WHEATLAND, MO. (May 25, 2023) - Jonathan Davenport put an emphatic end to a rare lengthy winless streak, coming up big as the three-night run of the 31st annual Show-Me 100 Presented by Missouri Division of Tourism got rolling.

Davenport led all 45 laps of Thursday night's 10th annual Cowboy Classic at Lucas Oil Speedway, a caution-free event for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and Lucas Oil MLRA that took only 13 minutes, 19 seconds to complete.

The Blairsville, Ga., driver led all the way, but needed to deftly weave his Longhorn chassis through lapped traffic and hold off an on-charging Ricky Thornton Jr. in the late going. Thornton pulled alongside the leader with three laps to go, but couldn't made the pass and finished about four car lengths behind Davenport.

Davenport, the 2015 Show-Me 100 winner, picked up his 67th career victory in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and first since capturing Night Two of the Lucas Oil MLRA Spring Nationals on April 1. He earned $6,000 for the victory and valuable points toward starting position for Saturday night's $50,000-to-win, 100-lap grand finale.

"Thanks to my guys. This is awesome. Just glad to get back on a roll in front of them, maybe. We've been off a little bit. Actually, (Chris) Madden called me today and and me and him gave each other a little pep talk. I saw where he won (tonight) at New Sharon (Ohio). That was cool."

Davenport joked that he was perhaps given a good omen earlier this week when he went to get treated for neck discomfort.

I went to the chiropractor early this week," Davenport said. "She adjusted my neck and said 'you're going to race better this weekend. I got your head back on straight.' "

The 10th annual "Cowboy Classic" is run in honor of the late Allen "Cowboy" Chancellor, the long-time owner of the Midwest Late Model Racing Association.

Coming up on Friday night is The “Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson," who started the Show-Me 100 at West Plains Motor Speedway in 1993. It's also a $6,000-to-win feature for the Late Models with more points earned for the starting lineup for the Show-Me 100 main event.

Davenport started on the outside of the front row and roared into turn three on the outside to pass pole-starting and local fan favorite Dillon McCowan to lead lap one.

Ten caution-free laps saw Davenport stretch his command to nearly one second over Tyler Bruening with McCowan running third and Chris Simpson in fourth. By this point, the leaders had caught lapped traffic and most of them rolled around the high groove to pass the slower cars.

Davenport was able to used the traffic to expand his margin over Bruening, leading by 2.1 seconds by lap 17 with the top four remaining unchanged since lap one. Meanwhile, Ricky Thornton Jr. rallied to fifth after starting 10th.

Thornton’s ascent continued as he got around McCowan for third on lap 22 and then sailed past Bruening just one lap later - but he still was 3.4 seconds behind the flying Davenport.

Thornton started closing in with 10 to go, cutting Davenport’s lead to less than a second. He closed onto the rear of the leader’s car coming to the start-finish line of lap 38, before falling back by four car lengths.

"I had a really good car. I think I found the bottom before a lot of guys did and that's how I got into second," Thornton said.

As the duo weaved in and out of lapped cars, Thornton dove to the inside of turn three on lap 42 and made some contact. Davenport was able to hang on to his car and the lead and again open up about a five-car-length lead as he took the white flag.

"I thought for sure I was spinning him out down there," Thornton said. "He moved to the bottom getting into three and I tried to squeeze down next to him. Luckily I didn't spin him around and he was able to keep going."

“Superman” held on from there for his sixth victory of the season, outlasting Thornton by .967 seconds.

Bruening finished third, McCreadie fourth and Spencer Hughes wound up fifth. Late Model rookie McCowan, 19, wound up sixth and picked up a solid points total toward Saturday’s starting lineup. McCowan won his heat race to earn the pole for Thursday's feature.

Davenport said the Show-Me 100 is one of a handful of events he's extra-hungry to win in 2023, after he made contact with a slower car and spun while leading late in last year's 100-lapper.

"I had two or three races from last year circled on my calendar that I let get away, that we should have won," Davenport said. "I guess it all don't matter unless I'm back up here talking to y'all again on Saturday."

