NASCAR

5 Things To Know About Jonathan Davenport After His SRX Win

5 Things To Know About Jonathan Davenport After His SRX Win

Five things to know about Jonathan Davenport after his SRX win at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO.

Aug 17, 2023
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Jonathan Davenport was the winner in his SRX Series debut on Thursday, August 17 at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, MO during the SRX finale. Davenport had to survive numerous slide jobs from Clint Bowyer to ultimately take home the win. Davenport started on the pole after collecting the most points after heat race action and led the entire 90 lap main event.

Jonathan Davenport Raced With NASCAR at Bristol

Last year’s top-ranked Dirt Late Model driver Jonathan Davenport has been summoned to the stock car racing’s big leagues at Bristol Motor Speedway to compete in the NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race on Easter Sunday, as well as Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the dirt-covered half-mile.

“I’m just going to go out there and do what I can to the best of my ability. Maybe there’s somebody out there that can do it a little bit better, but I just want to take this opportunity and do the best I can," Davenport said ahead of his debut. "Hopefully everybody can be proud of what I can do. I don’t have any expectations going in. First, we have to make the race.”

Here are five things to know about Jonathan Davenport. 

Who is Jonathan Davenport?

Jonathan Davenport hails from the small town of Blairsville, Georgia and is nicknamed Superman for his reputation of winning at a high level. At 39 years old, he’s already regarded as one of the greatest drivers to ever compete in Dirt Late Model racing.

Some of Davenport’s finest accomplishments are his five World 100 victories — all over the last seven years — at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, which only trails six-time winner Billy Moyer for most all-time. 

Davenport is also a three-time champion of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, accruing titles in 2015, ’18 and ’19 on one of the two national tours in Dirt Late Model racing. He added another championship to his ledger last year with the XR Super Series, a season defined by his dominant Eldora Million triumph that awarded $1,002,022.

RELATED: Kyle Larson Tells NASCAR World How Good Jonathan Davenport Is

How much money did Jonathan Davenport make in 2022?

Jonathan Davenport amassed more than $2 million in earnings last year, a single-season record not only in dirt oval racing but short-track racing on the whole.

The key to that unprecedented feat, of course, was his Eldora Million victory worth $1,002,022 at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio. Other praiseworthy accomplishments from his 24-win season— all in a 66-race span and nine of which awarding more than $50,000 — include Dirt Late Model’s Knoxville Nationals, the World 100, North-South 100, Topless 100, Silver Dollar Nationals, and World Finals finale. 

Davenport earned DirtonDirt.com's Driver of the Year award for his record-setting season.

Where does Jonathan Davenport live?

Jonathan Davenport, wife Rachel and son Blane all live in Belton, South Carolina, roughly 20 miles from the Georgia state line on their family-owned farm named Dirty Dollar Ranch.

The Davenports own one bull, 10 cows and 11 heifers on the ranch, which was recently featured in a FloRacing film titled Dirty Dollars: Jonathan Davenport, highlighting the superstar driver’s home life and blue-collar nature.

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Dirty Dollars: Jonathan Davenport is now playing on FloRacing. 

Has Jonathan Davenport raced NASCAR before 2023?

A little-known fact about Jonathan Davenport is that he attempted to qualify for the 2013 NASCAR Truck Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

It was a rickety effort that didn’t go according to plan with the underfunded Beaver Motorsports as a part failure in a practice session ruined Davenport’s dream of competing in a NASCAR race.

“Yeah, it was a really underfunded team,” Davenport said. “We got the truck the night before we were supposed to be in Martinsville. Clements actually let Beaver Motorsports borrow an engine for that race. We got back to Shelby, N.C., the night before and pretty much worked all night mounting the seat. Me and Jason Durham helped decal the truck and set it up.

“It would have been huge if we made the race. And if we didn’t, that’s what we anticipated would happen… I figured, at that point, my NASCAR days had already gone by me. But now we get another opportunity.”

Which NASCAR team did Jonathan Davenport race for at Bristol Motor Speedway?

Jonathan Davenport drove the Kaulig Racing’s No. 13 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the Cup Series with primary sponsorship from Nutrien Ag Solutions. In the Truck Series, Davenport took the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado, which was also be sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Davenport’s one-off NASCAR ride wouldn’t have been possible without his connection with Nutrien Ag Solutions, a key backer of Davenport’s Dirt Late Model team Double L Motorsports since the company’s inception in 2018.

“It takes a lot of moving pieces to make this all happen,” Davenport said. “We have great people there at Nutrien with (company owner) Steve Martin. It was his idea.… It kind of parlayed into that.”

Because Nutrien Ag Solutions is an existing partner of Kaulig Racing, the concept of Davenport racing in NASCAR’s only dirt race is seamless.