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Lots of questions after Tony Stewart shutters SHR, things get weird and wild at Macon | Daily 5-29-2024

Things get wild and weird at Macon, we had a last lap pass for the win with High Limit, a Central PA sprint car team is out a driver yet again, and we'll talk Tony Stewart and the future for his dirt racing interests. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, May 29th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Macon Speedway last night, FloRacing Night in America late model season opener. It's been a while since we had a dumpster fire like that in a major touring late model race. I don't know if it was a full moon, or what, but that thing turned into a demo derby, and right from the start. There was almost immediately an incident at the green flag, and it foreshadowed the madness that was to come. We were 30 minutes deep into the feature and only had just the one lap complete. One of those early incidents included one where Brandon Sheppard ended up on his lid, on top of Garrett Alberson's car, and Brian Shirley was also in there on his side. The tight confines of Macon, plus a track surface with plenty of character, and just no give and take on the race track led to a messy feature. And just to further illustrate how weird of a night it was, under one yellow with Carson Ferguson spun in turn three waiting to get a clear spot to get going again, Tim McCreadie just piled into his stopped car. TMac maybe not paying attention, or looking elsewhere at that moment. It was all very strange. Out front, Bobby Pierce had dominated from the front row, but his race went sideways late when he biked up in turn three trying to lap Tyler Erb. Pierce trying to collect the 32 allowed Ricky Thornton Jr. to close, and into turn one, RTJ licked the stamp and sent it. The aggressive slider didn't clear Pierce, and the 32 ended up spun around facing the wrong direction in the aftermath. RTJ went on to win, while Pierce recovered to sixth. Jason Feger, Hudson O'Neal also on the night's podium. In his victory lane interview, Thornton sounded remorseful and did say he didn't mean for it to end up like that. He did though take the opportunity to call out Garrett Smith for quote "running out of talent, again." On the flip side, Pierce called the move hard racing, but did say he might have some more hard racing deals with RTJ in the future. Hint hint. Overall it was a crazy night, and plenty of bent sheet metal and bent feelings. As I said yesterday, no Lucas or Outlaw shows this weekend, so these teams will be scattered across the country if they want to race. I do expect that some will take the weekend off and get things ready for a big week at Eldora coming up for the Dream. The Flo series is back next Wednesday at Eldora.

In Pennsylvania at Grandview Speedway, we had a wild finish to the Kubota High Limit sprint car show. Four lead changes among three drivers, and a last lap pass for the win. Brent Marks led the most, and he took advantage on the white flag lap when Tyler Courtney went high in one and two to try and clear lap traffic. The bottom had become pretty dominant late, and Marks drove by the 7BC and on to the win. I didn't hear anyone mention rubber down, but it certainly had that feeling late, even though some guys were still trying to keep the top rolling. It was Marks' second High Limit win in six races, and even with some tough nights at Kokomo and Outlaw in between, these guys have shown a lot of speed as of late. They also led laps at Utica-Rome. It was Marks' first career win at Grandview Speedway, which is almost hard to believe, with as much as those guys have done in Pennsylvania in recent seasons. Sunshine ended up second, with Rico Abreu again on the podium. Brad Sweet led laps late, but he fell back to fourth at the end after making a rare mistake coming to five laps to go and getting crossed up on the turn three cushion. With Courtney finishing in front, the gap in the championship did grow a little, with Sunshine now eight points ahead of Sweet. The Clauson Marshall team is also leading the midweek championship over Sweet, with 39 points the gap there. The High Limit teams have two days now to get back to Indiana, with Lawrenceburg coming up Friday, then a Saturday trip to Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan.

One driver who was not in attendance at Grandview last night who was originally slated to be there was Callum Williamson. The Australian driver had come to the US this summer to race with John Trone and the 39 team, but that deal has gone south after just 12 races and little more than four weeks together. Williamson ended up 13th in the C-Main at Port Royal during the Weikert, and things ended apparently after that. Williamson's racing Facebook page posted late last night that the two sides had mutually parted ways and that they wished the team the best. No inside info here, just a guess, but this feels like Williamson walking away. In the 12 races together, just a single top 10, a sixth at Selinsgrove back on April 21st. Every other race saw Williamson finish 15th or worse, which included several missed features. I do think Williamson is a talented driver, and I know that Central PA is a tough area, but I expected him to at least show signs of progress, and that has not happened. Since he's here for the summer and appears to have some sponsorship, I do think there is a chance he ends up somewhere else. We'll see what happens in the coming days and weeks. Their initial plan was to run through the Knoxville Nationals. No word yet on who could replace Williamson in the 39 that continues to be a revolving door for drivers.

