9/18/2022
Brandon Sheppard
Third-place finish in Knoxville Nationals finale
Rocket1 Racing and Brandon Sheppard visited Fairbury Speedway (Fairbury, Ill.) on Tuesday afternoon for the Castrol FloRacing Night in America event as the miniseries returned to action following the summer break. (Josh James Artwork)
With a talent-laden field of 42 Late Models entered for the third annual One for the Road, Brandon’s third-place finish in his heat race positioned him on the fifth row for the $22,022-to-win A-Main. After shuffling a few spots early, Sheppard raced to a ninth-place in the 50-lap affair.
Returning with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series (LOLMDS) on Wednesday, Sheppard entered his Rocket1 Racing No. 1 Late Model into battle at Knoxville Raceway (Knoxville, Iowa) for the 18th annual Knoxville Nationals weekend. Earning the 10th-starting position for the preliminary feature via a third-place performance in his heat, Brandon gained six spots in the 25-lapper to register a fourth-place finish. He followed Shane Clanton, Earl Pearson Jr., and Jonathan Davenport to the checkers with Kyle Strickler coming in fifth.
For another $7,000-to-win prelim on Friday, Sheppard had to race his way into the A-Main through his B-Main after finishing fifth in his heat. Following a runner-up performance in his consolation race, Brandon jumped up six spots in the feature to cross the line in 14th.
With passing points for prelims aligning Brandon on the sixth row for Sunday’s rain-delayed $50,000-to-win Knoxville Nationals finale, Sheppard advanced forward eight spots in the 50-lapper to place third. He trailed Jonathan Davenport and Tyler Bruening to the checkers with Ricky Thornton Jr. and Earl Pearson completing the Top-5 finishers.
Brandon remains in second in the latest LOLMDS point standings but nearly cut 100 points off Tim McCreadie’s lead with Sunday’s performance.
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