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