DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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A Kyle Larson hot take, Outlaws vs. High Limit (again) | Daily 6-19-2024

Coming up, a Kyle Larson High Limit hot take, who is and isn't racing this weekend at Huset's, the drivers I think could win at Huset's, plus Summer Nationals and Short Track Super Series. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, June 19th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

Pennsylvania Speedweek presented by Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Brews is almost here, and it's bigger and better than ever thanks to the sponsors! From June 28th to July 7th, the Keystone State transforms into a race fan's paradise as some of the best sprint car drivers in the nation battle it out on Pennsylvania's most iconic dirt tracks! Each race pays a minimum of $10k to win with the Mitch Smith Memorial at Williams Grove on July 5 paying $20k to win and Lincoln Speedway's Kevin Gobrecht Memorial on June 29 paying a record $25k to win. In addition to the outstanding race day payoffs, C&D Rigging has returned to boost the point fund to $30k which will be paid to 15 drivers, with the champion getting $6k. Over $353,500 will be awarded throughout the week from the point fund and race purses. The Long Hollow Cattle Company is sponsoring the B-Main for the third consecutive year which includes additional money for non-qualifiers. Selinsgrove Ford will sponsor the $5,000 'Ten for Ten' bonus. A driver collects the bonus if they have a top 10 feature finish in every Speedweek event. Lelands.com will offer the 'Knockout Bonus' for heat race action. There will be $500 each night if the heat race starter with the fastest time can win the heat thereby knocking out all other drivers from the feature redraw. And new this year, the York County Racing Club is offering a $100 bonus for the first non-qualifier that is a dues paying member of the Club. Bring the family and experience the thrill of live racing! Pennsylvania Speedweek – ten nights, seven tracks, one unforgettable experience! For more information go to pa speedweeks dot com or find them on Facebook and X!

At Huset's Speedway tonight, the first of four programs for the High Bank Nationals weekend gets started. You've basically got two big money events crammed into a single event. Tonight is a $20,000 to win prelim for Thursday's $100,000 to win Huset's Hustle. Then Friday is the $20,000 to win prelim for Saturday's $250,000 to win main event. The two prelim nights will feature inverted heats and points all night long. Those points will setup main event action on Wednesday and Friday, and then where points land after those prelim nights will determine how heats are lined up for the big money programs Thursday and Saturday. Nothing carries over from the Hustle, so everyone starts fresh Friday with zero points. And yes, I know the weather forecast looks sketchy through the weekend, so we'll just have to play this one by ear. I do think there are chances to get racing in, including today, so don't lose all hope. I did confirm with the Outlaws that the entire weekend is show-up points only, so no changes will happen in the Outlaw championship. Just guys going hard for big money. At last check, Huset's had a pre-entry list of 51 cars, which includes all the full time Outlaw teams, a bunch of midwest and Huset's regulars, plus seven High Limit teams and Kyle Larson. Can we call Larson a High Limit guy at this point? I'm not sure. I know he's an owner, but if we separate his racing from his business interests... That might be my hot take of the day. Kyle Larson not actually a High Limit guy. Daison Pursley is back in Brandon Ikenberry's 25, and Brady Bacon returns to winged competition in the 21H. As I mentioned earlier this week, Larson will likely race tonight and tomorrow, with Friday and Saturday not happening because of NASCAR at New Hampshire. The rest of the High Limit teams are scattered this week, with Corey Day and Zeb Wise at Skagit, Brenham Crouch and Chris Windom headed for IRA and Maverick races, Justin Peck and Tanner Thorson taking the weekend off, Brent Marks in Central PA, and Parker Price Miller racing at Lincoln Park. So this will be another chance at some High Limit vs Outlaw drama, which I don't know if you guys are still buying into, or if you don't care. It's definitely at least an underlying storyline. And Rico Abreu continues to have fun with it, go find his video he posted on social media yesterday. I do think David Gravel is the betting favorite this weekend. He leads all drivers in average finish at the track since 2020, and has the most wins with three. That added motivation of his car owner also owning the track doesn't hurt either. Other drivers who have been strong and or won at Huset's include James McFadden, Brad Sweet, Buddy Kofoid, Larson, Sheldon Haudenschild, Logan Schuchart, and Carson Macedo. Kofoid was leading the big money race last year when his Toyota engine went up in flames, so you know that Roth wants redemption. And I kinda like Sheldon this week. A tough few nights at Knoxville, but before that it was three wins in five races. That team won't win the title this year, so there's no reason to not go all in and just try and win as many races as possible. They already have seven, and we've seen heroics at Huset's before for Haudenschild. If you can't get to Huset's this weekend, DIRTVision has live coverage. Drop your weekend predictions in the comment section below.

