DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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A late model pairing that has my attention | Daily 7-24-2024
Rico capitalizes at Lernerville, Matt Sheppard breaks through, David Gravel's time is now, and RTJ and Rumley has my attention. Let's go!
It's Wednesday, July 24th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
A bunch of stuff to get into today, including High Limit, World of Outlaws, a bunch of late model stuff and more, but before we do a quick message from today's show sponsor...
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The Kubota High Limit sprint cars were in action last night at Lernerville Speedway for the Don Martin Memorial Silver Cup and $25,000. I said yesterday this was a midweek championship race, that was incorrect. It was never marked as such on their schedule, but I just assumed all midweek shows on the High Limit schedule were midweek championship races. That's my bad. I'll try and pay better attention next time. They ended up doing better than the 30 pre-entered cars, with 37 signing in. And that did include one World of Outlaws driver in Sheldon Haudenschild. He started seventh and finished ninth in the main event. It seems right now like the majority of the Outlaw teams will not end up using all four of their freebies as part of the platinum agreement. Right now, Carson Macedo, Gio Scelzi, Logan Schuchart, and Buddy Kofoid are the only drivers to spend the full allotment. The only other real chance this season for Outlaws to run with High Limit is at the October 1st race at Atomic Speedway. That event is happening in between Sharon on September 28th and the National Open at Williams Grove starting on October 4th. It would require though that teams backtrack, and I don't know how likely that is. Eldora to Lernerville to BAPS was way more direct, and only one team took advantage. Right now, David Gravel has one left, Donny Schatz two, Brock Zearfoss one, Haudenschild one, Kraig Kinser two, Landon Crawley one, Bill Balog three, and Bill Rose three. The other driver missing last night was Kyle Larson. I had several of you point out that Yung Money is on vacation in Europe during this break for the Cup Series because of the Olympics. Knowing this wasn't a midweek championship show now, that makes sense. In the main event, Tyler Courtney led the first half of the race from the pole, but things went sideways at half way. After a restart, James McFadden made a move for the lead, and he and Sunshine tangled, right rear to left front style. Sunshine went for a spin, and JMac ended up with a flat right rear. Courtney battled back to finish 10th, while McFadden was 21st. McFadden also involved in a heat race incident in a similar fashion earlier in the night, with Tim Shaffer ending up on his side. The deal between the 83 and the 7BC promoted Rico Abreu to the lead, and he went the distance from there, holding off a large charge from Corey Day. Rico picked up $25k for High Limit win number four on the year, and an additional $4 grand from the dice roll split. Rico went winless through the first 16 High Limit races this year, but has now won four times in his last 14 series events. That team has been searching for some pace even in the midst of the improvements, but I think they will be a favorite when we head to the Knoxville Nationals in a few weeks. According to his website schedule, they are planning on being at Knoxville this week to get in some final recon work. Behind Rico, Day ended up second and Brad Sweet went ninth to third. Sweet's podium and Sunshine's issues means the gap between the two for the title hunt is now 96. Everyone from Brent Marks in third and down is too far back to contend at this point. High Limit is done now until the middle of August when their California swing starts at Tulare. That gives teams the chance to run the Knoxville Nationals, and other shows or take time off. Besides Rico, Tyler Courtney will also be at Knoxville this weekend. We'll see if any other teams make starts around the country in between.
One more Corey Day note as well. It was announced this morning that he will run three ARCA races, including this weekend at Salem, plus Bristol and Kansas with Hendrick Cars backing. Bristol is the day before the 4-Crown weekend at Eldora, and Kansas is the day before the Florence High Limit event. If those go well, I do think some races in higher up series are possible this season.
In other Tuesday racing, both the XR Super Series at Davenport and the Southern Nationals late models at Cherokee were rained out. XR was going to try and run their modifieds today at Davenport in a makeup show, but it's been sacked as well. XR's next late model race is August 30th at 300 Raceway. The Southern Nationals will try again tomorrow at Toccoa.
