DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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There's no lack of dirt late model news to talk about | Daily 5-2-2024
Incredible racing at Jacksonville, plus details on a dirt late model drivers off tours, plus a big change for a championship contender. Let's go!
It's Thursday, May 2nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
It's a big sprint car weekend at Eldora Speedway, with Let's Race Two getting rolling tomorrow night. We'll see the World of Outlaws and USAC in action at the Big E. And for those of you headed to Eldora, that means another opportunity to visit our friends at The Whistle Stop Bar and Grill located just 7 miles South of the track in Ansonia. Don't forget they also have a sister business located in Downtown Greenville, Ohio called Sure Shot Tap House. Sure Shot Tap House is a 46 tap self pour facility featuring domestic and craft beer, ciders, seltzers, bourbons, and winess. They also have a self-serve cocktail machine that compliments their amazing food menu. Venture upstairs to the Bullseye Game Lounge which boasts Duckpin Bowling as well as 24 arcade games, making Sure Shot the ultimate destination to Eat, Drink, and Play all under one roof. New this year, they will be running buses from Eldora to Sure Shot on the Fridays of all major events. The trip includes a buffet, $15 pour card, swag bag and more! Visit www.sureshottaphouse.com/events for more information on this great day trip. Thanks to the Whistle Stop and Sure Shot Tap House for their support of the daily show.
I'm not really even sure where to start today, as there is a lot to get to from yesterday, including late model news, the Outlaws at Jacksonville and more. I'll guess we'll start with last night's racing. I figured we'd have a healthy field at Jacksonville, but I'm not sure I expected 56 cars. Very solid for a Wednesday night, and things were definitely boosted by the High Limit rainout at 81 Speedway. Several High Limit teams made the tow including Kyle Larson, Corey Day, James McFadden, Brenham Crouch, Brad Sweet, and Parker Price Miller. We also had some other NASCAR drivers in the field, including Chase Briscoe and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. And the sold out crowd in attendance got their money's worth. We had a non-stop 35 lap feature that saw furious action through lap traffic. Kyle Larson led the most laps, but it was David Gravel earning win number four. Gravel at one point was as low as fifth. Those two went to war the final few laps through traffic, and ultimately it was the Big Game 2 coming out on top. It was the first time we'd seen Larson in contention in a while, but Gravel made some incredible moves down the stretch. Great track, great racing for sure. Behind the top two, Buddy Kofoid settled for third after starting on the pole, Carson Macedo was fourth, and Corey Day fifth. Gravel did extend his championship lead, and Macedo is up to fourth now around Schuchart who still doesn't have a podium finish this season. Next up for the World of Outlaws is two nights at Eldora Speedway, Friday and Saturday. As I mentioned in the open, this is the Let's Race Two weekend which will also feature the USAC National Sprint Cars. Hopefully mother nature plays nice.
Before we move on to some late model news, DIRTRACKR hats are back in stock at shop.dirtrackr.com. If they haven't sold out by the time I get this show uploaded, there are two colors, charcoal and white. These are performance style Richardson snapbacks, with the Your Daily Dose of Dirt logo in as a rubber patch. If you ordered yesterday, all of those are already shipped. Grab one of the new hats now with a sticker or two, and I do still have just a few t-shirts left in size large. Hat stock is limited, so act fast. shop.dirtrackr.com.
There are several notable late model news stories to talk about today, but we'll kick it off with some news that I don't think is even super public yet. I got word of this earlier this week, and it has been confirmed to me that crew chief Randall Edwards and Brandon Sheppard's B5 team have parted ways. Randall has not been with the team for the last few races they've appeared at. Sheppard is the current World of Outlaws Late Model Series points leader and has two wins, and 27 top tens in 34 races this season across the Outlaws, Lucas and more. Edwards joined up with BShepp late in 2023, and he was there when Sheppard won the Dirt Track World Championship driving a car owned by Kevin Rumley. Things have ramped up significantly this year for the Sheppard Riggs Racing team as they are now the Longhorm Factory Team, and expectations were going to be very high. Supposedly everything is amicable between the two sides with the split. From my own perspective, I think this is a pretty incredible illustration of just how difficult dirt late model racing is at the moment. Sheppard is leading a championship and has been really consistent, but that team hasn't quite had the pace of the Ricky Thornton Jr's, the Jonathan Davenports, the Bobby Pierces, so they make a change. At the moment, the team has not brought in a replacement, instead choosing to stick with the crew they have in place. We'll see how they do this weekend at Mississippi Thunder with big money up for grabs with the Outlaws.
On the Lucas side, we've have a few drivers drop off the tour, with one high profile one happening yesterday. Instead of heading to Ponderosa and Florence this weekend, Tyler Erb and BEST will be in action with the World of Outlaws. This move ends a five year run tour for Erb, and the BEST car has been out with Lucas since 2016. It hasn't been easy for Erb the last few seasons, including an eighth place run a year ago, and through 17 events in 2024, Erb is outside the Lucas top 10. This team was previously a perennial contender, including winning the championship in 2017 with Josh Richards. Pick and choose will be the name of the game going forward, and I'd bet we'll see Erb out a bunch with the Summer Nationals, where he's had plenty of success.
Also falling off the Lucas tour before last weekend's races at Georgetown and Port Royal was rookie of the year contender Tony Jackson Jr. Driver the Capital house car, Jackson was way down in the standings, and without a top ten finish through 15 races. His best run so far was a 16th at All-Tech in February.
We also had a driver change announced yesterday, with Wil Herrington parting with ASD Motorsports. Herrington and ASD had planned on a full time assault of the Hunt the Front tour, but that is over now. Herrington currently 10th in the Hunt the Front standings. He'll go pick and choose in his family super, plus add in some crate races, including this weekend at Swainsboro. ASD will likely still be at the Hunt the Front shows this weekend in the Carolinas, with John Henderson in the 2X. As expected, that HTF field continuing to thin out a bit. As stacked as it started out, it was going to be tough for all of those teams to stay committed.
Looking around the country, lots of dirt racing on the schedule for Friday and Saturday. Besides the Outlaws and USAC at Eldora, High Limit has two nights at Lakeside on tap. Friday will be $10,000 to win, and Saturday will feature $50,000 to win for the Kubota High Limit sprint car teams. The World of Outlaws late models have two nights coming up at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Wisconsin. Remember tonight is rained out, but Friday and Saturday will both feature $25,000 to win shows. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is in the south for stops at Ponderosa and Florence. Those are $12k and $15k to win races. Ricky Thorton Jr. coming off the sweep last weekend, and a tight battle down through the points is ongoing. And the Hunt the Front series will be at Ulimate Motorsports Park Friday and Lancaster Speedway on Saturday. Brandon Overton will be looking to extend his championship advantage over Chris Ferguson and Joseph Joiner there. There are plenty of other options as well including the IRA Sprint Cars, Spring Nationals late models, and other local and regional action. Drop me a comment and let me know your dirt racing plans for the next few days.
That's it for the Daily show this week. Big thanks to all of you for tuning in and your continued support. Make sure to check out the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com/watchtonight for your viewing options the next few days.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!