Ricky Thornton Jr. shared more details about why he’s racing with Adam Family Motorsports at the Wild West Shootout instead of Koehler Motorsports.

Back on January 1st, Adam Family Motorsports announced that Thornton would pilot the team’s second car for the Wild West Shootout at Central Arizona Raceway. In the announcement the team made clear that this was just for the Wild West Shootout.

Thornton and his team shared more details about the deal in a post to Facebook earlier today. First, he thanks Jeff Hoker as well as Joe and Daniel Adam. He said, “Thank you to Jeff Hoker for helping us put a ride for Arizona together, and a huge thank you to Joe and Daniel Adam for letting us pilot a car for them!”

Next, his team explained why he’s competing with the Adam Family Motorsports instead of his Koehler team, “With Ricky’s commitment to racing Chili Bowl, it didn’t make sense for our team to travel from North Carolina to Arizona for just a night or two, but we couldn’t completely miss out on the chance to welcome the WWS back to Arizona.”

Thornton is scheduled to compete in the Chili Bowl Nationals on Tuesday, January 13th. That is a non-race day for the Wild West Shootout albeit there will be an open practice.

It’s also possible he could compete in the Race of Champions at the Chili Bowl Nationals, which is scheduled for Monday, January 12th. Thornton competed in the race last year after winning the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2024. He finished 15th.

The Wild West Shootout kicks off on January 9th with an open practice night. The first night of racing is January 10th. They will race on the 11th, 14th, 16th, 17th with the final night on the 18th.

The Chili Bowl Nationals begin on Monday, January 12th and will have qualifying nights every night of the week from the 12th through the 16th. The 17th is Championship Saturday with racing action beginning early in the morning as drivers will try to run through the alphabet soup to make the A-feature.

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