GREENWOOD, Neb. (July 25) — Brandon Sheppard has been waiting for five years to experience an Imperial Tile Silver Dollar Nationals in which everything went according to plan on the big, fast I-80 Speedway.

Finally, on Saturday night, that happened for the 27-year-old superstar from New Berlin, Ill. The result was a dramatic victory in the 101-lap Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned feature that gave Sheppard his coveted first-ever triumph in the 10-year-old event and a $53,000 top prize.

“The difference is, tonight I wasn’t leading the race (for the entire distance), but I controlled my whole race,” Sheppard said after breaking through in his sixth career Silver Dollar Nationals start. “Because I was able to start up front, I was able to go when I needed to, I was able to slow down when I needed to. I didn’t have to take any chances.”

Sheppard started fourth and fluctuated between that position and second place for more than three-quarters of the race. But late in the A-main he perched his Rocket Chassis house car in the half-mile oval’s extreme outside lane and ran it to perfection, sailing around Ricky Thornton Jr. of Chandler, Ariz., for second on lap 82 and then Chad Simpson of Mount Vernon, Iowa, to grab the lead on lap 88.

Once in command there was no stopping Sheppard, who glided away to take the checkered 2.778 seconds — almost a full straightaway — ahead of Thornton, who slipped past Simpson on lap 97 to secure a runner-up finish with the SSI Motorsports Longhorn car. Simpson settled for third place after leading laps 65-87 in Larry Moring’s Black Diamond machine while 2017 SDN champion Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., finished fourth in his Donald and Gena Bradsher-owned Longhorn house car and 14th-starter Ricky Weiss of Headingley, Manitoba, completed the top five.

Tyler Erb of New Waverly, Texas, led laps 44-64 but faded following a restart on the 64th circuit due to a sealed-over tire and finished seventh while outside pole sitter and 2013 SDN winner and current Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., led laps 1-43 but had ignition trouble force him out of the race on lap 64 after he had fallen to fifth.

Sheppard had come close to reaching I-80’s victory lane several times over the past five year, most notably in 2017 when he made a stirring charge from the 32nd starting spot to finish a close second to McCreadie. He also finished third in both ’16 (after starting 25th) and ’19 (after starting eighth but slipping outside the top 10) and was sixth in ’15 (started 11th) and 33rd in ’18 (started 13th and was involved in an early incident).

Taking the green flag from fourth this year was a huge relief for Sheppard.

“It’s so nice to start up front here finally,” Sheppard said. “Starting up front was a really big deal for us because I was able to control my own race and not worry about where everybody else was running. Those years (he came from deep in the field) I just blasted the top, just ran the crap out of the car the whole time, and by the time I’d get to second my tires are used up and you really don’t know how good your car is because it’s too late by the time you get there.

“Tonight it was just about being able to control the race myself and being able to do what I needed to do. It worked out for us.”

Sheppard reached second place for the first time by lap two, giving him an immediate opportunity to gauge himself behind Owens, who won Thursday night’s Lucas Oil-sanctioned Go 50 at I-80.

“I rode for a long time there behind Jimmy,” Sheppard related. “I knew Jimmy was really good and he was gonna be really tough, so I moved around my line a lot when I was behind him just trying to feel my car out and see where I could go and where I couldn’t.

There was one anxious moment for Sheppard. He slipped high in turn two on the lap-40 restart following a red flag for teams to refuel on the frontstretch and watched the 23-year-old Erb pass both him and Owens to snatch the lead.

“We kind of both got shuffled back a little bit and Terbo (Erb) got by us,” Sheppard said of himself and Owens, two of 2020’s hottest Dirt Late Model drivers. “I kind of had in the back of my that, OK, it’s fine I let Jimmy lead this because I don’t know if he’ll get up and really run the cushion all the way up there like on entry and everything, so I was OK following him. But then once Terbo got to the lead I was like, ‘Oh boy, I don’t know if I just messed myself up or not because I know he’ll get up there and bang the wall if he needs to.’”

Sheppard stayed cool, calm and collected, however, after falling back to fourth. He grabbed third from Owens on lap 61 and gradually turned up the wick after the race’s final restart on lap 70, gaining speed as the clay surface came to him.

“The track went through a big transition there,” Sheppard said. “The bottom was blowing a lot of wet crumbs across, and we got to running the middle, and then to the bottom, and then back to the middle a few times, over and over. And then we moved up to the top at the very end.

“The reason we could do that (run the top) was the bottom slowed down and stopped blowing wet crumbs across the track, so guys were not carrying as much speed across the center of the corner. I was able to get up close to the wall and load my car up and run it all the way around. Maybe I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I had started in the back this year.

