DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
Dirt racing news, results, discussion, analytics. Sprint cars, late models, modifieds, you name it. From national series, to top local shows. Brought to you five days a week. Email the show at info@dirtrackr.com.
Updates on Gas City and Jade Avedisian; lots of Lucas questions to answer | Daily 4-25-2024
Hopes at Gas City take a blow, we've got lots of Lucas late model questions, I'll share a full rundown on USAC midget full timers, sprint car driver news, and plenty more on this Thursday. Let's go!
It's Thursday, April 25th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
We haven't seen them in a month, but the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is back to racing this weekend with a trio of events up the east coast. They'll run Friday at Georgetown, Saturday at Hagerstown, and Sunday at Port Royal. As a quick reset, Ricky Thornton Jr. holds a very slight five point lead over Jonathan Davenport in the standings. Devin Moran and Hudson O'Neal hold down the other two important spots in that top four. This was supposed to be the first weekend of the season with the Outlaws and Lucas head-to-head, but cancellations have nixed that. And I would definitely expect some of the Outlaw teams to join up with these races this weekend. There are plenty of question marks to keep an eye on this weekend, including just who exactly Hudson O'Neal will be driving for. We talked about the chatter around him racing for himself effectively with Longhorn support, but it's not official until it's official. I think with the question marks around O'Neal, plus Ricky Thornton Jr. looking just a tad more human as of late, things are much tighter at the top at the moment. Jonathan Davenport is coming in with momentum after those MLRA wins at Wheatland, and Devin Moran has been very good this season, including a Lucas win in March at Brownstown. And will we see Tim McCreadie really start to settle in with Rocket. He's been pretty consistent here so far early in this new deal, but the tracks coming up this weekend are right in his wheelhouse. He's still got work to do with Mark Richards if they are going to get into the Lucas chase, and that will mean needing to start picking up some wins. One sidenote for Georgetown on Friday, NASCAR driver Ross Chastain is expected to appear, with the Cup Series not far away on Sunday in Dover.
The other big dirt late model show this weekend is the Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series at Smoky Mountain Speedway on Saturday. That's $15 grand to win and the standings are tight through the first three races. Less than 100 points separate the top 15 at the moment. The top three in standings in Brandon Overton, Chris Ferguson, and Cory Hedgecock are probably the three to watch for the win. They have all bagged super late model victories with various series at Smoky Mountain the past few years. With no Spring Nationals or Southern All Stars shows this weekend, I would expect a very healthy field here on Saturday.
The 2024 USAC midget season is set to kick off this weekend with two nights at Kokomo on the schedule. Earlier this week, Richie Murray gave us a rundown on the list of full timers expected to compete for the championship this season. Back with Abacus Racing to defend his title, and also looking for the USAC triple crown is Logan Seavey. I mentioned just a few days ago that he is currently riding a streak of 22 straight top tens in USAC midget competition. Chasing Seavey this season will be Justin Grant in the NOS RMS Racing 2, Ryan Timms is chasing both midget titles in the Keith Kunz 67, Daison Pursley has moved over to Chad Boat's 86 car, Jacob Denney returns to the Malloy 25, Gavin Miller is back in the KKM 97, Cannon McIntosh will also chase both championships with KKM, Jake Andreotti and Matt Westfall are competing for the new 4 Kings Racing, Hayden Reinbold is in the Reinbold Underwood 19AZ, Kevin Thomas Jr. has joined Mounce Stout for the full run, Zach Daum is in the RAMCO Speed Group 7P, Kyle Jones will make the full pull with Corey Joyner, Ashton Torgerson is in the KKM 67K fresh off his first Xtreme midget win, and Zach Wigal will join Daison Pursley at CB Industries. The drivers missing from the 2023 title chase include Bryant Wiedeman and Jade Avedisian. We know Jade is putting a much bigger focus on pavement racing in 2024, but is still making select midget starts with KKM and Toyota. She was planning on being at Kokomo this weekend, but is instead choosing to sit out after flipping at Farmer City two weeks ago. Wiedeman announced just yesterday that he is finishing up high school and his baseball season, and then will race sprint cars this summer around the midwest with Ochs Racing. That schedule right now includes appearances with the ASCS, POWRi, and High Limit. I don't think Wiedeman has done much of any sprint car racing in his career to this point. The Ochs Racing 1X team ran last year with Jake Bubak in the car. Bubak is running this season for Bourke Motorsports. Recent Kokomo midget winners with USAC include Cannon McIntosh in 2022, and Chris Windom and Emerson Axsom in 2021.
And speaking of the midgets, there was a schedule change to Indiana Midget Week announced yesterday. And for those of you hoping for good news about the future of Gas City I-69 Speedway, this one comes as a blow. Gas City is being replaced by Lawrenceburg for June 5th. The release said the reason was because of the quote "close of the track." Gas City is also slated to hold a sprint week show on July 26th, plus the James Dean Classic in September. The USAC release pointed towards future announcements for those dates. We documented the issues at Gas City back on the March 12th daily show, and in the month or so since then, nothing has gotten better. This USAC schedule change is definitely not a good sign for any sort of racing future at Gas City.
Updating a sprint car driver change from earlier this week, we know that the Beaver Racing 12X team had parted ways with Carson McCarl. And now we know that when the team returns to racing next week at Lakeside with High Limit it will be Paul Nienhiser in the car. A regular around Illinois, Nienhiser won 11 times in a sprint car last year, including six 410 victories and five in a 360. The majority coming with MOWA and the Sprint Invaders. He's got one career High Limit appearance, at 34 Raceway last season, and we haven't seen him with the Outlaws since 2021.
Looking around the country this weekend, weather is going to be a problem a lot of places. The World of Outlaws Late Model series has already sacked weekend stops at Arrowhead and 81 Speedway. And the MLRA will not be at Callaway Raceway and Lake Ozark as originally planned. I also saw that the USMTS has cancelled the Fall Jamboree makeup scheduled for Deer Creek Speedway. Make sure you check websites and social media before you head out to the dirt track this weekend.
I'd love to do a preview of the World of Outlaws sprint cars at Knoxville, but things don't look great there for Friday and Saturday as well. I don't want to be that guy, but I'm going to remain hopeful that they are able to race. We've got the top five in the standings separated by just 68 points, and I think we could see a very healthy car count if the forecasts don't scare teams away. Drivers that won at Knoxville with the Outlaws in 2023 include Brian Brown and David Gravel in June, plus Donny Schatz, Carson Macedo and Aaron Reutzel during Nationals prelims, and Kyle Larson in the big show. Next up after this weekend is a Wednesday show at Jacksonville Speedway where we will see the debut of Brandon Sheppard with the series.
Alright, that's it for the Daily show this week. Drop me a commment and let me know your dirt racing plans for the next few days and anything you're looking forward to.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday and a great weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!