LOCUST GROVE, Ark. — Neither Tim McCreadie nor the Rocket Chassis house car team are accustomed to five-month dry spells. But despite a lengthy winless stretch since the 50-year-old Watertown, N.Y., driver slipped into the seat of the Mark Richards Racing entry, both driver and team kept the faith.

That faith was rewarded in a big way Saturday at Batesville Motor Speedway by ending the skid in a big way. Leading the final 35 laps at the high-speed 3/8-mile oval, McCreadie grabbed a $50,000 payday in the Nutrien Ag Solutions Topless 100 and celebrated in victory lane with one of Dirt Late Model racing's most accomplished teams.

"Hat's off to this Rocket1 team. It's been a grind man," McCreadie said before collecting his big paycheck. "And I'll tell you what these guys haven't had one bad day. If they do, I would never know it. They do have their faith in me. I got my faith in them."

McCreadie, who twice swapped the lead with polesitter Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., midrace, took over for good with a Thornton flat tire on the 65th lap and fought off a brief challenge from runner-up Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., on a late restart to pull away for his 36th career full-field Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.

Davenport, racing at the home track of his Double L Motorsports team, rallied from 15th for a runner-up finish while Garrett Alberson of Las Cruces, N.M., improved six positions to land on a podium of drivers who started and finished on the same rubber while most of their pursuers made mid-race tire changes.

Ethan Dotson of Bakersfield, Calif., finished fourth in his first start in the Mooney Starr-founded event while Thornton salvaged a fifth-place finish after leading laps 1-41 and 59-65.

McCreadie was out of breath in victory lane, partly from the lengthy race and partly from his enthusiastic victory lane celebration where he twice nearly slipped off his car.

"It was a grueling race, man. Beating the cushion down for that many laps, it was way quicker than it's been probably since the last time I won here," McCreadie said. "I just concentrated on (crew chief) Danny (White signaling) on the backstretch and I think with like 15 (laps) to go or 20 to go, he told me to move down just a little bit in the middle of (turns) one and two and I don't know if it helped, but he stopped signaling and started putting his hands up, which feels like I'm getting away."

Thornton, the series points leader, controlled the early stages of the race, but McCreadie turned up his aggressiveness on a lap-41 restart as the two swapped sliders and crossovers until McCreadie steadied to lead past the halfway mark. Thornton rebounded in traffic on lap 59 to slide under McCreadie in turns three and four, but six laps later a flat tire forced him to the infield for fresh rubber.

"I had to get to the lead as quick as possible because he gets out there and he gets on cruise and he's so polished that he's not gonna make a mistake," McCreadie said. "I don't know if we pushed him a little, but he had a failure and it was to our advantage."

McCreadie was in position to snap his winless streak a night earlier in Batesville's 30-lap preliminary feature, but officials ruled he jumped the start from his pole position and he was docked two positions and Thornton led all the way for a $5,000 payday. McCreadie was grateful the crew of White, Austin Hargrove and Joel Rogers maintained their patience with him.

"There's more to this race team than you guys think. These guys truly care a lot about each other and the ability to let stuff go and come back," McCreadie said. "Like last night, I mean, we lost that deal on a start and I looked at it and, yeah, it's, it's partly my fault. I went a little early, I didn't think anything would happen and they weren't happy and today they wake up and you wouldn't even know anything happened."

The team's latest version of the Rocket XR-1 car — "It's been bad fast since I got off the truck," McCreadie said — has helped, but McCreadie wasn't surprised he didn't come right out of the gate winning in March after replacing the departing Hudson O'Neal.

"I told people it's, gonna take a little longer when you got two strong-willed guys like me and Mark, and all three of these (crew) guys that have done it as long as we have," McCreadie said. "Sometimes he wants to do stuff and I'm like, boy, I don't know, probably when I suggest things, he's like, 'Man, some of my other drivers never had to do that.' " So it's been a work in progress.

"Hopefully this is the first of many."

Davenport worked closely with McCreadie when they both fielded Longhorn Chassis, and he heartily congratulated his friend in victory lane.

"Congrats to Timmy and Mark. I know they've been working real hard and their crew also," Davenport said. "I knew it was gonna come around eventually and they had a really, really good car tonight. So congratulations to them."

