The final week of racing for the Late Models in Florida during Speed Weeks 2026 opened up on Tuesday night, February 24th at the Ocala Speedway on the Northwest side of Ocala Florida. This entire week will feature the Late Models at Ocala with five straight nights of Late Model racing before the troops head North to Georgia to wrap up what has been a very long Speed Weeks presentation.
This week's racing is produced by the Lucas Oil Late Model Series officials and FLO TV with the entire staff of the FLO broadcasts on hand for this set of racing. It should be noted that both the Tuesday and Wednesday night events, while LOLMS races, are non point nights toward their championship and because of that, several of the title contenders either did not race on Tuesday or have not yet even arrived on the grounds. Daniel Hilsabeck and Cory Lawler both worked on their cars on Tuesday before loading them back up and Tyler Bruening did not even upload his car while allowing rookie Dallon Murty to race and get more experience. Thornton Jr, Davenport and perhaps several others will arrive before Thursday night when point racing resumes.
However, the fact that not everyone was on hand didn't diminish the racing as there were still thirty six drivers that signed in to race with still many of the top stars of the Late Model world on hand and ready to test Ocala.
The track itself looks and races just a bit different than in years past with one hundred loads of new dirt added and the banking seemingly changed in subtle but noticeable ways to the drivers. Track prep experts from Eldora were brought in this week to prepare the track and it it remains like it was for the Tuesday night show, we should be ready for some excellent racing this week.
This year the decision has been made to make all five nights of racing here just a one class program which should please the Late Model fans no end. It should also make for some quick programs that everyone seems to appreciate. The only danger is that with a one class program, particularly one that starts with qualifying where everyone tends to pound the same groove on the track, that the track is made to be wide enough for passing to take place. That did not seem to be an issue on Tuesday as they spent some extra time packing the outside so I would not expect it to be a problem the rest of the week.
Everyone associated with Lucas seems devoted to running off a quick program and I think that is appreciated by the fans, especially on a Tuesday night when the temperatures are supposed to dip into the 30's and a fairly strong breeze blows out of the West.
The two drivers that would settle the score later on who would stand in victory lane were both quick early with Brandon Sheppard turning quick time at 14.040 seconds and Devin Moran topping the second group at 14.227. Eight minutes after the final car took time trials, the opening ceremonies began and racing started.
The program on Tuesday saw four heat races, a pair of B Features and a thirty lap main to round out the program. Between each set of races, an eight minute break was all that was allowed with a twelve minute break following the final B Feature before the main started. As a non point night, there were no provisional starters and twenty four drivers would take the green for the thirty lap feature.
Sheppard started on the pole with Moran tucking in behind him and the race was on. Sheppard opened up a slight lead over Moran while Clay Harris, Daulton Wilson and Brian Shirley battled for third.
With the hot pace, it took Sheppard only eight laps to catch the back of the pack and then the battle heightened. Moran was able to close up on Sheppard while Wilson slipped back and Brandon Overton moved up to battle Harris for third.
Back of the pack traffic is always an interesting facet of nearly every race and so it was also on Tuesday. Sheppard seemed the fastest driver in the house but he still had to navigate the traffic and any mistake would likely be pounced on by Moran.
To the dismay of Sheppard, he came up on a couple of slower cars that were running side by side and he had to hesitate for them to clear. This gave all kinds of momentum to Moran and when Brandon opted to try and pass the slower cars on the high side going into turn one, he got just a bit high and out of the groove for a second, killing his momentum and allowing Moran to duck past him into the lead.
That was all it took with the pass executed just one lap short of the halfway point and while Sheppard then chased Moran, Devin was in his own groove and could not be caught. But that's the way it works with lapped traffic, sometimes it helps and sometimes it punishes. The race for third remained close with Harris and Overton swapping the spot back and forth near the end with Harris holding on for the podium finish. Hudson O'Neal got very fast in the second half of the race, moving up to fifth after starting eleventh and was perhaps the fastest car on the track at the end.
Four drivers failed to finish the event which ran off thirty laps nonstop to complete a night of quick racing. There were only three yellow flags waved all night, all in the preliminaries with the feature concluding the theme of fast racing.
Check out this stat. From the time the first green flag was waved in the first heat race until the checkered flag was waved over the winner, the total racing time was one hour and seventeen minutes! Unbelievable! And on this cold Florida night, I heard not a single complaint that the program got over too soon! Quite frankly, every fan appreciates a fast program so they can move on with their life and those promoters that can figure this out are among those that survive and prosper.
Another similar program is promised for Wednesday night before the points race kicks back in on Thursday and the purses began to rise also.
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