Ricky Thornton Jr. put on a show during the Friday night preliminary Group A feature for the North/South 100 at Florence Speedway with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series as he charged from 7th to challenge Brandon Overton for the lead. However, a late race restart saw Thornton drop back to 7th and end up finishing there.

Following a couple of early race cautions, first for Michael Leach who wildly flipped through turns 1 and 2 and then second for Donald McIntosh who spun in turn 4, Thornton began his charge to the front ripping the top past Adam Stricker and Carson Ferguson. With 19 laps to go he worked his way to fourth past Jimmy Owens. He then drove around Mike Marlar down the back stretch a lap later. He would get Chris Ferguson by diving underneath him and sliding him through 3 and 4 the following lap.

From there he set his eyes on Brandon Overton, who had checked out from the field. With 11 to go, Overton had got to the back of the field and Thornton had caught him. With 10 to go, Thornton made his move diving to the inside of Overton and sliding him through 3 and 4. However, Overton was able to drive underneath him after Thornton slid up to the wall and maintain the lead. 

Overton then made his car very wide as he navigated lap traffic and was able to keep Thornton behind him until a caution came out for a slowing Jake O’Neil with 7 laps to go.

On the ensuing restart, Marlar drove around Thornton for the second spot. He would run in third until 4 laps left where Hudson O’Neal got past him. Jimmy Owens then went by him with 2 to go. However, due to a caution for Drake Troutman on the same lap, Thornton reclaimed the fourth spot for the restart. While Marlar challenged Overton for the lead over the next two laps, Thornton backed it up to sixth with a lap to go and then eventually finished in seventh.

Speaking to StockCarReport.com, Ricky Thornton Jr. shared that he intentionally backed up to 7th in order to maximize his starting position for a heat race for tonight’s North/South 100.

“Just didn’t get a good enough restart, pretty much. Knew I wasn’t going to win after that. So the way this format is, it kinda penalizes you to run well. So backed myself up to 7th. Hopefully, hit the invert good for tomorrow and be on the front row of a heat race. Typically, the Saturday heat races are super muddy and not very racy. Figured with a 9th last night and a 7th tonight, we should be around that 14th/15th range. Hopefully, put ourselves on the front row and have a good shot for tomorrow.”

Thornton then confirmed he intentionally attempted to finish 7th, “Yeah, yeah. I could’ve run second, probably, but I think it’s $5 or $6,000 to-win. It’s only like $1200 or $1300 to run second. Just the way the format is, you either win or you want to try to hit the invert. We tried to hit the invert both nights and see where we end up tomorrow.”

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