By Kelly Crandall – At 72 years old Morgan Shepherd competed in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on Sunday, but he wasn’t met with the same praise he’s normally received.

That being when many applauded his passion for the sport and his will to continuously climb behind the wheel. This weekend, however, his competition wasn’t in a loving mood.

Running the No. 33 for Circle Sport Racing and sponsor Thunder Coal, Shepherd was not a start-and-park and ran the entire Camping World RV Sales 301. But it wasn’t without controversy as he collided with @JoeyLogano, who was running second and ended the Penske driver’s day on Lap 211.

“We could barely go. We were wicked loose and when we went down into the corner that was the worse part of the entry. I reckon it was Joey – he was right against the side of my car and it just sucked my back end around,” Shepherd told Popular Speed after finishing 39th and 27 laps off the pace.

“We’ve been in this business long enough, we know how to wreck people. The guy on the outside can wreck the guy on the inside easy. So he should have been smart enough to stay up away from me a little bit because I was letting everybody go by.”

Since the New Hampshire entry list was released on Monday morning, and Shepherd was listed, debate had raged whether he should have been allowed to race. It carried over to the track with numerous drivers complaining over the radio that he was too slow, in the way and should have just parked it.

“I got taken out by the slowest car out there. You would think there would have been some courtesy to the leaders,” Logano said when in the garage. “We were in second place. He gets out of the way on the straightaway and then goes into the corner and slides right up into the lane I was in. Whatever. I don’t know.”

@KyleLarsonRacin, who finished third, was one of the many who came across Shepherd on different occasions, but didn’t seem bothered by it.

“I never had a problem with him, but I felt really bad for Joey,” Larson said afterwards. “I didn’t see what happened, but I figured they were both tore up he had to have gotten into him. It’s a shame. He’s (Shepherd) just out there trying to have some fun just like we all are. I don’t know.”

On the other hand, second place finisher @KyleBusch admitted that while he had a few hairy moments when he came around the 33 car, he was lucky and got by unscathed.

“It seemed like he had a hard time holding the bottom of the racetrack a little bit, but that’s something to be expected,” Busch said. “It’s so flat down there. But there were other lap cars that were just rolling around on the top and not getting into anybody’s way really. I’m not sure what happened with the Joey thing. I didn’t see it at all. There were not-so-prime times that I caught him and had to go around him, but fortunately everything was fine with me.”

As for whether there should be an age limit in NASCAR, Busch didn’t want to get into the issue and said that when he turns 65 people would try to get him out of the sport.

Shepherd for his part, also said owner Joe Faulk and the entire team he worked with on Sunday are good people, and he believes he has more Cup starts in him. The 33 team, Shepherd stated, deserves good runs, and he was happy to run with them at New Hampshire.

NASCAR stated after the race that they had no concerns with Shepherd racing on Sunday as he met all the requirements and never went below the minimum speed.

EMAIL KELLY AT kelly.crandall@popularspeed.com

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