4/26/2026
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Sheppard Handles Hagerstown Field on Sunday Night
HAGERSTOWN, MD (April 26, 2026) – Brandon Sheppard dominated Sunday night at Hagerstown Speedway, capturing the Conococheague 40 for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in commanding fashion.
The New Berlin, Illinois native earned $10,000 for his third LOLMDS victory of the season, taking the lead from Brandon Overton on lap three and pacing the remainder of the race. Sheppard crossed the finish line more than five seconds ahead of Overton, with 11th-starting Hudson O’Neal rounding out the Big River Steel podium in third. Current championship points leader Devin Moran finished fourth, and Max Blair completed the top five.
Overton led the opening two laps of the annual event, which marked the Series’ 16th appearance at Hagerstown Speedway, before Sheppard surged past him for the top spot on lap three.
Once out front, Sheppard quickly built a commanding lead, reaching lapped traffic by lap nine. The race’s only caution came on lap 10, but it did little to slow his momentum.
On the restart, Sheppard remained firmly in control, leading the rest of the way in a race that featured just one caution flag.
The victory marked the 38th of Sheppard’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series career—and his first at Hagerstown Speedway.
“It was awesome. Mark, Dan, Austin, Joel, Steve Baker, and everyone at Rocket Chassis have been working their tails off,” Sheppard said. “They’ve been giving me a great car night in and night out. There’s so much competition out here—you can have the fastest car and still not win—but I really feel like we’ve been fast all year. I don’t think I’ve felt bad at the track once this season.”
“You never really know how big of a lead you have. My signal guy showed me it was comfortable, but I wasn’t overdriving. I was going as fast as my tires would allow. A couple of times I pushed hard and felt the left rear getting hot, so I backed it down and let it come back to me.”
Overton, who was aiming for a clean sweep of the night, settled for the runner-up finish.
“He (Sheppard) had a little different tire than we did. I probably tried to block him too early—I moved down and pushed up the track,” Overton said. “Hats off to them—they did a great job. We were good, just not quite good enough.”
O’Neal, who started sixth row inside, closed the gap late and now sits 25 points behind Moran in the championship standings heading into next weekend’s events at Circle City Raceway and Florence Speedway.
“We just needed to qualify better,” O’Neal said. “We weren’t very good in qualifying and probably over-adjusted for the rough conditions. We got back to our normal program for the feature and were really good. We just didn’t get a caution at the right time. I was able to close in during lapped traffic, but Brandon was able to navigate through and pull away. Thanks to Hagerstown and Lucas Oil for the effort—they gave us a great racetrack.”
Sheppard’s winning Mark Richards Racing Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and backed by Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Ace Metal Works, Performance Bodies, Petroff Towing, Sunoco Race Fuels, Franklin Enterprises, Gunter’s Honey, Stiles Marine and Maintenance, and Collins Brothers Towing.
Completing the top ten were Ricky Thornton Jr., Brian Shirley, Kyle Bronson, and Carson Ferguson.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Conococheague 40
Sunday, April 26, 2026
Hagerstown Speedway | Hagerstown, MD
Allstar Performance Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Sheppard | 17.671 seconds
Fast Time Group B: Brandon Overton | 17.428 seconds (Overall)
Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 4. 55-Jamie Lathroum[6]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[7]; 6. 12M-Ryan Montgomery[5]; 7. C4-Freddie Carpenter[3]; 8. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[8]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 11-Josh Rice[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[2]; 3. 71-Hudson O'Neal[3]; 4. 32J-Justin Weaver[5]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 7. 15K-Kyle Lee[7]; 8. (DNS) 1C-Alex Ferree
Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 4. 19M-Brenden Smith[5]; 5. 93-Carson Ferguson[2]; 6. 93L-Cory Lawler[7]; 7. 4-Gary Stuhler[6]; 8. (DNS) 66K-Justin Kann
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 3. 22G-Gregg Satterlee[3]; 4. 27-Trever Feathers[4]; 5. 6-Clay Harris[5]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 7. 11H-JT Spence[7]
Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 6 Transfer): 1. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[2]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[7]; 6. 12M-Ryan Montgomery[5]; 7. 11H-JT Spence[12]; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler[10]; 9. 93L-Cory Lawler[6]; 10. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[13]; 11. C4-Freddie Carpenter[9]; 12. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 13. (DNS) 15K-Kyle Lee; 14. (DNS) 66K-Justin Kann; 15. (DNS) 1C-Alex Ferree
Conococheague 40 Feature Finish (40 Laps):
Pos - Start - Car # - Competitor - Hometown - Earnings
1 - 1 - 1 - Brandon Sheppard - New Berlin, IL - $10,900
2 - 2 - 76 - Brandon Overton - Evans, GA - $6,400
3 - 11 - 71 - Hudson O'Neal - Martinsville, IN - $4,800
4 - 6 - 99 - Devin Moran - Dresden, OH - $4,100
5 - 7 - 111 - Max Blair - Centerville, PA - $3,400
6 - 4 - 20RT - Ricky Thornton Jr - Chandler, AZ - $3,600
7 - 5 - 3S - Brian Shirley - Chatham, IL - $3,100
8 - 10 - 40B - Kyle Bronson - Brandon, FL - $3,000
9 - 19 - 93 - Carson Ferguson - Lincolnton, NC - $2,950
10 - 9 - 25Z - Mason Zeigler - Chalk Hill, PA - $2,000
11 - 8 - 60 - Dan Ebert - Lake Shore, MN - $2,500
12 - 12 - 22G - Gregg Satterlee - Indiana, PA - $1,400
13 - 17 - 66C - Matt Cosner - Ridgeley, WV - $1,200
14 - 15 - 32J - Justin Weaver - Clearspring, MD - $1,000
15 - 14 - 19M - Brenden Smith - Dade City, FL - $1,850
16 - 21 - 8 - Dillon McCowan - Urbana, MO - $1,925
17 - 24 - C4 - Freddie Carpenter - Parkersburg, WV - $200
18 - 13 - 55 - Jamie Lathroum - Mechanicsville, MD - $875
19 - 3 - 11 - Josh Rice - Crittenden, KY - $1,750
20 - 18 - 58 - Garrett Alberson - Las Cruces, NM - $1,725
21 - 16 - 27 - Trever Feathers - Winchester, VA - $800
22 - 20 - 7 - Ross Robinson - Georgetown, DE - $800
23 - 25 - 6 - Clay Harris - Jupiter, FL - $1,700
24 - 23 - 22 - Daniel Hilsabeck - Earlham, IA - $900
25 - 22 - 12M - Ryan Montgomery - Fairmont, WV - $800
Race Statistics
Entrants: 31
Bilstein Shocks Pole Sitter: Brandon Sheppard
MD3 Lap Leaders: Brandon Overton (Laps 1-2); Brandon Sheppard (Laps 3-40)
Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Brandon Sheppard
Wieland Feature Winner: Brandon Sheppard
Margin of Victory: 0.5733 seconds
Hellraizer Jacks Cautions: Daniel Hilsabeck (Lap 10)
MyRacePass Series Provisional: Clay Harris; Daniel Hilsabeck
Fast Time Provisional: n/a
Emergency Provisionals: Freddie Carpenter
Track Provisional: n/a
Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton, Hudson O’Neal
Penske Shocks Top 5: Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton, Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Max Blair
Behrent’s One-Lap-to-Go Top 3: Brandon Sheppard, Brandon Overton, Hudson O’Neal
PEM 4th Place Feature: Devin Moran
Diversified Machine 5th Place Feature: Max Blair
Wilwood Brakes 7th Place Feature: Brian Shirley
Wehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Dan Ebert
Velocity Manufacturing 13th Place Feature: Matt Cosner
XS Power Batteries 15th Place Feature: Brenden Smith
Hoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Carson Ferguson (Advanced 9 positions)
MD3 Most Laps Led: Brandon Sheppard (38 Laps)
Sunoco Race Fuels Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon Sheppard
Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Devin Moran
O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Dillon McCowan
Pro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Sheppard | Lap 4 | 18.483 seconds
FK Rod Ends Hard Luck Award: Daniel Hilsabeck
Victory Fuel Power Move of the Race: Brandon Sheppard
Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Danny White
ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Race Engines
Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn Chassis
Dirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Hudson O’Neal | 17.521 seconds
Time of Race: 18 minutes 18 seconds
Big River Steel Championship Standings Presented by ARP:
Pos - Car # - Competitor - Hometown - Points - Earnings
1 - 99 - Devin Moran - Dresden, OH - 2095 - $134,049
2 - 71 - Hudson O'Neal - Martinsville, IN - 2070 - $98,400
3 - 76 - Brandon Overton - Evans, GA - 1925 - $49,450
4 - 1 - Brandon Sheppard - New Berlin, IL - 1910 - $64,600
5 - 111 - Max Blair - Centerville, PA - 1875 - $44,100
6 - 20RT - Ricky Thornton Jr - Chandler, AZ - 1850 - $56,350
7 - 6 - Clay Harris - Jupiter, FL - 1685 - $39,900
8 - 58 - Garrett Alberson - Las Cruces, NM - 1670 - $34,725
9 - 40B - Kyle Bronson - Brandon, FL - 1655 - $26,075
10 - 93 - Carson Ferguson - Lincolnton, NC - 1620 - $28,800
11 - 3s - Brian Shirley - Chatham, IL - 1615 - $27,600
12 - 11 - Josh Rice - Crittenden, KY - 1600 - $26,975
13 - 60 - Dan Ebert - Lake Shore, MN - 1525 - $26,475
14 - 8 - Dillon McCowan - Urbana, MO - 1375 - $16,300
15 - 19M - Brenden Smith - Dade City, FL - 1370 - $18,850
16 - 22 - Daniel Hilsabeck - Earlham, IA - 1325 - $17,525
17 - C4 - Freddie Carpenter - Parkersburg, WV - 1145 - $5,100
18 - 93L - Cory Lawler - Hanover, PA - 1140 - $10,525
Article Credit: James Essex
Submitted By: Jeremy Shields