It was a tough night for defending Show-Me 100 winner Chris Ferguson of Mount Holly, N.C. Ferguson failed to qualify for the Cowboy Classic after running seventh in his B Main. Payton Looney of Republic, the 2020 winner, also was a non-qualifier after mechanical issues in hot laps and damage to his car in his heat race.

Four-time Show-Me 100 winner Jimmy Owens finished 10th and 2021 winner Hudson O'Neal was 21st.

The Saturday program includes B Mains, the Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge and the Show-Me 100-lap feature event paying $50,000-to-win for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the Lucas Oil MLRA.

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and spectator gates at 5 on Friday, with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05. On Saturday, pit gates open at 3 p.m., grandstands at 4 with pre-race concert from 5-5:45 p.m., opening ceremonies at 6, hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.

Wheeler earns USRA Modified feature win: Chad Wheeler led all 20 laps, surviving a tangle with a lapped car midway just past the halfway point, to win the Cedar Creek Beef Jerky USRA Modified main event.

Wheeler beat Jeff Cutshaw by 2.4 seconds as the Modifieds follow a similar path toward Saturday night's finale. Like the Late Models, they compile points the first two nights toward Saturday's $2,000-to-win feature.

"This is a special place to win," said Wheeler, who has raced little the last couple of years as he's been focused on building WR1 simulators for iRacing that have become so popular for fans and even NASCAR raceres.

Wheeler and Joe Duvall started up front and quickly pulled away from the field in the early going, with Wheeler in front and third-place Cutshaw three seconds behind Duvall.

The leaders caught lapped traffic by the midpoint of the 20-lapper and Wheeler appeared to get the short end of contact with a slower car on lap 12 after Duvall went to the inside heading into turn one. But since Wheeler's car never stopped rolling and running order reverted to the previous lap, Wheeler restarted ahead of Duvall with nine laps to go.

"I got to thinking out there while I was leading and I haven't led a race in a long time," Wheeler said. "I caught the lapped cars a lot faster than I thought I was going to. I really screwed up and ran over that guy. I'm glad I kept the motor running. I knew it was critical if we killed the car."

"I have an incredible car. This is Cade Dillard's personal car and I'm glad Cade is giving us the opportunity," Wheeler said. "My driving will come back around and hopefully we can win another one this weekend."

Cutshaw got around Duvall on the restart, but Wheeler pulled away. The Muskogee, Okla., driver prevailed by 2.4 seconds over Cutshaw with Dvall third, Ryan Middaugh fourth and Matt Johnson finishing fifth.

10th annual Cowboy Classic A Feature - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[10]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[8]; 5. 11-Spencer Hughes[5]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[1]; 7. 32-Chris Simpson[3]; 8. 99-Devin Moran[15]; 9. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 10. 20-Jimmy Owens[14]; 11. 58-Garrett Alberson[13]; 12. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[20]; 13. 7W-Ricky Weiss[6]; 14. 76-Brandon Overton[12]; 15. 25C-Chad Simpson[21]; 16. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[11]; 17. 111B-Max Blair[18]; 18. 18D-Daulton Wilson[9]; 19. 2-Tyler Stevens[24]; 20. 15-Justin Duty[17]; 21. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[23]; 22. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[22]; 23. 51-Larry Ferris[16]; 24. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[19]

Fash Shafts B Main 1 - 1. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[2]; 2. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 3. 82-Jace Parmley[3]; 4. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[1]; 5. 11H-Jeff Herzog[10]; 6. 7D-Dusty Leonard[7]; 7. 93-Mason Oberkramer[9]; 8. 96-Dalton Imhoff[4]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 10. USA1-Chris Hawkins[6]; 11. 19M-Colby Moore[11]; 12. 26-Glen Powell[12]; 13. (DNS) 15L-Payton Looney; 14. (DNS) 04-Tad Pospisil