“I just got up there and started working the top a little bit (after securing third) because (Simpson and Thornton) were in the preferred line (bottom-to-middle) at that point so I knew I needed to get my line cleaned up and going. Luckily they stayed down there and left me a lane up there.”

Indeed, both Thornton, 29, and Simpson, 41, failed to move up in the turns quick enough to stop Sheppard’s late rush.

“The lap before (Sheppard grabbed second on lap 82) I tried the top in one and two, and I thought, Man, there’s a lot of speed here but there’s no way I’m gonna last that long (running there) without killing the right-front,” said Thornton, who started from the pole position but never led a lap. “So then I moved down and then I heard (Sheppard), and I was like, ‘Well, I know who that is.’

“I didn’t necessarily just let him go, but I made sure I left him plenty of room off of (turn) four because I knew he was there and I knew he was gonna go to the top, and he did. At that point I was happy with running third. I was like, ‘Third place is a lot better than wrecking the car and making no money.’”

Simpson had a similar experience.

“I gave one up at Jackson (Minn.) at the end because I kept watching that leaderboard and counting the laps,” Simpson said, referring to the May 23 World of Outlaw Morton Buildings Late Model Series event in which his late bobble allowed Thornton to take the lead and $20,000 victory. “And tonight I was like, ‘I’m not counting ‘em, I’m not even gonna look.’ It wasn’t but a few laps later and I come by here and my crew guy was shoving me to the top and I couldn’t get there quick enough. (Sheppard) was already there.”

Sheppard wasn’t completely flawless running the high side, but he avoided making a mistake serious enough to cost him the race.

“I got into the wall twice there (turn two),” said Sheppard, who had to regroup after losing ground to Simpson when he brushed the concrete on lap 84. “At that point I was really trying to battle hard and get up through there, and I was really starting to pick the pace up to see where I needed to be on the racetrack and where I was gaining speed and losing speed. I went a little too hard there a few times and got into the wall, and I knew I just needed to hit it right a few more times down there and get to the lead and then I could not so much slow down but get in a better rhythm. I was really winging it trying to get to the lead.”

There was good reason for Sheppard’s aggressiveness.

“I really wanted to win this race,” said Sheppard, who holds a large points lead in the WoO championship chase. “I’ve been wanting to win this one for a long time. I figured if any year was our year it was this year because our car’s been really good.

“And my team deserves it. They’ve been working hard.”

Thornton’s second-place finish capped off his first-ever visit to I-80.

“It was a really good run,” said Thornton, who also was the runner-up in Thursday’s Go 50. “For never being here, this place races really good. I think it’s probably one of the raciest places I’ve been to this year. It was a little muddy when we started the feature, but by the end, I’d say probably lap 15 to lap 90, you could run wherever you wanted so that part was really cool.

“I got shuffled back there a little bit early, but somehow I got back to second. I was running the middle and I moved up to about a car, car-and-a-half off the cushion, and I don’t if it just kind of cleaned up or just nobody had been running for so long, but it just picked up a bunch of speed the last 10, 15 laps, so I was like, ‘Well, I think we can do this.’ We got to a couple lapped cars and that slowed Chad down just enough where I was able to get around him. Going from third to second was a $10,000 difference (second paid $20,000).

“At the end, I don’t know if Brandon slowed down a whole lot — which I’m sure he did a little bit — but it seemed like I was about the same pace as him,” he added. “Who knows? If there was a late-race caution maybe I’d have been able to try something, but I’m happy.”

Simpson was satisfied with his third-place run as well.

“I think the car just kind of went away,” said Simpson, whose best finish in his nine previous SDN feature starts was eighth, in 2011 and ’14. “With that fuel burn off we lost that tail weight, and we got to the end of the straightaway and we were just too tight on entry and we got free on exit. It just wasn’t enough.

“We’ve had good runs (in Moring’s equipment) but just haven’t had the finishes we need,” he added. “It finally showed today how good this race car is.”

Seven caution flags slowed the race, including a mandatory yellow on lap 40 that preceded the red flag that was displayed for teams to refuel.

Earl Pearson Jr. brought out the first caution flag on lap 15 when he slowed with terminal engine trouble. Other cautions flew on lap 42 for Tanner English, who spun in turn four but raced on to finish 10th; lap 55 when Ben Schaller spun into the wall between turns three and four; lap 60 when last year's winner Bobby Pierce slowed with rear end woes after advancing from the 28th starting spot to ninth; lap 64 for Owens; and lap 70 for Kyle Bronson’s broken rear end.

