Ricky Thornton Jr. looked to have a strong night going for him at 34 Raceway, but it all went sideways during the feature with multiple flat tires and significant damage forcing him to retire in the 20th position.

Thornton qualified decent in 11th, but performed very well in a stacked heat race advancing from fourth to win in Heat 2 against Devin Moran, Hudson O’Neal, and Jonathan Davenport. With the heat race win he started the feature on the outside of the pole. Thornton looked strong during the feature, he fell to third after Devin Moran got around him, but the opening portion of the race was plagued by cautions and Thornton has a tendency to be able to save his equipment and make late race charges. However, he never got that opportunity as he suffered a right rear flat with 35 laps to go.

After getting his tire changed, Thornton barely made it back out onto the track on time. Nevertheless, he made his way up to 8th. Unfortunately, with 11 laps to go he suffered another right rear flat. He also suffered significant damage after Daulton Wilson slammed into him in the top of the corner as he slowed. Thornton would eventually retire from the race and finished in 20th.

Following the race, his team posted on Facebook, “Tonight was a hard night, obviously. Hit the wall early, had flats on both right side tires. Our guys- along with the Rocket1 team and several others that jumped in to help- got it fixed, restarted at the tail and got all the way to 8th and then unfortunately had another RR go down & that caused him to get into the wall and ultimately ended our night.”

“When you’re doing well, people who are jealous take pride in your downfalls, but that says much more about them that it ever could our team,” he continued. “Our Koehler team is already loaded & making the 5 hour overnight haul to Wheatland. We will get this Longhorn patched up & be ready to contend again tomorrow!”

The team also noted in a subsequent post that it tore down the car and is working to get it back together for tonight’s race at Lucas Oil Speedway for the start of the Diamond Nationals.

In fact, the team has even enlisted the help of Thornton’s daughter Hadley!

With the 20th place finish Thornton now trails Jonathan Davenport, who finished in fourth, by 70 points. Devin Moran is now only 270 points behind Davenport in third while O’Neal has closed the gap to just 290 points behind Davenport.

Garrett Alberson, who won at 34 Raceway, sits 485 points behind Davenport. He’s 195 points behind O’Neal for that fourth position. Brandon Sheppard sits in 6th 290 points behind O’Neal. Brandon Overton who looked like at one point he might run away with the race finished in third. He’s 390 points behind O’Neal.

What do you make of Thornton’s comments?

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