UNOH B Main 2 - 1. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 2. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[1]; 4. 45-Cole Wells[5]; 5. 15T-Matt Johnson[9]; 6. USA28-Kylan Garner[3]; 7. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[7]; 8. 49J-Justin Wells[8]; 9. 50-Kaeden Cornell[6]; 10. 11K-Jon Kirby[10]; 11. 1A-Bryon Allison[12]; 12. 14R-Jeff Roth[14]; 13. 29-Chandler Moenning[13]; 14. 1X-Aaron Marrant[11]

MyRacePass B Main 3 - 1. 25C-Chad Simpson[1]; 2. 2-Tyler Stevens[3]; 3. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 4. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[6]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 6. 94-Austin Rettig[2]; 7. 22F-Chris Ferguson[7]; 8. 54-David Breazeale[5]; 9. 3-Brennon Willard[9]; 10. 22H-Dustin Hodges[10]; 11. 36-Mark Daye[12]; 12. 78S-Steve Stultz[11]; 13. 50C-Kayden Clatt[13]

Penske Shocks Heat 1 - 1. 8-Dillon McCowan[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 1S-Jeremy Shaw[7]; 5. 82-Jace Parmley[8]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[3]; 7. 7D-Dusty Leonard[6]; 8. 93-Mason Oberkramer[5]; 9. 19M-Colby Moore[9]; 10. 15L-Payton Looney[10]

Summit Racing Equipment Heat 2 - 1. 32-Chris Simpson[2]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[7]; 4. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr[6]; 5. 96-Dalton Imhoff[5]; 6. USA1-Chris Hawkins[9]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[3]; 8. 11H-Jeff Herzog[4]; 9. 26-Glen Powell[8]; 10. (DNS) 04-Tad Pospisil

Simpson Race Products Heat 3 - 1. 11-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 15-Justin Duty[2]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 5. USA28-Kylan Garner[4]; 6. 45-Cole Wells[7]; 7. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh[10]; 8. 15T-Matt Johnson[8]; 9. 1X-Aaron Marrant[5]; 10. 29-Chandler Moenning[9]

AP1 Insurance Heat 4 - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[5]; 5. 1H-Hudson O'Neal[7]; 6. 50-Kaeden Cornell[4]; 7. 49J-Justin Wells[8]; 8. 11K-Jon Kirby[6]; 9. 1A-Bryon Allison[9]; 10. 14R-Jeff Roth[10]

Lucas Oil Heat 5 - 1. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 3. 51-Larry Ferris[2]; 4. 25C-Chad Simpson[4]; 5. 2-Tyler Stevens[6]; 6. 54-David Breazeale[3]; 7. 22F-Chris Ferguson[8]; 8. 3-Brennon Willard[7]; 9. 78S-Steve Stultz[9]; 10. 50C-Kayden Clatt[10]

Lucas Oil Heat 6 - 1. 7W-Ricky Weiss[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 3. 111B-Max Blair[2]; 4. 94-Austin Rettig[4]; 5. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[6]; 6. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[7]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 8. 22H-Dustin Hodges[5]; 9. 36-Mark Daye[9]

Qualifying Group A - 1. 58-Garrett Alberson, 00:15.809[8]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson, 00:15.830[1]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes, 00:15.862[5]; 4. 8-Dillon McCowan, 00:15.889[12]; 5. 32-Chris Simpson, 00:15.910[19]; 6. 15-Justin Duty, 00:15.925[20]; 7. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck, 00:16.005[3]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs, 00:16.030[4]; 9. 46-Earl Pearson Jr, 00:16.063[18]; 10. 1T-Tyler Erb, 00:16.074[21]; 11. 11H-Jeff Herzog, 00:16.100[15]; 12. USA28-Kylan Garner, 00:16.143[11]; 13. 93-Mason Oberkramer, 00:16.166[25]; 14. 96-Dalton Imhoff, 00:16.179[7]; 15. 1X-Aaron Marrant, 00:16.198[10]; 16. 7D-Dusty Leonard, 00:16.266[6]; 17. 56JR-Tony Jackson Jr, 00:16.305[14]; 18. 14M-Morgan Bagley, 00:16.325[16]; 19. 1S-Jeremy Shaw, 00:16.347[22]; 20. 99-Devin Moran, 00:16.359[30]; 21. 45-Cole Wells, 00:16.423[29]; 22. 82-Jace Parmley, 00:16.498[28]; 23. 26-Glen Powell, 00:16.793[23]; 24. 15T-Matt Johnson, 00:16.808[9]; 25. 19M-Colby Moore, 00:16.857[2]; 26. USA1-Chris Hawkins, 00:16.990[13]; 27. 29-Chandler Moenning, 00:17.584[24]; 28. 15L-Payton Looney, 00:59.995[17]; 29. 04-Tad Pospisil, 00:59.996[26]; 30. 15V-Kolby Vandenbergh, 00:59.998[27]

