DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Details on next steps in Corey Day's likely NASCAR future | Daily 7-22-2024

Coming up we'll talk Sunday racing, including wins for Bobby Pierce and Dennis Erb Jr., plus the Super DIRTcar Series over the border in Canada, and more on Corey Day's pavement future, including his likely next stock car start. Let's go!

It's Monday, July 22nd, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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Around the country on Sunday there were a number of races going on, and we'll start first with the XR Super Series. Last night was the opening race of a three night stretch for the late model series, with Clay County Fair Speedway the place. 18 cars signed in, but only 15 made the call for the main event. Not a big field, but plenty of talent there following the Lucas weekend at Huset's. Hudson O'Neal led a bunch of the show from the front row, but it was fifth starting Bobby Pierce who made a late move around O'Neal to take the win. Pierce now with 23 total victories on the season, and he's won eight of his last ten starts. O'Neal ended up second, with Devin Moran, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Mike Marlar completing the top five. The turmoil with all of the recent ride swapping has blown open the conversation for best late model driver in the country ride now, and Pierce has really seized control of the narrative. He's still trailing in the three championships he's competing in, but he continues to stack up the wins. And he's likely not done yet this week. Tonight and tomorrow, XR heads for Davenport, we've then got Flo series at Fairbury Wednesday, and then Prairie Dirt Classic Friday and Saturday. Pierce will be in attendance at all of them, and will be a favorite each night. In the XR championship battle, Devin Moran still has a sizeable lead, with Pierce and RTJ in tow.

Elsewhere on Sunday, Dennis Erb Jr. was a MARS winner at Adams County. He topped Ryan Unzicker and Jason Feger on an off weekend from the World of Outlaws. Erb now with three wins on the season, including a DIRTcar win at Clarksville, and a Northern All Stars victory at Brownstown. Erb's schedule shows him headed for Davenport and the XR show next. The MARS championship right now being controlled by Jason Feger, he leads Unzicker and Allen Weisser. MARS is back in a few weeks at Sycamore.

At Screven, Casey Roberts won his first late model race since 2019, topping the Southern Nationals field in a show originally postponed by weather. Ross Bailes and Cory Hedgecock joined him on the podium, and series points leader Donald McIntosh ended up ninth after flipping his car during his heat race. The Southern Nationals next scheduled race is tomorrow at Cherokee, but I'd keep an eye on the weather if you are interested in that one. It's supposed to be a very wet week here in the Carolinas.

Some Sunday sprint car winners included AJ Flick at Tri City, and Dominic Gorden in 360 action at Skagit. No big time sprint car racing today, but we will have High Limit at Lernerville on Tuesday for $25,000 to win.

Besides the XR Super Series tonight, there is also dirt racing over the border in Canada. The Super DIRTcar Series has three races up north this week, with two nights up first at Autodrome Drummond, and then Brockville on Wednesday. Tonight is $7500 to win, and we've got a tight early championship battle with six drivers separated by 50 points at the moment. Matt Sheppard, Anthony Perrego and Jimmy Phelps are three points apart, Mat Williamson is ten back, Peter Britten 31 out, and Tim Sears 50 behind. Williamson leads the series with three wins, and Sheppard is still looking for his first score of the season. Racing in Quebec means a nice helping of the French announcer, and hearing names like Felix Roy, David Hebert, and Francois Bernier. You can watch tonight live on DIRTVision.

Jumping back to the sprint car weekend at Eldora, it was a tough four days for Corey Day. The High Limit regular has seven total wins this season, including five with High Limit, one with the Outlaws, and that Super Dirt Cup score at Skagit. But he's had a tough go of it in the last few weeks, with just two top ten finishes in seven appearances. And that included just two made features at Eldora, one was his prelim night feature, and the other the Knight Before main event. He was on the outside looking in for the two big paying races. It maybe felt a bit surprising, but to be fair, it was his first ever trip to Eldora. That place provides some unique challenges, and this dual High Limit, World of Outlaws Kings Royal week was going to be one of the toughest on the schedule. For some comparison, Day missed that Kings Royal main event right alongside guys like Carson Macedo, Kyle Larson, and Brad Sweet. Day still finds himself 50 points to the good in the High Limit charter chase, and he's still very much in the fight for the midweek title. And he's got a chance to get things going in a good direction tomorrow at Lernerville, before the High Limit schedule shifts to the west coast, where Day will be headed to tracks he's incredibly familiar and comfortable with. Tulare, Hanford, Placerville, Chico, Douglas County, Grays Harbor and Skagit are all on the schedule, and you won't be shocked to know that Day has won at every single one of them. Before the trip home though, I've been told that Day could be doing some racing of a different kind. In the midst of this breakout season, there has been a lot of chatter about Day's future potentially being on pavement, and that was aided by a late model appearance this past spring at Hickory Motor Speedway. Day won a feature that night driving for JR Motorsports, and we've documented here on the Daily his family's connection to a key figure at Hendrick Motorsports. A lot of signs are pointing to Day already being signed to a deal with Hendrick, and this could likely be his last season driving a sprint car full time. We haven't seen Day take part in any pavement action publicly since that Hickory win, but that is probably changing this week. I've been told that after Lernerville, Day will likely take on the ARCA race this Saturday at Salem Speedway in Indiana. Salem has launched plenty of careers over the years, and the list of recent ARCA winners there reads like a who's who of young NASCAR talent. Names like Jesse Love, Sammy Smith, Ty Gibbs, Chandler Smith, Christian Eckes, and Christopher Bell have won there going back to 2016. After Salem this weekend, other stock car races for Day are being talked about towards the end of the season. This couple week break in between Lernerville and the Knoxville Nationals before that west coast trip is really the final down period for High Limit, as they will race 23 times between August 15th and October 12th. But after Texas in October, there would be a few chances for Day to still run some pavement races. I would expect this to be confirmed at some point later today or tomorrow when the ARCA entry list for Salem is officially released. I've said this a few times already this season, but enjoy Day in a sprint car while you can now, because the process is moving along quickly for his future.

We will call it good for there today. I'm headed after the show to go grab a new batch of DIRTRACKR shirts, so be on the lookout for those later today to be live over at shop.dirtrackr.com.

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