B-Shepp guts it out

Leading by seven seconds with 18 laps remaining, when smoke rolled out from under Brandon Sheppard's No. B5 race car Sunday night at Macon (Ill.) Speedway, he figured his hopes of a flag-to-flag victory in the Pepsi Herald & Review 100 were over.

Instead, the 33-year-old New Berlin, Ill., motored on without power steering the rest of the way at the fifth-mile oval for a $7,500 victory and his 29th career DIRTcar Summer Nationals triumph.

"When that big puff of smoke come out underneath the car," Sheppard said, "I thought my night was over."

Sheppard, who dominated the race from outside the front row, knew he'd lost his car's power steering. His seven second-lead over Tanner English dwindled to 3.4 seconds before Sheppard picked up the pace again late. He survived a two-lap shootout to the finish after a late caution for his first Summer Nationals victory of the season.

"Usually when that happens, your oil pump belt breaks," Sheppard said. "But I kept watching my oil pressure for the next few laps and I didn't see it going down, so I thought, 'Well?' Obviously the power steering line broke and I'm telling you, you can't hardly hang on to it when it's like that."

Sheppard took the checkers 0.729 of a second ahead of Luke Morey of Denver, N.C., with Benton, Ky.'s English just behind. Sheppard's manhandling performance of his race car impressed the third-finishing series points leader.

"He did a great job obviously," English said. "No power steering? That's pretty wild. I couldn't do that probably."

Sheppard captured Macon's biggest annual race and staple of the Hell Tour for the second time. He also won in 2020.

"This race has always meant the world to me," said Sheppard, who returned home after competing on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in Ohio a night earlier. "I grew up watching races here, watching my dad here. It means the world for him and my whole family," Sheppard said. "It means the world to me to have Macon Speedway have a packed house. I knew I had to make the trek home to support it. Any time we can support our local dirt tracks, we love to." — DIRTVision and staff reports

Max Blair has orchestrated some remarkable drives through the field on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series this season, from charging 26th-to-fourth and 25th-to-second in March at Golden Isles Speedway to rallying from 10th for a runner-up finish in last month's Dream XXXII finale at Eldora Speedway.

So when the Centerville, Pa., driver found himself charging forward again in Saturday's Lucas Oil-sanctioned Freedom 50 at Muskingum County Speedway — climbing from 15th into the top five with 18 laps remaining — did he ever believe this one would actually end in victory lane?

"Not a chance," the 36-year-old Blair said. "I said, 'Well, that's a hell of a run, you know, 15th to fourth. This is pretty cool.' Then I said, 'You know what? Maybe we'll get a yellow and I'll get a shot at it.' Then we went about three more laps, and I was like, 'Holy cow! They're not even in lapped traffic and I'm running them down pretty quick.' "

At that point, Blair's rally transformed from another satisfying salvage job into something far more rewarding. Still 7.6 seconds behind race-long leader Hudson O'Neal on lap 31, Blair began carving nearly a half-second per circuit off the deficit. He was still almost five seconds behind Devin Moran and Clay Harris in their fierce battle for second before uncorking a blistering late-race surge.

Blair completed his march by passing Harris for third on lap 46 before ducking underneath Moran entering turns one and two. Moments later, he capitalized on lapped traffic to drive beneath O'Neal on the backstretch and complete the winning pass as lap 48 was scored.

The stirring rally delivered Blair his first full-field Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and his first full-field national touring triumph since a $10,000 World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory in May 2022 at Bloomsburg Fair Raceway. Blair did capture a split-field Lucas Oil semifeature at Lernerville Speedway in June 2023, but Saturday marked his first victory over an entire national touring field in more than four years.

"Oh man, I can't believe it," Blair said. "It's awesome."

When Blair took the lead, it appeared nothing stood between him and victory lane. Even Moran was convinced of that.

"I thought that was Clay back underneath me there because I just got by him — and then (Blair) went by me, and I was like, 'Oh, s---, I'm not beating him tonight,'" Moran said.

Then came the cautions. Sixth-running Brian Shirley slowed with a flat right-rear tire moments after Blair took the white flag, erasing what looked like a comfortable sprint to the finish. On the ensuing restart, another caution flew for a turn-four tangle involving Josh Rice, Todd Brennan and Cory Lawler, forcing Blair to survive roughly 10 more anxiety-filled minutes before finally taking the checkered flag.

"Shirley had a flat or broke there, and I thought, 'There's no way this is going to happen,'" Blair said. "Everything you think of, I thought under those yellows. I had vibrations and I could smell rubber. I was like, 'You know what, it doesn't matter. I'm going to race it no matter what happens.' Man, I can't believe it. It's awesome."

