DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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Anybody looking for a top sprint car ride? | Daily 10-14-2024

The High Limit banquet provided some funny moments, and some news and clues about 2025. We'll talk about all of that, plus Trophy Cup entries, a great drive from Derek Hagar, and more. Let's go!

It's Monday, October 14th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

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The first Kubota High Limit sprint car season is in the books and they followed up the season finale from Saturday night with their championship banquet last night. My favorite moment of the evening was probably FloRacing CEO Mark Floreani calling out infamous sprint car twitter guy Derrick Bean over a recent tweet about how Brad started a series to win a championshp because he couldn't win with the Outlaws anymore. The tweet was obviously dripping with sarcasm, but apparently that gets lost on some folks. Either way, great moment though. There were lots of other little nuggets through the night, and if you missed it, I've gathered a few important ones, especially those that give clues for next season. I mentioned yesterday that I thought there could be as many as seven driver and team combos with questions for next season, with one of those situations getting clarity, and we can probably add another to that list. The addition is Brenham Crouch. The young Texas driver was up against it all season, finishing down in 16th in the standings with just two top tens. Crouch moved up to High Limit after winning the IRA championship the season before. He shared that he's not sure what their plans are for 2025. His brother Brekton has also started making some more sprint car starts, and there have been rumors that the 11 car from CMS might return in 2025 as well. Remember that 11 car ran 2023 with Buddy Kofoid and Cory Eliason in the seat, but shuttered for this year after they made runs at several high profile free agents, and potential free agents. That list of potential top drivers is much smaller this season though, and several are already commited elsewhere. Moving on, Parker Price Miller ended up finishing the season with Brandon Ikenberry after effectively having to park his own car following the Tuscarora 50. It was a battle all the way to the end, with just a single top 10 over the final eight races. As expected, PPM also confirmed he's not sure what 2025 will bring just yet.

The other one, which I'm sure you've seen everywhere over the last several hours, was the confirmation that James McFadden is indeed done racing full time in the US. This one had been rumored for a while, and McFadden shared during his remarks on stage that he will head home to Australia, and likely only run a few races in the states in 2025. I've been told that JMac will likely have a new ride in Australia, and could be back down under as soon as the next week or two to begin racing there for the season. Action is already underway for the 2024-2025 season in Australia, and several events have already been run. McFadden will be a force down there this year, and I think could be in line for a lot of big wins. Who he might race for in the US in 2025 is still not settled, but don't be surprised if he's back with Roth when he returns. As for the team side, what happens with that second Roth car will be a big question mark as the offseason progresses. McFadden's crew chief Brent Ventura also revealed he won't be on the road next season, and there are multiple scenarios in play for what could happen. It is my understanding that Toyota still wants both teams running nationally next season, and all signs point to no changes for Buddy Kofoid and his 83 with Dylan Buswell in charge. Kofoid has been on an absolute tear since the Jackson Nationals, and will be someone we talk about next season as an Outlaw title contender. So if that second car does continue full time, who will be the driver and the crew chief. You could likely see Ryan Timms in a Roth car later this week at Trophy Cup, and he could certainly be a candidate. And then if they get a driver and crew chief, do they take advantage of the charter and stay High Limit, or do both Roth cars go Outlaw racing. That is another scenario that could be in play. A lot of intrigue here, and plenty to still figure out over the coming weeks and months. I am bummed though that JMac is done as a full timer here. I certainly understand his reasons, but he's a great character for sprint car racing, and one hell of a driver. He missed the first part of the High Limit season, and still managed to get that Roth team into fourth in the owner standings, and himself into seventh in the drivers'. The American side of sprint car racing will certainly be a little worse off without him.

I know we've been focusing a lot on High Limit lately with the silly season stuff, but we will talk Outlaws at some point in the future soon. It's really just been because the High Limit season ended so much earlier. There are changes coming on the Outlaw side as well, and we'll talk plenty about that in future daily shows.

Speaking of Trophy Cup, that big 360 sprint car event starts Thursday at Tulare. This is the 30th running of the event, and they will pay out $300,000 in purse and prize money over the three day event. Corey Day is the defending event winner, and he'll be back this season to defend. As of last Thursday, there are 74 teams entered for Trophy Cup, with several still listed as TBA. The list includes all of the usual California suspects, and a few travelers coming in. With High Limit now done, we'll see Rico Abreu, Zeb Wise, and Day in the field in their usual rides. Justin Peck is listed in an entry for Clayton Snow, Cory Eliason will race with Rod Tiner as he still tries to figure out his sprint car future, and Tyler Courtney is listed in the Works Limited 57X, not 57W. We haven't seen the Works Limited car since Jock Goodyer returned home to Australia a few weeks ago. I previously mentioned Ryan Timms, and he's listed, but in his family car, while Roth has two entries, both listed as TBA. We'll keep an eye on that one. If you want to see full details on Trophy Cup 30, head over to trophycup.org.

Before we close out, I just wanted to give a quick shout to Derek Hagar. This past weekend at Riverside, he won the first 25 lap USCS feature in the Flip race, then went to the back, started 22nd, and drove through the field to win the second 25 lapper, the Flop race. Hagar is the first driver in the 16 year history of the Flip Flop to win both races. These are the types of performances we don't see very often anymore with how tight and competitive these events and series have become.

That's the daily for today. If you want even more dirt racing content, make sure to follow DIRTRACKR across social media. We've got Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram going all the time, so wherever you are, we are as well. We just recently crossed over 20,000 followers on Facebook, so thank you all for that, and the TikTok account is just about to cross 24,000.

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