Starting in the eighth row, Davenport had a long climb in trying to win the race he last won in 2022. He put a little pressure on McCreadie on the final restart, but said his brand new car handled a bit too loose for him to grab the top spot.

A disappointing preliminary night put Davenport in a consolation race Saturday, and "we just had to claw our way back from there," he said. "We done some different stuff on tires just to make sure that we could go the distance and not hurt them. So I was trying to be easy on them at first and then just pick my battles as I went through. We had a really, really good car. I wasn't as good as Timmy though. I threw everything I had at him."

Alberson, who notched his best finish in five Topless 100 starts, didn't get rolling until later in the 100-lapper.

"I was a little nervous. I never really felt that good early. I kind of had to be like way too conservative to take care of my tires," he said. "So I was like, 'Well, hopefully this will play out.' I knew the pace and the speed you could carry — (the surface) wasn't really abrasive — but we were just keeping them so hot. I just tried to pace myself, try to let them guys do their racing. And, man, I'm so proud of this Roberts Motorsports team. They've been working so hard."

Before the green flag fell on the crown jewel event, the field ran in missing man formation during parade laps in honor of five-time race winner Scott Bloomquist, who was killed in a Friday plan crash at his Mooresburg, Tenn., farm.

McCreadie, who also lost his legendary racing father Barefoot Bob in May, offered his condolences to Bloomquist's family in wrapping up his victory lane interview.

"It's a tough time and this one's for my old man. I've been waiting to tell him I love him and I miss him — and I do."

Notes: McCreadie notched his second victory of the season and 36th of his career (his first came Feb. 3 for Paylor Motorsports at All-Tech Raceway in Ellisville, Fla.). ... Besides Thornton's lap-65 flat tire and turn-two spin on the restart, nine other cautions slowed the action, including when last year's winner Dale McDowell slowed running fifth with a flat right-front tire on lap 72 and and when fourth-running Mike Marlar slowed on lap 43 with engine problems. ... The first yellow appeared on the 10th lap when Daulton Wilson spun on the frontstretch after contact with David Breazeale. Wilson continued with significant left-side damage but retired on lap 41. ... A slowing Stormy Scott collected Drake Troutman on the 35th lap; both cars were towed away. ... Max Blair spun exiting turn four on lap 75. ... Among other yellows Clay Harris slowed on lap 13 with apparent engine problems; Ross Robinson stopped on lap 27 with a broken left-front tie rod; Brenden Smith's lap-41 flat and Devin Moran's lap-87 flat.

32nd annual Nutrien Ag Solutions Topless 100
Pos. Driver (car no.), hometown, chassis, earnings
1. Tim McCreadie (1), Watertown, N.Y., Rocket, $50,000
2. Jonathan Davenport (49), Blairsville, Ga., Longhorn, $20,000
3. Garrett Alberson (58), Las Cruces, N.M., Longhorn, $10,000
4. Ethan Dotson (74x), Bakersfield, Calif., Longhorn, $8,000
5. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20rt), Chandler, Ariz., Longhorn, $7,000
6. Hudson O’Neal (71), Martinsville, Ind., Longhorn, $6,000
7. Carson Ferguson (93), Lincolnton, N.C., Longhorn, $4,500
8. Boom Briggs (99B), Bear Lake, Pa., Rocket, $4,000
9. Dale McDowell (17m), Chickamauga, Ga., Team Zero, $3,800
10. Devin Moran (99), Dresden, Ohio, Longhorn, $3,600
11. Max Blair (111), Centerville, Pa., Longhorn, $3,400
12. B.J. Robinson (1), Bossier City, La., Black Diamond, $3,200
13. Jimmy Owens (20), Newport, Tenn., Rocket, $3,000
14. Timothy Culp (c8), Bossier City, La., Capital, $2,500
15. Jared Landers (777), Batesville, Ark., Category 5, $2,400
16. David Breazeale (54), Four Corners, Miss., Rocket, $2,300
17. Mike Marlar (157), Winfield, Tenn., Longhorn, $2,200
18. Brenden Smith (17ss), Dade City, Fla., Rocket, $100
19. Daulton Wilson (18D), Fayetteville, N.C., Longhorn, $2,000
20. Stormy Scott (2s), Las Cruces, N.M., Category 5, $2,000
21. Drake Troutman (7), Hyndman, Pa., Longhorn, $2,000
22. Tyler Stevens (2), Searcy, Ark., Category 5, $2,000
23. Billy Moyer (21), Batesville, Ark., Longhorn, $2,000
24. Scott Crigler (12c), Alton, Mo., Capital, $2,000
25. Ross Robinson (7), Georgetown, Del., Rocket, $2,000
26. Clay Harris (6), Jupiter, Fla., Rocket, $0
27. Cory Lawler (93), Hanover, Pa., Rocket, $0
Lap leaders: Thornton 1-41, 59-65; McCreadie 42-58; 66-100
Preliminary feature winner (among 54 cars): Thornton
Consolation winners: Breazeale, Moyer
Provisional starters: Blair, Robinson, Harris, Smith, Lawler

