Morgan Shepherd's racing career began just from him wanting to earn extra money. He won 21 of 29 races in his moonshine car, and won the North Carolina title.
Shepherd wanted to move into NASCAR's Late Model Sportsman division. He did so in 1975 and finished in second position driving 17 different cars. He won the Late Model Sportsman title in 1980.
Shepherd debuted in the NASCAR Cup Series in 1970 at Hickory Motor Speedway driving for Alan Flowers in the No. 93 Chevrolet. He started 10th but finished 19th because of a rear end faliure. He made two more starts that year, with his best finish at Hickory, in 14th. After that, Shepherd stopped racing the Cup Series for seven years, entering again in 1977. He finished 10th at Dover International Speedway driving for Jim Makar. As with his 1970 Cup season, Shepherd ran a total of three races. The two additional races were at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.
After running only two races in 1978, Shepherd focused on a full-time Cup schedule in 1981. That year, he drove the No.5 Performance Connection Pontiac for Cliff Stewart and won the pole in his first race (Richmond International Raceway). Shepherd also picked up his very first Cup career win (Martinsville Speedway on April 26, 1981). Despite a 13th-place points finish in points, Shepherd finished the 1981 season as runner-up to Ron Bouchard for Cup Rookie of the Year honors.
1982 was an adjustment year for Shepherd, and unknown to him, so were the years to come. For the 1982 Cup season, Shepherd changed teams and competed in the No. 98 Levi Garrett Buick, racing for owner, Ron Benfield. He did not win a race that season but did win two poles (Nashville Speedway USA and Atlanta), and he had six top-five finishes. 1982 was Shepherd's second full-time season in the Cup Series, and he finished 10th in the championship standings. Shepherd also ran part-time (racing 12 of 29 races) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series that year. In only his second start of the season, at Hickory Motor Speedway, he won the Sunkist 200 from the pole. His second win of the 1982 Nationwide Series was at Indianapolis Raceway Park on August 13, where he started the race in fifth position. Shepherd finished 12th in overall Nationwide Series points that season, driving for owner, Ed Whitaker.
Shepherd began the 1983 Cup season without a full-time ride, racing only 18 of 35 races. He drove the Richmond 400 with Wayne Beahr and the Virginia National Bank 500 with Emanuel Zervakis. He drove the rest of the 1983 Nationwide Series for Jim Stacy in the No. 2 ACM Equipment Sales Buick. His best finish of the season was a second-place run at the Firecracker 400 on July 4 at Daytona International Speedway. He ended the season with a 20th-place finish in final points standings.
Shepherd continued to race for Ed Whitaker in the Nationwide Series in 1983. He won at Bristol (May 21) and Richmond International Raceway (Sept. 10), but he finished 18th in final standings.
Shepherd struggled in 1984, driving for multiple teams before closing out the year with Ron Benfield in the No. 98 Levi Garrett Chevy, with whom he finished sixth at North Carolina Speedway on October 21 (his best finish of the 1984 Cup Season). In the Nationwide Series, Shepherd drove a majority of the races for Lindy White in the No. 1 Food Country USA Pontiac, gaining three victories: Indianapolis Raceway Park, Bristol (from the pole) and Martinsville.
For the 1985 Cup season, Shepherd drove for multiple Cup teams but mostly the Helen Rae Special, the No. 00 car, coming in seventh at Charlotte and fifth in Atlanta, the 1985 Cup season finale.
After failing to finish all but two Nationwide races in 1985, Shepherd decided to split the driving between two teams in the 1986 Nationwide Series - some for Whitaker and some with his own team, Shepherd Racing. With this change came a Nationwide Series career high for Shepherd, with four Nationwide wins during the season. In the 1986 Cup Series season, Shepherd won his second career race (the Motorcraft 500 at Atlanta) driving the No. 47 Race Hill Farm Buick for Jack Beebe. Shepherd finishing 3rd at Richmond International Raceway driving the No. 75 Pontiac Grand Prix for the last time. He finished the remaining seven races in the No. 75 Nationwise Auto Parts for RahMoc Enterprises.
In 1987, he moved to the No. 26 Quaker State Buick for Kenny Bernstein, owner of King Racing. He won the pole at Martinsville (for the Sovran Bank 500) and finishing 17th in final points standings. It was also the first time in his Cup career that he competed in every single race scheduled that season.
In 1988, Shepherd stayed consistent and drove for several teams during the season. He began the Cup Season that year with Tom Winkle in the No. 97 AC Spark Plug Buick, gaining a pole at Richmond (Feb. 21). Shepherd then drove a number of races in the No. 47 car, but for his own team, Shepherd Racing. He then drove five races in the No. 33 Skoal Bandit Chevy for Hal Needham and Mach 1 Racing. He finished second at Dover after leading 110 laps (his second career Cup victory). After that, Shepherd drove the No. 75 Valvoline Pontiac for RahMoc Enteprises, and he won the pole at Pocono Raceway (July 24). After switching ownership once again, Shepherd won two top-10s in the No. 88 Red Baron Pizza Oldsmobile for Buddy Baker and Danny Schiff. He raced at Rockingham in his own No. 57 just before the season finale in Atlanta when RahMoc purchased Shepherd's Racing. In the 1988 Nationwide Series, he won the final race at IRP.
In 1989, he returned to the Cup Series with RahMoc Enterprises, and with that, he won the pole at Watkins Glen International and finished 13th in final points of his 12th season driving in the Cup Series.
For the 1990 Cup season, Shepherd scored a career high, season-end ranking of fifth for Bud Moore Engineering in the No. 15 Motorcraft Ford Thunderbird. In addition, he picked up his third career win at the season-closing Atlanta Journal 500.
