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Sheppard soars to 88th World of Outlaws victory; Sorensen secures a top 10

By Spence Smithback

BARBERVILLE, FL (February 14) - In Saturday night’s DIRTcar Nationals finale, Brandon Sheppard did what can sometimes feel like an impossible task at Volusia Speedway Park — pass Nick Hoffman.

The driver of the No. 9 had been victorious in his last three starts, and led the opening laps in pursuit of his fourth win in a row. But past halfway, the 2024 champion of the World of Outlaws Late Model Series had something to say about that.

With 18 laps remaining in the 50-lap main event, Sheppard found some grip on the bottom of turns one and two while Hoffman slid his way through the middle. The two raced side-by-side down the backstretch before Hoffman drove it deep into turn three, leaving Sheppard room to keep it low and take the lead at the flag stand.

From then on, it was all Sheppard en route to his record-extending 88th World of Outlaws triumph. Seven of those have come at DIRTcar Nationals as part of his 10 overall wins in the event between World of Outlaws and DIRTcar competition.

“I was able to run second for a long time there, kind of see what Nick was doing,” Sheppard said. “Where he was struggling at compared to what I was doing and where I was struggling at. Just kind of compensate for that, and I was able to find a couple lines that I could make a little time on him. I kind of waited and got him to move around a little bit by showing him the nose. I felt really good through [turns] one and two, so we were just able to capitalize.”

Sheppard’s overall performance across the six nights of Late Model racing at DIRTcar Nationals wasn’t enough for his fourth Big Gator, as that honor went to the driver he passed in Hoffman. “The Thrill From Mooresville” crossed the line fourth to finish the week with three wins, five top fives and a worst finish of seventh. After winning the award seven years in a row in the DIRTcar UMP Modified ranks, Hoffman joins Tim McCreadie as the second driver in DIRTcar Nationals history to win the Big Gator in more than one division.

“To race for a whole week here, it takes a lot,” Hoffman said. “Not having any issues, no DNFs or anything, it went about as smooth as it could, I feel like.”

Bobby Pierce raced his way forward from his 19th starting spot to finish second, while Hudson O’Neal took the last spot on the podium in third.

Rochester, Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen was the highest WISSOTA-region finisher in 10th. Rochester, Minnesota’s Jake Timm was 19th, while Renner, South Dakota’s Blair Nothdurft was 21st. Lake Shore, Minnesota’s Dan Ebert was scored 26th, while Lake Elmo’s Brent Larson was 31st.

SUMMARY

WoO Late Models:

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[19]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[10]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[13]; 6. 111-Max Blair[18]; 7. 58-Garrett Alberson[14]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[6]; 9. 9M-Tim McCreadie[25]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 11. 22*-Drake Troutman[21]; 12. 74X-Ethan Dotson[28]; 13. 93-Carson Ferguson[11]; 14. 11R-Josh Rice[20]; 15. 16S-Sam Seawright[16]; 16. 76-Brandon Overton[9]; 17. 13-Dallon Murty[17]; 18. 97-Cody Overton[27]; 19. 49-Jake Timm[29]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[30]; 21. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 22. 19M-Brenden Smith[7]; 23. 18-Chase Junghans[22]; 24. 44-Chris Madden[5]; 25. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[26]; 26. 60-Dan Ebert[8]; 27. 16-Tyler Bruening[15]; 28. 8S-Kyle Strickler[23]; 29. 24-Tyler Wyant[24]; 30. 1-Tyler Erb[4]; 31. B1-Brent Larson[31]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 19M-Brenden Smith[2]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[4]; 6. 97-Cody Overton[6]; 7. 49-Jake Timm[9]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[7]; 9. 388-Jackson Hise[8]; 10. 23-Beckham Malone[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[3]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 6. 31-Tyler Millwood[7]; 7. 58V-Daulton Wilson[6]; 8. 77-Preston Luckman[8]; 9. 17-Austin Howes[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[1]; 2. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 3. 13-Dallon Murty[2]; 4. 8S-Kyle Strickler[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 6. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[8]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 8. 8-Matthew Larson[5]; 9. 14R-Reid Millard[9]

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 14-Trey Mills[8]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[6]; 6. 81-Jason Riggs[10]; 7. T1-Todd Morrow[7]; 8. 09-Michael Leach[3]; 9. 11B-Stacy Boles[9]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]

Heat 5 (8 Laps): 1. 1-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O'Neal[4]; 3. 16S-Sam Seawright[3]; 4. 24-Tyler Wyant[9]; 5. 11-Austin Smith[6]; 6. 114-Jordan Koehler[2]; 7. 114K-Evan Koehler[7]; 8. 55E-Eli Johnson[8]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]

Heat 6 (8 Laps): 1. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[1]; 2. 19-Dustin Sorensen[2]; 3. 111-Max Blair[3]; 4. 11R-Josh Rice[6]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 6. 18-Chase Junghans[5]; 7. 97D-Cade Dillard[7]; 8. 49M-Luke Morey[9]; 9. B1-Brent Larson[8]

Last Chance Showdown 1 (10 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 22*-Drake Troutman[1]; 3. 8S-Kyle Strickler[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 5. 9M-Tim McCreadie[4]; 6. 97-Cody Overton[7]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[9]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 9. 31-Tyler Millwood[8]; 10. 58V-Daulton Wilson[11]; 11. 49-Jake Timm[10]; 12. 7-Ross Robinson[12]; 13. 388-Jackson Hise[16]; 14. 14R-Reid Millard[18]; 15. 77-Preston Luckman[14]; 16. 99B-Boom Briggs[13]; 17. 8-Matthew Larson[15]; 18. 17-Austin Howes[17]; 19. 23-Beckham Malone[19]

Last Chance Showdown 2 (10 Laps): 1. 11R-Josh Rice[3]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans[9]; 3. 24-Tyler Wyant[2]; 4. 1Z-Logan Zarin[4]; 5. T1-Todd Morrow[10]; 6. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[6]; 7. 81-Jason Riggs[7]; 8. 49M-Luke Morey[15]; 9. 55E-Eli Johnson[14]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[19]; 11. 14-Trey Mills[1]; 12. 11-Austin Smith[5]; 13. 114-Jordan Koehler[8]; 14. 114K-Evan Koehler[11]; 15. 97D-Cade Dillard[12]; 16. 09-Michael Leach[13]; 17. 11B-Stacy Boles[16]; 18. 74X-Ethan Dotson[17]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[18]