No matter what happens the rest of World 100 weekend at Eldora Speedway, things can only get better for the Niece Motorsports team led by Big-Block Modified superstar Matt Sheppard and Dirt Late Model extraordinaire Cody Sommer. 

Upon unloading the No. Forty-2 Longhorn Chassis entry before Thursday’s prelim opener, Sommer fell off the team’s lift and onto Eldora’s concrete pit area, suffering nothing more than some nasty bruises on his left arm and leg.

Sommer tried keeping the race car stable during the unloading process, but the car hopped over the wheel chocks on the trailer lift and tumbled rear-first onto the concrete foundation. Fortunately, Sommer and the Niece Motorsports machine were both in good enough condition to compete in the $10,000-to-win opening night prelim.

Sheppard ultimately qualified for the Group A preliminary feature and finished the race in 19th. 

RESULTS: World 100 Thursday Preliminary Features At Eldora

“I’m just sore, but I’ll be all right,” said Sommer, the operations director at Niece and crew chief for its Dirt Late Model program. “The car went over the wheel chocks and one guy ain’t going to catch a car. Yeah, it just kind of went, and I held on as late as I could … dodged (the car) and that was about it. It ended up on the back bumper, for sure. But the car’s okay.

“Went to the infield care center … they said I should probably go to a doctor when I go home to get it checked out. But I should be fine. It’s not bleeding through or anything. We’ll be all right.”

Sommer went about business Thursday noticeably banged up; his right elbow wrapped in blue athletic tape and with a pronounced limp in his right leg. As far as the car goes, which this weekend will be driven by the nine-time Super DIRTcar Series champion and multi-time Short Track Super Series champion Sheppard, only cosmetic damage to the rear quarterpanels were endured.

“We’ve been checking it out to make sure it’s OK,” Sommer said. “Had to fix some of the body damage. Back bumper is what took the biggest lick of them all. Everything worked out good. We kind of got lucky.”

Of course, it would take a lot for the Sommer-led Niece team to withdraw from the 53rd running of the prestigious event. The team’s anxious to debut its new Longhorn Chassis this weekend after employing a Kryptonite Chassis in the handful of races they’ve entered this year with Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Sheppard.

Additionally, renowned engine builder Vic Hill went to extra measures to ensure the Niece Motorsports group would be ready with a powerplant fit for the high-octane Eldora half-mile.

“If it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t be here,” Sommer said.

Once Hill made an engine available to the team, it just so happened that Sheppard had a free weekend to participate in his first Dirt Late Model crown jewel. Two weeks ago, Sheppard competed in Aug. 24’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event at Georgetown (Del.) Speedway in a Niece Motorsports entry. He failed to qualify for the 49-lap main event.

“Yeah, I don’t really have much going on this weekend," Sheppard said. "I really wanted to run this race. So, I’ll give it a shot. … We planned about a month or so ago to do the Georgetown deal. So, here we are.”

In the hours leading into Thursday’s prelim opener, Sheppard perused the grounds of the Big E, soaking in the World 100 atmosphere by making the rounds at the many merchandise trailers that encircled the clay oval. He had to buy a grocery bag full of T-shirts and other goodies to take back to his Savannah, N.Y., home.

“That’s right,” Sheppard said through a smile. “I’m a fan, too.”

Sheppard did get a chance to shake down the new Longhorn earlier this week at Ultimate Motorsports Park in Elkin, N.C. He’d “love to go out there and qualify for one of the (prelim) features” on Thursday and Friday and “maybe surprise some people.”

Other than that, “I don’t really have any (expectations),” Sheppard said.

“I don’t know what we have or don’t have,” he added. “I guess I don’t know enough about these cars to say so. I’m going to stand on the gas and see what we have. Hopefully it has some speed.

“We didn’t get many laps at Georgetown. We ran more laps the other night. Shook the car down a little bit. They’re definitely different animals. Just looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we have or don’t have, you know what I mean?”

Sommer’s rightfully high on Sheppard because of the experience the big-block superstar brings to the table. Earlier this year, Sommer and the Niece team nearly put Hocevar, the NASCAR Truck driver with minimal Dirt Late Model experience, in position to qualify for June’s Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora before a wreck in Saturday’s heat race thwarted those prospects.

“I’ve been here the last couple times with, I would call it, rookie-type of guys,” Sommer said. “You’d have to coach ‘em a lot. I don’t think I’m going to have to coach (Matt) as much to make the car go better for him. I think that’ll be good to see how it goes.

“I’ve been here with a lot of different cars and a lot of different drivers (namely Scott Bloomquist). So hoping we do this weekend as well. After that incident, I hope that’s all the craziness out of the way. Maybe the rest of the weekend will be smooth. The way I look at it, we damn hit the chip on the drama and whatever could go wrong right out of the gate. Figured, you know, we’ll see what happens. … I think we’ll be okay.”

VIDEO: Carson Hocevar discusses his Dirt Late Model debut with Niece Motorsports at Eldora in 2022. 

Sommer’s found a nice place within Niece Motorsports — a four-car team in NASCAR’s Truck Series — that allows him to use his administrative talents while saying very much involved in Dirt Late Model racing. Next year, Sommer envisions Niece entering several dozen events on the Dirt Model front with their current rotation of well-known drivers: Chastain, Hocevar and Sheppard.

All three, of course, have commitments that take precedence. Chastain’s a full-time NASCAR Cup driver for Trackhouse Racing, while Hocevar races for Niece’s Truck Series team and Sheppard is very busy maintaining his high-powered big-block modified team. But all three drivers want to make time for Dirt Late Model racing and Sommer’s available to make that happen.

“Carson would probably drive it 50 nights a year if we let him,” Sommer said. “He’s in love with it. Ross is in love with it. We need to test it with Ross some more to get him more laps. Carson’s got good at it pretty quickly. I know we’re working on next year’s stuff always and what that may look like. This year we’ve only ran a handful of races, but next year it’s possible we’ll run 30 to 40 races.

“I don’t necessarily make all those decisions, but I know they’re working on a 30-40 race schedule for next year.”