BANNER, Ill. — FloRacing Night in America’s season opened on Wednesday night at Spoon River Speedway, where Brandon Sheppard wired the field to bank a $20,000 victory.
Sheppard staved off a hard-charging Hudson O’Neal in the late stages for his third-career series win and second at the high-banked oval.
“I’m 50-50 here, I feel like. Sometimes I’m good and sometimes I run about 16th,” Sheppard said. “Our car’s been phenomenal all year long. We’ve just had a good balance. The guys give me a great race car every time we unload and that put it back in my hands. Late in the race I knew I was struggling a bit off of turn two and if I could find the right line that I’d be in good shape, and that’s what I was able to do and we got the win.”
While Sheppard, who won at the three-eighths-mile oval in 2022 – the same year he won the series championship – was able to keep the field at bay, great battles raged behind him. Hudson O’Neal, Bobby Pierce, Tyler Erb, and Devin Moran diced for positions.
O’Neal finished second with Pierce, Erb, and Moran completing the top five.
The finish:
Feature (50 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[6]; 5. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 6. 9-Nick Hoffman[9]; 7. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 8. 96-Tanner English[12]; 9. 18-Shannon Babb[13]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson[11]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 12. 93-Carson Ferguson[14]; 13. 11R-Josh Rice[23]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[7]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[18]; 16. 25-Jason Feger[22]; 17. 58-Garrett Alberson[10]; 18. 60-Dan Ebert[15]; 19. 09-Michael Leach[24]; 20. 74X-Ethan Dotson[16]; 21. 24-Ryan Unzicker[19]; 22. 8-Dillon McCowan[8]; 23. 6-Clay Harris[20]; 24. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[21]
