Tyler Carpenter shared his thoughts on what happened between him, Hudson O’Neal, and Steve Sheppard following the feature race at the Gateway Dirt Nationals.

If you just watched the FloRacing broadcast it was unclear what happened with Tyler Carpenter. Viewers were shown Steve Sheppard blocking Tyler Carpenter’s path to the garage area and then the two exchanging fenders on the ramp. In the pits, one of Carpenter’s crew members decided to take a swing at Sheppard, but the fight was quickly broken up by security after both Sheppard and Carpenter’s crew member went to the ground.

Sheppard spoke with FloRacing about it all after he returned to Victory Lane to celebrate with his son, who won the race, “Well, the racetrack, after the race, Tyler decided to take me out. And I know why. He thought I spun him out, but Hudson [O’Neal]  spun him out. I wasn’t nowhere around him. I tried to get him — Cody [Sommer] wants it to happen out here and I tried like hell. He wouldn’t stay stopped.”

As for the fight in the pits, he said, “And I didn’t start it down there. One of his guys was running their mouth and I just stepped up to the plate. … They f***ed around and found out.”

Stevie Sheppard beefs with Tyler Carpenter. Throws down with Carpenter’s crew member then drops the mic with the interview of the night. pic.twitter.com/F6WTDHo91j

— John Trent Racing (@JFTrentRacing) December 8, 2024

Carpenter shared his side while speaking to FloRacing following the race. He said, “I don’t know, man. It’s Dirt in December. Really, I was setting there in the infield when I got spun out to try to see who the hell spun me out because they was going to get wiped the hell out. Like didn’t matter to me it was at the tail. The track really wasn’t racy enough. And I was pretty positive it was Hudson or Sheppard. I did know that. And if them guys was dumb enough to do that I was dumb enough to wad us the f**k up.”

He then declared, “I know who did it. I definitely know who did it now. And what goes around comes around. It really will come around.”

Carpenter added, “Other than that no hard feelings. We’re tickled to death with a run. We made it and put on a show. Hell, even if you run last sometimes you got to do something crazy to put on a show. I’m glad that Sheppard ended up getting his f***ing car tore up and popped in the eyeball, I guess. I didn’t start nothing we just beat and banged out there and I did — when he hit me in the ass — I did put it in reverse and high centered it up on his nose piece and did a little burnout on it.”

“Hell, I’m too little to be fighting,” he observed. “But come down here and I guess half my damn gang around here and we’ll be all right.”

Carpenter then addressed O’Neal, “I don’t know what the hell it is about really Hudson and them guys or what their deal is with me. If they’re just that chapped ass over just some goofy ass like me outrunning them guys or what. I try to run them clean for the most part. And to be dead honest at the end of that race when me and Sheppard did touch, I didn’t mean to get into him. He thinks I retaliated on him and I really didn’t mean to do that. And then like it caught me off guard. I even tried telling him like I really didn’t mean that. He flipped me off. I was like, ‘Well, I guess that will work too.'”

Carpenter concluded, “It’s just the Dome. I don’t even know the guy. I know Brandon Sheppard. I’ve heard of Steve Sheppard, but-. It is what it is. It’s just a bunch of dumb s**t. I ain’t a fighter, but we’ll do what we got to do whenever the time comes. … I can’t wait to come back. That’s all I can say, I can’t wait to be back.”

Sheppard also provided more details, “Well we were racing there and I was behind, well, Tyler and Hudson O’Neal and we were racing. And I seen the whole thing. Huddy got into the back of him, spun him out. Well, when I come back around Hudson went by him and Tyler didn’t do nothing. And I went by him and he nudged at me with his car and I threw my hands in the air like, ‘I didn’t do it.’ So after the race coming across the checkered flag he spins me out. So then everything in my mind just went red and it was bad after that.”

He added, “I tried to get him. Cody wants it to happen on the track. Keep the show there. I tried. He wouldn’t get out. And I was old. I just couldn’t quite get out fast enough. But other than that I wasn’t too upset. The fight down here was his guy’s running his mouth and I don’t put up with that very well.”

Sheppard concluded, “Ain’t too much longer I’m going to be able to do this. So I just had fun and to make the show, you know, for no more than I get to race. I was pretty happy. And it’s mostly luck. There’s a lot better racers here that should be in the show but didn’t make it. It just wasn’t their lucky day like mine.”

What do you make of Carpenter’s comments?

NEXT: Nick Hoffman Praises Gateway Dirt Nationals, Says It’s A “F***in Crown Jewel”