After failing to win and dropping to 12th in the Cup Series in 1991, Shepherd moved to the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Citgo Ford for 1992, where he finished the season two positions further in points, dropping to 14th.
Despite dropping in points for a second consecutive season, Shepherd moved back up to seventh in points in the 1993 Cup Series and won the final race at Atlanta in 1993. That was the fourth, and last, Cup Series race Shepherd has won to-date.
In 1994, he had 16 top-10s and finished sixth in points, his highest finish since 1990, which he earned without any victories or poles that season. After finishing in the top-five four times in 1995, Shepherd left the Wood Brothers team.
For the 1996 Cup season, Shepherd returned to the No. 75, which was now a Ford, soley owned by Butch Mock, and with sponsorship from Remington Arms. He posted five top-10s and finished 19th in points that season. He left the Butch Mock team at the end of the 1996 Cup season to drive the No. 1 Delco Remy America Pontiac for Precision Products Racing (PPR). He started out in 1997 with PPR and led 10 laps early in the season at Atlanta, before fading back to third. Midway through the season, Shepherd moved over to the No. 77 Jasper Motorsports Ford. After just a few races with the No. 77, he departed and rejoined PPR, but he now had sponsorship with R&L Carriers. His best finish for the remiander of the season was 12th at Talladega Superspeedway (October 12).
After beginning 1998 without a ride, Shepherd attempted racing with his own team again for the fourth and fifth races of the season - Atlanta Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway. Unfortunately, his No. 05 Pontiac failed to qualify in both of those races. In the following race at Bristol, Shepherd drove the No. 46 First Union Chevy for Felix Sabates and Team SABCO, finishing 24th. He then substituted for Mike Skinner in two races driving the No. 31 Lowe's Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, finishing 11th at Martinsville (April 20) and 35th at Talladega (in the DieHard 500 on April 26). After rejoining SABCO in the No. 46 at California Speedway and finishing 24th, he raced one race, at Michigan International Speedway, for Stavola Brothers Racing in the No. 8 Circuit City Chevrolet. He finished 43rd. Shepherd then spent the remainder of the season (except for the season finale) with LJ Racing owned by Joe Falk. His best finish was 15th at the Brickyard 400. He closed the season at Atlanta driving the Stavola Brothers No. 8 Nokia/Kendall Chevrolet. After starting 32nd and running near the top-10 for a part of the race, he wrecked and finished 39th.
Shepherd attempted the 1999 Daytona 500 in a car purchased from FILMAR Racing but failed to qualify. The following week at Rockingham, he made his only Cup start in the 1999 season. He drove the No. 90 Accu-turn Ford for Donlavey Racing, where he started 39th and finished 32nd, five laps down. In May 1999, Shepherd partnered with Rhea Fain in the No. 05 Wendy's Pontiac. The team failed to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600, and the partnership dissolved. Shepherd failed to qualify for each Cup race he attempted that season. However, in the Nationwide Series that year, Shepherd contended in one race, gaining a top-10 finish, where he crossed the finsih line in 10th position at North Carolina for Xpress Motorsports and Steve Coulter in the No. 61 IWX Motor Freight Pontiac.
The only NASCAR Series Shepherd raced for the 2000 NASCAR season was in the Craftsman Truck Series. He drove the No. 7 Chevy for Conely Racing, finishing 32nd at Daytona and 17th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The lack of sponorship caused the deal with owner, John Conely, to fall through.
In 2001, Shepherd formed his own Truck team, called Victory in Jesus Racing. He began campaigning the No. 21 Ford F-150 on a part-time basis. His best finish was 11th at Daytona. He lead 15 laps at South Boston Speedway. After making 16 starts that season, Shepherd finished 26th in points.
For the 2002 Truck season, his best finish was 17th at Richmond (Sept. 5). That year, he had the best Truck points finish to-date of 24th. He also made his return to the Cup series that year, beginning at New Hampshire International Raceway (July 21), where he returned with his own team, the No. 89 Red Line Oil Ford.
In 2003, he attempted six NASCAR Cup races, making two of the six. Shepherd's best finish in the truck series that year came at Darlington Raceway (March 14), where he finished 24th. He spent a majority of 2003 NASCAR season in the Nationwide Series driving the No. 0 and No. 70 Eagle Jet International Chevy for Davis Motorsports. His best finish was 11th at Talladega (April 5). With four races left of the Nationwide season in 2003, Shepherd switched over to his Victory in Jesus ride, posting two top-40 finishes (Charlotte and Phoenix).
In 2004, his Cup team switched to Dodge and attempted 32 races, qualifying for 19 of them. His best finish was 32nd at Martinsville (april 18).
For the 2005 Cup season, Shepherd only made four starts in the No. 89 Victory in Jesus Dodge (Las Vegas, Richmond, Pocono, and New Hampshire).
In May 2006, Morgan sold his entire team to his partners, who renamed the team to CJM Racing LLC. He ran the 2006 Nationwide season part-time (six races) in the No. 0 for Johhny Davis. His best finish that year was 40th at Nashville Superspeedway (June 10).
In July 2006, Shepherd entered the Cup Series again. He and Christian businessman, Dana Tomes of West Virginia, formed Faith Motorsports which put Shepherd and the No. 89 Racing With Jesus Dodge back in NASCAR's top racing series again racing two races (Richmond and New Hampshire).
At the age of 64, Shepherd made 2006 his last season competing in the NASCAR Cup Series.
In 2007, Shepherd raced 21 of 35 Nationwide races and three Truck Series races.
