Brandon Sheppard shared more details about what went wrong with his car’s right front that sent him hard into the outside wall while running second and ending his chances of winning the Dirt Late Model at Eldora Speedway.

With around 20 laps to go in the 100-lap feature, Brandon Sheppard had tracked Bobby Pierce back down and looked like he was going to challenge him for the lead. However, something broke on the right front, or his right front tire cut down and he swerved head first into the outside of the turn 3 wall. Sheppard did a whale of a job to prevent a direct head-on impact and pancaked the wall with his right door instead. The impact spun his car so it was perpendicular to the track and Hudson O’Neal, who was running in third, had nowhere to go and collided with Sheppard’s car.

Following the wreck, Sheppard told FloRacing’s Mike Norris, “Something broke, or something happened to the right front getting into three there. Just sent me straight into the wall. Man, I was really hoping to get a charge back at that 32.”

💔 A terrible ending to the #DLMDream for @bsheppb5 and @HudsonONeal71 @EldoraSpeedway pic.twitter.com/3whRmtqAUy

— FloRacing (@FloRacing) June 7, 2026

In a post to Facebook, Sheppard’s team shared, “Absolute heartbreaker. Charging for the lead, Brandon had one hell of a car underneath him before something broke and sent him into the wall in turns 3 & 4 — ending an amazing run at The Dream. Not the ending this team deserved, but we’re proud of the speed, the fight, and the effort from everyone involved.”

“Thank you to our crew, sponsors, and every fan who had our back all week. We’ll regroup and keep digging,” the team concluded.

Additionally, in an interview with FloRacing following the conclusion of the race, Sheppard shared more details, “Honestly, the car was phenomenal all night long. Couldn’t ask for much more. I didn’t really panic when Bobby passed me. ‘Cause as soon as he passed me, he went to the top, and I just knew he was probably running the top in 3 and 4, and I knew if I just bided my time I could be there at some point in the last 30 laps. Was able to track him back down and stay with him after them cautions.”

“My guys have been working their tails off all weekend,” he continued. “Nothing but bad luck it seems this weekend. Have had to come from the back. Finally, get to where we start up front tonight and just another unfortunate deal happened. Pry the best car I’ve ever had here, for sure. So just thanks to Mark and Dan, Austin, and Joel, Steve Baker and everybody at Rocket for giving me a safe race car. UltraShield seat for keeping me safe in there too. Just everybody involved with this team. We got a fast hot rod, man. We just got to have some things go our way and we’re going to win some races.”

As for what happened that caused the wreck, Sheppard shared, “There’s a big cut in the middle, but the side wall’s blown out too. We were leaning on the right front pretty good getting into three, but I didn’t think it was anything too crazy. The track was slick enough. Usually when it gets that slick like that you’re not too hard on your right front tire as far as overheating the inside of the side wall. I don’t know exactly, but it blew out getting into three hard. I just went over there and pasted the fence after that and then braced because I figured I’d crashed right in the top and somebody was going to be there to hit me. It is what it is. I just hate it for the guys. Like I said, we’ve had a fast race car all weekend. Just had some unfortunate things happen to keep us from winning these races.”

NEXT: Hudson O’Neal Reacts To Heartbreaking Ending To His Dirt Late Model Dream