DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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It's not always somebody getting fired | Daily 5-26-2024
Several Outlaw drivers are indeed headed for Port Royal, the World of Outlaws championship is wide open, Jonathan Davenport wins big and Tim McCreadie has a good night, plus not every split is a driver getting fired. Let's go!
It's Sunday, May 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
Off the top today, the Kubota High Limit sprint cars are racing for $75,000 to win tonight at Port Royal for the Weikert, and there will be World of Outlaws drivers in the field. This was something we talked about almost two weeks ago when we discussed which High Limit races were potentially in play for the Outlaw drivers to use their four freebies for the season. I had heard that there were some Outlaw teams considering this race because of the proximity to the Ohio races and the money available. But just a few days ago, in talking to some industry friends, we weren't sure who, if any teams would do it. Late in the week though things started to become clear, and first we found out that Brock Zearfoss had decided to make the trip, as his team shared the plan to Facebook. Just this morning it was Logan Schuchart announcing he was inbound as well. His name was one I had heard about. And then the one we'd been hearing all along was David Gravel, and he's confirmed as racing tonight as well. Also, Danny Dietrich, who is involved in promoting this race, alluded to maybe some others, but we'll see. So a six and a half hour trip from Atomic, and a five and a half hour trip back to Fremont for Monday doesn't seem to be bothering several of these Outlaw teams. It's important to point out as well, that a full time Outlaw driver hadn't won an Outlaw show at Port Royal since Donny Schatz did it in 2019. So the numbers aren't in their favor, but things always change with big money on the line. The Saturday portion of the Weikert was rained out, so everyone in the field today will be starting from the same point. Those local and High Limit teams won't have the advantage of racing last night. Hot laps are scheduled for today at 5:15 eastern, and if you can't get to Port Royal, watch it live on FloRacing.
After these past two nights at Atomic with the World of Outlaws, we've had some shifting in the championship. Gravel won Friday, getting around Brady Bacon in lap traffic and picking up season victory number eight over Carson Macedo and Buddy Kofoid. Kofoid had a huge bounceback from not getting a qualifying lap in because of mechanical issues. It looked like it was maybe something under the hood with that Toyota engine. He went a massive 10th to the third in the heat race though to drag that team off the bottom, and was able to get to the podium and keep his top ten streak alive. Last night though is where we really saw things shift. Early on while fighting Sheldon Haudenschild for the lead, Gravel tangled with the lap car of Keith Baxter and knocked the front end out of the Big Game two. And then he was trapped in the work area making repairs, so the best they could do was 21st. They would have been 23rd, but ended up coming out of the work area later and bunch of laps down and picking up two more positions. We'll see if those four points come into play later this season. Sheldon your winner, but Kofoid and Macedo again on the podium. Macedo is now second in the standings just 36 points out, Schatz is back to third, Gio Scelzi still fourth, but Kofoid is now up to fifth, and 94 points behind. I said it last week, but this Roth team could be in the mix all summer if Kofoid's speed continues. If you have a subscription to DIRTRACKR Plus, you can view the Streakers stat for each series tracked, and right now it's 18 straight top tens for Kofoid, and 19 straight for Macedo. The Outlaws are right back to racing tomorrow night at Fremont.
The other big money available this weekend was for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series at Lucas Oil Speedway for the Show-Me 100. Ricky Thornton Jr. swept the two nights leading into last night's finale. A little bit of drama in each, as RTJ nipped Garrett Alberson on a late restart to win Thursday. And then Friday, we had a little early race contact between RTJ and Jonathan Davenport. Definitely a little fire there between those two drivers. Last night though, Davenport went fourth to the lead on the first lap, and never relinqueshed the lead from there. He paced all 80 laps for the $50,000 win. Tim McCreadie, Daulton Wilson also on the podium. Hat tip as well to Ross Robinson on a 25th to fourth charge. I said last week that Davenport would be a factor, and he was strong last night. That was his third Lucas win of the season. McCreadie running second was his first podium run in the Rocket house car, and we'll see if this is a sign of more things to come. He's now sixth in the Lucas standings, and that battle for the final chase spot that I've continued to point to is still really tight. Hudson O'Neal is back to fourth because of a not great weekend for Mike Marlar, but fourth to ninth is separated by just 70 points now. Lucas teams are off for a few weeks now, with Smoky Mountain next on June 14th and 15th.
With the World of Outlaws late models, their big show at Ultimate Motorsports Park was rained out. Ross Bailes, Bobby Pierce split the Friday night prelim features.
There were a bunch of other winners around the country, even though several races did get washed out. Ryan Timms and Cannon McIntosh split the Xtreme midget wins at Atomic with the Outlaws. Cannon Mac still well in control of those standings. Logan Seavey, back to Thursday, won the second night at Circle City with the USAC sprint cars. He's 86 points clear of Kevin Thomas Jr. for that title fight.
Other weekend open wheel winners included Danny Dietrich Friday at Williams Grove, Cale Thomas was an Attica winner, Zane Devault swept 410 features at Fremont, and Chase Randall won his first ever 410 race last night at Knoxville. Scotty Neitzel was the IRA winner last night at Wilmot, the IRA Sunday race at 141 Speedway has been cancelled.
Other weekend late model winners included Will Roland with the Spring Nationals at Sugar Creek, Rusty Schlenk swept the weekend Iron-Man races between Attica and Oakshade, and Jason Feger was a MARS winner at Fairbury.
Weekend USMTS wins went to Jim Chisholm, who went back to back between Hamilton County and Fayette County. Lucas Schott was the Friday winner at Deer Creek, and last night it was Brandon Davis at Mississippi Thunder. Jake Timm leads Chisholm and Rodney Sanders in the standings heading to Mason City tonight.
Finally today, a little bit of sprint car driver news. Through this early part of 2024, we've been following along with Hunter Schuerenberg's ride situation, as for a period he was the driver for three different sprint car teams. Hayward and Heidbreder had brought him in for both of their 410 teams, and following the departure of Lachlan McHugh from the Deuce 5 team around Knoxville, Schuerenberg was announced there as well after a few races with Kerry Madsen in the seat. You wondered how he would balance responsibilities for three different 410 sprint car teams, but now we know he won't have to do it. Back on Friday, Hayward Motorsports announced that going forward, Joel Myers Jr. from California will drive the Shiti Coolers 19 machine. If they stick with their original schedule posted back in January, that would mean Myers' first race will be the May 31st High Limit race at Lawrenceburg. No other details were shared from Hayward, and there has been nothing publicly about the move from Schuerenberg, at least that I can find. Schuerenberg did go to Lake Ozark last night and win the POWRi 410 show, topping Noah Gass and Kyle Bellm for $5000. That was in the Heidbreder 19. Schuerenberg had made four appearances with Hayward, including a 16th with Maverick at Terre Haute, a 12th with High Limit at Kokomo, 20th with POWRi at Lee County, and a DNS in the feature last week at Knoxville. I've heard rumblings that potentially this situation was Schuerenberg walking away from the Hayward team and not him getting replaced. If that's true, it's an interesting illustration and a good reminder that sometimes these deals go sideways and it's the driver walking away. I feel like we always assume someone got fired, but it's not always the case. Schuerenberg clearly has something solid going with Heidbreder, and this will be a good chance for Myers to get more experience outside of California. I don't know though what this means for the Deuce 5, as Schuerenberg hasn't been driving it lately either. Matt Juhl was in that car for a few weeks, and then Daison Pursley drove it to an 11th place finish at Knoxville last night.
That's it for the Daily show today. Hopefully you get a chance to enjoy plenty of motorsports on this Memorial Day Sunday.
Hope you guys have a great day out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!