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Brandon Sheppard tops Pierce in Hell Tour stop at Highland

Brandon Sheppard overcame early adversity on Friday night at Highland Speedway to take his family-owned Dennis G. Woodworth Attorney at Law No. B5 Valvoline / TrueTimber / The Goddard School for Early Childhood Development / Pro Power Racing Engines / Rocket Chassis Super Late Model to Victory Lane with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals. (Jimmy Dearing photo | STLRacingPhotos.com)

Sheppard’s 10th win of the season was worth $10,000.

“Our car was just phenomenal,” said Sheppard, who drove his family-owned ride to his third series victory of 2021 on Friday night at Highland Speedway and 27th of his career. “This B5 car just digs at these short tracks. And this is a little bit of rough, kind of race all over this place, and it was a helluva racetrack, especially for as much rain as they had.

“Man, we got tore up really bad on (the second) lap, I don’t know. (Outside front-row starter Blaze Burwell) looped it in front of me there and I slowed down and got hit from behind there,” Sheppard said. “I thought we were done. I thought for sure the left-rear tire was flat because (Michael) Kloos got up on my tire there. I figured it was going to get cut down. I’m glad we kept our nose clean, for the most part, after that first lap, and we were able to get up through there and get the win.”

Behind the wheel of his family-owned No. B5 Late Model, Brandon Sheppard invaded Highland Speedway (Highland, Ill.) on Friday night to take part in a $10,000-to-win DIRTcar Summer Nationals event.

Drawing 29 cars for the rescheduled Hell Tour event from July 10, Sheppard clocked in fifth fastest in his group before placing second in his heat, which came behind Bobby Pierce. Rolling off fifth for the feature, Brandon was collected in a chain reaction tangle on the second lap but battled back to challenge race-long pacesetter Bobby Pierce late in the race. After a caution flag negated his pass on the 14th circuit, Sheppard slid ahead of Pierce on lap 37 and led the closing laps to capture his 10th win of the season and a $10,000 prize.

He took the checkers ahead of Pierce, Tanner English, Garrett Alberson, and Ashton Winger to record his 27th DIRTcar Summer Nationals victory.

On Saturday afternoon at Federated Raceway at I-55 (Pevely, Mo.), Brandon followed up the third-fastest time in his group with a 10-lap heat race win. Clawing forward one spot in the 40-lap feature, Sheppard notched a runner-up finish. He followed Bobby Pierce across the line with Ashton Winger, Shannon Babb, and Gordy Gundaker rounding out the Top-5.

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