Qualifying Group B - 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport, 00:16.017[11]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening, 00:16.126[10]; 3. 7W-Ricky Weiss, 00:16.185[1]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie, 00:16.192[4]; 5. 51-Larry Ferris, 00:16.221[6]; 6. 111B-Max Blair, 00:16.228[2]; 7. 20-Jimmy Owens, 00:16.232[5]; 8. 54-David Breazeale, 00:16.252[26]; 9. 76-Brandon Overton, 00:16.375[28]; 10. 50-Kaeden Cornell, 00:16.420[3]; 11. 25C-Chad Simpson, 00:16.454[25]; 12. 94-Austin Rettig, 00:16.477[8]; 13. 25Z-Mason Zeigler, 00:16.479[27]; 14. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr, 00:16.498[19]; 15. 22H-Dustin Hodges, 00:16.537[13]; 16. 11K-Jon Kirby, 00:16.569[16]; 17. 2-Tyler Stevens, 00:16.626[20]; 18. 21XXX-Neil Baggett, 00:16.660[23]; 19. 1H-Hudson O'Neal, 00:16.703[29]; 20. 3-Brennon Willard, 00:16.720[9]; 21. 14G-Trevor Gundaker, 00:16.904[21]; 22. 49J-Justin Wells, 00:16.915[18]; 23. 22F-Chris Ferguson, 00:17.000[22]; 24. 7-Ross Robinson, 00:17.083[14]; 25. 1A-Bryon Allison, 00:17.230[12]; 26. 78S-Steve Stultz, 00:17.299[7]; 27. 36-Mark Daye, 00:17.367[15]; 28. 14R-Jeff Roth, 00:17.382[24]; 29. 50C-Kayden Clatt, 00:17.426[17]

A Feature - 1. 88-Chad Wheeler[2]; 2. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[4]; 3. 91-Joe Duvall[1]; 4. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[6]; 5. 1X-Matt Johnson[10]; 6. 127-Paden Phillips[5]; 7. 29-Dennis Elliott[12]; 8. 99-Dylan Hoover[13]; 9. 5-Robbie Reed[14]; 10. 38C-Jason Pursley[7]; 11. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[16]; 12. 51-Lucas Gibbs[9]; 13. 25C-Johnny Cammon[11]; 14. 95JR-Johnny Wyman[20]; 15. 7-Daniel Franklin[17]; 16. 23-Lucas Dobbs[21]; 17. 21-Greg Scheffler[19]; 18. 356-Reggie Jackson[24]; 19. 52C-Alex Cammon[23]; 20. (DNF) 22B-Rick Beebe[3]; 21. (DNF) 8-Jon Sheets[8]; 22. (DNF) 11B-Donnie Barnhart[22]; 23. (DNF) 24C-Brandon Conkwright[18]; 24. (DNF) 49-Andy Bryant[15]

B Main 1 - 1. 99-Dylan Hoover[2]; 2. 49-Andy Bryant[3]; 3. 7-Daniel Franklin[5]; 4. 21-Greg Scheffler[6]; 5. 23-Lucas Dobbs[9]; 6. 52C-Alex Cammon[7]; 7. 9-Kenton Allen[8]; 8. F26-Jay Fields[10]; 9. 33S-Ben Stockton[4]; 10. (DNF) 03-Chase Jones[1]

