Lucas Oil Speedway
Instant reaction, analysis of Pierce's Show-Me win
By Kevin Kovac
DirtonDirt senior writer
Bobby Pierce rallies from 20th at Wheatland. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
WHEATLAND, Mo. (May 24) — Instant reaction and analysis from Sunday’s Show-Me 100 at Lucas Oil Speedway, a $75,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event captured by Bobby Pierce (RaceWire):
SIMPLY AMAZING: What can be considered evidence of generational driving talent? The answer: Bobby Pierce’s performance. Only the best of the best are able to turn a moribund weekend into a sublime crown jewel victory overnight, and the 29-year-old superstar from Oakwood, Ill., did exactly that to win the Show-Me 100 — and for the second straight year no less. It’s uncanny how he can struggle so terribly in the preliminary features — this year he was lapped and finished 22nd in the Tribute to Don & Billie Gibson and placed 15th after starting second in the Cowboy Classic — and then rebound so dramatically in the finale with a spectacular 20th-to-first charge. The way he rises to the occasion on the big stage has Pierce walking in the footsteps of legends. He’s operating on an elite level. Watching him manhandle his car on a razor’s edge around the top of the 3/8-mile oval puts him in a class of his own.
RUBBER GAME: With Sunday bringing dry weather and sunny skies for the first time all week at Wheatland, the track surface became even more perplexing. Would it turn black and slick, or would some pre-race farming of the clay cause it to become choppy and stack up a cushion? The uncertainty led to teams trying all sorts of tire compound combinations. “I was all 3's,” Pierce said of his choice. “There was some 4s (hardest tire) out there (on the right-rear). There was three 3’s and a 4, there was 2’s with a 4. There was, like, everything.” Pierce’s selection allowed him to run that outside lane — though his right-rear was worn out by the end — while runner-up Brandon Sheppard had to stick to the bottom because his three softer 2’s would have overheated if he blasted the top.
TRACK CHANGE: Maybe the uneducated eye didn’t notice, but there was a different look to Pierce’s high-side exploits in this year’s Show-Me 100. He was right up there scraping his car’s right-rear corner on the concrete wall through turns three and four — something that just wasn’t really possible in past years. The Wheatland track crew did some reshaping of the banking, notably taking it right to the wall in the third and fourth corners. Previously the banking leveled off before reaching the barrier. The alteration seemed to add some excitement to the action, though, as Pierce said, “It’s hard to run … you got to manhandle that thing just to get the car to set right.”
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR: Brandon Sheppard showed no disappointment over remaining winless in the Show-Me 100. In fact, his second runner-up finish in six career starts in the event’s finale (he also was second in 2021) had him feeling like a crown jewel win this season is inevitable for Rocket1. The team's last crown jewel success together was 2022's Prairie Dirt Classic. “Right now, everywhere we go, we’re good,” said Sheppard, who feels that contending for a victory at Wheatland reinforces the house car program’s strength. He’s tallied four wins among 10 top-fives in his last 12 starts in the Rocket1 and has gained control of second in the Lucas Oil Series points standings, 175 points behind Hudson O’Neal, who finished fifth at Wheatland.
NOT GOOD ENOUGH: After watching Pierce pound the top of the track, Jonathan Davenport had flashbacks to a decade ago when he was winning his first crown jewels. “Thinking back, it’s almost like Scott (Bloomquist) used to say in ’15 and ’16 when I was winning — if there wasn’t a cushion, I couldn’t win,” Davenport said after his third-place finish. “So I can almost say that for (Pierce), but we both know it ain’t true. He is a hell of a driver, but it definitely helps him win when there’s a lip up there.” That cushion Pierce utilized lasted far longer than Davenport expected it would, but he felt he could have run it better — and perhaps not slipped over the berm off turn two on lap 61 to cede the lead to Pierce and fall to third behind Sheppard — if his car didn’t begin to bottom out midway through the race.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Still six months shy of 30, Pierce recorded the 16th crown jewel victory of his career. The only drivers with more: Scott Bloomquist (40), Jonathan Davenport (24), Billy Moyer (23) and Jimmy Owens (20).
