MANSFIELD, Ohio - Brandon Sheppard took the race lead from Jonathan Davenport on lap 30 and led the rest of the way to win the 2nd annual Dirt Million on Saturday night at Ohio’s Mansfield Motor Speedway.
Sheppard held off both Mike Marlar and Chase Junghans at the finish line. It was Sheppard’s third Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the year and his 22nd triumph in 2019.
Sheppard and his car owner, Mark Richards, took home $101,626.20 for his second six-figure victory of the season. He withstood a caution with two laps to go and another on the final lap while fighting off challenges from Marlar and Junghans.
Marlar earned a career-high $50,813.10 payday for finishing second. Junghans also topped his best previous earnings for a race by collecting over $33,000 for third. Jimmy Owens and Ricky Weiss completed the top five finishers.
Davenport, from Blairsville, Georgia, took the lead at the start of the race with Sheppard and Scott Bloomquist running in the top three. Junghans slipped by Bloomquist on lap three and joined in the fray. That trio ran nose-to-tail up to lap 14 as traffic started to become a factor.
With the back-to-back cautions on lap 16 and 17, Davenport was unable to pull away from the field. On the lap 18 restart, Junghans moved into second, dropping Sheppard to third. Junghans stayed with Davenport in the race for the lead. On lap 30, Sheppard passed both Davenport and the second place running Junghans to take over the lead of the race.
Sheppard went to victory lane for the 14th time in his career.
“This is just amazing,” Sheppard said. “My guys worked so hard on this thing. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I know this car can go to Victory Lane every night as long as I do my part. It was a phenomenal night. I knew I didn’t want to lead early on in that race. I didn’t want to run the top all night, so once I got to the lead, I got back on the bottom. It was a fun race. Thanks to Mark Richards and Steve Baker for giving me this opportunity.”
Marlar had to settle for second, with Junghans in third, Jimmy Owens in fourth and Ricky Weiss in fifth.
Darrell Lanigan, Davenport, Tyler Erb, Hudson O’Neal, and Scott Bloomquist rounded out the top ten.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Mansfield Motor Speedway – Mansfield, Ohio
Dirt Million – August 24, 2019
| FINISH | START | CAR # | DRIVER NAME | HOMETOWN | EARNINGS |
| 1 | 2 | 1S | Brandon Sheppard | New Berlin, IL | $101,626.20 |
| 2 | 5 | 157 | Mike Marlar | Winfield, TN | $50,813.10 |
| 3 | 3 | 18J | Chase Junghans | Manhattan, KS | $33,875.40 |
| 4 | 9 | 20 | Jimmy Owens | Newport, TN | $17,737.70 |
| 5 | 11 | 7w | Ricky Weiss | Headingley, MB | $13,550.16 |
| 6 | 13 | 29 | Darrell Lanigan | Union, KY | $9,485.11 |
| 7 | 1 | 49 | Jonathan Davenport | Blairsville, GA | $9,907.60 |
| 8 | 10 | 1T | Tyler Erb | New Waverly, TX | $8,591.34 |
| 9 | 16 | 71 | Hudson O’Neal | Martinsville, IN | $8,152.59 |
| 10 | 4 | 0 | Scott Bloomquist | Mooresburg, TN | $7,113.83 |
| 11 | 8 | 39 | Tim McCreadie | Watertown, NY | $7,475.08 |
| 12 | 17 | 28 | Dennis Erb, Jr. | Carpentersville, IL | $6,436.33 |
| 13 | 12 | 14 | Josh Richards | Shinnston, WV | $6,897.57 |
| 14 | 6 | 5 | Michael Norris | Sarver, PA | $5,758.82 |
| 15 | 19 | 2 | Brandon Overton | Evans, GA | $5,420.06 |
| 16 | 7 | 1 | Earl Pearson, Jr. | Jacksonville, FL | $5,881.31 |
| 17 | 18 | C9 | Steve Casebolt | Richmond, IN | $4,742.56 |
| 18 | 22 | 111 | Max Blair | Centerville, PA | $4,403.80 |
| 19 | 26 | 36 | Matt Irey | Ashland, OH | $4,065.05 |
| 20 | 15 | 0E | Rick Eckert | York, PA | $3,726.29 |
| 21 | 21 | 25 | Shane Clanton | Zebulon, GA | $3,387.54 |
| 22 | 30 | 18 | Shannon Babb | Mowequa, IL | $3,218.16 |
| 23 | 14 | 777 | Jared Landers | Batesville, AR | $3,048.79 |
| 24 | 25 | 32P | Bobby Pierce | Oakwood, IL | $2,710.03 |
| 25 | 20 | 12d | Doug Drown | Wooster, OH | $2,710.03 |
| 26 | 29 | 0R | Ryan Scott | Garland, PA | $2,710.03 |
| 27 | 23 | 3s | Brian Shirley | Chatham, IL | $2,710.03 |
| 28 | 24 | 1M | Devin Moran | Dresden, OH | $3,510.03 |
| 29 | 27 | 5m | Ryan Markham | Ashland, OH | $2,710.03 |
| 30 | 28 | 92 | Justin Chance | Lexington, OH | $2,710.03 |
