CONCORD, N.C. — Matt Sheppard put an exclamation point on his 10th Super DIRTcar Series big-block modified championship Saturday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte.
Sheppard started on the pole and led all 40 laps of the final feature of the season and scored his fifth series triumph of the campaign, and maybe most importantly, earning a $15,000 pay day at the four-tenths-mile dirt track.
“Feels good,” Sheppard said. “To win this Saturday finale in front of this huge crowd capped this championship off in style. Man, this feels good. I drew a good number and I was able to weather the storm early and just hung on.”
Driving the familiar No. 9s, Sheppard took the lead from the start and was slowed by only one caution flag on lap 28 en route to his fifth win at the North Carolina track on the final night of the World Finals, giving him two victories in three nights.
“You always feel good in clean air here and I was watching the lapped traffic and watching the lap counter and I was really happy to see that checkered flag fall,” Sheppard said. “Two out of three ain’t bad, we’ll take it. We’re going home with our pockets a little bit fuller.”
It was the 94th Super DIRTcar Series victory of Sheppard’s career.
Jimmy Phelps ran second the entire distance and wound up third in points.
“I had a good car. We went softer on tire and I knew once he took off and got rolling that he was going to be tough,” Phelps explained. “We just weren’t good enough to take on that 9-car (Sheppard).”
Championship runner-up Mat Williamson finished third. It was his third podium finish in three nights.
“We had to do what we had to do because of the redraw and starting eighth,” Williamson said. “I think at the end we were just hanging on and didn’t have anything for Jimmy or Matt. Three podiums in three nights says a lot about our team. It’s always fun racing down here.”
Mike Mahaney and Max McLaughlin rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Matt Sheppard, Jimmy Phelps, Mat Williamson, Mike Mahaney, Max McLaughlin, Tim Fuller, Anthony Perrego, Demetrious Drellos, Ryan Godown, Erick Rudolph, Darren Smith, Louden Reimert, Larry Wight, Peter Britten, Chris Hile, Alex Yankowski, Jack Lehner, Danny Johnson, Tyler Siri, Alex Payne, Adam Pierson, Billy Decker, Mike Gular, Felix Roy, Steve Bernard, C.G. Morey, Michael Tratschold, Corbin Millar, Rocky Warner, Tim Sears Jr.