Clay Harris had Brandon Sheppard squarely in his crosshairs as the laps clicked away in Saturday’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series feature at Fairbury Speedway.
The Jupiter, Fla., driver charged from 12th to the doorstep of what could’ve been a miraculous $30,000 upset victory, appearing poised to overtake perhaps the hottest team in the country in Rocket1 Racing. But Harris said things weren’t as they seemed.
“I was kind of letting him lead the way because, I mean, I could have passed him and burned my stuff up super fast,” Harris said. “I went out on soft tires and I don’t think anybody else did, so I probably looked like Superman out there. The car was still really good.”
The 25-year-old lost second to Nick Hoffman on lap 50 with 10 circuits remaining, thus beginning his backslide. He eventually finished eighth, a result he’ll still gladly accept given he had four straight races of 16th or worse.
“One-hundred percent,” Harris said when asked if he’s still happy with the result. "I probably could have made (Sheppard) nervous if I showed my nose. No, like I said, I was just kind of taking my time there.”
Lapped traffic is what ultimately triggered Harris’s backslide. Sheppard, able to maneuver all over the racetrack, pulled away for good on lap 43 while Harris spent three consecutive laps bottled up behind Dillon McCowan on the bottom.
The top groove wasn’t much of an option for Harris, either. Running softer tires, he risked blowing one out and jeopardizing what still looked to be a sure top-10 finish.
“I figured at the end, I might be alright, but it took rubber on the high side,” Harris said. “Once I had to hit the rubber one time, it burned, like, the top layer of tires off, and then I was screwed after that. But I probably could have hugged the bottom and held on for fifth there.”
Harris believes he can apply what he learned Saturday at Fairbury to this weekend’s Thursday-Saturday Lucas Oil swing at Eagle (Neb.) Raceway, another black-dirt bullring. He added, however, that Eagle’s surface more closely resembles Ocala (Fla.) Speedway — a track he knows well — than Fairbury’s uniquely demanding black dirt.
Whether that translates into success, though, Harris isn’t quite sure.
“I don’t know. I’ve heard so many times I thought I should be fine and I’ve been terrible,” Harris said with a laugh. “Like Hagerstown (Speedway in Maryland), I thought it was gonna be good. And I broke a motor. … Either way, I’m still excited for Eagle.”