Thornton Remains Peerless In World Finals Late Model Run
Ricky Thornton Jr. (20RT) passes Brandon Overton for the win Thursday night. (KR Poole Photos)
By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor
CONCORD, N.C. (Nov. 5, 2026) – There’s an unstoppable force right now in dirt late model racing, and his name is Ricky Thornton Jr.
Though Bobby Pierce barnstormed through the summer months en route to a record 20 World of Outlaws Late Model Series victories in 2026, the fall has belonged squarely to ‘RTJ’, and that continued Thursday at The Dirt Track at Charlotte during the opening act of the Dave Smith Motors World Finals.
Thornton motored past polesitter and race-long leader Brandon Overton on lap 19 of 35, two laps after light rain forced a short red-flag stoppage, never looking back after that en route to his fourth career World Finals victory and seventh straight dirt late model win overall.
Thursday’s score followed victories at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway Oct. 9-10, West Virginia Motor Speedway Oct. 17-18 during the Dirt Track World Championship, and Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park Oct. 30-31 during the Halloween Nationals. It came over a massive 74-car field featuring all the discipline’s stars.
The World Finals trophy also came after a rain delay where Thornton and new Koehler Motorsports crew chief Justin Tharp, who took over for Anthony Burroughs on Sept. 29, made no changes to the No. 20RT – a decision that paid dividends in the race’s second half as Thornton roared from fifth to first.
“We decided to just leave it covered, put a little bit of fuel in, hop in and go back out,” Thornton commented on his lack of changes during the break. “I was just able to get a really good restart. Those guys kind of got to [turn] one and shoved [up the racetrack], and I was able to drive straight.
“I got second right away, and I knew if I could at least pressure Brandon and get by him, then just try to get as far out as I could before I got to lap cars … it would all work out.”
Overton, who is wheeling a Rocket Chassis No. 17 for owner Billy Franklin at Charlotte instead of his usual Riggs Motorsports-prepared Longhorn Chassis, closed back in late but fell .780 seconds short at the checkered flag.
Series point leader Bobby Pierce stormed from 11th on the grid to round out the podium in third, one spot ahead of Outlaws title rival Nick Hoffman. North Carolina native Chris Ferguson closed the top five.
With two races remaining, Pierce leads Hoffman by 78 points, extending his margin by two Thursday night in a needed strong run at Charlotte. It was the Oakwood, Ill., native’s first finish better than 12th at the facility since winning the second night of the 2024 World Finals.
Other feature winners Thursday during the World Finals were Rico Abreu (sprint cars) and Jimmy Phelps (big-block modifieds).
Action continues at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Friday with the second of three racing programs during the Dave Smith Motors World Finals. Every lap of the week can be streamed live via DIRTvision.
The finish:
Feature (35 laps): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr [12]; 2. 17-Brandon Overton [1]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce [11]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman [8]; 5. 22-Chris Ferguson [4]; 6. 14-Trey Mills [10]; 7. 09-Michael Leach [3]; 8. 1S-Brandon Sheppard [13]; 9. 44-Chris Madden [5]; 10. 9M-Tim McCreadie [19]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin [9]; 12. 1-Tyler Erb [25]; 13. 11R-Josh Rice [15]; 14. 49-Jonathan Davenport [20]; 15. 93-Carson Ferguson [16]; 16. 74X-Ethan Dotson [26]; 17. 16-Ben Watkins [14]; 18. 58V-Daulton Wilson [21]; 19. 5-Drake Troutman [18]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain [29]; 21. 19-Dustin Sorensen [28]; 22. 58-Garrett Alberson [23]; 23. 28-Dennis Erb Jr [27]; 24. 49M-Luke Morey [22]; 25. 4-Kale Green [6]; 26. 13-Dallon Murty [7]; 27. 8-Kyle Strickler [17]; 28. 23-Beckham Malone [24]; 29. 1Z-Logan Zarin [30]; 30. 81F-Jadon Frame [2].
