KNOXVILLE, Iowa — With every car that Brian Shirley passed during his march forward from the 15th starting spot in Saturday’s 20th Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals finale, he seemed to be turning back the clock.

Once the 43-year-old driver from Chatham, Ill., reached second place late in the 75-lap feature at Knoxville Raceway, there was no denying that memories of his victory in the 2006 edition of the event — just nine days short of being exactly 18 years ago — were dancing in everyone’s head.

Well, except Shirley’s own mind. He had no time to wax nostalgic. He was too focused on chasing down leader Bobby Pierce of Oakwood, Ill.

“Truthfully, I didn’t think any of that on the racetrack,” Shirley said when asked afterward if he was sniffing his first Knoxville Nationals triumph in nearly two decades. “Like, when I was behind Bobby at the end, I kept trying to make sure, ‘Just hit your marks.’ I could feel myself creeping up on him. Two laps (from the checkered flag) I feel like I kind of missed this corner (turns one and two) and it cost me a little time, but truthfully, I was just like, ‘Hit your marks, hit your marks,’ and trying to gain where I thought I was a little stronger.”

Shirley ultimately fell short in his quest to run down Pierce, settling for a runner-up finish behind the 27-year-old sensation who added his first-ever Knoxville Nationals victory to a spectacular season that now includes seven victories worth at least $50,000 among 34 overall. But he had no reason to hang his head after a performance that continued a three-month stretch of success which has completely turned around his 2024 campaign.

Winless this season until June 30 when he broke through for a World of Outlaws Case Late Model Series victory at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., shortly after his Bob Cullen-owned team debuted a new Longhorn Chassis, Shirley has tallied five more wins since then, including a three-race WoO streak in August and a $10,000 MARS Racing Series triumph on Sept. 13 at the Brownstown (Ill.) Bullring. His confidence was understandably soaring entering Saturday’s big show on Knoxville’s famed half-mile oval — even though his preliminary feature finishes of ninth (Thursday) and 11th (Friday) weren’t especially noteworthy.

Shirley had faith that he wasn’t going to be mired in his mid-pack starting spot.

“I kept telling my guys — I even told Bob (Cullen) this morning — we’re close,” Shirley said. “We got hurt in the qualifying deal on Thursday — we qualified good and didn’t get in through our heat, so that really set us behind. We still ran up through there in the feature from 21st to ninth. And then last night kind of the same thing … the track was bad and we didn’t qualify good, but we won our heat by a mile so I was like, ‘Our car is good.’

“I could feel it in my heart. I knew in my heart that the car was good. I just didn’t feel that we got to show how good a car we really had (in the prelims).”

Shirley didn’t take long to flash his power. He was up to eighth when the race’s first caution flag was displayed on lap 19 and picked up the pace following the restart, firmly announcing his presence as a contender on lap 26 when he surged past former Lucas Oil Series and Knoxville Nationals champions Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., and Jonathan Davenport of Blairsville, Ga., in a single circuit to reach fourth place.

What raised Shirley’s hopes so high was his ability to make his passes “either way, whether we had to go to the top or the bottom.” He was rolling, and, after overtaking fellow WoO regular Brandon Sheppard of New Berlin, Ill., for third on lap 53 and defending Lucas Oil champion Hudson O’Neal of Martinsville, Ind., for second on a lap-55 restart, only Pierce remained between him and victory lane.

But Shirley had to weather a scary storm before making it to the finish. When Lucas Oil Series officials put out a caution flag on lap 60 because of a rain shower and then brought the field into the pit area under a red flag with the precipitation becoming too heavy, Shirley found himself limping around the track, his engine sputtering in a way that he thought might indicate terminal trouble. He came to a stop at the end of the frontstretch as the pack circled under caution and needed a push from a four-wheeler to join the field parked in the infield.

“We were totally out of fuel,” Shirley said. “I still think the motor wasn’t right — it was smoking out, I could see it — but it was 100 percent out of gas.”

Remaining buckled in his seat during the red flag, Shirley “didn’t say a word” about his predicament to officials, who recognized that the rain was from a small cell and a window of dry weather would likely allow the remaining distance to be run after the surface was run back in.

“I sat there, and truthfully, I was hoping it was gonna rain out,” Shirley said. “I was like, OK, if it rains out, we were still on the lead lap in second, and then (officials) came over the radio and said they were gonna let us put fuel in it, so then that was my second hope. I was like, ‘Oh, man, maybe we’re out of gas.’ ”

Then Shirley added: “The good Lord was on our side. (Crew members) did check and show we were out of gas.”