Feature lineup

(100 laps)

Row 1: Ricky Thornton Jr., Dale McDowell
Row 2: Tim McCreadie, Mike Marlar
Row 3: Hudson O’Neal, Scott Crigler
Row 4: Devin Moran, Ethan Dotson
Row 5: Garrett Alberson, Tyler Stevens
Row 6: Carson Ferguson, Jared Landers
Row 7: Stormy Scott, Jimmy Owens
Row 8: Jonathan Davenport, B.J. Robinson
Row 9: David Breazeale, Billy Moyer
Row 10: Boom Briggs, Timothy Culp
Row 11: Drake Troutman, Jarret Stuckey
Row 12: Max Blair, Ross Robinson
Row 13: Clay Harris, Brenden Smith
Row 14: Cory Lawler

Consolation race results

(15 laps; top three transfer)

First consolation: David Breazeale, Boom Briggs, Drake Troutman, Jamie Elam, Matt Cooper, Kyle Beard, Bryce Clark, Devon Andrews, Jake Elam, Eli Ross, Ryan Johnson, Brenden Smith, Nathan Brown, Max Blair, Travis Ashley, Peyton Foster, Chance Mann, Jeff Sloan. Scratched: Chris Jones.

Second consolation: Billy Moyer, Timothy Culp, Daulton Wilson, Jarret Stuckey, Ross Robinson, Jon Kirby, Chandler Petty, Clay Harris, Josh Farris, Joe Chalmers, Austin Vincent, Brandon Smith, Charlie Cole, Henry Gustavus, Lynn Irwin, Nathan Stewart, Cory Lawler. Scratched: Bryan Glaze, Steven Crocker.

Consolation lineups

First consolation
Row 1: Max Blair, David Breazeale
Row 2: Drake Troutman, Boom Briggs
Row 3: Bryce Clark, Matt Cooper
Row 4: Jamie Elam, Brenden Smith
Row 5: Eli Ross, Jake Elam
Row 6: Chris Jones, Chance Mann
Row 7: Devon Andrews, Ryan Johnson
Row 8: Kyle Beard, Nathan Brown
Row 9: Peyton Foster, Jeff Sloan
Row 10: Travis Ashley
Second consolation
Row 1: Billy Moyer, Daulton Wilson
Row 2: Timothy Culp, Ross Robinson
Row 3: Jon Kirby, Jarret Stuckey
Row 4: Joe Chalmers, Charlie Cole
Row 5: Austin Vincent, Chandler Petty
Row 6: Brandon Smith, Cory Lawler
Row 7: Nathan Stewart, Clay Harris
Row 8: Henry Gustavus, Josh Farris
Row 9: Lynn Irwin, Bryan Glaze
Row 10: Steven Crocker

Saturday’s schedule

(All times local)
2:30 p.m. - Pits close
3 p.m. - Pits re-open
4 p.m. - Grandstands open
5 p.m. - Outreach service
7 p.m. - Drivers’ meeting
7:30 p.m. - On-track activity begins
- Late Model hot laps (consolation entrants)
- Modified hot laps
Opening ceremonies
- Modified heats (8 laps)
- Late Model consolations (15 laps)
- Late Model hot laps (feature entrants)
- Modified consolations (12 laps)
Intermission/track prep
- Modified feature (20 laps)
- 32nd annual Topless 100 (100 laps)