Brian Shirley Gets 43rd Career DIRTcar Summer Nationals Victory At Fairbury; First Since ’23

Story By: MATT SKIPPER / DIRTCAR – FAIRBURY, IL – Brian Shirley has been eager for a return to Victory Lane in 2025.

Before visiting Fairbury Speedway, Brian Shirley scored 18 top fives, 25 top-10s, and seven podium finishes. 15 of those finishes came since his only previous win of the year at Springfield Raceway.

On Saturday night, the “Squirrel” broke the waiting period with his first DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models Feature win since 2023.

Shirley, from Chatham, IL, started the 50-lap Feature from the pole position and took immediate claim of the lead by sliding up on reigning Hell Tour champion Tyler Erb for the lead between Turns 1-2 on the first lap.

While Shirley established his dominance on the high side, Brandon Sheppard, Jason Feger, and Drake Troutman shuffled positions inside the top five through the opening portion. Troutman moved up to second place until a mechanical failure on Lap 7 took him out of contention, then Sheppard lost a right rear tire under the caution period.

Shirley went back to his comfort on the high side of the track and extended the lead to 2.3 seconds until lapped traffic began to block out Shirley’s lanes for passing.

His No. 3S stuck in traffic gave headway for Bloomington, IL’s Feger to use the bottom line to swing by Shirley for the lead with 21 laps remaining.

Feger continued to roll around the traffic on the low side until a caution with 15 laps to go gave Shirley the chance at taking back what was once in his grasp.

On the restart, Feger went back to the bottom line while Shirley found new life next to the cushion. With 12 laps to go, Shirley took that chance by getting to Feger’s door through Turns 1-2, then got clear of the No. 25 off of Turn 4.

Shirley glued his Longhorn Chassis to the edge of the cushion as the five-time Summer Nationals champion drove towards his 43rd career tour win.

“(Clean air) was huge,” Shirley said. “Feger was just really good on that hub again, and then I realized I needed to slow down just to try and get by them guys. He just had a little better patience being behind me and not seeing where everyone was. We wasn’t as good as him on the bottom, but boy, that old right foot f****** went.”

Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models visit Maple Park, IL’s Sycamore Speedway on Sunday, June 16, while the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds take three days off until Quincy Raceways on Wednesday, June 18.

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger[6]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 4. 10-Joseph Joiner[12]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[15]; 6. 96-Tanner English[11]; 7. 18-Shannon Babb[23]; 8. B5-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 9. T2-Brayton Wallace[18]; 10. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[22]; 11. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 12. 99-Mckay Wenger[24]; 13. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[19]; 14. 40B-Kyle Bronson[26]; 15. 15-Clay Stuckey[13]; 16. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[25]; 17. C6-Oakley Johns[16]; 18. 5-Mark Whitener[17]; 19. (DNF) 24-Ryan Unzicker[3]; 20. (DNF) 89-Mike Spatola[9]; 21. (DNF) 75-Dillon McCowan[21]; 22. (DNF) 38J-Jake Little[14]; 23. (DNF) 14JR-Trey Mills[7]; 24. (DNF) 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 25. (DNF) 29-Christian Hanger[8]; 26. (DNF) 33-Mike Harrison[20]

Michael Long Returns to Victory Lane for Third Summit Modifieds Fairbury Victory in Four Years

Michael Long has found his key to success at Fairbury Speedway.

On Saturday night, the Fowler, IL driver dominated the early portion of the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals 30-lap Feature, lost the lead late, then came back to win in the final few laps for his first win of the 2025 tour.

Long rolled off from the pole position and took command on the bottom lane of the track while fellow front row starter Michael Ledford attempted to make the cushion around the top work for him.

Long continued to utilize the low side while Ledford kept his distance within one second of Long and waited for his moment to strike the lead.

The moment came within the final 10 laps as Long began to struggle on the bottom and Ledford logged faster laps using the same line. With nine laps to go, Ledford muscled Long up to the middle lane to squeeze by for the Feature’s first lead change.

Ledford’s time at the point was short-lived as his left front wheel broke from hitting a tractor tire with seven laps to go, and he attempted to win the Feature on three operating wheels.

The woes on Ledford’s No. 09 gave Long a path to pass him on the cushion with six laps to go and drove onto his fourth consecutive year on the podium at Fairbury for a Summit Modifieds Feature.

“I was good on the bottom when I could keep speed up,” Long said. “With the yellows, the track really cleaned up. When I had to really slow down there, I just got too tight and Ledford had a better car than me. Then, I kinda found that line up top, I didn’t think I was going to be able to find anything. I was able to drive across, hit the cushion and go.”

Up Next: The DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Models visit Maple Park, IL’s Sycamore Speedway on Sunday, June 16, while the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modifieds take three days off until Quincy Raceways on Wednesday, June 18.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18L-Michael Long[1]; 2. 09-Michael Ledford[2]; 3. 21L-Derek Losh[4]; 4. 777-Trevor Neville[6]; 5. 10Y-Trent Young[10]; 6. 66-Cole Falloway[9]; 7. 45H-Chase Holland[5]; 8. 21A-Nick Allen[13]; 9. 5-Steven Brooks[25]; 10. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[3]; 11. 8A-Austin Holcombe[20]; 12. 89-Austin Friedman[18]; 13. 1H-Ben Harmon[16]; 14. Z1-Zac Oedewaldt[11]; 15. 74M-Manix Furqueron[14]; 16. 21C-Drew Charlson[19]; 17. 110-Landen Miller[8]; 18. 23B-Ethan Boomsma[26]; 19. 1A-Steve Meyer Jr[23]; 20. 45-Kyle Hammer[15]; 21. 27-Beau DeYoung[7]; 22. 7-Brad Deyoung[24]; 23. Z24-Zach Taylor[21]; 24. 242-Degan Dozard[22]; 25. 12-Jeff Curl[12]; 26. 88S-Alan Stipp[17]