MINERAL WELLS, W.Va. — In winning earlier this season at West Virginia Motor Speedway, Jonathan Davenport knows what it’s like to try to chase the frontrunners around the big 5/8-mile oval.

In Friday’s weekend-opening 30-lapper of the Historic 100 at WVMS, the polesitter from Blairsville, Ga., wanted to make sure he was the driver everyone was chasing.

“I knew it was big to get the lead there on (fellow front-row starter) Devin (Moran),” Davenport said. “Clean air here would be huge.”

Davenport indeed wrestled the lead from Moran at the outset, kept the Ohio driver in check until Moran blew a right-rear tire on lap 25, then took the checkers 1.443 seconds ahead of Gregg Satterlee for a $10,000 victory at the picturesque oval reopened this season by promoter Cody Watson.

“That’s pretty awesome,” Davenport said after climbing from his Lance Landers-owned car. “Man, Cody put on a helluva show for you fans. Thanks to everybody for coming out.”

Satterlee, of Indiana, Pa., crossed the line second with Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, third in the 23-car feature. G.R. Smith of Mooresville, N.C., ran as high as second before settling for fourth — without rear brakes because bent right-rear bodywork cut his Brodnax-Shaker Motorsports Longhorn car’s brake line — while Hall of Famer Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., rounded out the top five in front of a big hillside crowd.

Moran, of Dresden, Ohio, chased Davenport from the second spot most of the way, but he fell from contention on the 25th lap when he blow a right-rear tire that sent him careening toward the turn-two wall. He avoided contact with the concrete and rejoined the field after a pit stop to finish seventh in a race that saw nine cars running at its conclusion.

Davenport was concerned about Moran before taking the green flag in the unsanctioned event, which precedes Saturday’s $25,000-to-win finale.

“The bottom was not the place to start, but we had plenty of motor to get back beside (Moran), and I just ran here off into turn one and never lifted,” Davenport said of the initial green flag. “I probably rubbed him a little bit — but he probably knew it was coming.”

Davenport’s victory was a rebound from struggles the previous weekend at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Mo., during the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Show-Me 100 weekend. He thanked his crew for whipping his Longhorn Chassis into shape.

“We got our ass kicked last week, and this is the same car. They took it completely apart,” Davenport said, crediting crew members. “This win’s for them, for sure.”

Satterlee, who started third but slipped as far back as fifth in his XR1 Rocket car, regained third from Erb on a lap-15 restart. He raced on the same straightaway with Davenport and Moran and stayed about five to six car lengths behind Davenport after inheriting second from Moran.

“I didn’t take off real good, and then my tire fired and I was going pretty good but you kind of got to wait for somebody to make a mistake or break down,” Satterlee said. “I was able to get by Terbo (Erb) on that restart, but I just needed a better start. I just needed to get going quicker.

“Our car’s not bad. I was keeping right up with Davenport, so we must be OK. He’s pretty good. We got something to build off of. I’m pretty happy.”

Erb gained three positions from his sixth starting spot in his Best Performance XR1 Rocket. He survived two paint-trading scrapes with Satterlee early in the race en route to claiming the final podium position.

“After that restart when Devin blew out, I said, ‘OK, I’m gonna try to run hard for two laps,’ and I did, and I didn’t make no time,” Erb said. “So I was like, ‘Nobody’s close behind me, so I’m just gonna ride and take our chances for tomorrow.’”

Six cautions slowed the action, four in the early laps. The first came on lap four for Dave Hilton’s spin between turns three and four.

Another caution flew on the sixth lap when fifth-running Ryan Montgomery found the concrete wall in turn two after exploding a right-rear tire, ripping the right side of his car’s sheet metal away. He was OK.

Two quick cautions appeared on ensuing restarts, first when Corey Conley blew a right-rear tire in turn two (Doug Dodd spun simultaneously) and then when Ed Shuman’s spin collected Dustin Sprouse, who got into the wall exiting turn two.

A fifth caution appeared at halfway for Todd Brennan slowing a flat right-rear tire, and the final yellow appeared for Moran’s lap-25 issue.

Notes: The feature wrapped up about 10 p.m. .... Davenport's first 2021 victory at WVMS came in late April after Tyler Erb's last-lap demise in an $8,000-to-win Valvoline Iron-Man Racing Series event. ... Track officials sweetened the pot for drivers competing in this weekend's inaugural Historic 100 by waiving the entry free and providing two complimentary pit passes for each team, a total value of $250 for teams. … Saturday’s winner will earn a $5,000 bonus if the winning car carries a throwback graphics scheme. ... Devin Moran fielded a throwback scheme mirroring his father Donnie’s No. 99 from 1997 — a year Donnie won a STARS race at WVMS — while Tyler Erb has reskinned his Best Performance machine with a No. 46 and neon green colors to make it look like the Days of Thunder movie car driven by Tom Cruise’s Cole Trickle (Erb has “Cole Terbo” on the roof).

Correction: Clarifies Moran's blown tire and resulting issues.