B Main 2 - 1. 5-Robbie Reed[1]; 2. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[5]; 3. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[7]; 4. 95JR-Johnny Wyman[4]; 5. 11B-Donnie Barnhart[2]; 6. 356-Reggie Jackson[10]; 7. 247-Jarret Dotson[3]; 8. 85-Tyler Shaw[6]; 9. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[8]; 10. (DNF) 21W-Tracy Wolf[9]

Heat 1 - 1. 22B-Rick Beebe[1]; 2. 88-Chad Wheeler[5]; 3. 1X-Matt Johnson[4]; 4. 99-Dylan Hoover[6]; 5. 247-Jarret Dotson[2]; 6. 7-Daniel Franklin[7]; 7. 52C-Alex Cammon[3]; 8. (DNF) 356-Reggie Jackson[8]

Heat 2 - 1. 91-Joe Duvall[3]; 2. 8-Jon Sheets[2]; 3. 25C-Johnny Cammon[4]; 4. 49-Andy Bryant[1]; 5. 11B-Donnie Barnhart[8]; 6. 15W-Wyatt Gaggero[5]; 7. 21F-Johnny Fennewald[7]; 8. 23-Lucas Dobbs[6]

Heat 3 - 1. 98-Jeff Cutshaw[1]; 2. 21M-Ryan Middaugh[4]; 3. 5-Robbie Reed[3]; 4. 51-Lucas Gibbs[8]; 5. 33S-Ben Stockton[2]; 6. 85-Tyler Shaw[6]; 7. 24C-Brandon Conkwright[5]; 8. (DNF) F26-Jay Fields[7]

Heat 4 - 1. 127-Paden Phillips[1]; 2. 38C-Jason Pursley[4]; 3. 03-Chase Jones[2]; 4. 29-Dennis Elliott[7]; 5. 95JR-Johnny Wyman[3]; 6. 21-Greg Scheffler[5]; 7. 9-Kenton Allen[6]; 8. 21W-Tracy Wolf[8]

Adults (16 and up) - $30

Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $27

Youth (age 6 to 15) - $10

Kids (age 5 and under) - FREE

Family Pass - $70

2-Day Reserved Seat Ticket - $85

Pit Pass - $40

2-Day Pit Pass - $85

Adults (16 and up) - $40

Seniors (62 and up)/Military - $37

Youth (age 6 to 15) - $10

Kids (age 5 and under) - FREE

Family Pass - $90

Pit Pass $45

Pit gates open at 4 p.m. and spectator gates at 5 on Friday, with hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05. On Saturday, pit gates open at 3 p.m., grandstands at 4 with pre-race concert from 5-5:45 p.m., opening ceremonies at 6, hot laps at 6:30 and racing at 7:05.

Lee Newton pre-race concert on Saturday: Nutrien Ag Solutions will add to the fan experience on Saturday by presenting a pre-race concert from 5-5:45 p.m. featuring Nashville recording artist/songwriter Lee Newton. During pre-race ceremonies, Lucas Oil Speedway will honor the Veterans and Military as part of the Memorial Day Weekend as a nation.

Newton will also serve as Grand Marshal for the Show-Me 100. She is a three-time Josie Music Award winner and the Josie Music Vocalist of the Year in 2020.

For information about any event at Lucas Oil Speedway in 2023 contact admissions director Nichole McMillan at (417) 282-5984 or email her at nichole@lucasoilspeedway.com for more information.

Complete Lucas Oil Speedway event information, archived race recaps, previews and driver features, along with ticket information and schedules can be found by visiting LucasOilSpeedway.com.

Click LucasOilSpeedway.com for more information and detailed directions to the speedway or call the Track Hotline at (417) 282-5984. The Lucas Oil Speedway EZ Texting number is (417) 804-4141.

In addition, fans can get social with Lucas Oil Speedway by following @LucasSpeedway on Twitter, clicking "Like" at www.facebook.com/LucasOilSpeedway and on www.youtube.com/LucasOilSpeedway  

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