8th Annual BRL Shootout Recap

23 September 2023

Bootleg Racing League | 8th Annual Shoutout | Southern National Motorsports Park | Late Model Stock

BRL’s 29th Birthday

During the live qualifying round of the highly anticipated 8th annual Stone River Shootout, the skilled driver J R Shepherd impressively secured the pole position, with James Tiernan following closely behind in second place and Matt Hoose taking the third spot. The race started off with a thrilling burst of excitement as the top three drivers quickly fell into a single-file racing pattern. However, the high energy was quickly disrupted by a quick caution on lap two. Despite this, Shepherd managed to maintain his momentum and had a great start after the restart, with Hoose attempting to pass Tiernan but ultimately settling back into the original qualifying order. As the race progressed, most of the track soon settled into single-file racing by lap 12, with all drivers trying to preserve their tires for later in the race.

By lap 32, Shepherd and Tiernan had managed to establish a comfortable lead of two seconds over the rest of the pack, with both drivers racing within two-tenths of a second of each other since the last restart. This lead between the top two extended to an impressive three seconds by lap 46, before a caution was called. The race resumed on Lap 53, with Shepherd once again taking a great start, followed closely by Tiernan and Spies retaining his third spot. Despite a big wreck on lap 61 that brought the race to a short pause, Mark Hertzog made an impressive maneuver to avoid the crash. Lap 68 went green and the top three drivers remained the same, but another chain reaction wreck caused a slowdown. The green flag was thrown again at lap 73, with Spies attempting to pass Tiernan but ultimately coming up short. An uncalled caution caused some intense mix-up of cars briefly, but the top three remained the same. A caution was flown for an unrelated incident on lap 78, and racing resumed on lap 84. However, a caution quickly came out at lap 85 with some cars fighting over real estate. Racing resumed on lap 91, with Shepherd taking the lead and Spies trying to pass Tiernan but ultimately coming up short a second time. Shepherd powered through and ran strong to take the win and his 4th Shootout win, followed by Tiernan in second place and Spies in third.

Overall, both Shepherd and Tiernan managed to dominate the race, but Shepherd proved to be the ultimate victor due to his impressive speed and skill. Although the top three remained consistent throughout the race, the rest of the field had a more dynamic race with numerous cautions and intense battles for positions. Looking ahead, the next season starts on Friday, September 29, at New Smyrna Speedway with the return of the BRL original Friday night race of the Outlaw Modified Series for Round 1 of its 33rd season.