Blair's breakthrough came in his 159th full-field Lucas Oil start, rewarding the investment of Centerline Motorsports owner Brad Spochacz, Blair's father, crew chief and longtime mentor Rob Blair, and the entire No. 111 team.

"I gotta thank my dad. This is what we've been trying to do for 20 years now," Blair said. "We just did it. It feels great. I can't thank him enough. I tell people all the time, and it's the truth: we're just a couple Saturday night racers out here doing our best trying to figure it out. Maybe we're doing something right, right?"

Blair also made sure to recognize those around him who never stopped believing.

"I can't thank them enough for the amazing opportunity they've given me and for believing in me — having my back when I suck really bad," he said. "We qualified terrible, heat race terrible, nobody gets down, nobody is telling me what I'm doing wrong or what we need to do better. We put our heads down and we work, and we got better."

The celebration wasn't quite complete, however, as Blair's wife, Brandy, and children, McLane and Hayes, couldn't be there in person to celebrate the monumental victory.

"It really sucks my wife and kids aren't here. I'm sure they were screaming at the TV the last few laps with all those cautions coming out. Man, I wish they were here to do it with me. I'm kinda out of breath and speechless."

Asked whether it was the biggest victory of his career, Blair didn't hesitate. "Yes," he said emphatically. "By far." — Staff reports

Drought over

Frank Heckenast Jr. of Frankfort, Ill., was waiting for things to go his way on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals.

"We've had speed the whole Summer Nationals. The first night we won our heat, started third, ran third. And then from then on, we couldn't put a whole night together," Heckenast said Friday night. "We could qualify then we couldn't race, or we could race, couldn't qualify. And then, tonight it looked like we put it all together."

Heckenast put it all together at Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, Ill., for a $10,000 victory and his first series triumph since July 23, 2020, at Springfield (Mo.) Raceway. The pole-starting Heckenast capitalized on outside front-row starter Jason Feger's lap-14 flat tire, leading the rest of the 40-lapper and pulling away to win by more than four seconds over series points leader Tanner English.

Heckenast wasn't shedding any tears over the tough luck of Feger, who a night earlier won his fifth series race of the season at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway.

"He wins enough of them," Heckenast said. "We can have one."

Heckenast had third-place series finishes at the Brownstown (Ill.) Bullring and Wilmot (Wis.) Raceway, but those were his only top-five finishes in 11 starts heading to Red Hill.

"These are just hard to win, you know?" Heckenast said. "People think they just show up, they're gonna win one, you know, because they're out on the road or something. It's not that easy." — DIRTVision and staff reports

Surprising Feger victory

Halfway through Thursday’s DIRTcar Summer Nationals event at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway, Tanner English appeared to be en route to his first back-to-back series victory while Jason Feger’s chances of winning a fifth series race at the quarter-mile oval were minimal.

But everything changed after a lap-19 caution with pole-starting English getting into a tussle for the lead with fellow front-row starter Sam Seawright, giving Feger an opening. The Bloomington, Ill., driver took it, going underneath English and Seawright on the backstretch and sliding in front of English exiting turn four en route to a 30-lap victory.

"I didn't think we had a car to win. I didn't feel that great,” said Feger, who notched his fifth Summer Nationals victory of the season, matching his career-high from 2025.

Feger set fast time but a flat tire in heat action put him back to the third row of the feature lineup. He was holding onto fourth with 12 laps remaining, but the caution for debris changed everything.

“I was really hoping that restart would play out just like it did there,” Feger said. “Them guys, I don't think I would have been able to pass them because they wouldn't have started sliding each other like that. I was the only one up front there that was really kind of committed to that bottom, and I just don't think they knew kind of what was down there and how to run it, and it just worked out and I had it timed just perfect and took the shot and then went on top and do what we do.

"This feels good. We've won a lot of them here in Lincoln and I've got a lot of great fans here and it’s always special.”

English, the Benton, Ky., driver who won the previous night at Farmington (Mo.) Empire Speedway, struggled exiting turn two after the restart. Seawright dove under him in turn three on the 19th lap, going in too hard and hitting the turn-four wall with English making contact in trying to get back ahead. All the while Feger was making up ground on the low side.

“I think if the caution don't come out, nobody stands a chance,” a disappointed English said. “I don't know. I wish it would've just went green and checkered and been a boring race and I’d have led the whole thing. But that's how these places go, you know. He's awful good here at this place. Usually I'm terrible here. That's probably the best I've ever been here.”

The caution and ensuing battle with Seawright proved to be English’s undoing.

“That 16 car slid me there and broke my momentum, and it let him by me and it just kind of killed my rhythm,” English said. “I had a pretty good line going there before that caution. I just didn't take off on the start.” — DIRTvision and staff reports