Precisely why had Shirley’s tank run dry? He wasn’t sure.

“We did take about eight to 10 laps warming up (before the start of the feature to finish drying out the surface after a rework), and truthfully, I was in the gas a lot,” Shirley said. “It wasn’t like I was able to be out front and cruise early. I mean, I was in the gas every second of the race.

“So I don’t know, but it’s definitely one of those things we’re gonna have to go back and investigate. Obviously, we can’t come here and make 75 laps.”

Shirley’s problem was rectified by the 10 gallons of fuel that officials allowed all teams to pour into their cars because the field had turned extra laps to pack the reconditioned track surface before the start of the feature and several more circuits would be needed to bring it back around for the lap-60 restart. Nevertheless, Shirley still needed some help to refire his car and return it to full song.

“It took forever to get fuel back to the carburetor,” Shirley said. “I had to go all the way around (with a push) and let it get moving.

“And then on the restart there, it didn’t take off very well. I fell back to fourth because it just wouldn’t go. Then when it went, it seemed like when it would get going it was OK, but when you’d go down into the corner, like, as hard as I could charge, I could feel the motor just kind of letting up a little bit.”

Shirley added that the engine wasn’t “blowed up at all, but this place has taken a toll on it, you know? It’s hard on stuff here.”

The powerplant had enough juice left to propel Shirley back to second on lap 63. He proceeded to cut his deficit to Pierce from over three seconds to just over one second over the final 10 circuits but wasn’t able to draw close enough to offer a serious challenge.

A second-place finish worth $25,000 was still fulfilling for Shirley, who has come a long way with his racing program in 2024. His two full-time crew members — Anthony Martin, 20, and Caden Ludwig, 18 — are Dirt Late Model mechanical neophytes, so Shirley has served as a mentor as well as a driver and crew chief this season.

Shirley couldn’t be more proud of how his young crewmen have grown and the team has improved along the way.

“Listen, these guys absolutely know nothing (about crewing for a national team) when we started the season,” Shirley said. “They came to the shop as green as can be, and we have fought tooth and nail. We have tested, and raced, and these guys have not whined. You know, you get home on a Sunday, we wash on Monday, we’re testing on a Tuesday or Wednesday, then trying to get ready to go to the Outlaw races. They have really fought to understand everything.

“There’s still a lot that they have to learn — you can’t buy experience. But they’re learning as we’re going, and they want to learn. Here today, when you have two people that want to learn … the hardest part is wanting to be here. Listen, this is not fun. It’s great on nights like tonight and when you win, but they felt the heartache of not knowing where we are and not understanding everything.

“And I’m not the easiest to work with. My expectations and my demands are a lot. Like, I want people around me who want to work the hardest to be able to beat the best guys. And it’s not easy — you can ask (Martin and Ludwig). They don’t do the things that everybody gets to do. We don’t out drinking at these races and have a good time. There’s a lot of things that most people wouldn’t do to be on my race team, and these two guys definitely want to be here.

“You couldn’t have asked for anything better. We’re really just trying to understand. We’re trying to figure out how to race. Even myself — I don’t know that I have truly understood everything it takes. You know, it’s no different than Little Bobby (Pierce). Like, Little Bobby is extraordinary. He’s probably one of the greatest there is by his talent, but he also has one of the greatest leaders behind him (in his father Bob). And for me, I’m doing it by myself. 

“So at the end of the day, life would be a little easier if I had a guy (with experience as crew chief) that could be in my corner,” he added. “But I’ve also always lived up to the challenge to prove everybody wrong, that I am better than what they think.”

Saturday’s run offer Shirley renewed hope that his 2006 Knoxville Nationals crown won’t be the only crown jewel victory of his career. He hasn’t repeated the triumph in 14 attempts since then (his lone top-five prior to Saturday was a fifth in 2018) and he has a modest nine top-five finishes in other crown jewel events over the last 18 years (three in the USA Nationals and Prairie Dirt Classic, two in the Show-Me 100 and one in the World 100), but he feels his time is coming again.

“I do feel like I peaked before I should’ve peaked, in terms of winning a crown jewel,” said Shirley, who was 25 and hadn’t yet raced a national tour when he captured the Knoxville Nationals. “At that time (in 2006) I didn’t even probably understand what I won. I was so fresh, and I really think I just got lucky at that time, just hit on the right thing that night.

“Right now, I truly believe in my heart that I’ll win another one someday. Maybe not here, but I do believe that my team is working hard enough that we can do it.”