Top-3 Recap | 2026 Lucas Oil Topless 100 Prelims at Batesville Motor Speedway
Top-3 Recap after Friday's 2026 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Topless 100 Prelims at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark.
Video Transcript
The third generation racer.
So unofficially, your top 10, Max Blair, Carson Ferguson, Charlie Cole, Brendan Smith, Dale McDowell fifth, Terry Phillips sixth, Clay Stuckey, Deven Moran, Brandon Sheppard, Brian Rickman, your top 10.
So it is official.
So Max Blair, again, his dad, Robbie Blair, a well accomplished racer.
And Max Blair brings his car to the Veland victory lane here tonight.
Carson Ferguson will come home second.
Charlie Cole will come in third, come home third, as Max Blair will take the 111 up on the victory lane podium here tonight at Batesville Motor Speedway.
His first win here at BMS in his return this year to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
He was rookie of the year a couple of years ago, and well, we got to center him up, don't we?
Be all right.
Taylor DeVito, and the checkered flag to the third generation racer, Max Blair.
Wesley Gwaltney, he got the victory here tonight in this first 25 lapper.
How about a race, fans?
Give him a big round of applause as he climbs from the race car.
Your winner of A feature here tonight, Max Blair.
Taking the Miami Dolphins here to victory lane.
Worn out.
We're gonna get him a bottle of water here in a moment as well.
Max, get you here around the front of the race car.
A wild one here tonight at BMS.
You're running there, you're starting to march your way through the field, then you see the leader go down, then you see second and third place go down.
What are you thinking?
What's going through your mind as we continue to run laps?
Yeah, it was, it was crazy for sure.
I mean, I was really worried.
When I got to third, I was just kind of trying to pace myself and, not kill my tires too bad, and I was just hoping that I saved enough there for the end.
I, I got to apologize to Dale, man.
I, He's, he's one of my idols, and I definitely got into him on that restart.
I don't know if he spun his tires.
I don't know exactly what happened, but he just didn't go like I was anticipating, so, I, I owe him a big apology either way.
No excuses, my bad, and I, I apologize for that.
This is a racetrack you hadn't seen too many times, but you come here, you come from sixth in that feature event.
Take us through that race for you a little bit.
The racetrack continued to change the round and move to the top in three and four and just continued to throw curve balls at everybody.
Yeah, truthfully, it's a good thing I was behind them guys there for a while because I'd have never known it was, it was moving out like that.
I, This is just so different than the stuff I grew up on, you know?
So I really can't believe we just won.
We, we obviously had a lot of fortune there to help us out, but, I mean, we were in the right place to capitalize on it, you know?
So, just because I had a little luck doesn't, doesn't make it any less sweet, that's for sure.
$50,000 tomorrow night, 100 laps.
What's it gonna take to be right back here in victory lane?
No flat tires or pitting at the right time or whatever it takes, but, you know, we're in the race.
That was the goal for the day.
We don't got a runner B main.
We're gonna be starting up front, so hopefully we can, pace ourselves and, and, be in it at the end there and have a good finish.
I, I got to thank a lot of people though, and I know it's just a prelim night, and to some of these guys it wouldn't mean, wouldn't mean as much as it does to me, but this, it's my third one ever, and, we're really, we're really gonna be excited about it, but I got to thank my dad.
I, I couldn't do any of this without him, that's, that's for sure.
I got to thank, Centerline Motorsports, Brad Mallory, and, Riggs Fiber, Jason and Courtney.
Without them four, I wouldn't be standing here, that's for sure.
We wouldn't be here.
And then, everybody that helps me out.
I got such a great group of people.
Virgili Iron and Steel, Creekside Auto Sales, C&J Dairy, Murphy's Logging, Deer, Deer Lakes Bowl, Andy's Towing, the Gable Inn, Tavern 618, Longhorn VP, Bill Stein, Vinnie VG, super cool, super cool he was here.
Willy's World, just, Bish Heating and Cooling, Presto Racing Stables, my crew, and I want to say, say hi to my wife and my, my daughter, Hayes.
She's, They didn't come this weekend.
It was too hot for them, but I'm wishing they, wish or I'm betting they, they wish they'd have, toughed it out now.
Well, he'll be celebrating here in the Arkansas heat.
Your winner of group A feature, the 111 of Max Blair.
