Brownstown Speedway
Breakdown, analysis of Lucas Oil's Jackson 100
By Kyle McFadden
DirtonDirt staff reporter
Brian Shirley (3s) churns by Brandon Sheppard (1) at Brownstown. (heathlawsonphotos.com)
BROWNSTOWN, Ind. (Sept. 26) — Takeaways and analysis from Saturday’s 47th annual Jackson 100 at Brownstown Speedway, a $50,000-to-win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature captured by Brian Shirley of Chatham, Ill. (RaceWire):
SHIRLEY STARS: Brian Shirley dominating the Jackson 100 — who saw that coming? The 45-year-old veteran’s pleasant surprise — a rather emphatic victory drive from ninth — seemed too good to be true when he surged to the lead on lap 24, particularly given he gambled with softer tires than Brandon Sheppard, Hudson O’Neal and many of the Lucas Oil heavy hitters. Up to that point, though, Shirley had his car hooked up like no other, simultaneously hitting the bottom while launching off each corner with more drive than anyone else. I even messaged my DirtonDirt colleagues about that before Shirley took the lead. The question was whether he could make it last, and he definitely could. On most nights, those odds aren’t favorable. But on a crisp fall night, the track stayed tacky enough that the bottom lane, paired with softer tires, was the place to be. Shirley admitted afterward that the tacky track and his tire choice absolutely played into his wheelhouse. He knew how to exploit those conditions and, although moments got hairy in traffic down the stretch, dang near ran a perfect race. Besides, he had to pass runner-up Josh Rice, who was also on softer tires, during the feature to get to the lead. Amid a season with one prior podium finish in national-tour action, this $56,000 victory can make a forgettable season something far more memorable.
PSG?: If that caution on lap 86 hadn’t reset the field and if Brian Shirley would’ve had to fend off Josh Rice in traffic down the stretch, the outcome might’ve been different. Rice’s brother James, who pulled off on lap 18 after starting eighth, told me afterward he definitely thought Josh had Shirley sized up for a move. I tend to agree. Rice had momentum on his side with about 10 laps to go. Shirley’s car could hold its ground, but Rice appeared more on offense. Heckenast challenging Rice for second on the final restart bought Shirley enough time to race into clean track, and at that point, it would have taken a grave mistake for Rice to capitalize because Shirley had put the race out of reach. As many races are these days, who knows what could’ve happened should that caution never happened.
TIRE GAMBLE: In an era where everyone typically runs on the same tire compounds for long-distance races, it was nice to see tires such a large part of competition. Teams had a real question to answer: softer or harder tires? Of course, you wish the harder tires could be more competitive. Ricky Thornton Jr. was the highest finisher on hard tires in fourth. He hustled his car around the top most of the way, but could never find his way back to the very front after losing the lead from the pole on lap two. Brandon Sheppard and Hudson O’Neal were nonfactors with their hard tires. But for once, it was refreshing to see some different faces up front, namely Kyle Bronson and Frank Heckenast Jr.
POINTS PRESSURE: We should be thankful the season-long points race is back on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, which, by the way, is shaping up as one of the closest championship finishes in the tour’s history (see below). Starting fourth, Hudson O’Neal missed an opportunity to cut even more into Brandon Sheppard’s lead, now 20 points — he made up five points after finishing seventh to Sheppard’s eighth — but tightening the race is the bottom line. The silver lining for Sheppard: his eighth-place finish in the Jackson 100 is his best at the event since his fourth in 2015. With five points events remaining, the bad news for Sheppard is he lost 25 points over the weekend. Sheppard has only one top-five finish in the Pittsburgher (last year) and O’Neal was wayward at PPMS a year ago (eighth and 21st) so their uneven records at the half-mile only add to the tension.
STAT OF THE NIGHT: Brandon Sheppard’s 20-point lead over Hudson O’Neal is the closest on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series following the Jackson 100 under the traditional season-long format since 2014 when Don O’Neal left Jackson weekend that year with a 35-point lead over Jimmy Owens. The Hall of Famer and Martinsville, Ind., native went on to capture his one and only Lucas Oil title.
