beating a dead horse. There’s really no use in it.” he added. “I’m sure he’s pretty mad about me not wrecking him or something. But I just him a couple times just to show him that I could wreck him if I wanted to, but I’m not that kind of person. I still got a few years left in me so I’m not going away any time soon.”

Davenport’s comments about Pierce being always right and that he doesn’t know how to throw a slider goes back to Volusia Speedway Park in February when Davenport threw a slider at Pierce through 3 and 4 and it took the air off Pierce’s car and caused him to jump the cushion and eventually turn his car sideways so that it was perpendicular to the track. Following the race, Pierce told DirtOnDirt.com, “JD doesn’t know how to throw sliders. Plain and simple.”

Pierce took home the win and the $75,000 paycheck. Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second while Davenport capped off the podium. Devin Moran finished fourth while Zack Dohm rounded out your top 5. With Davenport finishing in third and Thornton in second the battle for the points lead tightened. Davenport now has just a five point lead over Thornton.

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