Bobby Pierce can never be counted out, and Saturday night was proof of why.
The two-time World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision champion has dominated the dirt Late Model world all summer long, but Thursday’s opening night of the USA Nationals was a rare lackluster showing. Pierce qualified poorly, didn’t gain much ground in his Heat Race and finished 12th in the Feature, his worst Series run of the season.
But the No. 32 team wasn’t keen on settling for mediocrity on Saturday with $100,000 on the line. The decision was made to switch to the backup car, which most recently won at Adams County Speedway on July 14. Saturday morning was spent swapping parts over to the spare chassis with a smaller engine and preparing it for battle, and Pierce made sure to reward his crew’s extra effort when the green flag dropped in the 100-lap main event.
From his 10th-place spot in the starting lineup, Pierce quickly worked his way up to sixth and stayed there for most of the long green-flag run that lasted for the first 54 laps of the race. That first caution was the first of many in the second half of the Feature, which kept the field bunched up and gave Pierce ample opportunities to gain more positions.
Pierce was up to second in time for a Lap 33 restart, which placed him on the outside of his closest championship challenger, Nick Hoffman, coming to green. Pierce went wide around Turn 4 on the initial launch, generating enough steam to switch to Hoffman’s inside and throw the slider into Turn 1.
That move cleared, but Pierce then had Brandon Sheppard to deal with on his inside exiting Turn 2 in a three-way race for the lead. Sheppard thought about a slide job of his own in Turn 3, but he wasn’t clear and had to slot in behind Pierce. From that point on, Pierce was the dominant car on track on his way to a six-figure payday.
“I think we made the right call,” Pierce said. “Once again, I’ve got to say thanks to my crew. They got up early today and got these cars switched around, unloaded, shocks off and everything. We went through them hard, just really went through the setup top to bottom. I like this track again. I kind of didn’t like it last year because I was getting lapped, and now I like it again.”
Pierce’s third USA Nationals title made him the fourth driver to win the race three or more times, joining Billy Moyer, Scott Bloomquist and Jonathan Davenport. It was also the fourth six-figure victory of Pierce’s career and his first outside of Eldora Speedway, with the first three coming in the Dirt Track World Championship in 2024 and 2025 and the 2026 Dirt Late Model Dream.
The “Smooth Operator” now stands on the verge of World of Outlaws history, as his 18th Series win on the year tied the record for the most in a single season, matching the mark previously set by Josh Richards in 2016 and Brandon Sheppard in 2017 and 2019. Pierce’s first chance to break the record will come at the next stop on tour at Maquoketa Speedway, where he won last year.
Sheppard fell one spot short of his second USA Nationals victory, while Ethan Dotson recorded the best crown-jewel finish of his career in third. Behind them, Hudson O’Neal and Dustin Sorensen rounded out the top five.
UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision kicks off a five-race tour of Iowa at Maquoketa Speedway with the Hawkeye 100 on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 21-22. Get your tickets in advance by clicking here.
RACE NOTES:
Chris Madden set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap
Michael Leach won the Simpson Quick Time Award.
Tanner English won Heat 1.
Ethan Dotson won STAKT Products Heat 2.
Chris Madden won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.
Nick Hoffman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.
Brandon Sheppard won Heat 5.
Dan Ebert won Heat 6.
Trey Mills and Hudson O’Neal won the Last Chance Showdowns.
Shannon Babb won the Last Chance Qualifier.
Dan Ebert won the Dash.
Trevor Gundaker won the FANS Fund Dash.
Dan Ebert won the Bilstein Pole Award.
Hudson O’Neal won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.
Trey Mills won the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.
Brandon Sheppard was the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher.
Ethan Dotson was the WIX Filters Third-Place Finisher.
Hudson O’Neal was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.
Dustin Sorensen was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.
Tanner English was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.
Tim McCreadie was the Penske Racing Shocks Seventh-Place Finisher.
Cody Overton was VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.
Jason Feger was the Lifeline Ninth-Place Finisher.
Tyler Erb was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.
Ryan Gustin was the Quarter Master 11th-Place Finisher.
Zack Mitchell was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.
Clay Harris was the Quarter Master 13th-Place Finisher.
Trey Mills was the ARP 14th-Place Finisher.
Nick Hoffman was the Arizona Sport Shirts 18th-Place Finisher.
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 74X-Ethan Dotson[6]; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[20]; 5. 19-Dustin Sorensen[14]; 6. 96-Tanner English[4]; 7. 9M-Tim McCreadie[9]; 8. 97-Cody Overton[11]; 9. 25-Jason Feger[18]; 10. 1-Tyler Erb[17]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[16]; 12. 22*-Zack Mitchell[8]; 13. 6-Clay Harris[13]; 14. 14-Trey Mills[19]; 15. 49-Jake Timm[24]; 16. 44-Chris Madden[5]; 17. B1-Brent Larson[28]; 18. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 19. 09-Michael Leach[7]; 20. 60-Dan Ebert[1]; 21. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[26]; 22. 13-Dallon Murty[22]; 23. 1Z-Logan Zarin[29]; 24. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 25. 58V-Daulton Wilson[21]; 26. 8S-Kyle Strickler[15]; 27. 0-Jake O’Neil[12]; 28. 18-Shannon Babb[23]; 29. 11G-Trevor Gundaker[27]