Brian Shirley has gotten hot with momentum at the right time with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models.
On Wednesday night, the Chatham, IL native scored a hard-fought win in the first Series race at Highland Speedway with Bobby Pierce, Tyler Bruening, and Brandon Sheppard using everything possible to chase down the No.3S Bob Cullen Racing Late Model.
Shirley began the night with a win in Heat 4, then drew the Bilstein Pole Award for the $10,000-to-win Beat The Heat 40 Feature.
He was then sent back to second place as Decorah, IA driver Tyler Bruening took the lead on the opening lap by using the top line of the track. While Shirley tried making the bottom work in the early going, Bruening could make speed off the turns to hold him at bay.
Bruening began to create a gap on Shirley as he dueled with New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard for second place.
Cautions aplenty in the first half of the race brought renewed opportunities for the field to get by Bruening, especially Shirley as he tried to catch the No.16 Skyline Motorsports machine by surprise to take the lead.
That opportunity for the lead came on Lap 19, as a slow start for Bruening was all Shirley needed to get by him with a run through the middle line of the 1/4-mile racetrack to claim the lead.
Throughout the second half, Shirley maintained a gap to the hornet’s nest of cars behind him, as Robeline, LA driver Cade Dillard, and Oakwood, IL driver Bobby Pierce found solid ground inside the top five with half of the Feature remaining.
While Dillard resorted to a battle with Sheppard, Pierce chopped his way up the field toward the runner-up spot behind Shirley after getting by Bruening.
When Pierce got clear of Bruening with four laps remaining, the time was too late for him to challenge Shirley, as “Squirrel” crossed the twin checkered flags for his second win of the 2024 season at his home state racetrack.
“It’s so awesome,” Shirley said. “There’s a lot of places to have World of Outlaws races at, so anytime you can win a race around home turf is special. We don’t come (to Highland) a lot, so it’s always important and it’s awesome to win in front of that kind of crowd.
“At the end of the day, anytime you win it always boosts morale. It gets you more confident. I’m not 100% perfect on where I wanna be with the car just yet, so I know we’re itching there. The more racing we can do, the better we’ll be by the end.”
Pierce finished second to continue closing the distance in the battle for the Series title with 72 points separating him from the lead in the standings with 12 points races remaining in 2024.
“We went back to ninth at the start,” Pierce said. “The restarts helped me get back through (the field). If it wasn’t for those restarts, I would’ve been stuck back there. Hopefully, we can get some wins here. We need the wins if we’re gonna look at points at all. We need them badly.
“I think we’ll be better though. I didn’t feel great tonight, so I’m looking forward to getting in the other car because I didn’t like the feel of this one tonight. Somehow, we came away with second. The crew is working hard so I gotta thank them. We got three races here and we’re gonna try and win all three.”
Bruening finished third to attain his first podium with the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models since 2022.
“Finally, a whole night put together from start to finish,” Bruening said. “Hot Laps, we didn’t start out great. We put the car back to what we’re familiar with, and it took right off. It’s a long week with three more races to look towards. It’s always good to start with a good result when you’re traveling to the next races. We’ve been good, we just haven’t had the finishes to show for it with bad luck and getting tangled up in stuff. Tonight, we got through a whole night and we’ll see what we can do here coming up.”
Sheppard finished fourth to help extend his lead on Mooresville, NC driver Nick Hoffman to 46 points leaving Highland, IL. Dillard went on to complete the Feature’s top five finishers.
RECAP NOTES:
Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Ryan Gustin
Simpson Quick Time Award: Cade Dillard
Heat Race Winners: Dennis Erb Jr, Brandon Sheppard, Tyler Bruening, Brian Shirley
Lat Chance Showdown Winners: Shannon Babb, Tristan Chamberlain
Bilstein Pole Award: Brian Shirley
FOX Factory Hard Charger: Brent Larson (+9)
Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models race in Illinois for the last time in 2024 on Thursday at Spoon River Speedway on August 15. Then, the “Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet” head to Iowa for two nights in the Hawkeye 100 at Maquoketa Speedway on Friday-Saturday, August 16-17.
In addition to the racing on the track at Maquoketa, there will be off-track activities for fans to enjoy on Saturday, including a car show from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., a kids zone from 12 p.m.-4 p.m., the Hoker Trucking Toys for Tots donation drive, a driver autograph session at 4:30 p.m., and a cornhole tournament starting at 12:30 p.m..
Get tickets for Spoon River Speedway HERE.
Get tickets for Maquoketa Speedway HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models season on DIRTVision – through your computer or mobile device.
CASE Late Model Feature (40 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard[5]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[12]; 7. 10-Daryn Klein[6]; 8. 40B-Kyle Bronson[8]; 9. 25-Jason Feger[14]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 11. 18-Shannon Babb[17]; 12. 19-Dustin Sorensen[13]; 13. 97JR-Cody Overton[15]; 14. 9-Nick Hoffman[19]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 16. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[18]; 17. 78-Chad Zobrist[16]; 18. 4-Jordan Suhre[22]; 19. 52-Matt Bailey[9]; 20. 22*-Max McLaughlin[23]; 21. 17-Todd Rehg[25]; 22. 11G-Gordy Gundaker[20]; 23. 24H-Mike Harrison[10]; 24. 27-Rodney Melvin[11]; 25. 15-Clayton Stuckey[21]
