Sheppard Sweeps Illinois Speedweek, Banks $45,000 in Two Nights

Brandon Sheppard owned Illinois Speedweek. At Spoon River Speedway on Wednesday, Sheppy led every lap from the pole in a 39-car field to take the $20,000 FloRacing Night in America feature over Hudson O'Neal and Bobby Pierce. Three days later at Fairbury Speedway, he did it again — the FALS Spring Shootout drew 47 cars, the biggest field of the weekend anywhere in the country, and Sheppard started 2nd before taking the lead to earn $25,000. That's $45,000 in two starts, seven wins on the 2026 season, and a two-race win streak heading into next week.

The Fairbury field was loaded. Nick Hoffman charged from 7th to finish 2nd, Brian Shirley held on for 3rd after starting on the pole, and Brandon Overton ran 4th from 6th. Pierce rallied from 11th to 5th. Eleven of the DLM top 20 were in the field — Ricky Thornton Jr. had a tough night at 25th, and O'Neal faded from 5th to 19th after his runner-up at Spoon River. Josh Rice earned hard charger honors, climbing nine spots from 16th to 7th.

Meanwhile, Jonathan Davenport swept the two-night Bad Boy 98 at Batesville Motor Speedway on the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series. Superman took the Friday prelim from 2nd ($5,000) and then led flag-to-flag in Saturday's $12,000 finale from the pole. Ethan Dotson was 2nd both nights — he led Friday from the pole before Davenport got by, then ran 2nd again Saturday from 5th. Kyle Beard delivered the weekend's most impressive charge, storming from 21st to 4th in Saturday's feature at the 1/3-mile.

Nine drivers doubled up this weekend, led by Brandon Sheppard and Jonathan Davenport at the top of the card. Curtis Glover won twice in Iowa IMCA action, Joel Bennett swept Wisconsin with wins at Plymouth Dirt Track and Outagamie Speedway, Parker Gilbertson won at both Casino Speedway and I-94 emr Speedway, Jamie Oldfield took both features at Gladstone Speedway in Queensland, and Brandon Fouts won both the Super Late Model and 604 features at 191 Speedway in Kentucky. I-75 Raceway in Tennessee drew 41 cars for its 604 feature — the second-biggest field of the weekend behind Fairbury.

Brandon Sheppard is the hottest driver in the sport right now. Two wins this weekend push his active streak to two consecutive victories, with seven wins on the season and $157,550 earned. He's been the strongest performer against elite-level competition over the last month — six of his last seven starts have been top-5 finishes against the toughest fields on the circuit. B-Shepp heads into Eagle Raceway's High Bank Heist this week with enormous momentum.

Nick Hoffman hasn't won in his last six starts but has finished top-5 in five of them — all against stacked national-tour competition. His consistency against elite fields has been the best in the sport over the last 30 days. Bobby Pierce followed a similar pattern — no wins this weekend, but 3rd at Spoon River and 5th at Fairbury against loaded fields. The Smooth Operator has eight wins and $229,550 on the season.

Jonathan Davenport now has nine wins and $262,050 earned in 2026, second only to Hudson O'Neal's $266,853. Superman's Batesville sweep was clinical — he controlled both nights. Mike Marlar had a strong week on the Spring Nationals trail, winning at Ponderosa ($7,553) on Thursday and running 3rd at Lake Cumberland on Saturday.

Ricky Thornton Jr.'s rough patch continued — 25th at Fairbury and 24th at Spoon River, both in top-level fields. RTJ has three wins on the season but hasn't finished in the top 10 in his last two starts. Tyler Erb is in a similar spot — 4th at Spoon River was encouraging, but 18th at Fairbury after starting 4th brought the weekend's average back down. Terbo has just one win in 42 starts this season despite $92,275 earned.