OCALA, Fla. — It took Brandon Sheppard 9 years to return to victory lane at Ocala Speedway, however on Wednesday night time the New Berlin, Illinois, driver captured the 30-lap Wieland Winter Nationals characteristic for the Lucas Oil Late Mannequin Dust Sequence offered by FloRacing.
Sheppard earned his third victory at Ocala and his first since 2017, driving the Rocket 1 to a 0.583-second win over Hudson O’Neal. Devin Moran, Brandon Overton and Clay Harris rounded out the highest 5.
Kyle Bronson powered across the outdoors of the entrance row to seize the early lead, with Sheppard settling into second. Bronson, who was searching for his first Lucas Oil Sequence win for the reason that 2021 Silver Greenback Nationals, maintained a gentle two-car-length benefit by the opening laps.
Nonetheless, as he exited Flip 4 to finish Lap 6, Bronson all of the sudden slowed with obvious drivetrain points. Sheppard, closing rapidly on the underside, made slight, unavoidable contact as Bronson decelerated. The warning flag waved as Bronson headed to the recent pit, ending his night time.
Sheppard inherited the lead, with O’Neal and Overton in pursuit till a warning on Lap 18 reset the sector. Two laps after the restart, Moran slipped previous Overton for third.
The ultimate 10 laps featured an intense three-car battle as Sheppard, O’Neal, and Moran navigated heavy lapped visitors. Each challengers closed in, however Sheppard cleared a slower automobile on the white-flag lap, giving him simply sufficient respiratory room to safe the win on the checkers.
The victory marked Sheppard’s thirty seventh Lucas Oil Late Mannequin Dust Sequence triumph. He additionally broke a tie with Don O’Neal for fourth place on the all-time Georgia-Florida Speedweeks win listing together with his twenty fifth victory.
“It felt good to see the checkered flag,” Sheppard mentioned. “We undoubtedly had some stuff tousled on the entrance finish from the contact with Kyle. I felt horrible about that. It appeared like he missed it just a little bit, and I used to be filling the hole on the underside once we got here collectively. I hate that for him, however we had a extremely quick automobile once more tonight. It was simply a type of offers the place we obtained out entrance. My dad mentioned final night time I used to be messing round an excessive amount of in lapped visitors, so this one’s for him.”
Sheppard grew to become the winningest Rocket 1 driver throughout Georgia-Florida Speedweeks during the last 25 years, incomes his eleventh victory and breaking a tie with Josh Richards.
“I used to be operating a distinct line in Turns 1 and a couple of than I anticipated,” Sheppard added. “I’d enter on the underside and slide throughout the center. I stored ready for it to alter as a result of I knew it would go away in some unspecified time in the future. I felt good on each the underside and the highest and was simply making an attempt to keep up velocity. With the entrance finish being jacked up, it was wherever the automobile put me. Turns 3 and 4 had been harder as a result of I wanted to carve down the hill and are available off decrease and straighter, and I struggled with that late within the race.”
O’Neal, who was searching for his second win at Ocala, closed the hole within the remaining laps however settled for second.
“Sheppy had a great race automobile,” O’Neal mentioned. “I felt like we had been fairly maneuverable and will actually construct momentum down the again straightaway. The longer the race went, the higher I felt. I gained on him late, and lapped visitors undoubtedly performed an element. I obtained caught behind Ross (Robinson), and I simply wasn’t capable of capitalize with a lap or two to go.”
Moran, who began eighth, superior to 3rd on Lap 20 and joined the late-race battle to spherical out the rostrum.
“I felt like my automobile was actually good once more,” Moran mentioned. “I jumped the cushion within the warmth race, obtained into the wall, and let Hud get by me, and that actually dictated our night time. It’s important to begin up entrance right here. I do know they’re working laborious on the monitor night time in and night time out, and I’m positive they’ll have it found out by the top of the week.”
Wieland Winter Nationals Characteristic End (30 Laps):
Pos – Begin – Automotive # – Competitor – Hometown – Earnings
1 – 1 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $7,000
2 – 4 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $3,500
3 – 8 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $2,000
4 – 5 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $1,500
5 – 3 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $1,400
6 – 14 – 22* – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $1,300
7 – 20 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $1,200
8 – 6 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $1,100
9 – 10 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $1,000
10 – 17 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $950
11 – 7 – 13 – Dallon Murty – Chelsea, IA – $900
12 – 13 – 28 – Dennis Erb Jr – Carpentersville, IL – $850
13 – 11 – 19M – Brenden Smith – Dade Metropolis, FL – $800
14 – 9 – 76N – Blair Nothdurft – Renner, SD – $750
15 – 24 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $725
16 – 18 – 8 – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $700
17 – 19 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $700
18 – 12 – 58V – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $700
19 – 22 – 10 – Garrett Smith – Madison, GA – $650
20 – 15 – 15K – Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – $625
21 – 2 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $725
22 – 23 – 9 – Michael Leach – Solar River, MT – $600
23 – 21 – 11 – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $600
24 – 16 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $600
