ROSSBURG, Ohio — Coming into the week, Bobby Pierce had won virtually every big race in the sport of dirt late model racing, except the Dirt Late Model Dream.
His resume at Eldora Speedway was still among the best despite that hole. Two World 100 wins. Two more in the Dirt Track World Championship. A runner-up in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. But the annual June visit to Eldora always eluded him.
Up until recently, Pierce had never even come close to winning the Dream. He missed the show in his first three attempts, then finished no better than 10th in his first seven feature starts. Pierce’s third-place finish in 2023 was his first Dream run in years that he was proud of. After backing it up with second-place efforts in 2024 and 2025, Pierce wasn’t going to be satisfied with anything less than victory in 2026.
Prior to the start of Saturday’s program, Eldora received a wave of rain in the morning and again in the late afternoon, which softened the track and allowed a healthy cushion to form that would play right into Pierce’s favor. He needed all the help he could get starting 13th, and his progress early in the race was notably behind schedule. He needed 20 laps to crack the top 10, but that was when he started to find his groove.
By Lap 35, Pierce was in the top five, and he then climbed to second behind his fellow Illinois native, Brandon Sheppard, before halfway.
With 42 laps to go, Pierce cut down behind Sheppard down the frontstretch to set himself up for a Turn 1 slide job. The move cleared, but Sheppard went back to Pierce’s inside down the backstretch and kept it a side-by-side race for the lead. Sheppard went to the bottom in Turn 3, but got pinned behind the slower car of Jason Feger while Pierce pulled away up high.
Sheppard stayed with Pierce for several more laps and was in position to make another charge on Pierce in what was shaping up to be a thrilling finish until it all went away with 21 to go. Problems on Sheppard’s car meant he lost steering ability entering Turn 3 and pounded the wall. Third-running Hudson O’Neal had nowhere to go on the cushion and slid into Sheppard, ending both drivers’ chances at Eldora glory.
Their misfortune moved Max Blair and Nick Hoffman up to second and third, respectively, giving both of them a chance to challenge Pierce in the restart in pursuit of the biggest win of their career. Blair kept Pierce honest in the final laps, but he was never close enough to make it a battle as Pierce drove away to put the No. 32 in victory lane in the 32nd Dream.
“The Dream has been a race that, for several, several years, I struggled at the Dream,” Pierce said. “I would always do really well at the World, even back in the Pierce car days. I would do well at the World, struggle at the Dream. It was just a constant, every year, I would never look forward to this race. And then over the last couple years, we put down some solid finishes, got on the podium year after year after year. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t feeling the most confidence heading into this weekend, but it quickly turned around when we won our prelim race. From then on, it was just make the right calls and hope it happens.”
Behind Pierce, Blair and Hoffman, Dale McDowell and Devin Moran rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[13]; 2. 111-Max Blair[8]; 3. 9-Nick Hoffman[15]; 4. 17M-Dale McDowell[16]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[12]; 6. 49D-Jonathan Davenport[14]; 7. 11R-Josh Rice[11]; 8. 12W-Ashton Winger[19]; 9. 22F-Chris Ferguson[6]; 10. 16S-Sam Seawright[3]; 11. 60-Dan Ebert[26]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[23]; 13. 76-Brandon Overton[9]; 14. 74X-Ethan Dotson[18]; 15. 25F-Jason Feger[17]; 16. 58V-Daulton Wilson[10]; 17. 14JR-Trey Mills[1]; 18. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 19. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 20. 51-Tyler Erb[7]; 21. 3S-Brian Shirley[22]; 22. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 23. 40B-Kyle Bronson[20]; 24. 22*-Drake Troutman[24]; 25. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[21]; 26. 0-Jake O’Neil[25]
