Tampa, FL (February 11, 2022) – For the second night in a row Brandon Sheppard had to hold his breath on the final lap with a one-lap shootout to win night four of the 2022 Wrisco Industries Winternationals Presented by Lucas Oil at East Bay Raceway Park. It was Sheppard’s third straight win in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event.
Just one night earlier Sheppard survived contact with the fourth turn wall in holding off Earl Pearson Jr. and Kyle Bronson on the final lap. Friday Night Sheppard survived an attempted pass by Brandon Overton as a caution-flag came out as the two were headed to the checkers.
The final restart with the white flag waving, Sheppard pulled away from Overton for his ninth career win at East Bay. Despite a heavily damaged race car Overton finished in second followed by Ashton Winger, Devin Moran, and Tim McCreadie.
The first 24 laps of the race were outstanding with three drivers trading the lead four times. Sheppard led the first 11 laps until Chase Junghans took over the point for one lap before Sheppard regained the lead on lap 13. Junghans was once again out front on lap 14 until lap 21. Overton took over lead on lap 22 for two laps, but Sheppard came to life again regaining the lead for good on lap 24.
In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 25th time in his career Sheppard came out of a terrific first half of the race to emerge victorious. “Our car was really good in the bottom at the beginning of the race. I went up to the top one time and I thought it was going to be treacherous running up there the whole time. Chase (Junghans) did a good job getting by me; it made me and Overton get up on the wheel. That was a heck of a race. Overton got by me too. Luckily in lapped traffic I was able to get back by them before the caution come out. It was a little slimy at the start, but the longer the race went the better the track got.”
Overton led two laps during the mid-part of the race but came home in second to Sheppard. “Spencer (Hughes) had nowhere to go when the 10-car stuffed it in the fence. That was my only shot. Brandon wasn’t moving off the bottom. He got behind some lapped cars and went to the outside. Once I had clear vision there was a wreck in front of me. I am excited I got to race with him tonight. Every other night we have started up front and went straight backwards.”
Winger continued his impressive Georgia-Florida Speedweeks by rounding out the podium in third. “I can’t figure out how to go the first five to ten laps when I need to. I have to claw my way back and you drive by some really good cars and there’s Brandon Sheppard and Brandon Overton in front of you. It’s almost breathtaking. It’s cool to be racing with such great guys.”
The winner’s Mark Richards Racing Rocket Chassis House Car is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Gunter’s Honey, Petroff Towing, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Sallack Well Service, Keyser Manufacturing, Integra Racing Shocks, and Ace Metal Works.
Completing the top ten were Chase Junghans, Garrett Alberson, Earl Pearson Jr., Hudson O’Neal, and Ricky Thornton Jr.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Wrisco Industries Winternationals Presented by Lucas Oil
Friday, February 11th, 2022
East Bay Raceway Park – Tampa, FL
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Sheppard / 14.585 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Brandon Overton / 14.370 seconds (overall)
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 111V-Max Blair[4]; 4. 44B-Colten Burdette[3]; 5. 2D-Dan Stone[5]; 6. 66C-Matt Cosner[6]; 7. 11AC-Trevor Collins[7]; 8. J8-Jadon Frame[10]; 9. 151-Kyle Lear[11]; 10. 27-Joe Denby[12]; 11. 1G-Ryan King[8]; 12. 71M-Pierce McCarter[9]; 13. (DNS) 5*-Bryant Dickinson
Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 18J-Chase Junghans[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 3. 99B-Boom Briggs[5]; 4. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 5. 1ST-Johnny Scott[6]; 6. 4-Kody Evans[4]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs[10]; 8. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[11]; 9. 31-Ken Monahan[12]; 10. 212-Josh Putnam[8]; 11. 25-Shane Clanton[7]; 12. 119-Chad McClellan[9]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 2. 97-Cody Overton[1]; 3. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[4]; 4. 33-Jeff Mathews[3]; 5. 7T-Drake Troutman[5]; 6. 6S-Blake Spencer[7]; 7. 20B-Todd Brennan[6]; 8. 2X-John Henderson[9]; 9. 130-Chase Osterhoff[11]; 10. 19M-Jason Hiett[8]; 11. 27M-Michael Lake[10]; 12. (DNS) 22R-Will Roland
