After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis of Ocala's Lucas Round 2
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt.com staff reporter
Brandon Sheppard (1) and Kyle Bronson (40b) at Ocala. (Heath Lawson)
OCALA, Fla. (Feb. 25) — Instant reaction and analysis from Wednesday’s Wieland Winternationals action on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Ocala Speedway, a $7,000-to-win non-points event won by Brandon Sheppard (RaceWire):
PAYING HIS DUES: As expected for a Super Late Model rookie, Dallon Murty’s Speedweeks has been a mixed bag. He’s qualified for features. He’s missed shows. He’s crashed in practice at All-Tech. But through it all, he’s steadily progressed, learning on the fly in impressive fashion. Murty flashed that upside again Wednesday, ripping off the second-fastest lap in Group A qualifying and even leapfrogging Brandon Sheppard near the top of the board. It wasn’t a fluke, either. He’s popped up in the top-three in select practice sessions throughout Speedweeks — at both All-Tech and Ocala — showing glimpses of the high ceiling many believe he possesses. He finished 11th Wednesday, a result he happily took. Midway through the feature, he hopped the turn-one cushion, tumbling from ninth to 16th before a timely caution bailed him out before the lap could count. Now comes the next step. If Murty is going to mold into the elite driver many envision, the consistency has to follow, which will likely take time. But the speed is there. The potential is there. And the respect for the grind is evident, too, as I’ve noticed he’s often helping his Skyline team load the trailer at night’s end. The challenge now as a racer is stringing it together, night after night.
BRONSON’S ZINGER: Kyle Bronson came to Ocala to win a race, not the internet, but he may have accomplished the latter anyway. His night unraveled in cruel fashion when a broken driveshaft ended his bid while leading on lap seven, prompting a quote-of-the-year candidate in describing his misfortune: “It could be raining vaginas and I’d get smacked in the head with a wiener.” It was classic Bronson — equal parts frustrated and part comedian — a reminder that even in disappointment he has a tendency for keeping things loose and lighthearted. The line traveled well beyond the pit area, too. I even got a text from the sports editor, Josh Smith, at the Frederick News-Post — the first paper I ever had a byline in back home in Frederick, Md. — saying he’d caught wind of Bronson’s interview, and he doesn’t even follow racing! “Quote of a lifetime,” he texted. Somewhat viral moments in dirt racing? We’ll take them any way we can I suppose.
ROCKET1 RESURGENCE: Every time Brandon Sheppard and Rocket1 take the track, whether it’s a routine practice session or the closing laps of a feature, there are no visible weaknesses. They’ve already captured at least three Speedweeks victories together for the first time since 2022 and have won at three Speedweeks tracks as a pairing for the first time since ’17. From the sweeping half-mile at Volusia, to the technical confines of All-Tech, to a cowboy-up Ocala, Sheppard has been equally effective in every flavor of racetrack and condition thrown his way. Clean air, lapped traffic (other than his slipup Monday that cost him the win), slick, heavy — it hasn’t seemed to matter much. I’d bet they’ve got at least one more win in them before the week is over. And even if they don’t park it in victory lane again, it’s hard to imagine them being anywhere but in the thick of the top five. The more I’ve watched Rocket1 this past week, the more it resembles their heyday, when the rest of the pit area measured itself against them, just like this week so far in Ocala.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Through five Lucas Oil events at All-Tech and Ocala, five drivers have set overall fast time — Hudson O’Neal (Thursday, All-Tech), Tyler Wyant (Friday, All-Tech), Brandon Overton (Saturday, All-Tech), Brandon Sheppard (Tuesday, Ocala) and Garrett Alberson (Wedneday, Ocala). The last time that happened? The 2023 season when O’Neal, Overton, Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr. and Ashton Winger topped qualifying across the tour’s first five races.
