One year after coming up short in the quest for his second career Herald & Review 100 victory, Brandon Sheppard returned to Macon Speedway Sunday night and avenged his past defeat.
Sheppard, the 2012 DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion from New Berlin, IL, finished runner-up in the 2025 edition of the historic event after a flat tire ruined his advantage out front and forced him to charge from the tail. This time around, all four tires stayed up through the distance as he dominated the 46th running of the Hell Tour’s crown jewel, becoming the third driver in race history to lead all 100 laps around the 1/5-mile bullring.
“It’s hard to forget the ones that you come so close at, and unfortunately, there are a lot more of those than there are wins in anybody’s career,” Sheppard said. “I think there’s a lot of them that could have been. Our car has just been phenomenal all year, night-in and night-out. Whether it’s in the Rocket 1 or the B5, we were on kill, that’s for sure.
“And then I lost power steering and I am pretty much dead right now; my arms are done. It was all I could do to hang onto it.”
Despite the mechanical malfunction in the home stretch of the race, Sheppard showed the field no mercy from the drop of the green. Starting on the outside pole, he went straight to the cushion around Turns 1 and 2 on the opening lap and drove by Mike Spatola to secure the top spot.
Lap traffic quickly became a factor as Sheppard encountered the tail of the field only nine laps in and began working his way through the slower cars.
The first caution flag waved on Lap 23 for debris, erasing Sheppard’s lead and bringing him back in sight of Spatola and Summer Nationals points leader Tanner English, who were both locked in an intense battle for the runner-up spot.
The ensuing restart marked the beginning of a long green flag run that saw Sheppard extend his lead to over seven seconds at its largest and lap the field up to sixth place.
Even when Sheppard’s power steering system went kaput with under 20 laps remaining, the top five were unable to deplete the B5’s gap. His advantage held until a caution flag on Lap 99 for a slowing Ryan Miller in Turn 3 erased it one final time and put Luke Morey and English on his tail for the restart.
But again, Sheppard was unfazed, driving away under the green, the white, and the checkered flag to collect the $7,500 check and career win No. 29 with the Hell Tour — tying him with the late Scott Bloomquist for seventh on the all-time wins list.
“We come support these races because we love these tracks and our local dirt tracks,” Sheppard said. “These places are close to my heart; I grew up racing here [Macon]. I can remember sitting in the stands and watching the scoreboard during the day because I wasn’t old enough to go into the pits. I’d watch all the winners, and I’d see my uncle Ed come across there.”
Luke Morey crossed in second, English in third, Kyle Hardy in fourth, and Mitch McGrath rounding out the top five.
UP NEXT
The DIRTcar Summer Nationals begins the final week of competition for the 2026 campaign Monday, July 6 at Kankakee County Speedway in Kankakee, IL. Tickets for the event will be sold at the track on race day.
If you can’t be at the track, how can you watch the DIRTcar Summer Nationals? Every race is broadcasted live on DIRTVision.
Herald & Review 100 pres. by Pepsi (100 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 2. 49-Luke Morey[6]; 3. 96-Tanner English[3]; 4. 99-Kyle Hardy[5]; 5. 74-Mitch McGrath[9]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola[1]; 7. 31M-Tyler Millwood[10]; 8. 42W-Mckay Wenger[13]; 9. 15-Clay Stuckey[19]; 10. 25-Jason Feger[7]; 11. 91-Rusty Schlenk[20]; 12. 16-Rusty Griffaw[14]; 13. 17SR-Brody Smith[11]; 14. 30-Mark Voigt[22]; 15. 11M-Ryan Miller[16]; 16. 16S-Sam Seawright[8]; 17. ZT1-Zach Taylor[18]; 18. 17SS-Brenden Smith[4]; 19. 38J-Jake Little[21]; 20. 51B-Brandon Carpenter[17]; 21. 12-Jack Franklin[12]; 22. (DQ) 45-Kyle Hammer[15]
This article was republished with permission from the Summer Nationals. The original article can be found here: https://dirtcarsummernationals.com/recaps/brandon-sheppard-dominates-macon-to-win-second-herald-review-100/
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