So congratulations to Max Blair.
Good point night for him as far as the starting line of tomorrow.
And again, the top 16 will be locked in, and that'll be all determined here once his second feature is over.
Carson Ferguson, he was in the hunt all race long, comes home in second here tonight.
Yeah, down here with Carson Ferguson, the North Carolina driver.
Carson, that was a wild one.
We about had a little Ferguson on Ferguson action there.
You and Chris got right up next to each other, but you held on.
A good run here tonight.
Yeah, thank you.
Just the track kind of threw us for a curve ball.
We couldn't keep the nose out of the racetrack all night, and I was just real tight on entry and so you're scared to tighten up.
And then we're just too free when we land in the corner, you know, I'm just having to sheer it.
So, good first night though.
Like I Obviously things went our way.
We didn't have a flat, so, congratulations to Max.
He was good all race.
I felt like we could kind of get going.
I just had to slow down too much that first lap just to stay out of his air and, like I said, just a little too tight around the bottom like I needed to, but, just awesome to be on the podium.
I was in a B main here last year, so, leaps and bounds, ahead of where we were last year.
So, I got to thank all my Hoopa Grading, Paylor Motorsports, and ME3 guys.
Skyler and Kyle's worked their butt off in all this heat.
I got to thank all the fans for coming out.
Like I said, my great sponsors, Hoopa Grading, Mega Plumbing, great car owners, Don and Gina Bradsher.
Shout out to my fiance at home watching and my momma watching too, just all of my family and friends.
And, I got to give a shout out to Buddy's Wrecker Service.
My buddy Steve's here.
He let us stay at his shop this week, so, huge thanks to him and, all our other great sponsors.
Couldn't do it without them.
Map Man Designs, Coltman Farms, Brett's here in the pits with us, so just a really cool deal.
We, we struggle going up and down the road, but, hopefully things are starting to go our way.
Well, he'll lock himself in tomorrow night, Carson Ferguson, second in Group A feature here this evening.
Talked about Kyle Tompkins come on as the, crew chief for the 93 car.
And how about Win, Arkansas' Charlie Cole on the podium here tonight, his best ever finish in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series.
So I was talking to Charlie a little bit before we got racing, and we were just talking, "Hey, we're just here to have fun."
Well, sir, you just ran third in your preliminary feature.
What a race by you and the two team.
Yeah, the We, we are here to have fun, but, we can get it done when we, when we need to.
When the track's in our favor, when it slows down and slick, I think I can get around it as good as anyone.
So, man, thank Track Star Race Cars, Jamie Bowlin, Mike Bowlin have helped me a ton, and, probably the only Track Star you'll see here, but, and Hunter Rasen, he, he helped me a lot this week.
And, yeah, the car was really good.
Didn't have any power steering the last 10 laps, and, I don't know that I couldn't win it.
I, I It was that good.
I, I hadn't had a race car that good in a long time, so I'm really, really happy.
That was, that was cool.
And let's talk about all the great people that help you out.
My wife mainly, she lets me do whatever.
She doesn't, she hadn't took the checkbook away yet.
So, Cola County, my wife Victoria, Mariana Parts, my brother Curtis of CNC Creations, Parish Automotive, A1 Dirt.
That's about all I got.
I don't, I don't have a lot of supporters, but, we're just a family team that has fun.
How about it, race fans?
Third place here tonight, Charlie Cole in preliminary feature number one.
Some out of Davenport side Hey, he got third.
Across the Long Acre scales, there is your winner right there as Only fitting, right?
All in a night's work.
We, we got, we got her in all in a night's work.
The Hooker Trucking, Knights Companies, Coleman Farms Racing, Capital Waste, Certified Inspection, Elite Ready Mix, Range Over, Site Towing and Recovery, Sunoco Race Fuels.
D and E Outside Services, last year's World 100 winner, the Anthony Burrows, Justin Tharp, Seth Hunter.
For Kohler Motorsports, Longhorn Cornette number 20RT.
Yeah, I feel you, Rob Penrod.
I take my helmet off too as Ricky Thornton Jr. Has got the win here tonight in the second 25-lapper, Wesley.
He has a two-time Race for Hope winner in an IMCA modified, still looking for his first-ever Topless 100.
Could this year be the year?