Before we move on, there was a new edition of The Slider email newsletter that hit inboxes yesterday. This one featured an interview with FloRacing's Michael Rigsby from Jordan Wilman. If you'd like to see what Rigsby had to say about the current state of Flo and streaming, and you don't already get The Slider, head to dirtrackr.com/theslider. There you can read past issues and sign up to get the emails for free. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue, reach out to me at info@dirtrackr.com. I do pay for submissions that get used.

Summer Nationals at Davenport on Tuesday saw yet another Tyler Erb win. He's now won all four races to start this 2024 season. That matches Scott Bloomquist's perfect four race start in 1990. Billy Moyer holds the record, winning the first six of the 1994 Hell Tour season. Kye Blight was the early leader after polesitter Daryn Klein made a mistake on lap one, and slipped over the edge in turn three. Blight was then impressive working through traffic and holding the lead until late. Erb stayed right with him, and made his move inside ten to go in traffic, and drove on to the win. Blight ended up second and Garrett Smith was third. Hat tip to Blight though, he looks like he's really starting to find his footing with the Summer Nationals. He was fifth last week at Peoria, and now this run last night. If he continues racing like this, he'll definitely win before the Summer Nationals is over. It's back to Illinois today with Adams County on tap for tonight. The Modified Nationals are back in action as well. Hunt Gossum leads the modified standings right now, with Michael Long, Trevor Neville, and Mike McKinney all winning so far. The Summer Nationals can be watched live on DIRTVision.

At New Egypt last night, the Short Track Super Series was in town for $6000 to win. And we saw something that feels a bit rare when it comes to northeast modified racing. And that's one of the main guys just flat getting beat. Stewart Friesen was out front early from the front row, but past track champion Danny Bouc had his 6B rolling. On a restart before half way, Bouc drove around Friesen on the high side and that was all she wrote. Friesen settled for second with Alex Yankowski going seventh to third. It seems like when you get Friesen or Matt Sheppard or Mat Williamson out front that it's over, but that wasn't the case last night. Williamson had issues in the main event, at one point slowing to a stop. He did bounce back to finish 11th. Matt Sheppard had problems as well and finished 19th. Thanks to the issues for Williamson and a top five for Anthony Perrego, Williamson is now back to second in the south region standings behind Perrego. The Short Track Super Series is back in a few weeks at Fonda Speedway on July 3rd.

If you're looking for some more dirt racing things for your ear hole this week, check out the podcasts page at dirtrackr.com. Winged Nation has Cameron Smith and Danny Sams, Passing Points has Wout Hoffmans, Quicktime has Chase Raudman, Hoogie's Garage has Danny Sams and Tyler Courtney, Dunewich on Dirt has Ayden Massey, Getting up to Speed has Andrew Pearce, The Driver's Project has Sam Hafertepe, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, Dirt Track Confessions, the Dirt Nerds, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, Turn 2 Terribles, Racing Roundup, Plum Wild, and the Hammer Lane. To check out all the shows and new episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

That's it for the daily show today. Make sure to follow DIRTRACKR across the various social media places so you never miss any of the conversation.

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