After the Checkers
Instant reaction, analysis at FloRacing tour opener
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Brandon Sheppard led all 50 laps. (joshjamesartwork.com)
BANNER, Ill. (May 6) — Instant reaction and analysis from Wednesday’s $20,000-to-win FloRacing Night in America opener at Spoon River Speedway won by Brandon Sheppard (RaceWire):
COLD COMPROMISE: Some drivers, like Bobby Pierce, weren’t particularly thrilled with how Wednesday’s 50-lap feature played out, wishing Spoon River Speedway and FloRacing Night in America officials had carved out time for pre-feature track prep. But even if the track had been touched — say, after the B-mains — it probably wouldn’t have made much difference with temperatures sinking toward the low 40s. I found myself wondering the same after the feature: why wasn’t the track prepped before the main event? I’m no track-prep expert, but from what I’ve been told, water doesn’t properly soak into the surface in those conditions. Instead, it tends to sit on top, which can create its own set of issues. Sometimes, you’ve just got to take what you can this time of year — whether that’s simply getting a feature in, especially when it wraps up shortly after 9 p.m., because rainouts are often the bigger threat than the track conditions themselves.
ROCKET1 VERSATILITY: Covering four of Brandon Sheppard’s six victories to begin 2026, a clear theme has stood out when he’s gone to victory lane — his car is simply more maneuverable than the rest. That versatility is showing up everywhere. Slick track or tacky track, quarter-mile or half-mile, it hasn’t mattered. Sheppard has won a little bit of everything so far this season, a testament to just how adaptable the Rocket1 package has been.
HUMBLING NIGHT: Carson Hocevar could’ve easily felt embarrassed after spinning on his own from sixth in the opening corner of his heat race, ultimately finishing dead last in one of two B-mains. But that wasn’t the mood around the Spire Motorsports pit area Wednesday. In fact, team owner Jeff Dickerson — who spends most of his time on the NASCAR circuit with his Cup and Truck teams — told me Hocevar is “cherishing the challenge” of Dirt Late Models, a discipline he’s yet to log even a dozen starts in. I saw quite a few fans sporting Hocevar merch around Spoon River, too, making it evident the newly minted Cup winner is bringing positive attention to the sport. You’ve got to respect someone like Hocevar, who’s carving time out of a packed schedule, flying to North Carolina for a Cup simulator session ahead of this weekend’s NASCAR race at Watkins Glen International before jetting back to Lincoln for Thursday’s FloRacing event.
RICE REBOUNDS: If you were looking for Josh Rice to rim-ride Spoon River Speedway, you might’ve missed the Crittenden, Ky., driver altogether. For most of the B-main and feature, the touring rookie ditched the cushion entirely and committed to the bottom — a surprising audible where Rice didn’t just use it as a last resort, but nearly mastered it, even beating bottom ace Dennis Erb Jr. at his own game en route to a 12th-place finish. Rice gained 14 positions in Spoon River racing after starting dead last in his heat and 23rd in the feature. On paper, a 12th-place finish isn’t much to celebrate, but after backsliding at Hagerstown (third to 19th) two weekends ago and Florence (10th to 17th) last weekend, Wednesday provides a much-needed boost to Rice’s morale.
GROWING PAINS: Dillon McCowan had us believing he might be in for a rewarding night at a track where he’d been 10th and 199th in DIRTcar Summer Nationals visits. After providing heat winner Devin Moran a stiff challenge early in the prelim, McCowan started eighth in the 50-lap feature with justifiable confidence he had the speed to stay there. But once the green flag flew, nothing went his way. He dropped out of the top 10 by lap three, slipped outside the top 15 by lap eight and was mired outside the top 20 by lap 12. For the 22-year-old, nights like these are part of the learning curve — picking apart the bones of a promising but frustrating run and taking stock in whatever parts of the night went right to keep building the his maturing program step-by-step.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Wednesday’s victory marked the fastest Brandon Sheppard has won at six different tracks to begin a season since 2018, when he had seven victories at six tracks by May 3 and went on to a 21-victory campaign. This season’s victories have come at Volusia, All-Tech, Ocala, Farmer City, Hagerstown and now Spoon River. Sheppard’s 10 victories by the end of May in 2020 came at four tracks while half of his six victories by May 11, 2022, came at East Bay. And in 2019, he carried seven victories into May spread across just four venues.
