DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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We've got spy footage of Brandon Sheppard's sprint car test | Daily 4-15-2024

Corey Day strikes with High Limit, Danny Dietrich stays hot, Dale McDowell got DQ'd from a win, and stick around for the end to see Brandon Sheppard drive a sprint car. Let's go!

It's Monday, April 15th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Last night at RPM Speedway, the Kubota High Limit sprint cars were back in action as they continue a very busy stretch of racing. Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway it was Anthony Macri going to victory lane, but RPM is a very different style race track. And with the surface having a little character, it seemed to play right into Corey Day's strengths. Just like some of those California bullrings he's been racing on. Kerry Madsen was fast all night, and he used a good dash starting spot to control much of the main event after starting on the pole. He was challenged early by Macri, but past half way Day got the 14 machine rolling. Inside ten to go after a restart and an open red, Madsen caught a rut wrong in turn two and it was the opening Day needed. He led the final six laps en route to his first career High Limit win. Madsen settled for second, with Jacob Allen third. Day now has wins with both High Limit and the Outlaws, but this one last night was very different than that Outlaw score at the Gold Cup in 2023. I've heard some people try and play that Gold Cup win off as he started on the pole and was able to just stay out front. But this victory last night was a statement. Starting fourth and driving through guys like Brad Sweet, Macri, Allen, Madsen to win shows he's ready to race. I do think Madsen was impressive in just his fourth race with Brandon Ikenberry, and Jacob Allen continues to look like a different guy. Five top tens in six High Limit races, and three straight finishes of fourth or better. That includes the win at Golden Isles in February, and laps led at Texas Motor Speedway. Some guys who will be looking to bounce back include Rico Abreu who had a crash last night, and Justin Peck who has finishes of 21st and 19th the last two races. High Limit is off today, with the first midweek race tomorrow at Red Dirt Raceway in Oklahoma.

At BAPS Motor Speedway on Sunday, Danny Dietrich picked up sprint car win number three on the season. He got around Kyle Moody inside ten to go and drove on to the win with Moody ending up second and Dylan Cisney third. Since returning home to Pennsylvania after Volusia and East Bay, Dietrich has only been off the podium once, on March 29th at the Grove where he had a crash and finished 21st.

If you're curious where we stand at the moment on sprint car earnings, David Gravel leads all drivers with just shy $82,000 in winnings. Tyler Courtney is second with $73,000 and Sheldon Haudenschild third with $65,000. Those three drivers also top the charts in average winnings per race. As for most sprint car starts, Anthony Macri leads all drivers with 18 races, Jacob Allen and Danny Dietrich are tied for second with 17. Macri also tops the win column, with four so far. A bunch of these numbers can be found thanks to Bill over at sprintcarratings.com.

So, on the show yesterday I mentioned that Dale McDowell had picked up a Southern All Stars win over the weekend, beating Ray Cook and Heath Hindman at the North Georgia Speedway. Only, he actually didn't. In the aftermath of the win, Southern All Stars officials declared that McDowell had gone over the tire allotment for the event. You are only allowed six tires, four marked, two unmarked, but McDowell used seven. Officials discovered after the race that McDowell's car had three unmarked tires on it. So because of the infraction, SAS officials DQ'd McDowell after the race and elevated Ray Cook to the $10,000 win. As is usually the case in these situations, there is controversy about the call, because according to a Shane McDowell Racing Facebook post, and one from the series, McDowell's car was checked before the feature to see if the tires were correct, and it was allowed to race. It wasn't until afterwards when officials were getting tire samples that the infraction was realized and a decision made. As you can imagine, it doesn't seem as though the McDowell team is particularly happy with getting DQ'd, and the series says they don't believe the team broke the rules intentionally. This six tire rule is not listed in the SAS rulebook online, but it was included in info sheets posted to their Facebook page, and the series says it was announced at the drivers meeting. There seems to have been some sort of breakdown in communication here though, and McDowell lost the win because of it. It's not great that officials missed it initially, but the team does bear some responsbility to understand the rules they are racing under. The Southern All Stars are back in action this week at Greenville Speedway, while McDowell's next scheduled events are Thunderhill and Talladega with the World of Outlaws.

Finally today. We know that coming up Brandon Sheppard will make his World of Outlaws sprint car debut at Jacksonville Speedway on Wednesday, May 1st. As I mentioned on the show last week, there was no way BShepp was going into that cold, and he got some laps in yesterday during practice at Jacksonville in one of Jake Neuman's cars. Neuman's team will field the B5 Valvoline sprint car for Shepp in that race, and I didn't know this, but BShepp is cousins with the Neumans, so this is a family affair. If you happen to have missed it yesterday, Sheppard shared a wild Brendan Bauman photo from the test where he is in a full wheelie. Great photo from Brendan. I also happen to have some super secret spy video footage of Sheppard making laps which I will push play on right now... That footage isn't actually spy footage, but it sounds better that way. Thanks to Taylor Norris for letting me share it. I don't know about you, but I'd say Sheppard looks pretty damn good out there in a sprint car. Not that we'd expect anything different from one of the most talented racers on dirt. The World of Outlaws Late Models champoinship leader is fitting that sprint car race in between Arrowhead and 81 Speedway on April 26th and 27th, then three nights at Missippi Thunder right after. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how he does.

Alright, that's it for the Daily show today. Streaming schedule is at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight, news and updates at dirtrackr.com.

Hope you guys have a great Monday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!