The Blairsville, Georgia driver held off Chris Madden in the final 10 laps to win his second consecutive USA Nationals, joining Billy Moyer and Jackie Boggs as the only drivers to win the event in back-to-back seasons.
Davenport led all 100 laps to score his fourth World of Outlaws CASE Late Model Series feature win of 2022. However, it came one night after he felt his car needed to get better.
A few small changes helped him get back on track and score the $50,000 prize.
“We just made minor changes,” Davenport said. “I felt the balance was pretty good. There’s a couple of stipulations to the car and a couple of things I didn’t really like about it. So, we made some minor shock adjustments, a shock change, a spring change, and just some little stuff here and there.
“We didn’t get crazy, but just a few adjustments to make me a little bit more comfortable.”
Despite leading every lap, Tyler Erb nosed ahead of Davenport on two occasions. Davenport stole the lead back on the first attempt, and then a caution negated Erb’s pass the second time.
Once that happened, Davenport knew what to expect from Erb.
“I knew where he was at, “Davenport said. “Obviously, if he slid me in (turn) 3, I knew he was running the top in (turns) 1 and 2. I was just moving my line around. It moved quite a few times there. It started out in the middle, and finally, it went all the way to the wall around the cushion, and then I kind of moved back to the bottom.”
Erb slipped to third at the end of the race, with Madden coming away with the second place result.
Ricky Weiss crossed the finish line in fourth, with Brandon Sheppard in fifth.
Mike Marlar, Max Blair, Dennis Erb, Jr., Shannon Babb, and Cade Dillard rounded out the top 10.
Up next, the World of Outlaws CASE Late Model Series will travel to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on Friday, August 19. For more information, visit WorldofOutlaws.com.
WoO Late Model Series
Cedar Lake Speedway – New Richmond, WI
USA Nationals – August 6, 2022
1. 49-Jonathan Davenport
2. 44-Chris Madden
3. 1T-Tyler Erb
4. 7-Ricky Weiss
5. 1S-Brandon Sheppard
6. 157-Mike Marlar
7. 111V-Max Blair
8. 28-Dennis Erb, Jr.
9. 18-Shannon Babb
10. 97-Cade Dillard
11. 76-Brandon Overton
12. 81E-Tanner English
13. B1-Brent Larson
14. 10S-Garrett Smith
15. 49T-Jake Timm
16. 99JR-Frank Heckenast, Jr.
17. 58-Ashton Winger
18. 16-Tyler Bruening
19. 32-Bobby Pierce
20. 8-Kyle Strickler
21. 19R-Ryan Gustin
22. 11T-Trevor Gundaker
23. 25-Shane Clanton
24. 25F-Jason Feger
25. 55C-Chad Mahder
26. 11-Gordy Gundaker
27. 20-Jimmy Owens
28. 10-Joseph Joiner