Notes: Sheppard’s fourth Lucas Oil Series victory of 2020 was his first since his three wins during February’s Winternationals at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla. It was his 19th career triumph on the national tour, ranking him eighth on the all-time Lucas Oil win list. … Chad Simpson’s qualification for the SDN feature made him the only driver who has started the finale of all 10 editions of the event held since 2011. … Former SDN winner Jonathan Davenport was never a factor in his quiet run to an eighth-place finish from the 12th starting spot, but he did gain on Owens in the Lucas Oil points battle, leaving I-80 with a 300-point deficit to the leader. … Two-time winner Scott Bloomquist finished 11th after changing three tires during pit stops on laps 55 and 60. … Third-starter Devin Moran slipped outside the top 10 by lap 40, climbed back to fifth four circuits later but faded to a 17th-place finish.

10th annual Imperial Tile Silver Dollar Nationals
1. Brandon Sheppard (1), New Berlin, Ill., Rocket, $53,000
2. Ricky Thornton Jr. (20RT), Chandler, Ariz., Longhorn, $20,000
3. Chad Simpson (1), Mount Vernon, Iowa, Black Diamond, $10,000
4. Tim McCreadie (39), Watertown, N.Y., Longhorn, $7,000
5. Ricky Weiss (7W), Headingley, Manitoba, Bloomquist, $6,000
6. Josh Richards (14), Shinnston, W.Va., Rocket, $5,500
7. Tyler Erb (1), New Waverly, Texas, Rocket, $5,000
8. Jonathan Davenport (49), Blairsville, Ga., Longhorn, $4,700
9. Chris Ferguson (22), Mount Holly, N.C., Bloomquist, $4,400
10. Tanner English (81E), Benton, Ky., Rocket, $4,000
11. Scott Bloomquist (0), Mooresburg, Tenn., Bloomquist, $3,900
12. Billy Moyer Jr. (21Jr), Batesville, Ark., Capital, $3,800
13. Kyle Strickler (8), Mooresville, N.C., Longhorn, $3,700
14. Shanon Buckingham (50), Morristown, Tenn., Longhorn, $3,600
15. Shane Clanton (25), Zebulon, Ga., Capital, $3,500
16. Tyler Bruening (16), Decorah, Iowa, Capital, $3,400
17. Devin Moran (9), Dresden, Ohio, Longhorn, $3,300
18. Stormy Scott (2s), Las Cruces, N.M., Rocket, $3,200
19. Justin Zeitner (62), Malvern, Iowa, Longhorn, $3,100
20. Ben Schaller (98), Omaha, Neb., MB Customs, $3,000
21. Kyle Bronson (40b), Brandon, Fla., Rocket, $2,950
22. Colton Horner (56), Katy, Texas, Rocket, $2,900
23. Jimmy Owens (20), Newport, Tenn., Rocket, $2,850
24. Mason Zeigler (25z), Chalk Hill, Pa., Rocket, $2,800
25. Bobby Pierce (32), Oakwood, Ill., Pierce, $2,750
26. Tad Pospisil (04), Norfolk, Neb., Bloomquist, $2,700
27. Jake Neal (14), Omaha, Neb., Rocket, $2,650
28. Andrew Kosiski (53), Omaha, Neb., MB Customs, $2,600
29. Bill Leighton Jr. (24), La Vista, Neb., Black Diamond, $2,550
30. Earl Pearson Jr. (1), Jacksonville, Fla., Black Diamond, $2,500
31. Chase Junghans (18), Manhattan, Kan., Rocket, $2,500
Lap leaders: Owens 1-43; Erb 44-64; Simpson 65-87; Sheppard 88-101
Non-qualifiers’ race winner: Phillips
Heat race winners (among 45 cars): Bloomquist, Junghans, Zeigler, Simpson, Thornton, Weiss, Owens, Richards, Bronson, McCreadie
Consolation race winners: Ferguson, Strickler, Phillips
Provisional starters: S. Scott, Pierce, A. Kosiski, Schaller, Horner, Timm
July 23 winner: Owens

Feature updates

10:34 p.m.: Green flag flies ...

Lap 1: Owens leads over Thornton and Sheppard.

Lap 9: Erb shoots into fifth ... Owens short lead over Sheppard and Thornton.

Lap 15: Caution for Pearson's steaming car; Owens leads Sheppard, Thornton, Chad Simpson, Erb, McCreadie, Bronson, Bloomquist, Davenport and Moran.

Lap 30: Owens short lead on Sheppard in traffic; Pierce up to 13th running the top.

