While the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series crowned its champion for 2021, one Iowa native secured the biggest win of his career to date.
Ricky Thornton Jr. ate up the entirety of the $100,000 check at the weekend’s Dirt Track World Championship to win both the race as well as the series’ Rookie of the Year award.
“It’s wild. I can’t really explain it,” Thornton Jr. said in victory lane. “We were lucky enough to run second last year. To win it this year is amazing. We gambled on tires. This is awesome, I have always wanted to be a late model driver and I think this kind of solidifies it. We have been so excited to run the Lucas Oil series and we look forward to doing it again next year.”
In his first year touring nationally with the series, Thornton Jr. ended the season with 19 top 10 runs and eight top 5 finishes. He capped it off with a win in the season finale.
It certainly looks like he’ll be back with the Lucas Oil series full-time next year, and the tour recently announced its 2022 season schedule. It can be found by searching “LucasDirt” on the schedules page.
