We’ve already seen a plethora of memories and highlights created from the double crown jewel weeks at Eldora this season.
Kyle Larson won the biggest sprint car race of his career before winning a bigger one weeks later.
Tyler Courtney was crowned a king.
And Brandon Overton dummied the field the last time we saw fenders fly at ‘The Big E.’
It all gets started again on Wednesday, and I got tempted to try my hand at another power rankings article. Surely, this will go smoothly and the late model fans will love every sentence of it.
2021 World 100 Week Power Rankings
1. Brandon Overton
It’d be absolutely foolish to look at what Brandon Overton did here earlier this year and not put him smack dab at the top. Overton swept four nights during the Dirt Late Model Dreams at Eldora and has added some big wins to go along with it across both of the major, national tours. I can see him having a good, good week in Ohio.
2. Jonathan Davenport
It hasn’t been the all-around best season ever that Jonathan Davenport fans wanted to see from the 2018 and ’19 Lucas Dirt champion. Although he has had five wins, Davenport sits nearly 200 points behind Tim McCreadie in the series standings. As the back-to-back and defending World 100 champion, a good week at Eldora could launch Davenport back in the right direction to take back the championship title in the Lucas series. He’ll still be one to watch.
3. Kyle Larson
The guy who can hop in any kind of car and succeed is putting the fenders back on for at least the first two nights of the week at Eldora. The all-around motorsports star has shown he can do it all, and if he’s in a race, he’ll be a contender yet by the time the final laps are rolling around. In 2021, Larson has boasted three wins across the two major tours in limited starts so far this season. Not only did he pick up the season opening win on the Lucas tour, but the Elk Grove, CA native saw the biggest late model win of his career come at the Prairie Dirt Classic this year as well. Larson will enter the 51st (Wednesday & Thursday) World 100 for the Rumley No. 6 team, per usual. It’s unknown what he will do with the preliminary night on Friday, as Larson is scheduled to run the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Richmond on Saturday.
4. Bobby Pierce
In a season headlined by his first career World of Outlaws win, Hell Tour champion Bobby Pierce will return to the national scene searching for an even bigger trophy. The 2016 World 100 winner has had his share of success this year, and if he can alleviate any potential issues on his prelim night to start up front, Pierce will be a big threat.
5. Tim McCreadie
T-Mac hasn’t blown anyone out of the water with a mega win that no one saw coming this year, but rather has used consistency to find his successes. McCreadie, the 2018 World 100 winner, comes into the week as the points leader in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, finishing 21 of the 27 points races inside of the top 10.
6. Brandon Sheppard
Per his usual self, Brandon Sheppard has dominated the World of Outlaws tour in 2021, as he goes for yet another consecutive championship run with the tour. However, he has done so quietly as well. Sheppard hasn’t found his way to an upset W in a long while, but it would be ridiculous to count out the Rocket 1 car.
7. Hudson O’Neal
When Hudson O’Neal announced his plans to run in the No. 71 car this season, it was big news in the dirt world. I don’t think, however, he knew that it would turn out as big as it has. O’Neal has erupted on the late model scene, capturing a series best five wins with the Lucas tour and sitting at third in the points standings there. The young gun has seen about all of the success possible this year. A win this weekend could break him out into a superstar.
8. Devin Moran
Devin Moran grew up watching his dad capture four World 100 titles. This year, he’s going for his first. Moran has made 10 starts with the World of Outlaws this season and walked away with a win in four of those races, including the Bristol Bash and Quad Cities 150 finales to highlight a solid season. I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see him mixing it up all week.
9. Chris Madden
Chris Madden has had one of the best seasons a driver of his age and situation could ask for in 2021, since moving to his current No. 44 car. The veteran has earned four wins this year, including 36 top 10’s in the 45 points races the World of Outlaws have put on. He sits second in the standings.
10. Tyler Erb
I struggled on who to task as the 10th and final write up for these power rankings, but finally settled on Terbo. The driver who was recently reinstated by the World of Outlaws tour has come and gone from the national scene, but he could add a big win to his career resume this week.
______________________________________
Fans looking to watch the action can do so live on FloRacing. Hot laps for each night take off at 5:30 p.m. CT with racing scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.