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 4. 58W-Mark Whitener[3]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 6. 1R-Josh Richards[7]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 8. 99-Kyle Hardy[8]; 9. 0H-Dale Hollidge[9]; 10. 1Z-Logan Zarin[11]; 11. 16H-Clinton Hersh[12]; 12. 17SS-Brenden Smith[10]; 13. 354-Chris Nash[13]
eBay Motors Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 89-Ashton Winger[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 6. 11-Spencer Hughes[6]; 7. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 8. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[8]; 9. 3-Brennon Willard[12]; 10. 6T-Tim Dohm[11]; 11. 94-Jason Miller[9]; 12. 0K-Freddie Carpenter[10]
Super Clean Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 10-Garrett Smith[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[4]; 4. 48-Colton Flinner[2]; 5. 0J-Jake O’Neil[7]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 7. 4G-Bob Gardner[11]; 8. 16N-Brian Nuttall Jr[9]; 9. 93-Mason Oberkramer[6]; 10. KB0-Kerry King[10]; 11. 6B-Adam Boyd[12]; 12. (DNS) 7-Ross Robinson
Fast Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[4]; 2. 44B-Colten Burdette[1]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 4. 2D-Dan Stone[3]; 5. 11AC-Trevor Collins[7]; 6. 4-Kody Evans[6]; 7. 1G-Ryan King[15]; 8. 66C-Matt Cosner[5]; 9. 151-Kyle Lear[11]; 10. 31-Ken Monahan[12]; 11. 0G-Deshawn Gingerich[10]; 12. 27-Joe Denby[13]; 13. 5*-Bryant Dickinson[19]; 14. 71M-Pierce McCarter[17]; 15. J8-Jadon Frame[9]; 16. 25-Shane Clanton[16]; 17. (DNS) 81-Jason Riggs; 18. (DNS) 212-Josh Putnam; 19. (DNS) 119-Chad McClellan
UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 58W-Mark Whitener[2]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 3. 1R-Josh Richards[6]; 4. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 5. 6S-Blake Spencer[5]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[8]; 7. 2X-John Henderson[9]; 8. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 9. 99-Kyle Hardy[10]; 10. 33-Jeff Mathews[1]; 11. 1Z-Logan Zarin[14]; 12. 0H-Dale Hollidge[12]; 13. 130-Chase Osterhoff[11]; 14. 22R-Will Roland[17]; 15. 27M-Michael Lake[15]; 16. 17SS-Brenden Smith[18]; 17. 16H-Clinton Hersh[16]; 18. (DNS) 19M-Jason Hiett; 19. (DNS) 354-Chris Nash
DirtonDirt.com B-Main #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[6]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 4. 11-Spencer Hughes[5]; 5. 48-Colton Flinner[2]; 6. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[9]; 7. 93-Mason Oberkramer[12]; 8. 7-Ross Robinson[18]; 9. 16N-Brian Nuttall Jr[10]; 10. 4G-Bob Gardner[8]; 11. 6B-Adam Boyd[16]; 12. 3-Brennon Willard[11]; 13. 94-Jason Miller[15]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 15. (DNS) 0J-Jake O’Neil; 16. (DNS) 6T-Tim Dohm; 17. (DNS) KB0-Kerry King; 18. (DNS) 0K-Freddie Carpenter
Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 3. 89-Ashton Winger[4]; 4. 9-Devin Moran[7]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[8]; 6. 18J-Chase Junghans[3]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[23]; 8. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[5]; 9. 71-Hudson O’Neal[12]; 10. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[14]; 11. 40B-Kyle Bronson[9]; 12. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[17]; 13. 2S-Stormy Scott[28]; 14. 81E-Tanner English[24]; 15. 18D-Daulton Wilson[10]; 16. 16-Tyler Bruening[16]; 17. 7-Ross Robinson[30]; 18. 25-Shane Clanton[27]; 19. 10-Garrett Smith[6]; 20. 11-Spencer Hughes[29]; 21. 97-Cody Overton[11]; 22. 99B-Boom Briggs[15]; 23. 20-Jimmy Owens[25]; 24. 11R-Josh Rice[18]; 25. 1ST-Johnny Scott[19]; 26. 111V-Max Blair[13]; 27. 1T-Tyler Erb[26]; 28. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[21]; 29. 58W-Mark Whitener[20]; 30. 44B-Colten Burdette[22]