The Super DIRTcar Series is undoubtedly in the middle of the busiest portion of its 2018 schedule. The series is coming off Thursday’s Battle on the Midway at Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY, where Stewart Friesen got his third win of the season, while "Super" Matt Sheppard, the current series point leader, was the runner-up.

Now Big-Block Modified racing’s best head north to Autodrome Granby and Autodrome Drummond for the first of two trips to the province of Quebec this season on Monday, July 23, and Tuesday, July 24, respectively. The trip to the series’ most northern point is always a fun one, as the French-Canadian fan base never disappoints in its enthusiasm for Big-Block Modified racing.

Watch 2018 SDS at Autodrome Granby LIVE on FloRacing!

Monday, July 23 | 6:30 PM ET

Over the past five seasons, the Granby fans have seen the same driver in Victory Lane three times: Matt Sheppard. The Waterloo, NY, driver has two wins and seven top-five finishes in eight starts this season. His only finish outside the top-five came in the Big Show 10 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway after a lapped car spun while he was leading late in the race. He’s finished every race since then in the top five but hasn’t won in four races.

For any other driver, that would be no big deal, but for Sheppard, it’s bordering on a drought. By no means does that suggest Sheppard is in any sort of trouble or lacking in performance. He leads Max McLaughlin by 118 points at the top of the series standings and earned a guaranteed starting position at Super DIRT Week by virtue of his runner-up finish on Thursday night. In actual fact, he’s ahead of last year’s pace.

During last year’s career season, Sheppard went seven races without a win before getting his second victory at—you guessed it—Autodrome Granby which started a streak of five consecutive wins. Following that streak, he never went more than three starts without a victory. That’s to say, Sheppard may just be heating up.

Now, heading back to Granby, it feels like the race is shaping up to be another edition of “Sheppard versus the field.” He has won at the track in back-to-back seasons and scored wins there in 2013 and 2011. In the last five trips, when he hasn’t won at the half-mile track, he’s finished third and fourth. The story is much the same at Drummond where Sheppard has three wins in his last seven visits to that track. Not too shabby.  

While it may seem like a forgone conclusion Sheppard will grab his third win of the season on Monday night, this season has not been one to follow the foreshadowed script. Sheppard’s wins have come at Brewerton and Cornwall, two tracks where he is strong, but where several other drivers are also top candidates. On the other hand, he was the odds-on favorite to win at Land of Legends Raceway and Outlaw Speedway earlier this month, two tracks that have been a weekly home track for him. He fell just short of victory on both occasions with top-five finishes at each while he watched as Danny Johnson and Brett Hearn celebrated victories.

The rest of the series regulars have minimized the damage Sheppard has been able to inflict over the opening eight races of the season. Perhaps that changes this week if Sheppard can sweep the July trip to Quebec for the second year in a row.