Ricky Thornton Jr. shared his thoughts on the recent purchase of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series by FloRacing.

FloSports, the parent company of FloRacing, announced the purchase of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series on December 11th. In a press release the company revealed that not much was changing with Flo signing a multiyear deal to keep Lucas Oil as the title sponsor for the series.

Additionally, series director Rick Schwallie is remaining with the series and longtime announcer James Essex will continue as the voice of the tour. He will be joined at select events in the booth by Dustin Jarrett with Ben Shelton reporting from the pits.

In an interview with FloRacing’s Kyle McFadden at the PRI show in Indianapolis, Thornton shared that he views the sale as a positive overall. He said, “I think it’s good. I feel like our sport’s trajectory of going up. And I think Flo’s going to help that.”

“I got to talk to [Rick] Schwallie a little bit earlier and it sounds like all the people there are staying, which is kind of my main thing, obviously, with Rick and [Technical Director] Kenute [Mausehund], and everyone, and even [Assistant Series Director] Jeremy [Shields],” he continued. “They’ve all done a really good job as far as making sure our sport is heading the right way. Sounds like they’re all staying, which, like I said, is really good. I think any time a company switches hands like that you really don’t know.”

“I feel like with [General Manager of FloRacing Michael] Rigsby and everyone at Flo they’re going to make sure that they’re doing the right thing. I actually gave Rigsby a little bit of crap earlier. I said, ‘Hey, can we get a couple of High Limit/late model shows together next year?’ He said, ‘Definitely not in ’26, but maybe ’27.'”

“I think overall it’s going to be really good,” Thornton reiterated. “Obviously, Flo’s got a lot of money behind them and hopefully they’ll make all the right decisions.”

What’s @RThornton20rt think of Flo taking ownership of the Lucas Oil Late Model tour?

Touches on having Anthony Burroughs back at crew chief and how he has an offer to test an off-road truck 🤔 pic.twitter.com/gwI8Mj8E1n

— Kyle McFadden (@ByKyleMcFadden) December 12, 2025

Thornton also confirmed that he will run with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series as well as the FloRacing Night in America series next year, “We were talking to Ray and a couple of guys. I think we’re going to go Southern All Stars. No, I’m just kidding. No, we’re going to do Lucas again. We’re going to do all the Flo stuff again. Hit as much World of Outlaws shows and different shows. Outside of that, obviously, [Jeff] Hoker, he’s promoting a bunch around Iowa. So we’re going to try to hit all of those.”

“Really outside of that, run the sprint car when I can. Run the midget, run the micro, the mod, stock car. I got an offer to run an off road truck so we might do that. Kind of a lot of little different things. So hopefully we can put them all together,” he concluded.

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