Puts himself in a great spot after inheriting the lead, and leads the rest of that B f- the B group feature.
Wait for him to climb the race car, transplant out of Chandler, Arizona.
Parks the 20RT here in victory lane, a place he is accustomed to at the Batesville Motor Speedway.
And how about it, race fans?
RT Ricky Thornton Jr., your winner of group B feature here on preliminary night of the Topless 100.
We'll talk to him along the front of the race car.
Shay down here.
Congratulations.
Got the kiddo with him.
Ricky Thornton Jr., in a modified, you've been pretty good here.
Late model, Batesville's not always been so kind to you.
I know this town means a lot to you.
Yeah, I feel like, feel like I've won a bunch of these prelims, but just never been able to win the Topless, so I really didn't know what I needed to do there.
Felt, felt like the top was slowing down, which usually whenever you feel the top slowing down here, that means it's starting to rubber around the middle bottom.
I moved down, and then I was, like, instant tight.
So I figured, it was either gonna start rubber or it was it got really clean.
So moved down.
I felt like my pace picked back up.
I really, I really didn't know if I wanted JD to be second or Hud to be second.
I knew both of them passed a, passed a good amount of cars to get to second, so figured their stuff was pretty good.
Tire-wise, we didn't really know what to do.
Setup-wise, it's kind of the same way.
We just feel like every time I get here, I just get too tight on entry and then it kinda kills us.
So, we kinda stayed free there, and I think I was, I was okay, but it hurt me in other spots.
So hopefully, we can make the right adjustments tomorrow.
Pretty awesome to see Max win tonight too, so, pretty cool.
Hopefully tomorrow goes well for us.
Take us through those last few laps there.
Lap traffic, things got a little hairy for you.
Yeah, yeah.
Had, I about to do the same thing on the last lap.
The one car just barely got in a little too hard, and once you get out in that dust, there's no stopping it.
So, like I said, I about did the exact same thing a couple laps later, so, luckily there's no yellow there, as I think I, I probably would've got passed on the restart just not being in the right line.
So overall, it worked out for us.
Kept all the tires on it, thankfully.
Hopefully we can keep tires on it tomorrow and, be up here in victory lane again.
And how cool is it to have your family here with you?
Oh, I mean, it's awesome.
My little boys, go back to school here in two weeks, so we got this week and next week to enjoy it.
And then, then it's dad back on the road by himself.
So, obviously, anytime my family comes, it's, it's awesome.
So, like I said, hopefully, hopefully we're, we're good tomorrow.
I know the racetrack will be, will be just as good as it was tonight.
So, the kind of weird seeing all the flats.
It really didn't look like the track had that many rocks on it, like, for our feature and still have that many yellows.
So, I don't know if it's something we're doing wrong or, or just over-driving, getting stuff blistered and then, and blowing them that way.
So, hats off to my guys.
Everyone at Kohler Motorsports been working hard.
Feel like we, we've had really good speed the last month, just not a whole lot of results.
So, hopefully tomorrow changes that, and, think, I thank all the fans for coming out.
I love being in Batesville.
Went, went golfing earlier today, so, hopefully, maybe we'll go golfing tomorrow too.
And let's talk about all the great people that help you out.
Yeah, obviously everyone, Kohler Motorsports, Coleman Farms.
Brett's here w- with Sam, so it, anytime you see him, it's pretty cool.
Hooker Trucking, Knights Companies, Capital Waste, Elite Ready Mix, Bobby and Jessica Kohler.
Without them and the boys and everyone at the shop working hard, I wouldn't be able to live my dreams.
How about it, race fans?
Your winner of group B feature here on preliminary night of the Topless 100, it's RT Ricky Thornton Jr.
So Hudson O'Neal started in 2021, winner of the Topless 100.
O'Neal started in 12th, had a back and forth battle with Jonathan Davenport, who comes in third here tonight, as O'Neal, your runner up.
Yeah, we'll catch up here with the New Deal, Hudson O'Neal.
Hudson, little flashes of the past there, you and JD throwing some sliders, but things got a little hairy in lap traffic.
Yeah, felt really good, really.
Was able to drive up through there from 12th.
Had a couple breaks with some people getting some flats, but felt like we were, pretty, pretty competitive there at the end.
In the last few laps, I think Ricky started getting a little tight, and we were able to kind of, you know, come back up to him just a little bit.