At Autodrome Drummond last night, Matt Sheppard broke through for his first Super DIRTcar Series points win of 2024. Tim Sears Jr. drove the wheels off his 83X to try and stay out front, but Sheppard got by in lap traffic inside five to go. The win was good for $10,000, and Sheppard extended his championship lead over Mat Williamson to 27 points. Money Mat finished down in ninth. Anthony Perrego continued to lose ground with more struggles last night, he's now fifth behind Sears. The big block teams close out this Canada swing tonight with a stock at Brockville for $7500 to win. You can watch live on DIRTVision.
Also tonight on DIRTVision, the World of Outlaws sprint cars will be live from BAPS Motor Speedway. They've got BAPS tonight, Williams Grove Friday and Saturday for the Summer Nationals, then to Weedsport on Sunday. From there it's all down hill to the Knoxville Nationals, with the traditional Ironman 55 at Pevely in between. Coming out of the Brad Doty, Kings Royal week in Ohio, we are likely down to a three horse race for the Outlaw title between David Gravel, Donny Schatz, and Carson Macedo. Gio Scelzi and Buddy Kofoid have fallen back a bit, with both into triple digits territory behind. Macedo is also in danger of falling into that same category, as he trails by 98 points. With the run he's been on, and his strength in Central PA, I think this could be the week where Gravel really separates himself. He won this BAPS show a year ago, and he leads the Outlaws in average finish at the Grove back through the 2017 season. I think he's clearly the best in the country at the moment, he's got the most wins and the most earnings, and a lot more is possible. Besides the Outlaws, you'll also see a full compliment of Posse drivers tonight, including Anthony Macri, Kody Hartlaub, Devon Borden, Danny Dietrich and more.
For my late model folks, tonight begins a busy week at Fairbury, with the FloRacing Night In America series kicking things off before the Prairie Dirt Classic. Just two Flo series shows complete so far, with Jason Feger leading Bobby Pierce and Ricky Thornton Jr. in the standings. RTJ won the opener at Macon back in May, and Pierce took Lincoln in June. This Fairbury race was much later in the season in 2023, and Pierce is the defending winner. A bunch of guys coming in hot though, including Pierce and Devin Moran. I posted this to the DIRTRACKR Facebook page yesterday, that Moran has nine straight finishes of fourth or better, including four wins, in Lucas competition. We'll also see Outlaw points leader Brandon Sheppard, Hudson O'Neal with SSI, he's been fast at Fairbury before, Logan Seavey continues his late model education, and Tim McCreadie still looking for that first win with Rocket. We know that the Koehler Motorsports team of RTJ is off this week, and he shared to Facebook that they will have a new Longhorn chassis when they return to Lucas action at Florence in August. In the meantime, Thornton will make his first starts driving for Kevin Rumley. They will be at Fairbury tonight for the Flo series, and it had already been revealed that they will run this weekend for the PDC. RTJ also sharing to social media in recent days that they will stay together for the USA Nationals at Cedar Lake the following weekend with the Outlaws. It seems as though some of you think the shine is off Rumley's car, but I don't know that I feel the same way. Hudson O'Neal did win in it not long ago, Kyle Larson won during the Wild West Shootout driving for Rumley, and let's not forget Brandon Sheppard taking the car to a big score at the Dirt Track World Championship late in 2023. RTJ and Rumley could be a seriously potent combination over the next few weeks, and I don't think I'd sleep on this pairing. These guys will have multiple nights to get comfortable and sort things out, if that's even necessary. Drop me a comment and let me know what you think they can do coming up. If you can't get to Fairbury tonight, FloRacing obviously will have the live stream.
In dirt racing podcast land this week, Winged Nation has David Gravel and Cody Jacobs, Dirt Track Confessions has Tim Clauson, Passing Points has Hank Davis, Quicktime has Shane Stewart, Getting up to Speed has Collen Winebarger, and there are new episodes of the Dirt Reporters, the Dirt Nerds, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, Turn 2 Terribles, Racing Roundup, and the Driver's Project. To see all the podcasts and their most recent episodes, visit dirtrackr.com/podcasts.
We'll call it good for there today. Thanks as always for the support, and a big thanks to everyone that has already grabbed a new DIRTRACKR shirt from shop.dirtrackr.com. Also, Happy Birthday Paul Arch!
Hope you guys have a great Wednesday out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!