RPW Exclusive: For Matt Sheppard, His ’24 On The Super DIRTcar Series Was Good, But Not Outstanding

Column By: BOBBY CHALMERS / RPW – SAVANNAH, NY – For many drivers, finishing second in points on the Super DIRTcar Series would be a dream-type season.

However, when you’ve been champion for ten of the previous 13 seasons, being second-best on the season is good, but not good enough.

That was the 2024 season on tour for Matt Sheppard, who was, once again, one of the cars to beat for each series race.  Unfortunately though, Sheppard had some tough luck during the final weekend of the season at Charlotte which sealed his fate.

The driver of the no. 9s entered the World Finals with a 15-point advantage over Mat Williamson as he chased his 11th career crown.  Unfortunately, with five laps remaining in the feature on night one, something went amiss in the engine compartment and relegated Sheppard to a 28th place finish.

Couple that with the fourth place showing by Williamson on that night, the point battle shifted with now Sheppard being down by 26.  Even with a second and fourth place finish in the final two nights, Sheppard wasn’t able to regain the lead and had to settle for second at season’s end.

“We had a really good year this season,” Sheppard said. “We had a solid year and we were very consistent.  However, it wasn’t an outstanding year.”

Over the last two campaigns with the Super DIRTcar Series, Sheppard had been able to amass 12 victories on tour.  This season, he only grabbed one points-paying victory, the King of the North 75-lapper at Autodrome Drummond on July 23rd.

Even though they didn’t win as much as normal, Sheppard and his team was the model of consistency in ’24, scoring the most top 5’s of anyone on tour and only finishing outside the top 10 on two occasions, but it still wasn’t enough to fend off Williamson.

“A solid year isn’t going to beat a team like the Buzz Chew team and Mat,” he said.  “Those guys were outstanding all year.  We were solid this season, but they were a tick better.”

When you’re a driver like Sheppard, who is happy with a season like he had in 2024 on the series, you’re not satisfied when you aren’t sitting at the head table at the annual awards banquet.

“We’re going to go to work to get things back to where I know they can be,” he said.  “We’re going to try again next year to get the title back.”

Sheppard did achieve a huge milestone in his racing career in 2024, and did so early on in the season.  While they weren’t points-paying victories, Matt was able to capture two feature wins during the annual DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park with one of them being career win no. 500.

“It’s actually kind of funny,” he said.  “We went to Florida and never thought we’d get 500 down there and then went and won like five out of the seven races we entered.  We joked that we normally go down there and struggle.  Then, come home and run really strong.”

This has Sheppard’s mind turning.

“I don’t know,” he said with a laugh.  “Maybe we’ll skip Florida next year or just go down and there and sandbag.  That way, we can come back up here and run well.”

No matter what, Sheppard is extremely grateful for the team he’s assembled that allowed him to have another solid year in 2024.

“I can’t thank my whole team, my family, my girlfriend, Jordan, our amazing sponsors and everybody enough for their support,” he said.  “The 2024 season was a really solid year for us.  We’ll just try again to be the best team.”

Sheppard’s Hurlock Auto & Speed team was still one of the best throughout the season gone by, though.  Counting those three Super DIRTcar wins, “SuperMatt” was again ‘super’ behind the wheel of a Dirt Modified.

He scored 30 checkered flags in total, was in the top 5 for 66 races and had 74 top 10’s in 84 races.

He also captured the track title at his Friday night home, the Utica-Rome Speedway, the American Racer Cup, the Short Track Super Series North Region title and was crowned the Ollie’s Overall Champion for Brett Deyo’s series.

Those stats would prove as an outstanding season for any driver.  However, when you’re Matt Sheppard, you want to be the best.  In 2024, his team missed out on another Super DIRTcar Series title.

Now, he wants it back.