Lap 40: Caution flies to allow for red flag/mandatory fuel stop on frontstretch; Owens leads Sheppard, Erb, Thornton, Chad Simpson, McCreadie, Bronson, Weiss, Bloomquist and Richards ... Pierce up to 12th from 28th starting spot.

Lap 42: Caution for Tanner English's turn-four spin; Owens leads Sheppard, Erb, Thornton and Simpson.

Lap 44: Erb pulls slider on Owens in turns three and four to take lead; Owens second, followed by Sheppard, Thornton and Moran.

Lap 54: Simpson overtakes Sheppard for third.

Lap 55: Schaller spins into turns three and four wall; Erb leads Owens, Simpson, Sheppard, Thornton, Bronson, Moran, Weiss, McCreadie, Richards and Pierce ... Bloomquist pits during caution period.

Lap 58: Simpson passes Owens for second; trails Erb by 1.3 seconds.

Lap 60: Pierce slows while running 10th and pits, retires from race with apparent rearend trouble; Bloomquist also pits but returns. Erb leads Simpson, Owens, Sheppard, Thornton, Moran, McCreadie, Bronson, Weiss and Ferguson.

Lap 64: Caution for Owens, who slows after slipping back to fifth; he's pushed into pits with his engine not running ... Erb leads Simpson, Sheppard, Thornton, Weiss, McCreadie, Moran, Bronson, Ferguson and Richards.

Lap 65: Simpson gets good restart, overtakes Erb for lead; Thornton moves by Erb for second on lap 66.

Lap 70: Caution for Bronson slowing with right-rear flat while in top 10; Simpson leads Thornton, Sheppard, Erb, McCreadie, Weiss, Richards, Moran, Ferguson and English.

Lap 75: Sheppard, McCreadie and Weiss in battle for third ... Simpson with short lead over Thornton.

Lap 82: Sheppard charging on outside, catches Thornton to take second ... less than second behind Simpson.

Lap 88: Sheppard takes lead running outside Simpson off turn four.

Lap 95: Sheppard extends to 2.5-second lead over Simpson.

Lap 101: Sheppard wins his first Silver Dollar Nationals by 2.778 seconds over Thornton; Simpson third, followed by McCreadie and Weiss.

Pre-feature notes

Driver introductions featuring each feature starter riding down the front stretch standing in the bed of a pickup truck began at 10:10 p.m. CT. … Defending Silver Dollar Nationals champion Bobby Pierce’s weekend struggles at I-80 continued with his seventh-place finish in the first B-main, but he will start 28th in the feature thanks to a past-winner provisional. … Other provisional starters are Stormy Scott (Lucas Oil Series), Andrew Kosiski (track) and Ben Schaller (track). … Jake Timm was scheduled to start 32nd in the 101-lapper after opting to take a berth in the feature rather than his $2,600 third-place finish in the non-qualifiers’ race, but he was forced to scratch due to terminal engine trouble diagnosed when he returned to his trailer. … Former Silver Dollar Nationals winners in the starting field are Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Tim McCreadie, Scott Bloomquist and Jimmy Owens.

Feature lineup

Row 1: Ricky Thornton Jr., Jimmy Owens
Row 2: Devin Moran, Brandon Sheppard
Row 3: Kyle Bronson, Chad Simpson
Row 4: Tim McCreadie, Tyler Erb
Row 5: Scott Bloomquist, Josh Richards
Row 6: Billy Moyer Jr., Jonathan Davenport
Row 7: Chase Junghans, Ricky Weiss
Row 8: Earl Pearson Jr., Shanon Buckingham
Row 9: Mason Zeigler, Justin Zeitner
Row 10: Chris Ferguson, Kyle Strickler
Row 11: Tad Pospisil, Tanner English
Row 12: Bill Leighton Jr., Shane Clanton
Row 13: Tyler Bruening, Jake Neal
Row 14: Stormy Scott, Bobby Pierce
Row 15: Andrew Kosiski, Ben Schaller
Row 16: Colton Horner, Jake Timm

S&S Showdown

Terry Phillips of Springfield, Mo., ran away with the S&S Showdown, winning the 20-lap non-qualifiers’ event by a commanding 3.947 seconds over Colton Horner of Katy, Texas.

But Phillips opted to take the race’s $3,000 top prize rather than forfeit the money to tag the rear of the 101-lap Silver Dollar Nationals.

“I’m gonna take the money and run. I got another race to run here,” said Phillips, who was scheduled to run the $3,000-to-win modified feature immediately after the S&S Showdown.

