DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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Hopefully it will go better this time for Scott Bloomquist | Daily 6-27-2024
Corey Day can't be stopped, Chris Madden is back, actually so is Scott Bloomquist, PA Speedweek will probably look a bit different, what to watch this weekend, and more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, June 27th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
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I already said it once this week, but we are just out of superlatives for Corey Day. This past weekend it was a big pay day at Skagit, and last night it was one of the more epic runs through a field we've seen. No qualifying lap because of mechanical issues put him 11th in heat race two, where he promptly drove straight to fourth in eight laps. And a 15th place starting position come feature time was no problem either. He was into the top five in just six circuits, and then took the lead from Justin Peck on lap 14. He went third to first on a restart and that was about it. He led the final 22 laps on his way to Kubota High Limit win number five on the season. He's now won three of his last five sprint car races, including last night at Lake Ozark, the Skagit Dirt Cup victory, and the Outlaw show at Knoxville. This is the second time this season he's had a three win in five race stretch. This was the furthest back a High Limit winner has come in the short 37 race history of the series. If you were curious about the last time a run like this happened, at least in a feature, I've got three races for you. Sheldon Haudenschild went 16th to the win at Skagit last season with the Outlaws. Donny Schatz went 17th to first at Volusia in 2017, and Logan Schuchart went 19th to the win at Hanford in 2017. So it's happened, just not very often. Roudning out the podium were Justin Peck and Spencer Bayston. Outlaws Carson Macedo and Gio Scelzi were fourth and ninth. Even though he was 11th last night, Tyler Courtney still leads the midweek title fight over Brad Sweet. But the Big Cat now leads the overall championship by 88 over Courtney. I don't know how Sweet finished fifth last night with effectively no nose wing by the end. Brent Marks fell even further behind in the standings, he's now 192 back in third thanks to two flat right rears. Side note here on Marks, we are definitely thinking about his crew member Fud today, who was injured last night in the work area. It looked pretty gnarly, and we saw that Fud spent the night in a local hospital. Hopefully he heals up quickly. High Limit is off today before beginning a two night show at Lucas Oil Speedway this weekend.
Updating the situation on late model racer Chris Madden, things are looking much better as of yesterday. Madden announced a week ago that he was falling off the World of Outlaws Late Model Series because of health issues, but Smoky will be back behind the wheel this weekend. The team will not return to the Outlaw tour, instead picking and choosing the rest of the season and that begins on Friday and Saturday with the $50,000 to win super late model race at Volunteer Speedway. So great news for Madden and his team and family.
That show at Volunteer will likely draw other big names, especially with Lucas off, and the Outlaws in the upper midwest. There also isn't a ton of other competition in the southeast this weekend. Besides Madden, I've seen Garrett Smith, Jimmy Owens, Scott Bloomquist, Mike Marlar, Ricky Thornton Jr., Daulton Wilson, Dale McDowell, Brandon Overton, and many others are expected to compete. If Bloomquist does actually race, it will be the first time we've seen him in a car since that nasty heat race crash during the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora, where he tangled with Shannon Babb and got upside down. He had shown some speed that week, finishing 11th in his prelim feature. He told Kyle McFadden from FloRacing a few weeks ago that this was the race weekend he had hoped to return at after he was hospitalized post-Eldora for a wasp sting. I have not seen who's car he will be driving this weekend, as he's driven for two different car owners this season. Earlier it was with Devin Jones, and then his car owner for Eldora was listed as Terry Wolfensberger. Bloomer's best finish so far this season was that second place run with the Hunt the Front series at All-Tech in April. That Volunteer race is being streamed on something called grassrootsdocs.com. A three day pass is $60 if you are interested.
Looking at other racing coming up this weekend, as you have probably heard me talk about, Pennsylvania Speedweek starts tomorrow night at Williams Grove. It will run through July seventh with other stops at Lincoln, BAPS, Grandview, Port Royal, Hagerstown, and Selinsrove. Williams Grove, Lincoln, and Port all have two shows. If you plan on watching via streaming, you will have a busy week switching back and forth between services. Both Lincoln races and both Port Royal races are on FloRacing. DIRTVision has the two Williams Grove shows, and then BAPS, Grandview, Hagerstown, and Selinsgrove will be on Sprintcarunlimited.tv. Like we saw with Ohio Speedweek, I would expect fields to be mostly local guys over the next ten days, with not as many travelers and invaders as we've seen in the past. I know that Jeremy Elliott talked about Brent Marks running some shows, we'll have to see if Fud's injury changes any of that. Both the Outlaws and High Limit go quiet for the fourth of July week, and I would think a bunch of those teams will take the chance to rest and recover before the big money races start rolling in. I wouldn't rule out invaders completely, but it will likely be a bit less. But, as we saw with Ohio, that will open up opportunities for others to bag wins. I would definitely think Anthony Macri is a heavy favorite for wins and the speedweek title, we'll see if someone like Danny Dietrich, Troy Wagaman, Chase Dietz, or others can challenge him.
Besides High Limit at Wheatland and PA Speedweek, you've also got the World of Outlaws sprint cars at Cedar Lake Speedway in Wisconsin for two nights. Cedar Lake was a Brad Sweet strong hold, with him winning five straight there at one point. His absence will certainly change things a bit. We'll see if Gio Scelzi, Carson Macedo, and Donny Schatz can make up any ground on David Gravel for the championship.
In Minnesota, the World of Outlaws late models are back to action tonight at I-94. They've then got River Cities Friday, and Norman County on Saturday. Bobby Pierce with back-to-back wins right now, and we'll continue to keep an eye on this fight, with Brandon Sheppard and Nick Hoffman out front and Pierce trying to track them down. Brian Shirley, Ryan Gustin, Max McLaughlin all on three race top ten streaks at the moment as well.
If you are a dirt racing fan in Illinois, might I draw your attention to Macon Speedway. You can see the Summer Nationals there tonight for what I believe is the 44th running of the Herald and Review 100. If tonight is anything like the Flo series show we saw there a few weeks ago, it will be a can't miss race. And then Friday and Saturday, Macon hosts the USAC National Sprint Cars, which were both great shows last season. I know there isn't a ton of crossover between those two fan bases, but you could do a lot worse then just parking your butt at Macon for the next three nights.
Drop me a comment, let me know your dirt racing plans this weekend. If you are headed out, make sure to stay cool and hydrated out there. It's been pretty toasty all week. We don't need any of you falling out of the grandstands. Maybe throw in some water in between those adult beverages.
If you want to see your streaming service options, hit up dirtrackr.com/watchtonight, and keep an eye on dirtrackr.com's front page for all the latest news and releases from around the sport.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday out there, we'll see you back here on Sunday!