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Brandon Sheppard Wins Fourth Dirt Track World Championship

For the second-straight year and the fourth time in his young career, Brandon Sheppard has won the Dirt Track World Championship.

The driver of the Valvoline No. 1 Seubert Calf Ranches/ Durham Racing Engines-powered Rocket Chassis took the lead on the 24th lap of Saturday’s 100-lapper and led the rest of the way to earn the $100,000 payday.

“I will tell you what, I love this place. As hard as its been all weekend I knew it was going to be around the bottom at the end of the race. I knew when I rolled out there for the race, drive as hard as I could to get to the front as soon as I could. So that was kind of the game plan. We went a little different on tires than we normally do here. We had an early game, but once we got the lead we didn’t know what we were going to do.”

Sixty-three Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series entries converged at Portsmouth (Ohio) Raceway Park Friday to kick off the 40th Annual Dirt Track World Championship. After qualifying third in his group, the invert would position Sheppard starting third in his heat race. He went on to finish second behind Scott Bloomquist to earn the 11th starting position for Saturday’s finale.

Quickly marching his way to the front, Sheppard went around polesitter Tim McCreadie to take command on lap 24. Holding off a midrace challenge from Zack Dohm, Brandon earned Dirt Late Model racing’s richest payday of 2020.

“Our car was good just like it has been all year long. I think that’s 31 wins this year so that’s really awesome. During those cautions I had too much time to think about my right rear tire for sure. When I was in lap traffic I tried to pass them one time and I didn’t feel good and so I tucked back in behind them. Zack showed me his nose on the outside and when he showed the line a little bit different in one and two, that got me going a little bit better.”

Sheppard’s victory over Ricky Thornton Jr., McCreadie, Chris Madden, and Tyler Erb was his 31st overall this. He also became the second-winningest all-time driver in the 40-year history of the Dirt Track World Championship.

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