2/16/2024
Brandon Sheppard
Sheppard Pockets Volusia $5,000 Wednesday Win
Brandon Sheppard collected his second victory of Speedweeks 2024 on Wednesday night at Volusia Speedway Park with his Hoist / Coltman Farms Racing / Realtree Outdoors No. B5 Sheppard Riggs Longhorn Factory / Valvoline / Riggs Drilling Solutions / Bilstein / Mesilla Valley Transportation Super Late Model.
Sheppard raced to the $5,000 triumph during the 53rd annual Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals one week after registering a $7,000 triumph at East Bay Raceway Park.
“We probably didn’t have the fastest car there, (Devin Moran and Ricky Thornton Jr.) were a little better than we were,” Sheppard said in Victory Lane on Wednesday night. “You know, we were there when we needed to be and we were able to capitalize off of them guys’ bad luck. (I’m) super thankful to be standing up here. Qualifying has been our biggest issue this whole Speedweeks and once we get that part figured out, I know we have all the pieces in place to have a big eyar.”
With a trio of DIRTcar events on the docket before the remainder of the weekend shifted to World of Outlaws sanctioned, Brandon Sheppard returned the driver’s seat of the Longhorn Factory Team No. B5 Late Model on Tuesday at Volusia Speedway Park (De Leon Springs, Fla.) for the 53rd annual Federated DIRTcar Nationals.
Pinned on the 10th row of Tuesday’s opener after Monday’s program was postponed, Brandon advanced through the field 14 spots in the 25-lapper to place sixth.
With the 48-car field split into three groups on Wednesday, Sheppard followed up the third-fastest time in his group with his second win of the season in the 20-lap preliminary. He inherited the lead on lap 19 after the leaders made contact and went on to lead the final two laps, en route to the $5,000 payday.
For Monday’s rescheduled feature on Wednesday night, Brandon vaulted forward six positions to finish eighth.
Starting Thursday’s preliminary in ninth via a second-place finish in his heat, Sheppard rolled to a seventh-place finish.
On Friday, Brandon backed up a third-place finish in his heat with a ninth-to-fifth run in the 40-lap feature. He chased Devin Moran, Chris Madden, Bobby Pierce, and Max Blair to the checkers.
Saturday’s 53rd annual Federated DIRTcar Nationals finale was washed away by Mother Nature.
Brandon is currently second in the World of Outlaws point standings.
Full results from the events are available at www.DIRTcar.com and www.WoOLMS.com.
Sheppard will return to Golden Isles Speedway (Waynesville, Ga.) this Friday and Saturday for back-to-back $10,000-to-win and $20,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) events.
Event details can be found at www.LucasDirt.com.
Article Credit: Josh James image