The World of Outlaws Late Model Series visited Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, SC, for the first time in its history on Friday, and Shane Clanton came away victorious.

Clanton led from the pole, but as is often the case in dirt track racing, it wasn't as simple as running away from the field. In the closing stages of the race, Brandon Sheppard got around Eric Wells and immediately set his sights on Clanton's back bumper.

Sheppard closed to within 0.339 seconds but was denied by Clanton, who earned his second World of Outlaws victory of the season and the 39th of his career. 

"This is a testament to my crew guys, as well as Marshall Green and Clements House of Power and everyone at Capital [Race Cars]," Clanton said. "This is special. We have worked awfully hard to get back to Victory Lane, and luckily we held him off."

Clanton shook this brand new car down in Senoia, GA, in an Ultimate Late Model Series race and won that 40-lap event after starting third. 

Five laps remained once Sheppard cleared Wells. The two had spent much of their energy battling for 17 circuits around the half-mile oval. They managed to keep the leader in sight, and as soon as Sheppard disentangled from the battle for second, he engaged in one for the win. 

"We had a really awesome racecar once again," Sheppard said. "I knew I had a little bit of an edge on [Wells] there at the end. I just didn't make my move early enough I guess. I should have been moving around a lot earlier... I thought about it and thought about it, and I just thought about it too long. At the end of the day, we had a really good racecar. I wish it would have been the other way around but congratulations to Shane. He had a little bit of a rough start [to the season] so he did a good job."

The current Outlaws points leader, Sheppard was coming off a couple of rough nights himself in rival series competition and needed the boost of confidence. He finished 12th at Port Royal Speedway racing with the Lucas Oil Dirt Late Model Series drivers and was 10th at Volunteer Speedway with the Schaeffer Spring National Series. 

And, for that matter, his last Outlaws race was less than impressive with a ninth in the Illini 100 finale at Farmer City. Despite this modest runs, Sheppard remained third on the FloSports Late Model Power Rankings.

Wells had to take it easy in the closing laps because he was worried he would lose a right rear tire. He nursed his car to third. 

"I could feel that we were about to have some trouble, but we just tried to hold on and finish in the top five since we were running third," Wells said. "I was a little concerned there at the end, but it held out. Overall a pretty good night for us."

Clanton's second win of the season make him one of only two drivers with multiple victories in World of Outlaws competition. Sheppard also has two. 

Jonathan Davenport and Chub Frank rounded out the top five. 

Top 10 Finishers

1. Shane Clanton
2. Brandon Sheppard
3. Eric Wells
4. Jonathan Davenport
5. Chub Frank
6. Rick Eckert
7. Casey Roberts
8. Tyler Erb
9. Brian Shirley
10. Michael Brown
Complete Results