But JD threw that slider on me, and I knew his race car was pretty good, maybe a little bit better than mine, and I just was fortunate enough that it started to clean up down there, and I could steer hard and come back down the racetrack and not lose any grip and drive back by him.
So yeah, we, we've had a past of throwing some sliders around this place, so, if we're, if we're in that same situation racing for the lead tomorrow, like, and we're throwing sliders, I'll be pretty happy.
So yeah, we just been working at this thing, you know.
All my guys, Jason, Riley, Kyle, Logan, everybody's been working really hard and as well as everybody at Longhorn Chassis and, Steve Arpin and Kevin Rumley and everybody that's a part of it.
We appreciate what they do, and they, they've been helping us, and, we're, we just keep getting a little bit better.
Jason's, working really, really hard, and, and, we're all putting forth our best effort, and I think it's starting to show a little bit.
So appreciate all them.
Appreciate everybody on the number 71 machine.
Wheeler Metals, Merrell Bonding Company.
Raymond Merrell's here with us this week, it's pretty cool.
And Big River Steel, just a huge Big River Steel event, and Scott Coleman and all the Big River Steel employees that come out and hang out and support us, and it's so cool to, be representing the BRS on our fueler panel, that's for sure.
So, Professional Concrete, O'Neal Salvage and Recycling, O'Neal Contracting, Sno-Co Race Fields, Penske Racing Shocks, Longhorn Chassis, Subsurface of Indiana, SSI Motorsports, Seven Spurs Ranch, Jim Beam and lumber, everybody that's a part of it, man.
We're just, happy to be on the podium tonight, but, if we're on the podium again tomorrow night, I think that'll be a, a little bit better accomplishment.
How about a race fan?
Second place here tonight in Martinsville, Indiana, the New Deal, Hudson O'Neal.
And we'll talk to your third place finisher momentarily.
Third place here tonight, Superman Jonathan Davenport.
JD, I know it means a little bit more when you come here to Batesville.
You swept the Bad Boy 98, but tonight a good rebound after that heat race.
Yeah, so we made, what could have been a bad situation out of something good there.
Felt like we had a pretty good car.
Would like to run, you know, longer green flag or laps there, but, it just wasn't in the cards tonight.
You know, a lot of flat tires, so, I guess that's probably just from people, you know, running around the top, and then it, it also rolling rocks down, the speedway too, and just I, I don't know, just, d- just part of it really, you know.
I never ran around the top in the heat race and had a flat.
So, like I said, but w- we rebounded, had a really good car there, pretty maneuverable.
We passed a lot of car, a lot of cars pretty quick, and, I felt like we had pace with Ricky there, especially before, the leader had a flat, and, obviously then Ricky got out front and got clean air.
And we could still pace with him pretty good there, but we only got to run two or three laps really, while we was in second at a time before we, we would have a caution.
So just, thanks for my guys.
They give me a good hot rod here.
We got a few tweaks we need to do on it for tomorrow to, get through the holes a little bit better, but I think we'll be okay.
And you got a lot of great people to help you out.
Oh, yeah, absolutely.
Gotta thank Aceran, for sure.
Nu- Nu- Nutrien Ag Solutions, Longhorn Chassis, ASC Warranty.
W- one thing, I gotta say is, a good friend of my car owner and, a, a lot of people out here, l- lost his life, yesterday.
Mark Benning's just, real bad deal.
Timothy Culp's, father-in-law, car owner, you know, he, he's not with us racing.
He normally comes and run this deal, and, you know, Mark's dad was actually just at our shop yesterday, working on an air conditioner, and, and Mark was supposed to be there today.
So, it's a pretty tough deal.
You know, I, I, I didn't know Mark that great, but I did know him, a- and I know, my car owner Lance and, and everybody knew him real well, so, they, they definitely got heavy hearts there.
So, yeah, just, all in all, come out a good night, everybody safe.
It, it was pretty tricky there qualifying.
It was, pr- pretty easy to get hurt there, so, hopefully they'll, they'll slow it down a little bit, and then, we'll be able to race tomorrow.
How about it, race fans?
Third place here tonight, Superman Jonathan Davenport completing your top three with Hudson O'Neal, and your winner, RT Ricky Thornton Jr. Great job, Wesley.
We'll look for you tomorrow night-
