DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Is the dirt late model chassis war over? | Daily 6-25-2024

Tire choices came into play with the Outlaws at Independence, one dirt late model chassis builder is dominating the game right now and I've got the numbers, plus a dirt racing series hosting a pavement race... Let's go!

It's Tuesday, June 25th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Independence Motor Speedway last night, the World of Outlaws late models on the property for a rare Monday night show. I spent a bunch of time during the Monday Daily talking about this potential three way battle for the Outlaw championship between Brandon Sheppard, Nick Hoffman, and I think eventually Bobby Pierce. And that's who the race came down to last night. Hoffman got bumped to the front row at the start when Chad Simpson had issues, and he was able to get the lead from Pierce on the first lap. The two later battled near half way, but Hoffman got squeezed up over the track down the backstretch by the lapper of Dennis Erb Jr., and that was really it. Pierce took the lead for good, pacing the final 23 circuits. Sheppard ended up second, and Hoffman faded a bit to third by the end. I don't think I saw the tire choices on the DIRTVision broadcast last night, but we did find out in victory lane that we had differing tire strategies among the podium finishers. It sounded like Hoffman and Sheppard were on the softer tire, and Pierce went harder for the race. Pierce mentioned knowing that he was probably going to get beat early, but clearly the car and the track came back to him as the feature played out. Sheppard also said they probably made the wrong call on the tire, and that it hurt him late in traffic. That trouble for Hoffman dealing with Erb felt like a race-defining moment, but knowing he was on the soft means that Pierce would have likely got by him by the end even if that doesn't happen. In the standings, no real movement among the top four. BShepp leads Hoffman by 14, Cade Dillard charged to fourth, so he's still third, 90 back. Pierce made up four points on Shepp, but he's still 120 back. The Outlaws are right back to it tonight with another Iowa show, this one at Hamilton County.

Have you guys noticed as well this season just how lopsided the chassis battle has become in dirt late model racing? With the Rocket house car still working through this driver transition from Hudson O'Neal to Tim McCreadie, Longhorn has really cemented itself as the chassis of choice. I looked at some numbers this morning, and we've had 48 national tour races this season between Lucas and the Outlaws. Longhorn cars have won 16 Outlaw races, including last night where Pierce was debuting a new piece, and 23 Lucas races. So 39 wins in 48 races is more than 81%. The three other Outlaw wins went to Dylan Knowles, who won a Talladega prelim in a Rocket. Hudson O'Neal had a Rocket win at Volusia in January, and Ryan Gustin won at Mississippi Thunder in the Wells Infinity. With Lucas, Rocket has five wins, three with O'Neal, one with Tyler Erb, and one with Jimmy Owens. None though since speedweeks ended in February. The only non-Longhorn win with Lucas in the last four months was Brandon Overton's Smoky Mountain win, also in the Wells Infinity. The top three in Lucas points are all Longhorn teams, and the top six in Outlaw points are Longhorn. It feels like that first McCreadie win is probably not far off, as they have been super consistent as of late, including three podiums. And Tyler Erb has been scorching the Summer Nationals in a Rocket. But the national tours right now are being dominated by the Longhorn teams.

Speaking of Summer Nationals, week three starts tonight at Springfield Raceway. Tyler Erb was the week one champ, while Jason Feger was on top for week two. Erb leads Feger by 33 for the overall title. It looks like just four drivers have attempted every race so far. They are Erb, Feger, Kye Blight, and Dillon McCowan. No Modified Nationals tonight, they are back to racing tomorrow at Tri-City. We should have a similar cast of characters tonight at Springfield that we've been seeing in recent races. Logan Martin the defending Hell Tour winner here, and he is expected to race tonight. The rest of week three includes Tri-City, Macon for the Herald and Review 100, Famer City, Highland, and Red Hill through Sunday. Both the Outlaws and Summer Nationals can be watched tonight on DIRTVision.

Also in action tonight is the Super DIRTcar Series big block modifieds. They head to Albany-Saratoga for $7600 to win. Stewart Friesen won the most recent race, at Big Diamond back on June 4th. Anthony Perrego has a slight eight point lead over Peter Britten right now in the championship. Just three races complete though in the points paying season. Tonight will feature a different format, with a break at lap 46. The leader at that point will earn a $2000 bonus, and then we'll have an invert of four, six or eight for the final 30 lap run to the finish and the $7600 check. This could be a good night for guys like Britten, Jack Lehner, and Mike Mahaney, as they run Albany-Saratoga weekly. This race will also be on DIRTVision.

Finally today, did you guys see this deal where the Southern All Stars are going to run their dirt late models on a pavement track later this year? Announced late last night, the southeast based super late model tour will run at Anderson Motor Speedway on September 20th. Anderson is a 3/8 paved oval just outside Greenville, South Carolina. It's not too far off 85, if you've ever made that drive in between Atlanta and Charlotte. They race will pay $12,000 to win, and Joey Coulter was on track just about a week ago testing tires for the upcoming race. Dirt on Dirt reported that Ray Cook was on hand as well, and that another tire test will happen sometime in July. Here is a little video of the test that the Southern All Stars shared on social media. Pavement races had previously been apart of the Southern All Stars' schedule, but it's been more than 20 years since it happened. Dalton Cook is your current Southern All Stars championship leader and the series' next race is this coming weekend at Clayhill Motorsports Park in Tennessee.

That's it for the daily show today. I'm down to just one t-shirt left over at shop.dirtrackr.com. It's a size large. I have marked it down to $15, and I'll throw in a free daily show logo sticker if you want to grab it today. That's shop.dirtrackr.com.

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