Ricky Thornton Jr. saw his night end early while battling for second place with Kyle Bronson at Eagle Raceway in Nebraska on Friday for the second night of the High Bank Heist.
After a fantastic battle with Kyle Bronson that saw the two swap sliders for multiple laps with around 10 laps to go, Thornton brushed the wall coming down the front stretch with just 7 laps to go. When he began to make his entry into turn 1, the car spun on him and he found himself facing the wrong way.
Following the spin, Thornton took the car to the hot pit and eventually retired for the night. He ended up finishing in 22nd place ahead of only Sam Mars and Ian Whisler.
On Facebook, Thornton’s team confirmed that he exited the race due to the contact from the wall breaking a steering rack. They posted, “Racing tonight sucked. Racing hard for 2nd and got the wall and broke a steering rack. We know we have a heck of a car for tomorrow’s big money.”
Jonathan Davenport would eventually go on to win the race with Hudson O’Neal finishing second after making a number of aggressive moves late in the race on restarts. Kyle Bronson rounded up the podium.
With Davenport winning and Thornton finishing in 22nd, the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship has been shaken up. Thornton still retains the lead, but is now down to just a 15 point lead over Jonathan Davenport. Devin Moran, who was second ahead of this weekend’s events at Eagle Raceway, has fallen to third. He’s 125 points behind Thornton. He finished 14th last night.
The race for fourth has tightened up even more. Garrett Alberson still retains the fourth spot with an even 3000 points. However, Hudson O’Neal has closed the gap. He’s just 45 points behind in 5th. Brandon Overton has slipped back to 6th. He’s 90 points behind Alberson. Brandon Sheppard is also within striking distance just 130 points out. Daulton Wilson has faded from the fight. He sits in 8th, but he’s 305 points behind Alberson.