SPRING VALLEY, Minn. — Brandon Sheppard didn’t miss a beat in the second NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 Feature on Friday at Deer Creek Speedway.
Bouncing back from the feature race earlier in the day that saw him finish 17th after suffering a flat right-rear tire, Sheppard led flag-to-flag to win his third World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models feature of the season at Deer Creek Speedway.
Beginning the feature from the front of the field, Sheppard took command of the race from the drop of the Gorsuch Performance green flag. However, he couldn’t run away from the competition.
Ryan Gustin, who won the first feature of the night, hounded the No. B5 Dude Wipes Longhorn Factory Team Late Model throughout the duration of the 30-lap race.
Once Sheppard caught the back of the field, the slower cars created a new obstacle for the leader every lap and opened the door for Gustin, and third-place Bobby Pierce, to pounce.
Pierce ripped the high line with a clear lane in front of him while Sheppard and Gustin had to find creative ways to slide by the slower cars using both the high and low lanes.
But once Sheppard cleared the minefield of traffic, he was able to run away and score the win while Gustin and Pierce were trapped in the pack.
“It was definitely tricky,” Sheppard said. “We had to figure out how to maneuver through (the traffic). Sometimes, when you’re leading and you’re in a bad spot, you don’t know which line to take or what will be faster for you, what’s slower and where you can pass them at. I had to make my best guesses and keep the speed up.
“I knew if I broke momentum, it was going to kill me, so I needed to keep momentum and keep rolling so they didn’t get a big run on me… This team has never given up on me and I’ve never given up on them, they never quit trying to be better, so we’ll keep plugging away and see what we can do.”
Pierce finished his charge by throwing a haymaker at Gustin on the final lap and claiming second by the checkered flag.
“We were terrible at the beginning and came up there at the end,” Pierce said. “Definitely wish we could have had more laps, but I’m pretty happy to come home with second. It gives us a good spot for tomorrow, we’ll have to see what they do to the track. The longer the race is, the better I’m getting to be.”
Gustin took the final step on the podium after a day that saw him edge out Nick Hoffman by 0.009 seconds to win Thursday’s makeup Feature race.
“This was a great day for us,” Gustin said. “I felt like we were in contention in that last (Feature), we weren’t as good as (Sheppard) was, he zigged and I zagged through the lapped traffic, and it all worked out for him. Then Bobby got us there at the end when we got held up behind a lapped car. That’s how it goes, though. Hopefully, we can take home $50,000 tomorrow night.”
Tyler Erb and Kyle Bronson rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 4. 1-Tyler Erb[10]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 9. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 10. 18C-Chase Junghans[16]; 11. 3S-Brian Shirley[8]; 12. 19-Dustin Sorensen[19]; 13. 22*-Max McLaughlin[9]; 14. 76-Blair Nothdurft[17]; 15. 11H-Lance Hofer[12]; 16. 49-Jake Timm[14]; 17. 97JR-Cody Overton[11]; 18. B1-Brent Larson[18]; 19. 55C-Chad Mahder[22]; 20. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[15]; 21. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[23]; 22. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[21]; 23. 43-Derrick Stewart[20]; 24. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]