Las Vegas police said a 69-year-old NASCAR driver chased down a shoplifting suspect in a Walmart parking lot.

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Police said Morgan Shepherd, 69, a veteran of 44 NASCAR seasons, ran after the suspects as they ran from the store near the Las Vegas Speedway with police in pursuit Monday evening, KSNV-TV, Las Vegas, reported Wednesday.

"I caught one of them just as they were getting ready to hop a little wall at the end of the parking lot. I yanked him down and got on top of him," Shepherd said.

Shepherd said a police officer tossed him a pair of handcuffs and asked him to hold the suspect while he and store security ran after the other two young men.

"I didn't tell him a 69-year-old man chased him down," said Shepherd, a fitness buff who jogs daily. "He was probably 18 or 19. I told him he shouldn't be stealing stuff. There is just too much of this stuff going on."

Police said the three men were arrested but the pending charges against them were not released.