Peter Shepherd knew coming into Las Vegas that he needed to complete all the laps and bring the No. 6 Scotts Miracle-Gro Ford F-150 home in one piece. Shepherd did what he had to do, scoring an 18th place finish at the newly configured speedway.

Shepherd fell back early in the race, reporting to the crew that his Ford was extremely loose all the way through the corners. Crew chief Mike Beam encouraged Shepherd to continue doing what he was doing, as he was turning respectable lap times despite the handling problems. When the first caution of the race flew at lap 25, the Scotts crew took advantage of the opportunity by calling Shepherd to pit road for tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment. Shepherd would rejoin the field in the 20th position.

Shepherd continued to hold his position as the laps clicked off, but when another caution flag flew at lap 52, Shepherd came down pit road for a slight chassis adjustment. Shepherd would restart in the 11th position thanks to the quick stop, and on lap 60 moved his way into the 10th position.

Shepherd brought out the caution at lap 88 when he spun off of turn four, but luckily he was able to avoid making contact with anything. Shepherd brought the Scotts Ford to pit road for tires and fuel, and would restart the race in the 25th position. Shepherd continued to advance positions when he could, ultimately bringing the Scotts Ford to the finish in the 18th position.

"We went out there, and it was pretty good out of the box," said Shepherd. "It was a little bit free on me, and I'm not used to having it rock side to side on me. About 10 laps in, it kind of got away from me a little bit and I was able to save it and even though we lost a lot of spots, we were still fast. We came in and tightened it up and we got a lot better, and we were able to advance a lot of positions. The guys just gave me such a strong truck that it was unbelievable. The truck had a lot me in it than I did, that's for sure. I'm still leaning a lot, and I think if I had a little more experience that truck would have been right up front, it was just that good. I'm just honored that they let me drive. I've got to thank Scotts a lot for putting me in the seat. They're a great sponsor for this series and I'm thankful for being with them. Like I said, gaining that experience is big and I'm glad it's one piece. We had one incident that was really close and we could have torn up a lot of stuff, but Mike Beam and the crew gave me a great truck to race tonight."