There is an intriguing discussion surrounding this year’s DirtonDirt Driver of the Year award. After a long and arduous season three drivers have emerged as the prime candidates: Darrell Lanigan, Don O’Neal, and Jimmy Owens (notice that I’ve listed them in alphabetical order to dispel any hint of personal bias).

This is, of course, a delicious topic because it isn’t a black-and-white criteria; there are a thousand shades of gray. How should the vote be weighed? Owens didn’t fare well at MORE

Jonathan Davenport has faced a long haul across the past nine months, with a lot of tough nights now filed away in the memory banks. But with this weekend’s 32nd annual Red Buck Dirt Track World Championship at Portsmouth Raceway Park, the 27-year-old native of Blairsville, Ga. will clinch the 2012 Lucas Oil series Rookie of the Year crown.

It was a year of adjustment for Davenport. This was his first season as a full-time Lucas Oil regular, coming off a splendid late 2011 run that saw him win MORE

It rises high above the endless Iowa countryside, an iron testament to what racing institutions can be. It has roots deep in open wheel racing, and is today one of the icons of the sport.

Yet, for one weekend each year, the gates of Knoxville Raceway swing open to welcome the best of the Dirt Late Model world. Over the past eight years the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals have grown to become not just an event of crown jewel status, but one of the destination weekends of the entire MORE