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Top-10 finish in World of Outlaws opener at Volusia

Brandon Sheppard and Rocket1 Racing kicked off their 2022 season over the weekend at Florida’s Volusia Speedway Park with the second annual Sunshine Nationals. The weekend would unfortunately be mired by challenging track conditions, late nights, and rainy weather.

While three complete World of Outlaws Late Model Series programs were scheduled, only one would be completed at the ½-mile oval. The opening night feature, which was delayed to Friday by track conditions, found Sheppard finishing seventh. Meanwhile, both Friday and Saturday’s events were preempted by rain.

“It was quite the challenging weekend at Volusia (Speedway Park). It seemed like if it could be an issue then it was… from track conditions to late nights to weather, we battled a little bit of everything,” Sheppard said. “We finished seventh in the one feature, so now we’ll get ready for three nights of racing with Lucas Oil at Golden Isles (Speedway).

Rocket1 Racing trekked to Volusia Speedway Park (Barberville, Fla.) on Thursday afternoon with Brandon Sheppard returning to the driver’s seat of the Valvoline No. 1 Seubert Calf Ranches / Durham Racing Engines-powered XR1 Rocket Chassis Super Late Model for the World of Outlaws Late Model Series season opener.

Drawing 47 cars for the opening round of the Sunshine Nationals, Sheppard clocked in fourth-fastest in his group before picking up a heat race win.

With officials postponing the 30-lap feature to Friday afternoon due to rough track conditions, Sheppard dropped three spots in the rescheduled finale to finish seventh.

Later that night, Brandon posted a second-place finish in his heat, sending him into the redraw. He was slated to start the feature in eighth until Mother Nature postponed the event to February 16th.

Saturday’s finale was cancelled due to wet grounds and an unfavorable forecast.

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