DIRTRACKR Daily Podcast - Episode Transcript
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I know you didn't see these sprint car and late model moves coming | Daily 11-7-2024
A lot of news to cover today, including Longhorn and Riggs Motorsports announcing their next driver and crew chief, the World of Outlaws late models have a 2025 schedule, plus series driver confirmations, and plenty more. Let's go!
It's Thursday, November 7th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily presented by Kubota Genuine Parts.
Two things right off the top today, first, if you use the streaming schedule at dirtrackr.com, you have my mom to thank for that. She does all the updating there, and today is her birthday. Happy Birthday mom! And before we dive in, a quick word from today's show sponsor.
World Finals at Charlotte off and rolling last night with qualifying. Rain did spoil a few sessions, so those will be completed on Friday before that regular program gets going. Today, Friday, and Saturday's regular schedules start with heats and run through features for all three divisions. The weather forecasts have improved, so that's good news, and we've got 158 cars signed in, with 45 sprint cars, 66 late models, and 47 modifieds. Remember we are watching all three championship battles, with David Gravel close to locking up the sprint car fight, the late model championship a bit tighter between Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, and Nick Hoffman. And then the closest is the Super DIRTcar Series between Matt Sheppard and Mat Williamson.
Around this week though, plenty of news breaking, with a lot happening just in the last 24 hours. One of those stories being the confirmation of the new Longhorn Factory Team and Riggs Motorsports driver and crew chief. Brandon Sheppard is departing this car after World Finals, which we've known for some time. Starting at the Gateway Dirt Nationals in December though, Brandon Overton will take over this ride, and Anthony Burroughs has moved over from SSI Motorsports to crew chief. Overton fresh off that Hunt the Front Super Dirt Series championship ends a multi-year run with Wells Motorsports where he had a ton of success. Wells had been a Longhorn team and dealer before this season, when they started campaigning their own Wells Infinity chassis, so Overton is very familiar with these cars. The Riggs crew will be rounded out by Justin Tharp, who's joining from SSI, and Ryder Cantillo. This will be a return to a national tour for Overton, who was a Lucas full timer in 2023, but no decision has yet been announced on which one. This team obviously a full time World of Outlaws car in 2024, but they are supposedly exploring both options. I was actually at Longhorn yesterday, I'm sure some of you have seen the photos, and there will be a announcement video released soon where I got to speak with everyone involved, including Overton and Burroughs. With all of the resources they will have at their disposal, I think this could be an incredibly potent pairing for next season, and I think dirt late model racing is a much more fun place to be when Overton is running up front. We are still waiting on an announcement for Brandon Sheppard's post Longhorn house car situation, but signs continue to point towards a return to Rocket.
Also yesterday, we got a look at the 2025 World of Outlaws Late Model Series schedule. 57 races, starting at Volusia and ending at World Finals, 32 tracks, and a point fund now over a million dollars. That's up 20% from 2024, with the champion now taking home $225,000. All standard shows now pay $12,000 to win, and there are a bunch of other purse increases, including the USA Nationals now paying $100 grand to win. There are some changes through the year, but nothing that super alters what we've gotten traditionally from this series. All the favorites are there, including the Illini 100, the Dairyland Showdown, the Gopher 50, PDC, and USA Nationals. If you would like to peruse the schedule yourself, it's available over at worldofoutlaws.com.
The Outlaws yesterday also confirmed that Nick Hoffman and the Tye Twarog team will return to full time competition in 2025. Hoffman enters World Finals in the thick of the championship battle, and has really stayed in the fight all year with two of the sport's best in Sheppard and Pierce. Five wins, 18 top fives and 28 top tens in series competition, and multiple wins elsewhere have really established Hoffman as a serious late model contender after so many years dominating UMP modified racing. He's shown the speed and periods of consistency needed to contend for a title, and a small step forward next year could put him in the fight again.
We also got confirmation of something I mentioned on the show yesterday, and that's the new part time home for Chris Madden. As expected, he'll run next season with GR Smith and the Team 22 guys. No particular schedule or number of races was discussed, but they are going to run with the Flo series at Senoia and the Blue Gray 100 at Cherokee after World Finals. They also mentioned some Florida racing and Eldora shows next year. An announcement on a driver to replace Max McLaughlin in the full time car is also coming soon, and it's likely that a young driver on the rise is getting the shot here. We don't yet know where McLaughlin is headed for next season, but it sounds like he'll remain a late model driver, and he's got sponsorship to bring to his new deal.
On the sprint car side, no lack of announcements either. We did get the news that Huset's and Jackson will be back on the World of Outlaws schedule next year, with plenty of big money on the line at Huset's, and Jackson back for two dates. Huset's weekly racing will return to DIRTVision as well. This all comes after chatter pointed towards Tod Quiring having discussions with FloRacing and High Limit about his properties for 2025, but ultimately Brian Carter, the Outlaws, and World Racing Group putting a deal together to keep all of this on their side. This won't be the last time that promoters and tracks try and use the fact that there are now two national sprint car series to get the best deal possible for their facilities. I had thought with this announcement and the late model schedule being released, that maybe the sprint car slate was soon to follow, but I'm told we may have to wait a little while longer to get that piece of the puzzle.
Right alongside the Huset's and Jackson confirmations, we also now know that David Gravel will indeed return as a full time driver with the Outlaws next season. Gravel seemingly headed for his first championship had been in the rumor mill as having an outside chance at a series swap. He even trolled social media this week sharing a photo of himself and Brad Sweet. But no such move will happen, like we talked about earlier this week, and Gravel will be back in 2025 to likely defend his title. He joins Cole Macedo as the only confirmed drivers so far, but we know others are probably back as well, including Carson Macedo and the JJR 41. Nothing should change either for Sheldon Haudenschild and the NOS 17 team. SJM co-owner Jennifer Marshall tweeted a few weeks ago that no team shakeup was coming for 2025, and that they would be back with the Outlaws. So as long as things stay status quo with TSR and Donny Schatz, the core of the Outlaw stars all look to be back.
If you want racing elsewhere this weekend, your options are pretty small. Remember the USMTS finale was cancelled. I think I saw there is a Southern All Stars late model race, and you've got the USAC CRA finale at Perris. Other than that, most of the attention over the next few days will be on Charlotte.
That's DIRTRACKR Daily for this week. We are tracking a lot of other stories, including potentially more sprint car changes coming, especially on the regional side, and late model silly season, so stick with us as we move towards the offseason. Hit that subscribe button on YouTube or podcast places, and follow on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram for more.
Hope you guys have a great Thursday and weekend out there, we'll see you back here tomorrow!