There is more sprint car racing to come this week, as Western PA Speedweek is set to start tonight at Mercer Raceway. Five races in five nights, including Mercer, PA Motor Speedway, Lernerville, Sharon, and Tri-City through Sunday. All at least $3500 to win and $300 to start, with the champion earning an additional $3000. It looks like there is some weather in the area today, so make sure to keep an eye on the Western PA Speedweek social channels for updates.

Before we close out today, I do want to talk about Tony Stewart and the situation right now around his motorsports empire. If you pay any attention to the NASCAR world you know that Stewart and Gene Haas announced yesterday that Stewart Haas Racing, and it's four Cup teams and two Xfinity teams will shutter at season's end. The four charters they own will be sold off, along with all of the equipment and facilities. Rumors about the team's future have been persistent since last year, and it's all finally come to light officially. I'm not here to talk about Stewart Haas though, but instead what the future holds for Tony Stewart's interests in dirt racing. We know he's deep into the NHRA side now, with TSR Nitro fielding a funny car for Matt Hagan, and a top fuel car for Tony himself at the moment. His wife Leah Pruett had been driving the top fuel car, but she has stepped aside for this season as they start a family. Over the last year or so, we've seen Stewart sell the All Star Circuit of Champions to Brad Sweet and Kyle Larson. He's now getting out of the NASCAR side with SHR, and his 20,000 square feet home in Indiana is back on the market this year for $22.5 million. So I think it's only natural that people will be curious about his plans for dirt racing, and I've had some of you ask those questions over the last 24 hours. I've been asked what this means for the TSR sprint car team and their involvement with Ford, since the situation with Ford and SHR seems to be a significant reason behind the team's closure. I also was asked what this all means for the future of Eldora Speedway. And the answer is, I don't really have an answer. I have not heard any rumors about the future of Eldora, and would assume that at the moment, Tony will continue his ownership. He's been an important steward of Eldora's place in the sport since taking it over from Earl Baltes, and continued to grow the history there. I have a hard time seeing that changing. As for TSR, the Ford sprint car engine, and Donny Schatz, again, no rumblings this year. There was plenty of chatter last season about Donny Schatz looking elsewhere, and that that 15 car possibly closing or hiring another driver, but Schatz eventually decided to stay, and the 15 team is looking better this season than they have in years. Ford has invested significant resources in developing their 410 engine, and I can't see them suddenly shelving the whole thing on the cusp of it being available for purchase. But even if TSR goes away from Ford, the team could continue. They have some major sponsorship partners, and between that and the money that Donny wins every year, I'd be surprised if that team wasn't close to break even. Schatz won nearly $430,000 in 2023, and tack on another probably $150,000 for the Outlaw championship payout and series benefits, plus their Carquest Advance sponsorship, Ford support, and the rest of their partners. I'd think they are pretty close. Finding marketing partners willing to help fund six NASCAR teams is orders of magnitude more difficult than finding sponsorship for a single traveling 410 sprint car. So, at this moment, I don't have any information pointing towards the dirt stuff for Tony Stewart changing. I'm not saying it won't happen, or it's not possible, but things are status quo right now. I know there are a lot of upset people about the closure of SHR, but lives and priorities change all the time. It's a tough deal for all of their employees and drivers, but at least they have several months advance warning.

Around the dirt racing podcasts this week, Winged Nation has Danny Dietrich and Brandon Spithaler, Dirt Track Confessions has Brittney Palmer, Quicktime has Danny Sams, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks has Gauge Garcia, Caution Free has Colton Flinner, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters from Dirt on Dirt, the Dirt Nerds, Hoogie's Garage, Dunewich on Dirt, Ohio Dirt, The Hammer Lane, and The Driver's Project. To check out all of the shows and their newest episodes, head over to dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

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