DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Another Scott Bloomquist comeback derailed? | Daily 5-5-2024
On this overreaction Sunday, we'll talk about the High Limit championship maybe being over already, plus another Scott Bloomquist comeback has been derailed, a big win for Tanner Holmes, and more. Let's go!
It's Sunday, May 5th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
As I figured, the new hats didn't last long over in the DIRTRACKR merch shop. The charcoal are completely sold out and there are just a few left of the white. These feature the Your Daily Dose of Dirt logo as a rubber patch on the hats, the lids themselves are a performance style from Richardson. They are snapbacks, but also very light weight, moisture wicking, and stretchy. You can grab a shirt, hat, or sticker right now over at shop.dirtrackr.com.
It was a busy weekend of dirt racing across the country, even though we did have some rainouts. There were plenty of shows that looked iffy before Thursday and Friday, but a lot of them did get in, including both national sprint car series' races. With the Kubota High Limit sprint cars, I think there is a very reasonable chance that we look back at this last two week stretch as the moment Brad Sweet really took control of the championship. He was winless through his first nine High Limit starts, and had trailed Tyler Courtney in the standings, but since April 19th at Southern Oklahoma, Sweet has four of the last five High Limit races, and was fourth in the other one. This weekend it was a complete sweep at Lakeside, including Saturday's $50,000 finale. It was fifth to the win Friday over Courtney and Kyle Larson, and sixth to the win last night over Larson and James McFadden. Headed to 34 Raceway and Tri-City next weekend, Sweet is now the championship leader by eight points over Courtney. Sunshine continues to run well, lead laps, and he's got 11 straight top tens, but Sweet and the 49 team have come alive. Looking at a few other drivers down the order, I continue to be surprised by how little we've seen from Justin Peck. Ninth in the standings, and very up and down. He was fifth last night, but that was after finishes of 15th and 17th the previous two races. And Cory Eliason's woes continue. He DNF'd last night after breaking an axle, and didn't make the feature on Friday, missing out on a transfer in the B. These guys are still searching for speed with new crew chief Jim Shuttlesworth, and still down in 13th in the standings.
With the Outlaws, they got both shows in at Eldora along with the USAC sprint cars. Sheldon Haudenschild had a dominating win on Friday, while David Gravel came out on top of a good battle with Donny Schatz last night. Sheldon definitely looks to be on a better path than he was a year ago. Through 18 races, he's already bested his win total from 2023. Buddy Kofoid and Carson Macedo added to their streaks, Macedo currently has eight straight top fives. And no real changes in the championship order. Going to Pennsylvania this week, David Gravel still in control by 48 over Schatz, Gio Scelzi, Macedo, and Schuchart. Logan still consistent, but no podiums. And Schatz back in contention at Eldora after being outside the top ten at both Haubstadt and Jacksonville. The Outlaws are at Lincoln on Wednesday, and then Williams Grove next weekend.
The USAC wins at Eldora went to Robert Ballou and Justin Grant. Ballou won a photo finish over Kyle Cummins Friday, and then Grant came out on top of a fantastic slider fest with Logan Seavey on Saturday. JG though promptly junked his sprint car after the checkered, flipping in turn three and needing to be towed to victory lane. Kyle Larson with a savage tweet afterwards, saying he was handing the celebration fail crown over to Grant. If you might remember, Larson crashed the Rumley six after winning at Golden Isles in 2023.
The World of Outlaws late models had a fun two nights at Mississippi Thunder, with Nick Hoffman getting win number three on Friday, and Ryan Gustin outdueling Bobby Pierce last night. Nine races into the season, Hoffman looks like a legit title contender, and is just 24 points behind Brandon Sheppard for the lead. And Gustin and his team might be on to something with that Wells Infinity chassis. Third with the Carolina Clash at Lavonia on April 26th, they won the Hunt the Front show at Smoky Mountain, and a fourth and a win this weekend with the Outlaws. Impressive stuff from Gustin and that Cooney team.
Updating the Brandon Sheppard, Randall Edwards deal. The team did announce publicly late last week that Edwards had departed Sheppard Riggs Racing. You might remember we broke this story on the Thursday daily show. Edwards already has a new home though, as he's been hired to guide 15 year old Carson Brown. Brown has made appearances this season with both national tours, and was 10th in his last race with the Carolina Clash at Cherokee.
The other dirt late model story I wanted to talk about today is the derailment of yet another Scott Bloomquist comeback. Bloomer had signed on to run the full Hunt the Front series this season, but just five races into the 25 race schedule, things sound like they are probably over already. Friday night at Ultimate Motorsports Park, after a lengthy delay to the program because of rain, Bloomquist was involved in a massive pileup early in the 50 lap feature. Down the front straightaway, his car suddenly veered to the right, with Cla Knight somehow not getting collected, but several others were, including Chris Ferguson, Ashton Winger, Jamison McBride, Zach Mitchell, Trey Mills, and Jeff Smith. Everyone was okay, but a 25 minute red flag period was needed to clean up the carnage. Bloomquist was credited with 22nd, and sits 13th in the Hunt the Front standings. But chatter on the interwebs points to the team off the tour, and likely not racing again until the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora in June. Some have said the team only had a single car and a single engine, and the damage from the incident hurt that car. Bloomer did tell FloRacing and Dirt on Dirt a few months ago that he was short on equipment, so these recent rumors would seem to be in line with that. The hall of famer had shown flashes of speed early on this year, including a fifth with the Spring Nationals at Tazewell, and a second with Hunt the Front at All-Tech. Hunt the Front doesn't race again for a few weeks, but if the chatter is true, we won't seem Bloomquist again for a month. Sam Seawright was the HTF winner on Friday over Brandon Overton. The Saturday race at Lancaster was rained out.
Before we close out today, big hat tip to Tanner Holmes on his 360 sprint car win at Hanford on Friday night. He got around leader Cole Macedo on the final lap in traffic, and held on for the victory after Macedo went full send into three and four and ending up crashing. Holmes hadn't won a sprint car race since July of last year, and his family team has really battled on the road early this year. He finished out 2023 in the Shark Racing 1T out with the Outlaws, but is back in the family owned 18T for this season. Eight national touring appearances so far, with four features made and a best finish of 13th. That came against High Limit at Salina. This will be a nice confidence booster though, as that Hanford feature included the aforementioned Macedo, plus California stars Dominic Scelzi, DJ Netto, Chase Johnson, and others. Holmes is sticking around the west coast for the next couple of months, running up through the Super Dirt Cup at Skagit. Their schedule shows them heading back east in July.
Other weekend sprint car winners included Lance Dewease at Williams Grove, Scotty Thiel with the IRA at Cedar Lake, and Aaron Reutzel won the Knoxville opener.
That's it for the Daily show today. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of your Sunday. We'll see you back here on tomorrow!