Brian Shirley’s 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models campaign can be summed up in a tell of two tales.
Before the June Heartland Grand Tour, Shirley only managed three top-10s, sat outside of the top-10 in series points and held an average finish of 17.1 through 11 races.
Entering the mid-point of August, the Chatham, Ill., driver flipped the script by switching his car’s chassis to Longhorn, won his first series race of 2024 at North Dakota’s River Cities Speedway and earned three times as many top-10 finishes (12). His average finish improved to 8.4 to go to eighth in the season standings.
While Shirley knows he can finish the year stronger than how it began, it’s all to build his team’s program back to full comfort behind the No. 3S Bob Cullen Racing Late Model to chase a championship in 2025.
“The season has gone by so quickly,” Shirley said. “Truthfully, the goal when Bob (Cullen) wanted to switch cars was to start working towards 2025. We’ve set goals within the team and ourselves on how we want to end the year and that’s what we’re trying to do is strive for the goals that we set to hopefully put ourselves in a position to be in contention to have more wins and go for a championship.”
Shirley’s team restarted from scratch with the mid-season change in cars, which brought a new form of motivation that paid dividends through remarkable top-10 finishes in the crown jewel events at Deer Creek Speedway, Fairbury Speedway and Cedar Lake Speedway.
“It’s been a compilation of dedication to the team,” he said. “The guys have kept working hard at it. Switching cars brought some new life to the team. We’re happy that (Bob) was willing to flip the team from one way to another, so we’ve been able to find what I need and these new race cars.”
Staying inside the Prairie State for two days of racing at Highland Speedway and Spoon River Speedway brings Shirley to tracks he has experience at before but will have to work off a new notebook with the new chassis.
Shirley won at Spoon River with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals in 2019 – the season that saw him win his third of four Summer Nationals titles. At Highland, Shirley’s best finish was a third-place finish with the Hell Tour in 2014.
“Them (Illinois) tracks are right in my backyard,” Shirley said. “We’ve raced at Spoon River a lot. Highland, not so much, maybe once every couple of years for Summer Nationals. All in all, it’s one of those deals that we’re going there for the first time with this car and with the World of Outlaws. The notes that we did have there are not really as useful. I’ve got a good grasp on how those tracks race and how they change, but it’ll be the first time with everyone else.
After the two nights in Illinois, the series completes the trio of races with a two-night debut at Maquoketa Speedway. While Shirley picked up a top-10 at the track in March during the Nippy 50, he’ll have to re-learn how to get around the facility to his liking with the new car.
“We ran at Maquoketa earlier in the year,” Shirley said. “It helped us get an understanding of the place, but we were racing with the old car. Honestly, every race going into the end of the season is a new experience with the car, but the new situation will help build the notebook, so we know where to get better for the future.”
Shirley suits up behind the wheel of the No. 3S once more in Illinois and Iowa with the Series at the trio of debuting tracks at Highland Speedway (Aug. 14), Spoon River Speedway (Aug. 15), and two nights of the Hawkeye 100 at Maquoketa Speedway (Aug. 16-17).