Youngsters Horner and Jake Timm of Winona, Minn., who finished third, went the other direction from Phillips, turning down their payoffs of $2,800 and $2,600, respectively, to start the Silver Dollar Nationals headliner. Horner will make his first-ever appearance in the event while Timm’s only previous SDN start was a 32nd-place run last year.

Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., was running fifth on a lap-four restart when he caught a ridge of mud on the inside of turn four and bent the nosepiece of his Bloomquist Race Car, forcing him out of the race.

S&S Showdown: Terry Phillips, Colton Horner, Jake Timm, Cody Laney, Johnny Scott, Dylan Schmer, Joel Callahan, Jeremy Conaway, Tyler Smith, Allan Hopp, Josh Leonard, Shannon Baby, Chris Simpson (DNS) Nick Deal, Brian Kosiski.

Consolation results

(15 laps; top 4 transfer)

First consolation finish: Chris Ferguson, Tad Pospisil, Bill Leighton Jr., Tyler Bruening, Johnny Scott, Shannon Babb, Bobby Pierce, Jake Timm, Allan Hopp, Stormy Scott, Joel Callahan, Josh Leonard, Nick Deal (DNS) Brian Kosiski.

Second consolation finish: Kyle Strickler, Tanner English, Shane Clanton, Jake Neal, Terry Phillips, Chris Simpson, Colton Horner, Andrew Kosiski, Ben Schaller, Cody Laney, Dylan Schmer, Tyler Smith, Jeremy Conaway (DNS) Cory Dumpert.

Pre-race notes

Weather conditions are typically sultry for the Silver Dollar Nationals finale but not as overwhelmingly hot as some recent editions. Temperatures are in the mid-90s with a steady breeze, providing some relief from the heat. And the chance of rain this evening? Just about zero. … With this year’s Silver Dollar Nationals feature lengthened to 101 laps from its traditional 80-lap distance, Lucas Oil officials announced during Saturday’s drivers’ meeting that a fuel stop will be added to ensure the cars can go the distance on the big half-mile oval. A red flag will be put out following the first caution flag between laps 30-40 — or lap 40 if no caution is needed — and two members from each team will be allowed to refuel the cars on the homestretch. … Lucas Oil Series director Rick Schwallie also told competitors that the national tour’s next three weekends of competition have been set — barring any further coronavirus-related changes, of course. The Aug. 12-15 North-South 100 weekend at Florence Speedway in Union, Ky., will included programs for $12,000 to win (Wednesday) and $10,000 to win (Thursday) leading into Friday’s double-heat qualifying program and Saturday’s $50,000-to-win finale; the Aug. 20-22 Topless 100 at Batesville Motor Speedway in Locust Grove, Ark., will boast $5,000-to-win preliminary features preceding the headliner paying $40,000; and the scheduled Aug. 27-29 Dirt Track Throwback weekend at Port Royal (Pa.) Speedway has been changed from a prelim program plus a two-day, $50,000-to-win event to three complete shows paying $10,000, $12,000 and $15,000 to win.

Feature lineup

Row 1: Ricky Thornton Jr., Jimmy Owens
Row 2: Devin Moran, Brandon Sheppard
Row 3: Kyle Bronson, Chad Simpson
Row 4: Tim McCreadie, Tyler Erb
Row 5: Scott Bloomquist, Josh Richards
Row 6: Billy Moyer Jr., Jonathan Davenport
Row 7: Chase Junghans, Ricky Weiss
Row 8: Earl Pearson Jr., Shanon Buckingham
Row 9: Mason Zeigler, Justin Zeitner
Row 10: Consy transfers
Row 11: Consy transfers
Row 12: Consy transfers
Row 13: Consy transfers
Row 14: Provisional starters
Row 15: Provisional starters

Consolation race lineups

(12 laps; top four transfer)

First consolation race
Row 1: Chris Ferguson, Tad Pospisil
Row 2: Bill Leigton, Stormy Scott
Row 3: Bobby Pierce, Tyler Bruening
Row 4: Shannon Babb, Johnny Scott
Row 5: Nick Deal, Jake Timm
Row 6: Joel Callahan, Allan Hopp
Row 7: Josh Leonard, Brian Kosiski

Second consolation race
Row 1: Jake Neal, Kyle Strickler
Row 2: Shane Clanton, Tanner English
Row 3: Ben Schaller, Chris Simpson
Row 4: Colton Horner, Cory Dumpert
Row 5: Terry Phillips, Andrew Kosiski
Row 6: Cody Laney, Tyler Smith
Row 7: Jeremy Conaway