DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript

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This national touring sprint car driver should go pick and choose in 2025 | Daily 10-30-2024

Coming up, the National 100 this weekend is drawing big names. We'll run you through some of them expected to race, including a new deal for Tim McCreadie. Plus a sprint car driver I think should actually fall off a national tour and go pick and choose. Let's go!

It's Wednesday, October 30th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.

The National 100 is at East Alabama Motor Speedway this weekend, and this one is being sanctioned by the XR Super Series. Saturday's feature is $10,000 to win, and the Sunday finale is $30,000 to win. This one is drawing some big late model names, and we already knew about Jonathan Davenport heading this way to drive for Kevin Rumley. If you remember back to last week, this pairing, which is a reunion of sorts, was testing at the Charlotte dirt track in advance of racing. Davenport and Rumley will also race together at Charlotte for World Finals after the National 100. With no Lucas or Outlaws, Davenport will be joined by some familiar competition, including Bobby Pierce, Kyle Bronson, Ryan Gustin, Tyler Erb, and Cody Overton. Brandon Overton is also scheduled to appear, but just on Sunday. He'll contest the Hunt the Front finale at I-75 Friday and Saturday before heading to Alabama on Sunday. Another addition to this field we found out about last night, is Tim McCreadie. TMac will run the National 100 with Big Frog and Viper Motorsports in their 58V, in his first event appearance since 2017. The Big Frog/Viper car has been driven here lately by Drake Troutman, in between his starts in the family car. Troutman was crowned Lucas rookie of the year at Eldora, and was just in the 58V at Whynot this past weekend for the Fall Classic. Viper team owner Shawn Martin told FloRacing's Kyle McFadden that the plan is also for McCreadie to be in the car the following week at World Finals. We talked here on the show ten days ago about the Rocket house car being on the shelf for the rest of 2024, so McCreadie was going to need to race elsewhere if he wanted a few more starts this year. To go further though, McCreadie won't return to the Rocket 1 in 2025, which we touched on last Thursday. Rocket's Mark Richards wouldn't comment to Flo and Dirt on Dirt about the future, but I've been told that the team has informed McCreadie he's out. So these races with Viper and Big Frog are coming at a time where the dirt late model veteran is trying to figure out his plans for next season. Rumors have pointed to some sort of deal for McCreadie to join up with Boom Briggs, but nothing has been confirmed yet. Rocket will miss World Finals for the first time since the event was started back in 2007, and it's likely we won't see that team until the Lucas season opens next January at Golden Isles. As for their next driver, we know that Brandon Sheppard will start his year in 2025 at the Wild West Shootout in the family B5, and then there are a lot of signs pointing towards a house car return for him after two seasons away. My guess would be we won't get any confirmation on that however until after the Outlaw season ends at Charlotte, where Sheppard is in the driver's seat for the championship.

Moving on, I know around here we spend a lot of time, especially into this part of the season, talking about who could be full time with a big dirt racing series. On the sprint car side, we've been regularly updating commitment lists for the two series, we talked earlier this week about a possible swap for David Gravel that's been rumored and speculated about, and we've covered some of the names that could be in play to make the big jump for the first time. That list has obviously included guys like Garet Williamson, Danny Sams, Chase Randall, and Emerson Axsom. I know a lot are hoping for Sye Lynch as well. But on the flip side, I'm going to zag today and talk about a driver I think could benefit from going the opposite direction. That means falling off a tour and going pick and choose. Based on some rumblings and his situation, this might be happening anyway, but I'm going to make the case here. I think as a sprint car driver and team, Jacob Allen and that Shark Racing 1A are perfect for this. Jacob and Logan Schuchart with Shark went full time World of Outlaws racing in 2014, and over time they've been able to grow that ragtag Shark deal into a way more professional operation, with big race wins, better sponsorship, and real respect in the community. For 2024, Shark split the difference and kept Schuchart out with the Outlaws, while Allen went High Limit. After needing to take a mental health break in 2023, we definitely have seen a very different Jacob this year, and it paid off. I know they didn't finish where they would have wanted to in the High Limit standings, but still four race wins across various series and tracks, a bunch of top tens, and the second most earnings in a single season he's had in his career, bested only by 2022. With his wife Hannah expecting their first child, there is already talk that Jacob falling off High Limit in 2025 is a strong possibility, and I think it would make a lot of sense. There is a lot of good money to be made in Central Pennsylvania right now on a week to week basis, and a past Brent Marks-esque, or Anthony Macri type schedule could work out well for Allen. Keep costs down and run more often around home, especially since he's solid in PA anyway. We've seen him win at BAPS and Lincoln. Run the big PA shows, do the crown jewels, he's won at Knoxville and has had good runs at Eldora. And then pick and choose where and when to travel. Run High Limit and the Outlaws where it makes sense, and drop in to some FAST or IRA, or POWRi shows. He'd lose the benefits like tow money for a series, but he could also make the costs more manageable and avoid some weather related issues out on the road. He could still very easily run 80+ races a year, make good money, and race at tracks where he can maximize his chances. I don't think it would be outside the realm of possbility that Jacob could be a driver to win eight or ten shows a year. I think sprint car racing is a better place when Jacob Allen is running up front, and I think a pick and choose schedule would allow that to happen a lot more often.

Even though it's only Wednesday, we do have a couple of weekend cancellations already. First, the Short Track Nationals at Texarkana 67 Speedway are off because of weather. For the second straight year, rain will keep this event from happening. It's a shame, because they were shaping up to have a good field of 410 sprint cars. The event release says that tickets purchased in advance will be refunded through MyRacePass. With this race now off, Marcus Thomas has clinched the ASCS Elite 410 championship over Austin Mundie.

Also, the upcoming USMTS Battle at Boothill is off because of rain. This means just one weekend left for the modified teams there. Jim Chisholm with an 81 point lead over Jake Timm for the USMTS title, and in a good position to lock that up. The final racing of the season will happen November 8th and 9th at Heart O' Texas Speedway.

New in dirt racing podcast land this week, Winged Nation is talking Erin Evernham's World of Outlaws win, Passing Points has Brad Sweet, and there are new episodes of The Dirt Reporters from Dirt on Dirt, Dirt Track Confessions, the Dirt Nerds, Dirt Tracks and Rib Racks, Hoogie's Garage, Turn 2 Terribles, Caution Free, and the Driver's Project. You can find all these shows, including recent episodes and links to listen over at dirtrackr.com/podcasts.

Alright, that's your daily for today. Thanks as always for tuning in.

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