GRAND FORKS, ND (June 30, 2024) – Brian Shirley’s climb back to the top of the podium with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models is complete.
Leading all 40 laps at River Cities Speedway, the Chatham, IL driver had to endure threats for the lead from Dresden, OH driver Devin Moran and Mooresville, NC driver Max McLaughlin to score an emotional eighth career Series win at the Grand Forks, ND bullring.
“Shoot… Truthfully, I’m emotionally happy,” Shirley said. “I’m happy for all the hard work that my team, my car owner, a lot of hard work and money put into this operation, and we haven’t been getting the results that they deserve. At the end of the day, I give everyone a little bit of gratitude for their work. It’s definitely humbling and rewarding.”
Beginning the Feature from the lead after getting $100 for drawing the Bilstein Pole Award, Shirley immediately took command of the Feature by running down low and making speed off the corners to create a bubble between the second-place running Moran.
Once lapped traffic played a factor, Moran snuck up to the back bumper of Shirley to make a pass but began to deal with a battle for his second-place spot as McLaughlin caught up to the back bumper of the Double Down Motorsports No.99 as Moran began to run the high line of the track.
With Moran and McLaughlin caught in a dogfight, Shirley drove his Bob Cullen Racing No.3S away from the two drivers as he sliced his way through the pile of slower cars in front of him.
It looked like a surefire win for Shirley until a caution with two laps to go forced a green-white-checkered finish.
On the restart, “Squirrel” blasted off from Moran and McLaughlin as he completed his commanding return to Victory Lane for the first time in 2024.
“You’re always nervous when you’re leading,” Shirley said. “These guys are the best in the business. And with two laps to go, the last thing you want to do is mess up and not win. But we led the whole thing. I feel like I knew what I had to do, put in two solid laps and luckily it led us to victory.”
Moran finished with his second consecutive podium finish of the weekend with the World of Outlaws Late Models after using any and every opportunity laid out for him to steal the win.
“I got to (Brian), but you couldn’t get a run through (Turns 1 and 2),” Moran said. “The bottom was definitely the dominant line. I was trying to make the high line work and through Turns 3 and 4, but there wasn’t enough up there so we got stuck around that bottom and bounced through the holes. All in all, a second-place finish is a good run and move on to what’s next.”
McLaughlin crossed the checkered flag in third to cement his first career points podium with the Series. It’s another sign of his performances trending in the right direction.
“(Moran) and Shirley were pretty good, but I thought I was even better than them,” McLaughlin said. “I started rolling the middle pretty good, I got to Devin, forced myself through the middle of a hole behind him, and about flipped. After that, I had to be a lot more cautious. It’s a good night, almost got Devin on the green-white-checkered there. I think we’ve been making good calls lately, with GR and Tyler working good on the setups, D-Train’s doing great with tires, everything’s been clicking and it’s a lot of fun. I’m really excited to see what the second half of the season brings.”
New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard finished fourth to extend his Series points lead to 30 markers over Nick Hoffman. Marshalltown, IA driver Ryan Gustin rounded out Sunday’s top five.
RECAP NOTES:
Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Max McLaughlin
Simpson Quick Time Award: Cody Overton
Heat Race Winners: Devin Moran, Ryan Gustin, Max McLaughlin, Brian Shirley
Last Chance Showdown Winners: Kyle Bronson, Tyler Peterson
Bilstein Pole Award: Brian Shirley
Fox Factory Hard Charger: Kyle Bronson
Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models complete the Heartland Grand Tour with their return to Deer Creek Speedway for the NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 on Thursday-Saturday, July 4-6. Thursday begins with fireworks to celebrate Independence Day, Friday has Dylan Scott performing at the track, and then Saturday night’s grand finale Feature will pay $50,000 to the winner. For more information about the event and the rest of the 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Late Models schedule, CLICK HERE.
If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.
CASE Late Model Feature (40 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 3. 22*-Max McLaughlin[4]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[9]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 6. 97JR-Cody Overton[7]; 7. 19-Dustin Sorensen[8]; 8. 28M-Sam Mars[12]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[17]; 10. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[15]; 11. E85-Jason Strand[10]; 12. 9-Nick Hoffman[11]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard[19]; 14. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 15. 55C-Chad Mahder[16]; 16. B1-Brent Larson[13]; 17. F50-Ryan Corbett[24]; 18. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[21]; 19. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 20. 71-Dustin Strand[14]; 21. 14W-Dustin Walker[23]; 22. 1TPO-Tyler Peterson[18]; 23. 12-Brad Seng[20]; 24. 44*-Cole Schill[22]
Photo - Emily Schwanke