Brandon Sheppard had one of the best cars last night at Wayne County Speedway with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series, but his chances at a win were derailed when he suffered a right rear flat tire.

Sheppard was running in second place with just three laps left when a caution came out for Tristan Chamberlain. During the caution, it was discovered that Sheppard’s tire was flat and he was forced to head to the hot pit and get it changed. That put him at the rear of the field and he did not have any time to charge his way back up. He ended up finishing a disappointing 17th.

On Facebook, Sheppard shared his reaction to the “heartbreaking” finish, “Well… that’s racing. We qualified 4th in Group B, finished 2nd in our heat race, and started 6th in the feature. We had a fast race car all night and put ourselves in position for a strong finish (running 2nd), but a flat tire with 3 laps to go ended our night in heartbreaking fashion.”

“Always love coming to Wayne County Speedway. It’s a racey little joint and we always enjoy putting on a show here,” he continued. “Congratulations to Ricky Thornton Jr Racing and his family on the win! We’ll put this one behind us, get everything fixed up, and head to Mansfield Speedway tomorrow ready for another shot at it.”

“Thanks to our crew, sponsors, and all of the fans who continue to support us week after week,” he concluded.

After working his way from the sixth position to second within six laps. Sheppard challenged Ricky Thornton Jr. multiple times throughout the race. On lap 8, he got to Thornton’s bumper and even dove underneath him him in turn 1, but Thornton had the preferred line on the outside and got a strong off turn 2 down the back stretch and was able to pull away by a couple of car lengths.

Sheppard would try the same move on lap 14, but again Thornton had the top line and was able to get a strong run from the top of 2 to clear him on the back stretch. Following a caution just a little past halfway in the 40-lap feature, Thornton turned the wick up and gapped Sheppard by over a second. He repeated that after a caution for Drake Troutman with about 10 laps to go and was never really threatened again.

In his victory lane interview, Thornton discussed how he was worried about Sheppard early on in the race, “I was really worried on those restarts. Shepp kept getting next to me. We were kinda Hoosier-to-Hoosier there racing. So I figured I’d just try to run hard on the restarts and try to start just early enough where I knew I could get a dynamite start. Just worked out for us.”

Thornton was not the only one to comment on Sheppard’s strong run and Thornton’s response, Nick Hoffman, who inherited the second position when Sheppard went to the hot pit also said in his post-race interview with DirtVision, “Sheppy, I felt like, was probably the best car at points in that race. And then Ricky just got up on the wheel and started hammering the fence a little bit harder.”

Thornton’s win snapped Sheppard’s three-race win streak at Wayne County Speedway with the Outlaws. He won at the track in 2017, 2018, and 2019 the last three times the series raced there. 

Sheppard will look to get his 90th win with the Outlaws at Mansfield Speedway tonight for the opening race of the Blaster 57 Special.

NEXT: Ricky Thornton Jr. Wins Lonewolf 40 In Wayne County Debut