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Sheppard Escapes Fayette County Speedway with DIRTcar Summer Nationals Victory

Brandon Sheppard
Brandon Sheppard

Brandon Sheppard

CLICK HERE FOR MORE PHOTOS FROM FAYETTE COUNTY SPEEDWAY!By Jordan Morris

BROWNSTOWN, Ill. — July 4, 2014 — 2013 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Brandon Sheppard may of not had the fastest car Friday night, but he had the lead when the track began to take rubber and passing became difficult, helping him score the $7,500 checkered flag at Fayette County Speedway.

Sheppard would lead the field to the green flag with Wednesday night’s winner Jason Feger starting on his outside. Sheppard started the race by clearing Feger for the lead on the opening lap, but made the mistake of moving to the high-line on lap two, opening up the faster bottom line for Feger to overtake Sheppard for the lead. Feger dominated the next 10 circuits, as Sheppard finally switched his line back to the bottom.

As the night went on, the track became more difficult to pass on as the rubber began to build up. Sheppard mounted a charge on lap 12 and reclaimed the lead from Feger, as they lined up nose-to-tail with points leader Shannon Babb and Billy Moyer on the single grove of racing, causing a traffic jam at the front of the field for the lead. All the leader had to do was make his way through slower traffic in order to coast to the victory. That was not so easy for Sheppard.

With just three laps left, two lapped cars made contact in front of the leader, causing Sheppard to slow down and giving Feger a chance to make a go-for-broke pass for the lead. Feger dove into the corner trying to clear Sheppard and become the first three time winner of the 2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals season, but came up just short as Sheppard maintained the lead.

Sheppard lead the final two laps without any problems and secured his second win of the season, and ninth of his career, as he claimed the checkered flag at Fayette County Speedway.

“We had an awesome car all night long but we were fortunate to get back to victory lane,” said a relieved Sheppard in victory lane. “I went to the top (groove) right off the bat, which was dumb, and Feger got by us for the lead. But we were lucky we had a decent tire package on that allowed us to really get in there and roll that bottom pretty good after my crew guy told me to go back down there, and we were lucky to pass Feger (for the lead) before the rubber came in.”

(Click here for news and information on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.)

Moyer, Babb, and Ryan Unzicker rounded out the top five.

Heat race winners included Sheppard, Unzicker, Feger and Babb.

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals continues on Tuesday night as they join the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals at Highland Speedway in Highland, Ill.

DIRTcar Summer Nationals Statistical Report; Fayette County Speedway; Brownstown, Ill.;

July 4, 2014; A-Main (40-laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard ($7,500), 2. 25-Jason Feger, 3. 21-Billy Moyer, 4. 18-Shannon Babb, 5. 24-Ryan Unzicker, 6. 96-Tanner English, 7. 7R-Kent Robinson, 8. 32-Bobby Pierce, 9. 27M-Rodney Melvin, 10. 00-Randy Korte, 11. 29W-Brian Divley, 12. 33X-Tim Manville, 13. 11R-Tyler Reddick, 14. 81JR-Jason Riggs, 15. 0-Dewayne Kiefer, 16. 6K-Michael Kloos, 17. 42L-Steve Lach, 18. 71-Trace Westling, 19. 1M-Jim Moon, 20. 81-Brian Shirley, 21. 21JR-Billy Moyer Jr, 22. 20-Alan Westling.

2014 DIRTcar Summer Nationals Schedule

Date Day Track Location Win
June 11 Wed Brownstown Speedway Brownstown, Ind. RAIN
June 12 Thur Kankakee Co. Speedway Kankakee, Ill. Billy Moyer
June 13 Fri Cedar Lake Speedway Somerset, Wis. Rick Eckert
June 14 Sat Cedar Lake Speedway Somerset, Wis. RAIN
June 15 Sun Wilmot Raceway Wilmot, Wis. Rick Eckert(2)
June 16 Mon Off
June 17 Tue Farley Speedway Farley, Iowa Shannon Babb
June 18 Wed Spoon River Speedway Canton, Ill. Jason Feger
June 19 Thur Quincy Raceways Quincy, Ill. RAIN
June 20 Fri Tri-City Speedway Pontoon Beach, Ill. Billy Moyer(2)
June 21 Sat Fairbury Speedway Fairbury, Ill. RAIN
June 22 Sun I-96 Speedway Ionia, Mich. Brian Shirley
June 23 Mon Peoria Speedway Peoria, Ill. Brandon Sheppard
June 24 Tue Off
June 25 Wed Clarksville Speedway Clarksville, Tenn. Shannon Babb(2)
June 26 Thur Clayhill Motorsports Atwood, Tenn. Brian Shirley (2)
June 27 Fri Paducah Int. Raceway Paducah, Ky. RAIN
June 28 Sat Federated Auto Parts Raceway Pevely, Mo. Brian Birkhofer
June 29 Sun Lincoln Speedway Lincoln, Ill. Brady Smith
June 30 Mon Off
July 1 Tue Belle Clair Speedway Belleville, Ill. Bobby Pierce
July 2 Wed Jacksonville Speedway Jacksonville, Ill. Jason Feger(2)
July 3 Thur LaSalle Speedway LaSalle, Ill. Brian Birkhofer
July 4 Fri Fayette Co. Speedway Brownstown, Ill. Brandon Sheppard
July 5 Sat Highland Speedway Highland, Ill. $10,000
July 6 Sun Tri-State Speedway Haubstadt, Ind. $5,000
July 7 Mon Off
July 8 Tue Florence Speedway Union, Ky. $5,000
July 9 Wed Terre Haute Action Track Terre Haute, Ind. $5,000
July 10 Thur Macon Speedway Macon, Ill. $5,000
July 11 Fri Farmer City Raceway Farmer City, Ill. $10,000
July 12 Sat 34 Raceway Burlington, Iowa $10,000
July 13 Sun Vermilion Co. Speedway Danville, Ill. $5,000
July 14 Mon Off
July 15 Tue TBA
July 16 Wed Atomic Speedway Chillicothe, Ohio $5,000
July 17 Thur Brushcreek Motorsports Complex Peebles, Ohio $5,000
July 18 Fri Attica Raceway Park Attica, Ohio $5,000
July 19 Sat Oakshade Raceway Wauseon, Ohio $10,000

The DIRTcar Summer Nationals “Hell Tour” is brought to fans across the country by many important partners including: Arizona Sport Shirts (Official Apparel Company), Hoosier Racing Tires (Official Racing Tires), Racing Electronics (Official Communication), Velocita (Official Uniform), VP Racing Fuel (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to these fine Contingency Partners: Beyea Headers, Cometic Gasket, Comp Cams, Dominator Race Products, Edelbrock, Fox Shocks, JE Pistons, JRI Shocks, Mobil 1, MSD, Quartermaster, Superflow Dynos, Summit Racing Equipment and Wrisco Aluminum; Promotional Partners include: Chevy Performance Parts, Indiana Decal, Intercomp and Petroff Towing. 

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